A Spellbinding Installment in Michael Flynn’s Medieval European Age-Inspired Space Opera

“In the Lion’s Mouth” is a riveting, compelling addition to the space opera series Michael Flynn started with “January Dancer”, demonstrating that he is among the more imaginative prose stylists in contemporary science fiction. He’s breathed new life into the old genre itself, giving readers a series that has more in common with traditional Medieval European tales such as the Norse sagas than with anything from the likes of John Scalzi or David Weber; a compelling writer whose literary muse may very well be Iain M. Banks, rather than Poul Anderson or Gordon Dickson. Though Flynn may not be as graceful and as imaginative a writer as Banks, he does share with him a keen ear for language and for creating realistic settings in a far-flung future so remote that readers could mistakenly believe that they’re reading a uniquely original blend of fantasy and space opera science fiction. He definitely delivers the goods in offering readers vividly realized characters and settings replete with fast-paced action. “In the Lion’s Mouth” recounts a deadly power struggle within the Confederacy of Central World’s Lion’s Mouth, the agency which oversees the Shadows, elite spies and assassins; an internal civil war occurring as the Confederacy remains engaged in a “Great Game” between itself and the other major human interstellar empire, the United League of the Periphery. Caught in this internal power struggle within the Lion’s Mouth is onetime Confederacy Donovan buigh, whose disappearance sets the stage for the epic struggle between opposing Shadow factions. Readers should be impressed with Flynn’s use of language and sense of realism, drawn convincingly from Medieval European history. “In the Lion’s Mouth” will be viewed by many as among the most fascinating science fiction novels published this year, worthy of recognition as a potential nominee of the Hugo and Nebula awards and other literary prizes in science fiction.