The Salarian Desert Game

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The Salarian Desert Game

by J. A. McLachlan

Edition: ebook, 2016

Synopsis: Games are serious business on Salaria, and the stakes are high. When Kia’s older sister, in a desperate bid to erase their family debt, loses the game and forfeits her freedom, Kia is determined to rescue her.

Disguised as a Salarian, Kia becomes Idaro in order to move freely in this dangerous new culture. When she arrives on Salaria, she learns it’s a world where a few key players control the board, and the pawns are ready to revolt. Kia joins the conflict, risking everything to save her sister. As if she doesn’t already have enough to handle, Agatha, the maddeningly calm and unpredictable Select who lives life both by-the-book and off-the-cuff shows up to help, along with handsome Norio, a strong-willed desert girl with her own agenda, and a group of Salarian teens earning their rite of passage in the treacherous desert game.

What can an interpreter and former thief possibly do in the midst of all this to keep the people she loves alive?

Interpreter and former thief, Kia sets off to Salaria, takes on a Salarian identity, and trains to join the high stakes game on the planet, all to save her sister, who was paying the price for a bad decision.

I’d forgotten just how much I adore Kia. She’s a tough, stubborn character, who always seems to end up doing as those around her wish despite her best efforts not to. Agatha, too, was delightful, though not as involved directly as the previous novel. With many secondary characters, each one memorable, the entire cast is absolute fun.

I would highly recommend this to any fans of sci-fi adventure.