The Envoy (Ambassador book 2), by C.J. Dragon

[Ulysses]

The Envoy (Ambassador, book 2)
By C.J. Dragon
Published by the author, 2024
Four stars

The ongoing epic adventure of Ambassador River Carteret is utterly fascinating. The first book, River, dropped us into the improbable sci-fi world of an earth far in the future, under the control of benevolent aliens called the Guardians. A desire to expand his ambassadorial skills off-planet takes River to the distant world of Drakonis, ruled by a race of vampires called Drakos. It all seemed too improbable until I got caught up in the emerging realization that the Guardians had not created a utopia, but a North-Korea-like society of conformity and control.

The second installment picks up where the first left off. Ambassador Carteret, now the paramour of Drakonis’s crown prince, Eris Portalis, is engaged in a desperate rescue of hundreds of dissidents on earth who have been imprisoned by the Guardians for questioning the system. To save the lives of his fellow Americans, including his childhood friend Ben Shapiro, River has essentially sold his soul to Sebastian, his Guardian Supervisor.

Once the earthlings are safely settled on Quros, an uninhabited continent on Drakonis, Sebastian begins to send River on increasingly dangerous diplomatic trips to ever-more bizarre alien worlds. Meanwhile, River adjusts to life in the royal court of the Drakos, and grapples with his profoundly loving but complicated relationship with the ruling culture on his new planet. On one hand he has his earth friends on Quros, on the other his high-handed princely boyfriend. River’s skills as an ambassador are pushed to the limit, and we begin to really understand what makes him tick. He wants justice, and equity, and for things to go smoothly. When it becomes clear that his Guardian overseer simply wants him dead, River must figure out how to save his own skin without endangering the people he loves or allowing the Guardians to disrupt any other alien civilizations.

As with the first book, Envoy ends rather abruptly, but with such a tantalizing closing line that I immediately started on book three. I’ve rather come to love River Carteret, who has the most difficult juggling job on earth.