This book is alive. Not in the literal sense, mind you. Rather, it is alive in the sense that not one page is absent a vividly articulate and flowing description of settings and situations this book's characters escape, fight or navigate themselves through; and that in such a way you very well may forget you're holding a book altogether. Never you mind the characters in it. They are quite rich in personality and the way they are introduced to the reader (and to each other) doesn't feel remotely contrived. This is actually something I truly appreciate given how these completely different types of people, whose walks, origins and views of life couldn't be more distinct, end up sharing skin in mutual stakes, the magnitudes of which are not at all immediately obvious. Splintered as they were, their disparate threads weave seamlessly at great length into a parallel path through complex cascades of clever storytelling. All because of a boat. Or a microfusion reactor on a boat. That sentence can be misleading because the implications thereof become far heavier than it infers by itself. Alot happens over this, and how the characters grow through the ensuing conflicts, develop in themselves and change toward others in their relationships feels compellingly organic. The plot unravels no differently. Loved it.

Western 'anything' is my least favorite genre in any medium. And I prefer cyberpunk over sci-fi. So, for me to have enjoyed a western sci-fi novel to this degree- I hope it can be something an undecided reader will find useful in forming a confident decision toward "Harm's Place."

I look forward to more from this author.