Book Review: Where Peace Is Lost, by Valerie Valdes

I really enjoyed Valerie Valdes’ Chilling Effect trilogy, so I’ve been eager to check out her new novel, Where Peace Is Lost, which debuts on Aug. 29. It was every bit as good as I had anticipated, but for somewhat different reasons: Although the Chilling Effect books are basically tasty popcorn in the form of space opera, Where Peace Is Lost feels a little more chewy and substantial.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s still a breeze to read and feels much shorter than its 388 pages plus end matter (trade size, large print). Its characters are well drawn, and the plot is a fairly direct adventure, except for some memories and secrets that eventually get revealed. But the tone is more serious, often wistful and haunted by trauma, as is the protagonist.

Five years ago, Kelana Gardavros lost everything in the war against the Pale empire. Now Kel Garda is just another refugee living on the edge of an isolated star system. No one knows she was once a member of an Order whose military arm was disbanded and scattered across the galaxy. And no one knows that if her enemies found her, they might destroy the entire world to get rid of her.

The novel opens with Kel Garda, a recluse, trying not very successfully to adapt her former combat skills to harvesting moss from a giant forest animal. A little later, she’s dragged to a community meeting by her young acquaintance Lunna, who longs for adventure. When Lunna volunteers to guide a couple of strangers who’ve taken a contract to re-deactivate a formerly dormant war robot, which is threatening their region, Kel feels compelled to accompany them and keep an eye on these mercenaries. So, they head out across the swamps, encountering wildlife and bandits as they travel toward other communities.

Kel tries to keep her past as a warrior hidden from her companions and the wider world, but the truth comes out. She’s not just a former warrior, but one endowed with what amounts to technological superpowers (foreshadowed fairly early in the book). But her former Order of Mercy, which tried to help people in many ways, has had its military arm cut off as part of a peace treaty. (The deactivated war robot is from the other side, the Pale Empire, which now controls many star systems.) Kel has been staying on the fringes of society trying to keep safe and keep the terms of the treaty, but there are constant questions of whether this was the right decision, whether she should have fought until the end or joined guerilla resistance campaigns instead of effectively burying herself on this backwater planet.

This is not the only moral conflict in the book. Dare, one of the mercenaries Kel is helping to guide, is struggling with his own dark past, and his boss, Captain Vyse, has some pretty sharp edges. Lunna starts off naïve, and learns some hard truths about people, although remaining hopeful. Loth, this planet trying to maintain its semi-independence from the violence-focused Pale Empire, has a culture of restorative justice, but some people try to take advantage of this perceived softness. The quandaries arising from these moral conflicts contribute to making the book a bit more overtly thoughtful than Valdes’ earlier trilogy.

Dare’s character is the most multi-layered besides Kel’s, and I liked how Kel and Dare approached the beginnings of a relationship. Another relationship in the book surprised me a little, since it began offscreen and mostly stayed there, except for a few references, but it’s good worldbuilding when other people’s lives continue and develop without the input of the protagonist.

But even minor players like Speaker Yiulea, of the town council that hires the mercenaries, have their own points of view. We don’t find out much about the outright antagonists such as the bandits and a few Pale soldiers, other than how vicious, tricky, and persistent some can be, but they’re intruders and predators in this world and not meant to be all that intrinsically interesting.

The world itself, and its communities, do interest me. I like seeing how the people work together here and try to look out for each other. I’d have liked to find out more, but it looks like the next book, if there is a sequel, will take Kel offplanet and back into the wider conflicts of the galaxy.

I hope there is a sequel! The best way for that to happen is for people to buy this book, or borrow it from their libraries, and spread the word if they like it as much as I did.

Readers can find out more about Valdes and her works at her website (http://candleinsunshine.com/) and can buy Where Peace Is Lost at https://www.harpercollins.com/products/where-peace-is-lost-
valerie-valdes?variant=40989136093218 .

Content Warnings: Violence, war memories, death and sex (but none of these are graphic).

Comparisons: “In Time, a Weed May Break Stone,” Valerie Valdes, Uncanny Magazine, Issue 51. Similar in tone and themes, but a free fantasy short instead of a science fiction book. If you like this story (text or podcast), I think you’ll like the book.

Disclaimers: I’m a moderator on a Twitch channel where Valerie Valdes frequently participates in roleplaying games with The Strange Friends, and I’ve audio-edited Skiffy and Fanty podcasts where she’s talking. I obtained an Advance Review Copy of Where Peace Is Lost from her publisher, HarperCollins.