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Book Review: A DARKLING SEA by James Cambias

Two species of aliens, a frozen world, and a no-contact policy that is more than badly bent are the ingredients of A Darkling Sea, a first novel by short story writer and roleplaying game supplement writer James Cambias. I’ve been familiar with Cambias’ roleplaying work for a long time, most notably the GURPS: Mars and GURPS: Space supplements. The rigor and careful research in those supplements translates here to a novel quite well. Ilmatar is an Europa-like body, a gas giant moon with an ocean covering the surface, a layer of frozen water kilometers thick insulating the liquid interior ocean and letting the hydrothermic vents warm the ocean underneath to