GRAVITY'S FORCE by Ebony McKenna

Red-e2.com, 2000

Two planets share a sun, each inhabited. Three centuries earlier, the inhabitants of the smaller but more densly populated planet (Tyberon) had conquered the larger (Elani), brutally oppressing its native population and sending millions of colonists. Now, an ice age threatens the smaller planet. Sonek, an anti-hero, has vowed to do whatever it takes to avert the threat of the ice age, even if it means destroying Etani itself.

GRAVITY'S FORCE parallels the experience of the European colonization, with the dominant population dehumanizing the more spiritual Etanis (the characters belong to non-human races). Still, not all the Tyberons believe that the Etani are sub-human. Elora, Sonek's wife charismatically tries to rally both populations to end the conflict. Ramis, a medic, saves Kaeman, an Etani despite regulations against this waste. Ultimately, Ramis and Kaeman must work together to save the entire planet.

Ebony McKenna writes complex and multidimensional characters. Ramis saves Kaeman but cannot let herself believe she could be attracted to him. Sonek is willing to kill millions and removes his children forcibly from Elora, yet he does so to save his civilization. The parallels to the European experience (McKenna is Australian) add emotional charge to this complex novel.

The reader should be aware that the rules of physics do not operate in the same way in the universe of GRAVITY'S FORCE as they do in the human universe. Explosives need to be given external oxygen supplies and blasting can send a large moon careening out of orbit without affecting the orbit of the planet it circles. As the title indicates, gravity is a key to the novel and it operates differently in the universe of GRAVITY'S FORCE than it does in our own.

Three Stars

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