SEED Of Harmony by C. Arthur Shuey

Title: SEED of Harmony

Series: Harmonic Empire 01

Author: C. Arthur Shuey

Genre: Science Fiction, Space Opera

Length: Novel (400pgs)

ISBN: B076CR28J9 / 978-0-9988456-0-9

Publisher: Perfect Affinity (10th October 2017)

Heat Level: Low

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: A powerful Galactic Empire—devastated by a mysterious plague—lost in antiquity.

Terran Colonists—fleeing an Earth void of life and pursued by a hostile alien aggressor.

Two young Terran Explorers and their psychically bonded, genetically enhanced Panther teammates, are marooned on an unexplored planet when their ship is attacked. Injured and cut off from any hope of rescue, Jar’ek must save his friend and shipmate, Kallehn from imminent death. The Ranger team will need to use every bit of knowledge and skill they possess if they want to survive.

Unknown to the Ranger Team, this Planet is not as uninhabited as their surveys had indicated. Something else is there…. Something old beyond counting—watching—waiting—judging them. When Jar’ek and his team set foot on Jaden-325-4, they set into motion a future they know nothing about—yet may shake the very foundations of civilization. 

This book is recommended for Sci-Fi enthusiasts 14 to 99.

Purchase Link: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Review: We join this epic journey as the SEED awakens; the SEED is all that’s left after a deadly plague wiped out their powerful Galactic Empire, asleep for thousands of years it now needs a host so it can begin to rebuild a civilization that prospered and was peaceful.

Earth is no more it was destroyed by the Treech and humanity fled, the last of humanity now reside on two planets with New Hope reigning over Promise. The Terran Confederation has a stranglehold on its people, their rules are absolute and the people in power are greedy and determined to grab as much power as possible.

From the Terran Exploration Vessel Dragon Eye, Ranger team Jar’ek Constandor and Kallehn Frix and their X’Ah-Panths partners, S’Fah and J’Uhr (genetically enhanced Panther’s that they can mind-touch with), are sent down to Jaden-325-4 to discover any abandoned alien technology that could aid the Terran Confederation. But disaster strikes and Jar’ek has to take a risk if he is to rescue Kallehn from certain death.

This is an amazing story; the imagination that went into creating the world building and characters is just mind blowing. The characters are fully fleshed out and interesting, the secondary characters are just as fully developed and we get to see some interesting changes as they begin to face the reality of their situation.

While it took a little while to get used to the writing style the storyline gripped me from the beginning, I found myself sucked into an out of this world experience and became fully invested in Jar’ek and Kallehn and the adventure they had begun. We get taken to far flung corners of the Galaxy (and beyond) as we follow a host of characters (including AI probes), we face danger and mystery, intrigue and betrayal… ah it was just a perfect mix.

Jar’ek and Kallehn are a well suited couple, they are best friends and Ranger partners but have always kept their true feelings for each other hidden as it’s against the Terran Confederation’s rules (just so you know ANY intimate relations are frowned upon for any Terren). Their life and death situation and the drastic actions of Jar’ek change all that and they finally speak the truth to each other.

We also have other relationships develop as other characters situations change; just maybe Jar’ek’s actions could free the last of humanity from their chains. But! That’s not all, Jar’ek has a new mission to undertake, rebuilding the Harmonic Empire, gather any of the Empire that was lost and bring peace and harmony to all worlds. It will be a trial as Jar’ek and Kallehn take up their new responsibilities.

Now I mentioned that the writing style took a bit of getting used to, well I was thrown at first because of how it was arranged but it also made it very easy to know just who was speaking.

 SEED:  {“If you are judged worthy, you will have the power to heal your friend.  If you are judged unworthy, we can do nothing for him or you.  That is the way of things.  We cannot vary from the protocol.”}

  Jar’ek:  “So, I must surrender myself and give up everything that I am or could ever be so that I can save my friend?”

At first I thought it was written the way it was because it was a consciousness speaking to an AI, then because the people speaking were on a space ship, but as it continued to happen I began to care less about why it was happening and was just glad that it was so clear as to who was speaking, especially when you have the Terren’s, the X’Ah-Panths, the SEED and the AI’s conversing at different times throughout the story so you never have to try to figure out just who said what.

Now the characters are great, they have a lot thrown at them in just a small timeframe especially Jar’ek so we do have some meltdowns as they get used to their new lives, but saying that I did want to give Jar’ek a smack with the risks he took *shakes head* seriously man, the weight of an Empire rests on your shoulders and you’re not invincible!

I will hold my hands up and admit that putting the story down was hard, it became ‘just one more chapter’ and then the end of the book appeared and it was 3.30am!!!! And oh my god what an ending… they’d just discovered an important message and bam! There’s the ending and me wishing the next book was published so I could continue reading *pout*

So this is a thoroughly entertaining story with plenty of action, danger, a couple of romances and a hefty challenge. If you love science fiction and space opera then you must give this book a shot, it is just fantastic.