Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Labyrinthian
AUTHOR: Sunny Moraine
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: 289 Pages
BLURB:
A hunter should never fall for his prey.
Still nursing his latest post-mission hangover, bounty hunter Theseus jumps at a high-paying, high-risk job that sounds ridiculously easy. Yet from the moment he nabs the alleged super soldier with sedative gas, nothing is as it seems.
On the run from the facility where he was created and raised, Taur is desperate to locate his genetically engineered brothers and sisters. To rescue them—and himself—from slavery. Waking aboard Theseus’s ship, his fury is tempered by curiosity about his captor.
Despite his doubts about his prisoner, Theseus figures it’d be risky to let Taur go—until they’re thrown together by a shared betrayal. They declare a tentative truce as they flee from a shadowy and immensely powerful organization that will stop at nothing to find them.
But as they wrestle with their growing feelings for each other, Taur and Theseus face an even greater danger. A lethal threat lurking inside Taur’s own body, waiting to explode…
REVIEW:
Labyrinthian is a really good example of how science fiction has always been able to easily include gay and bisexual characters. The main characters in this story just happen to be gay. Although, on second thought, one might more accurately be described as bisexual because of his former relationship with one of the leading supporting characters who is a woman. Regardless, the sexuality of the characters is a non-issue. Too bad the real world can’t learn from sci-fi, huh?
Taur is a genetically engineered human who is only three standard years old but he and his brothers and sisters were put through rapid aging to gain adulthood. He has been on the run since he and his eleven “brothers” and “sisters” escaped from the scientists who had held them prisoner their entire lives. While being held prisoner they were trained and educated, but also tortured and beaten. Taur has no intention of being captured and forced to return to the living hell that is the lab. When we meet Taur on the first page of the book he is in a cargo bay which has been opened to space to kill him. The book would have been very very short if it had succeeded, so I’ll provide a spoiler and tell you he got out of that one!
Theseus is a hunter. In this far future world, hunter is the shortened term for what we today would call bounty hunters. In the far future, hunters roam the known galaxy bringing to justice the bad folks, from murders to thieves to debt runners. Think of that next time you’re a little late on your credit card payment!
Theseus has just woken up from a monumental drunk session. He wakes up on the ship of his former girlfriend, Phae, who rescued him the night before outside a bar. Theseus still has a few unresolved issues with Phae, since she was the one who broke it off, but Phae has moved on to another woman, named Gabe, and Theseus is ancient history.
When Theseus gets back to his ship he finds a request for a high risk/high pay hunt. He ignores it until he gets up later from sleeping off the hangover. The request is still available, and they are willing to pay a fortune for the capture, either alive or dead, of the runner. Intrigued, Theseus accepts the contract.
To ensure his continued freedom, Taur has just purchased a gun and body armor from what turns out to be Gabe’s shop on the station where he had docked to obtain repairs to the ship he “obtained” after the cargo bay “incident” mentioned above. When walking down the corridor he bumps into Theseus who instantly recognizes him.
The chase is on! But what happens when Theseus captures him? And what will happen when the bad folks who are after Taur double cross Theseus and start firing?
A really entertaining high action sci-fi story is what happens. Taur, Theseus and eventually Phae race across the galaxy looking for Taur’s missing brothers and sisters. Since they escaped from the lab, Taur hasn’t seen them…but he needs to find them because he is the only one who knows that there is a secret buried in each of them that will kill them. And they only have about a month before they will all die!
I really enjoyed this book. It had been awhile since I had read a true hard sci-fi action adventure. I’ll be looking for another soon. I recommend this book if you’re a sci-fi aficionado. One more note…my compliments on the cover. I’ve always been a cover shopper. If it catches my eye, I’m apt to pick it up. This cover drew my eye immediately. Whoever created it did a great job.
RATING: 
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