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Unfamiliar Territory by Nina Osier
Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1-4010-0297-8
Reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of Silent Screams
The book starts off with a bang, literally. Admiral Renata Colby, no a science adviser and her coxswain MacKenzie on a scientific mission, are the guests of new members to the Council of Worlds, the Harami, when the shuttle they are in crashes on Sacorra 6.
The Harami have been changing the climate on Sacorra 6, to make it more suitable for themselves, they need a very warm climate, warmer than what would be comfortable for humans. The two Harami piloting the shuttle die in the crash, and Colby and MacKenzie are injured.
The next morning, they discover that there was something the Harami forgot to mention to the Council of Worlds. Sacorra 6 is a planet that cannot be scanned for life forms, but Sacorra 6 is already inhabited by the People. People who claim be descendants of people from a place called Terra, Earth.
These people are living at the tribal level and are appalled that Colby and MacKenzie have spent the night alone together, when they are not mated. A hasty wedding ceremony follows, and Colby and MacKenzie have no choice but to go along with the charade in order to stay alive, but as time goes on and no sign of rescue, they come to trust one another and love one another, even though Colby has a lover back home, a female lover, and she is sure the People wouldn't be too pleased to hear about that.
As the months pass, the planet is heating up and they realise that the human life will not survive there for much longer, nor will any Harami, their climate changing has spiralled out of control and they are all in danger. And then they discover why nearly every shuttle trying to land on Sacorra 6 crashes...
Although a science fiction novel, the plot doesn't get too much involved with lots of scientific jargon that is difficult to understand, instead it features more on the characters and how they interact with each other in a place with people so much more different than themselves.
It's a well written book, with a depth of characters that you come to care about and worry what will happen to them. A great read.