In December of 2007, Cassandra Davis lost her younger brother to suicide.  She remember, “We grew up as Army brats, only eighteen months apart in age and constant companions as my father was stationed all over the US and Germany.  My brother watched Star Wars and Star Trek with me, constantly stole my paperback version of “Willow,” and begged me to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation with him when it came out.  He always mocked me as a nerd and a geek, but he said it with just a hint of pride. 

He never got to read Dremiks.  Here is the review I wish he could write.

My sister wrote a book and it isn’t about boring-ass history or some stupid political procedure.  I can’t tell you how shocking that is to me.  You might read this review and think I’m going to sugar coat everything because I’m related to the author.  If you’re thinking that you have never spent any time in the company of my family.  Basically, take any scene in “Dremiks” between Cmdr. O’Connell and Lt. Price and multiply the verbal abuse by a factor of 100.  You might, then, be close to the relationship I have with Cassandra.

I once said my sister wrote the book on sarcasm.  Now she’s written a book full of sarcastic quips, dry wit, and enough “girls are just as good as boys” angst to make any teenage girl fall asleep with “Dremiks” under her pillow.  Boys don’t sleep with books under their pillows, but we’re just as likely to fall in love with the spunky red-headed pilot and root for the constantly maligned Price.  Fair warning, if you like slapstick humour and more action than character development, this book isn’t for you.

When I said before that this book wasn’t about some stupid political procedure, that was a bit misleading.  You can tell my sis has spent time in the halls of Congress with the way she has all of her characters possess conflicting motivations.  The reader of this book should quickly pick up on the theme that human beings aren’t going to stop being political, selfish, creatures once we learn to travel beyond our solar system.  I think the middle bit of the book is a bit too heavy handed with moralizing and introspection, but not so bad that I wanted to quit reading it.

Thankfully, the deep meaning is interspersed in enough action to keep traditional sci-fi fans hooked.  You’ll be wanting to know just how many more alien races are going to show up and start threatening the humans of the spaceship Hudson. And, because she just can’t help it (she IS a girl, after all) there’s even a bit of romance in this book. Don’t worry, guys, the mushy stuff is pretty brief and then you’re right back to space battles and murderous humans.

People who like traditional space-opera like Star Trek TNG and Battlestar Galactica will get their money’s worth with “Dremiks.”  The characters and planets that Cassandra Davis created are detailed and memorable.  That probably means they’ve been living in her head for a very long time.  That theory goes a long way to explaining her very weird teenage years.

Dremiks has been selected as a Top 5 Finalist for Best Indie Book of 2012 in the science fiction category. The contest has been sponsored by Jeff Bennington and the Kindle Book Review. To purchase a copy of the novel, click here: Dremiks.