Crossing The Ice | Book One of the Aegis Heresy

It was supposed to be a milk run, a simple shakedown cruise between the worlds to deliver an Ambassador, but it became so much more. Now Janis and the crew of the Aegis find themselves battling an ancient conspiracy that defies everything they understood about their worlds. Yet even that pales against the monstrous forces that hide in the depths of the Dead Planet, ready to shatter their entire world... Janis, the new Trirerarch of the Terosian quadrireme Aegis, isn't looking for trouble, but it's finding her. Seeking the link between the strange pirate attack and suicidal terrorist attack she witnesses, she uncovers a deadly conspiracy hidden beneath the world she knows, one that has pulled her world's strings for all of history. A deadly current is driving the worlds towards disaster and Janis may be the only one to stop it, if she can find the answers to questions she doesn't even know how to ask. During her quest, she assembles a diverse crew from across the species, pulling elves, dwarves and even a goblin into a motley mess of conflicting races and beliefs that is an argument waiting to happen. She's got her work cut out for her, especially as half want the other half dead. If she can hold them together and if she can point them in the right direction, she might have been able to stop what she thinks is coming, but what waits for her on the Dead Planet is beyond her imagination. Only a desperate gamble and the fleets of every species can stop the nightmare that boils out of that forsaken world and Janis will find herself at the tip of the spear as she seeks to expose the lies she's taken for granted her entire life. Yet even that might not be enough to melt the Dead Planet's corpse-filled ice....

Timothy Maguire is a young author of Science Fiction and Fantasy. An avid gamer, he often tries to create stories that are as unique as the worlds on his table.

This is new redraft of my fantasy space opera. Heavy on the fantastical, it's hopefully something very different to the normal offerings. If you're reviewing this, firstly: thanks! Secondly, I'm trying to work out how much of this I'm getting across coherently, so if it's too fast or doesn't make any sense, let me know!