Attribute to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

I read Blade of P’na twice before writing this. Once to enjoy, once to write this. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t just my inner fan boy promoting the work of one of his favorite authors.

Blade of P’na is the tale of the adventures of Oasam Otusam, AKA Sam, and his human Eichra Oren as they track down a missing groom, investigate the mysterious doings of the Proprietor, and try to stave off an interdimensional invasion. It also explores the morality of finding a person who wants to be found but may be waking to his death as a result and how one applies the ZAP to a hive species.

Introduced in Forge of the Elders, Eichra Oren is a P’na Debt Assessor and Sam is his cybernetically enhanced canine symbiont/assistant. If I get it right it is a P’na Assessor’s job to determine if someone has violated the ZAP, assign the penalty for this violation, which may be as small as a verbal apology or as great as summary execution, or anything in between, and collect that debt.

Sam narrates this story (as Watson did the Sherlock Holmes stories) and it is interesting read Smith’s take on how a sapient dog perceives reality. The investigations develop logically and the connection between each is properly established.

To avoid spoiling the read for anyone I have tried to avoid summarizing any of the action. I will say that a believable multi species society is created in this prequel to Forge of the Elders, and that they are stand alone novels, you do not have read one to “get” or enjoy the other.

My only regret is that I don’t hear Tony Curtis’ voice in my head when I read this story. That’s me, not the book.

Buy it, read it, enjoy.

Kindle eBook or Paperback from Amazon.com

Paperback from Amazon.com