This review is also featured on aBehind the Pages: Dust & Lightning

Ames Emerys received official notification of his brother Callum’s death during transport to the planet Kilnin. Accused of murder, Callum was to serve a sentence of hard labor. Ames could not believe his brother committed such a crime. And when Callum is also seen arriving on the planet alive, Ames questions everything. When he begins investigating, Ames receives a travel ban and agents attempt to bring him into custody. Evading capture, Ames sets out to find his brother. Along the way, he will uncover dangerous secrets.

During Ames' journey towards discovering the truth, he encounters a woman named Violet. When he helps her out of a tough situation I was pleasantly surprised to see the two become platonic partners. Though Violet was onboard to help Ames rather quickly, their synergy together was well written. The two complement each other and create a relationship based on learned trust and understanding. There was no romance or need for romance to understand how the two felt about each other, and the respect they had with a growing friendship.

Rebecca Crunden has a talent for creating relatable characters. Emotionally connecting with the characters, readers will feel Ames' need to find his brother, and the ensuing ups and downs they face together. Dust & Lighting feels like the start of a grand adventure. The actions each character aims to take by the end leave a charged open ending. Readers will crave more information. If you’re a reader who enjoys fast-paced short science fiction, give this a try. ( )

In DUST AND LIGHTNING, it’s the year 4054 and mankind has not heeded the warning signs of pollution and climate disaster. Earth is in bad shape, anyone on the planet has to wear masks to survive the smoke and smog, and the rich take spaceships off planet, where conveniently, humankind has colonized ten or so nearby planets. Ames Emerys is a blue-collar worker whose brother Callum was recently arrested and sentenced to hard labor. Ames received a letter that he was killed while being transported to the prison planet Kilnin, except a cousin claims that he saw Callum departing the transport ship alive. Now Ames, with the help of the plucky Violet, who he meets and helps save from unfortunate circumstances on the transport ship, is determined to find out what really happened. I enjoyed all the layers in this sci-fi novella, with detailed world building, nifty details on other planets like slightly altered non-Earth rats, “dust worms”, prison breaks and awesome sci fi battles, and of course, all the seedy things those in power will do when they have powerless people to exploit. A neat read! ( )