I recently purchased The Outer Rims by Clint Morey of Amazon for two dollars. It was originally published serially on Amazon and I purchased the entire novel. I had never heard of Clint Morey or this novel before, but the description sounded interesting, so I gave it a go. The book was a surprise.
I like the idea of expansion of the human race by colonizing space, and this book plays upon that idea. Whereas some books glorify expansion, The Outer Rims makes it slightly gritty. Matthew Wallace is a Marshall who typically works on "frontier" planets. Then, his wife gets cancer and he takes a job at a medical resort that miraculously cures diseases. The resort is full of the most luxurious things in the universe, but Wallace is used to the roughest of things.
The gritty part comes not just from Wallace's past, but also from the parts of the planet that isn't the resort. The wilderness is inhabited by a local race. Some of the race has made a treaty and live alongside the humans (but not as anything close to equals), but the rest still hide in the wilderness. The conflict of the novel comes from the conflict between the humans on Altair, and the native Ananke.
The world is well created. The characters are well done. The story is interesting, fast-paced and makes you have to know how the book ends. While reading it, it reminded me somewhat of the TV show Firefly and there is a robot that is reminiscent of a combination of RD-D2 and C-3PO. Those two things were something I enjoyed, but not everyone would always agree. Some people would say that it isn't original and therefore it can't be good. I don't agree. I would have to say this book is a Bargain Read. Lovers of the genre who can make it through a book in a night should take a look at this one. People who need a lot longer to read books may want to be a little more selective with the books they choose.
