This is a goofy sci-fi novel about a human colony on a distant planet called Molorthia Six. (Warning: It's a humorous story, but there IS violence, death, and destruction.)
*****
When humans arrived on Molorthia Six 100 years ago, to establish a colony, they chose to settle in the planet's northern forests. Unfortunately, the woodlands were already home to a native species of tree-like creatures called the 'Greens.'
The Greens drove the humans into the hot dry deserts. Now, Molorthia Six has a population of 100,000 humans spread through nine desert towns.
One of the human cities, called Richmond, has a mayor named Carolyn Kaur......
......and a sheriff named Dalton Kane. Sheriff Kane is a florist by profession, but took the sheriff's job because he thought 'nothing ever happens around Richmond', and he'd have plenty of time to do his crossword puzzles.
Sheriff Dalton was sadly mistaken though, and he shudders when he thinks back to what occurred five years ago when "People rented out [an] oasis for a big family reunion. They had games, campfires, barbecues, you name it. Everyone was having a grand time until the Greens showed up." The Greens attacked, with dire consequences.
Out of forty-eight people, forty-six perished (including Dalton's wife and two children), and Dalton had his arm ripped off and eaten by a Green right before his eyes. (Dalton's arm was since regrown.)
Greens still invade human settlements on occasion, and people fight them off with flamethrowers and weed killer. This has been happening more frequently lately, since fires broke out in the northern forests.
Sheriff Kane needs a deputy to help safeguard Richmond, and he gets one when a salesman called Chumley Fanshaw shows up in Richmond.
The town has a 'No Solicitation Ordinance' and after Chumley is arrested, Kane makes him a deputy, much to Chumley's dismay. Deputy Fanshaw can't shoot straight and knows nothing about law enforcement, but he's gutsy.....and has some BIG secrets.
At one point, Mayor Kaur dispatches Kane and Fanshaw to the northern forests, to see what's causing the fires and to check out what's going on up there. The sheriff and the deputy run into trouble, after which they get embroiled in a dangerous adventure.....and then an epic battle in Richmond.
Sheriff Kane has to become a military leader (of sorts) and most of Richmond's population joins the fray.
The novel has an array of interesting characters, including:
Cadu Mão de Ferro - the very capable emergency operator at the Sheriff's Department;
Errin Inglewood - Mayor Kaur's androgynous personal assistant;
Durmeet Singh - who plays the guitar; and Lennon McTavish - who plays the bagpipes. These fellows step up in a pinch.
Summer Kane - the sheriff's widowed sister-in-law, who owns a motor home. She lost her family when the Greens attacked.
Gwendolyn Goldbarb - a gray-haired woman who has prescient 'daydreams' after getting lost in the desert;
Mysterious beings in white hooded robes, who seem to appear and disappear; and more.
I enjoyed this entertaining story, which is being promoted as the first book in a series; I'd be curious to see what happens next.
Thanks to Netgalley and J.S. Bailey for a copy of the book.
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