Book Review: Forcing The Spring

I recently purchased and read Forcing The Spring by Alma T. C. Boykin.  It is book 9 in her Colplatschki Chronicles series (although book 8 has not yet been released).  Colplatschki, the titular world of the series, had been colonized by humans, abandoned by the colonial sponsors, and then struck by a series of Carrington Events that crippled the technology base.  Society, technology, and politics are very roughly equivalent to our early modern period here on Earth.  While this is book 9 in the series, the book does stand alone quite well, and no knowledge of the previous novels is required, though I'll recommend them as well; the first of the series is Elizabeth of Starland.

Forcing The Spring starts with a teenager named Pjotr, who is the Tsar of NovRodi.  As the story opens, Pjotr is not yet old enough to rule, NovRodi is under the regency of his half-sister, whom he loathes and fears.  This is not strictly a personal fear, but a fear for the fate of his nation and its people, who live with a foreign threat his half-sister and here lover are doing little to address. The novel chronicles his trials and tribulations as he grows to become a young adult and deal with both his troublesome half-sister and a deadly foreign menace.

I won't say more about the plot for fear of spoiling it.  It was a fun read, and an easy one. Typographical issues were few and far between, and the prose presents no distractions.  I enjoyed it thoroughly and recommend it.  Even if you're not generally a fan of science fiction, fantasy, or the like, I recommend Forcing The Spring  as a darn good adventure story, and something of a coming of age tale, as well.

One additional comment:  Mark Twain was reputed to have said "History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes."  On Colplatschki, historical rhyming may well be the planetary sport.