(This is another review I posted to Facebook before I unshuttered this blog.)

The blurb and publicity for The Stars Undying (2022, USA) make a lot of the fact it’s Cleopatra in Spaaaace. Or rather, Julius Caesar and Cleopatra; followed by Mark Antony and Cleopatra. In a space opera setting. But subtly changed so it’s not obvious– No, of course it’s not subtle. The book makes a nine-course banquet of its inspiration. Which is no bad thing, and not uncommon in science fiction, from Asimov butchering Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1789, UK) and calling it Foundation (1951, USA), Blish doing the same to Spengler with his Cities in Flight (1955-1962, USA; see my review here) quartet, and, more recently and more pertinently, Kate Elliott space-operaficating Alexander the Great in Unconquerable Sun (2020, USA)…

In The Stars Undying, “Alexander the Great” dies but his memories are uploaded into an AI, and that becomes Alekso Undying, a god, and advisor to the rulers, of the people of Szayet, the latest queen of which is AltaGracia (Gracia). Gracia’s sister seized power after the death of their father, but Gracia won it back. With the help of Ceirran, the commander of the Ceiao military, and de facto ruler of the Ceiao empire. The two fall in love. Gracia follows Ceirran back to Ceiao (too many goddamn vowels), where she either charms or disgusts the locals. Because Ceiao is atheist, does not like the concept of Alekso Undying, and is a bit iffy with the idea of Ceirran, Gracia’s lover, controlling everything anyway. Gracia offers Ceirran immortality in the same form as Alekso – an AI running on uploaded memories in a “pearl” (a magical supercomputer substrate type thing), but this eventually proves Ceirran’s undoing. Et tu, Brute, and all that.

Unfortunately, Robin seems to have no sense of scale, and there’s no real sense the story is set in an interstellar empire. Cities are treated as if they’re worlds. Distances are farcical – 24,000 light years to fetch some cheese, as one memorable sentence mentions. Ceirran’s campaign, to conquer a distant world, doesn’t depart until the river that runs by the capital of the Ceiao, also called Ceiao, thaws. They’re going to another planet, what does the local weather matter?

It matters because this is a story told in a limited geographic area – southern Europe and North Africa – and all events and actions are predicated on that. It’s supposed to be a space opera, set in a galaxy, with thousands of planetary systems and worlds. And yet every place mentioned reads like it’s no further away from Rome than southern Spain or northern France.

It doesn’t help that Robin’s inspirations are so thinly-disguised, so it’s ridiculously easy to guess who is who, and what will happen. Admittedly, my knowledge of the period is limited to reading Robert Harris’s excellent trilogy about Cicero (yes, he’s there in The Stars Undying), but even so I had no problem identifying the people involved. From my reading, I also thought Robin’s characterisation of Caesar was far too kind. I know nothing about Cleopatra, and am more than willing to take her, er, take on Cleopatra. But, seriously, Caesar was not a nice guy, and Robin makes him into a romantic hero.

She also gender-flips Mark Antony, which arguably makes him more interesting than his inspiration. But does make her seem a little like, well, Starbuck from BSG (the reboot, of course).

The Stars Undying could have been an interesting space opera, but I think Robin made too many bad creative decisions. The sense of scale makes no sense, and actually detracts from the story. The worldbuilding is good in places, but poor in others (there’s no sense the book’s setting is interstellar). A big thing is made of Gracia lying about how she came to power, but when she reveals the truth it’s frankly hard to care.

An interesting idea, implemented in a way that undermines its source material and its purported setting. I won’t be reading the sequel.