Ehli returns in a direct continuation of the first book in the series, Bantam - so don't read this until you've read that. In this book, we follow Ehli as she sets off into space, piloting her own ship, on a mission to find her people's home planet. She's joined by my new favorite character, BEETL. BEETL is an AI drone that came with the ship, much as Ehli did, and the only surviving drone after the events of book 1. I was immediately attached to BEETL because I love AIs/robots/drones/technology with personality. I was so invested in this lil guy! I enjoyed watching BEETL's development alongside Ehli's as the story moved on.

I can't wait to see where this series takes Ehli and BEETL, both in terms of character development, and in the version of outerspace Theodore has created. ( )

Now alone on the ship with only a drone identified as BEETL to keep Ehli company as she navigates and studies dimspace, at long last, they reach the coordinates Commander Chezni had given Ehli—only to find that, although there are Iscillian on the planet (GN803-2), they are not the dominant species. So, while this is a planet on which many Iscillian reside, it is not because it is their home world; instead, it is because this is where they are processed (genetically-engineered) and trained (brain-washed) before being bought (like slaves) and stationed on ships to perform engineering maintenance, safety assessments, scientific duties, and other menial tasks.

Ehli is a bit of a pioneer in this story, as she and BEETL spend an extended time in dimspace, which no one has ever done before. Really, no one ever considered it was possible before and this assumption affected the very design of gate drives, which are designed to only be in dimspace a short time for accelerated travel purposes, then exit once reaching the destination. But, through her adventures, Ehli eliminates this limiting factor on gate drives and takes them to a whole new level.

Along with this extended stay in Hotel Dimspace, and the original tragedy that put Ehli in this situation, come many complications for Ehli and BEETL to sort out. This includes managing the after-effects of the gate drive malfunction that affect Ehli physically, recreating that gate drive malfunction so they can leave dimspace, how to feed Ehli, how to maintain radiation levels in Ehli so she doesn't fade away into dimspace, researching biophasic beings, mysteries surrounding BEETL's spontaneous development of free will and what might be feelings (the parallel storylines of both Ehli and BEETL finding their independence is very cool), creating special clothing to protect Ehli, recon missions to GN803-02 for ship supplies, figuring out how to physically manipulate those supplies so Ehli can bring them aboard, how to bring more drones into existence to help with ship operations without reactivating the protocol BEETL previously ignored to terminate Ehli, how BEETL and the other drones might handle Ehli's "disobedience" in rescuing more Iscillian and not turning herself, the ship, or the crew over to the authorities when they get back to their normal dimension, and more.

As you can see, there is a lot going on in this novella. But, I'm happy to report that all of these issues are resolved by the end! This was an aspect of this story that I really appreciated. Instead of so many books these days leaving threads upon threads of the plot open over the course of several books, this story neatly closes all the immediate issues and mysteries, and ends with a teaser that has me excited for Ehli and her ever-growing crew's next adventure.

I've said before that my observations as a reader have taught me that short stories tend to be harder to do well than full-length novels because the brevity requires a very efficient use of the word count. One of the things I love about Theodore is how she excels in this area. Her novellas may have just as much going on in them as her full-length novels, but they are also well-structured, well-edited, and succinct. She is very methodical and thoughtful about everything she does and creates, and her novellas are no exception.

All of this is even more impressive when you consider how intelligently this novella wrestles with and addresses topics like slavery, what parameters to set around animal experimentation, whether it's ethical for Ehli to reprogram BEETL to forget who Ehli was before the accident because that is easier for Ehli and BEETL is "just" a machine, identity crises and free will versus programmed behavior in both machines and organic life forms, and whether it's fair or right for Ehli to place certain burdens on someone else.

About the sci-fi bits, I think there is good consistency in the mechanics of the world. For example, BEETL is consistently referred to as "their" rather than "it" (I think to emphasize their intended nature, which is to work as a collective and learn from each other, so they can become even more efficient and handy). I sort of came to think of these drones as being similar to the "exocomps" that a scientist brings on board the Enterprise in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which gave me a way to picture them in my mind. Another example is the science-y bits involved. For the more complicated areas of physics, metaphysics, and computer science, not being an avid scifi reader, I am a little less used to these concepts being a major part of the books I read. So, I can't say I always understood everything 100% and could explain the concepts and theories to someone else in detail, but neither could I detect any areas where things didn't seem to mesh or were different earlier in the story from how they were discussed later.

One science-y area I did want to talk about in my own words is what I came to understand "dimspace" to be, as that concept is integral to so much of this story and maybe it will help someone else. I don't really think what I'm describing here is necessarily accurate from a scientific viewpoint, but it's where I was in my head. :) From what I can tell, dimspace is sort of a space between all dimensions—or, perhaps more accurately, it is the space in which all dimensions converge. What this means is that when you are in dimspace, you are existing in all dimensions simultaneously. This concept was familiar to me as I have watched some TV shows and movies about outer space that address the idea that all possibilities that could exist, do exist in other dimensions and planes of reality, splitting off from each other over and over as people's actions and decisions create more and more outcomes. I sort of began to think of dimspace (where Ehli is trapped) as the very center of a huuuuuge 3-D Venn diagram, and her trying to escape dimspace is the effort to leave that central and return to one of the outer circles (her own dimension).

I still adore Ehli. She is my favorite character to come from Theodore's imagination so far. I find her adventures engaging, her experimental and humorous friendship with BEETL charming, her explorations of personal growth and moral considerations intriguing, and the descriptions of how her species communicates (and what it's like for Ehli when she can't do those things) fun to read and imagine. I am excited for her next adventure! ( )