Crown Chasers (book 1) and Throne Breakers (book 2) function as Act 1 and Act 2 of a single, epic story with the same characters and timeline, rather than as two distinct books. Alyssa Faroshti (aka Captain Farshot) is the niece of the emperor, who rules 1,001 planets over a massive empire. But Alyssa has no interest in imperial politics, choosing instead to captain a small ship for the Explorer’s Society, where she can travel the stars and seek adventure. 

When her uncle suddenly dies from a mysterious illness, Alyssa chooses to enter a crown chase, an Amazing Race-style scavenger hunt but in space. The heirs to each of the empire’s six prime families race around the quadrant, following clues and facing roadblocks and other challenges in their quest to find the royal seal and claim the throne. But when faceless, teleporting, cloaked assassins start threatening the lives of the heirs and their companions, they realize that the stakes of this crown chase are much higher than they thought.

While both books have plenty of action, Crown Chasers focuses more on character development and has a lot of interesting things to say about family history, class, and how much these factors control our place in the world, whether we want them to or not. Throne Breakers focuses more on plot, and tries to show what it might look like to put abstract ideas about history and identity. I think the two books work well together by encouraging the reader to think about similar issues from multiple perspectives.

In some ways, the universe created by Rebecca Coffindaffer is like Star Trek, in that a central government supports scientists and explorers with the ultimate goal of expanding the reach of said government. But unlike Star Trek, there isn’t much Homo sapiens supremacy in this universe, which was refreshing. There is certainly rampant political and economic inequality. But multiple sentient species coexist in all corners of the empire and at all levels of power, and there are few suggestions of humans being naturally superior to others. And it is kind of expected that everyone knows basic facts about other species, including their biology, bits of language, and culture. It’s kind of nice to have a sci-fi universe where differences are accepted and respected.

I enjoyed the chararacter Edgar Voles. He’s a villain who’s not motivated solely by money or power. Coffindaffer shows us his humanity, how he has struggled through loss and loneliness and hardship. Edgar and NL7 (his droid companion) are relatable enough that I found myself almost rooting for them, even as they did bad things. Edgar feels unease, guilt, and other conflicting emotions over what he does, meaning he has a heart. At the same time, he never has a cliché moral awakening, and he never joins the “good side”. He gets a bit of redemption at the end, but even then his motives are questionable. All of this made him more three dimensional, and helped me take him more seriously as a character. It also helped me relate better to the protagonists.

In the end, Edgar just wanted to be seen and to be loved, like everyone else. He wanted to feel like his life had purpose, and that everything he’s been through and everything he’s done will be worth it in the end. Having Edgar in these books makes them not just a story of good vs evil, but a process of deconstructing oppressive systems and building something new, where more people can be seen and respected and loved.