David Herter dazzles in his first novel, Ceres Storm, the leadoff of a series. Herter tells a huge and complex space opera in relatively few words, allowing the reader to fill in the blanks without sacrificing narrative integrity. In this age of ever-larger science fiction and fantasy novels, the effect is breathtaking, an ice cube down the genre's back. Ceres Storm is the story of Daric, a boy whose entire existence has been encompassed by a modest compound on Mars with some orange trees, a lake, his older brother Jonas, and a thinking statue he calls Grandpapa. When Daric is sent on a mysterious errand to the city, he buys a knowledge drink that connects him intimately with the starlines between planets and suns and sets him on a crash course with a startling destiny. For it seems Daric is a clone of the Leader, a conquering hero of yore who ruled the far reaches of space before a vast and powerful nanostorm destroyed much of the inner solar system. A powerful interplanetary cartel, the Kay-Tees, is after Daric's genetic material to reconquer his former empire. Herter blends biological and mechanical detail in a compelling fashion to give the reader a strong sense of distant time. When Daric travels to Earth, he sees the deadly wonders that the engulfing nanostorm has made: With each step the castle became clearer; perhaps it was made of birds, the hundreds winging overhead, flecks of ash caught in clear water, drifting down toward the castle, darkening the red and gold into a hue called Tyrian purple, into black etched with silver, the small arches of windows gleaming like inset jewels, thousands of them ranked up the edifice.... "See what our infernal machines have done." Like Gene Wolfe, Jack Vance, and others before him, David Herter has imagined a far future where humanity is both reduced and exalted. Ceres Storm is a thrilling debut and promises even more amazements to come. --Therese Littleton