From Earth to Sel’Ani: A Sci-Fi Tale of Conflict

Aileen Erin’s sequel to “Off Planet” and book 2 of the 4-book series continues on.

498 pages

In the second book of this series, we pick up on directly after the events of the previous book “Off Planet,” and we find Amihanna di Aetes (formerly Maite Martinez) has made it safely on the planet Sel’Ani, the Aunare home world. She had successfully escaped earth. Abaddon, and Space Tech, and is currently living at her father’s estate, surrounded by the alien race that makes up the other half of her heritage. She is able to use her name, is free, and the now heir apparent to the Aunare High Throne.

However, the reality of her situation is much different. She is shattered by trauma, haunted by nightmares, and feels deeply alienated. These factors contribute to her issues with PTSD, due to her time on Abaddon, and she struggles to function in a society that covertly hates the “halfers.” Whenever she travels, she will hear whispers and sees contempt or downright hateful intent in the eyes of the full-blooded Aunare who continue to blame her for the coming war with Space Tech. Her parents continue to insist that she is safe and that there will be no fight to engage in, but the political questions keep swirling. Who is responsible for the brewing war, how much danger will it bring, and whether Amihanna is going to be fit to be the next high Queen.

Most of the book centers on her internal conflict, caught between the poor. The hunted girl she was on earth and the powerful royal she is expected to become, and it’s clear she has no real sense of herself. She tries to throw herself into training and is pushing her body and Aunare gifts to the limit in gyms and combat drills. This was done partly to cope with her trauma, and partly to earn the respect she feels she hasn’t yet earned. At the same time that this is happening, she is beginning to waver between fleeing responsibility and stepping to it, and aware that any decision she makes can tip the balance toward war or peace.

Lorne, who is now openly her engaged partner and heir to the throne, attempts to supporter her while navigating through his own political duties and obsession with securing their future together. His presence becomes both a lifeline and a big source of pressure. Staying with him would cement the path she is on to becoming the High Queen. A role that she is clearly not ready to accept. During this time, Declan has reentered the scene from the human side of it and is pushing Amihanna to reconsider and return to earth to help fight Space Tech more directly, and this scheme that will clash very badly with her trauma issue and depleted trust.

When tensions mount in the royal family and among the factions, an assassination attempt and sinister political maneuvers will for Amihanna to face a choice, flee, or rise to this moment and fight as the leader and hope her people need. I won’t give the ending, but I assure you that it will keep you on the edge of your couch.

I did enjoy this book a little bit more than the prequel. It kept her trauma issues to a minimal and used her nightmares to emphasize how severe her imprisonment was. The story of her being caught between two worlds I found more compelling and it lays out a clear path in how the story will go from this point. They also avoided the corny “love triangle” angles that some stories will use to add some emotion to their plot.

A couple of cons, characteristics of Ami come off contradicting. She tries to play the strong leader, and insists how she never quits, but spends most of the story battling insecurity about what others think of her. The second book does suffer though. It had a lot of waiting around, and the inner turmoil could come off quite annoying. I felt that the gym and training parts in the book were too long and took away from the core of the story.