The Blighted Stars

The Blighted Stars is a lot of fun and a wonderfully written story. Equal parts space opera, scifi-horror, and socio-economic class commentary that even has a cute love story thrown in.

The story is mostly told from the perspective of a Mercator family corporate-prince named Tarquin and a former Mercator family bodyguard turned revolutionary named Naira. The mainstory arc revolves around these two characters reluctantly joining forces to uncover the true horrific nature of the family empire, Tarquin developing greater class consciousness while going through a heroes journey, and an unlikely love story between our two protagonists from opposite sides of the class-divide.

All around well written and a page turner. Although the story is built around classic tropes, it's kept from being stale or predictable by the scifi-horror element tied to the secrets uncovered about the family. I'd recommend this book for anyone who enjoys space opera, scifi-horror, or so-called woke-lit and of course any existing fans of Megan E O'Keefe.