Paralan’s Children is a thoroughly enjoyable cross-genre adventure!

The story focuses on two protagonists: rookie Galactipol Inspector Vera Anemona Staven, a female Terran, and PD Joloran Durim Brunàhgan – a male Paralan investigator. The mystery/thriller is the kidnapping of 15 Paralan female children or “wee-ones,” the disappearance of a highly respected Paralan matriarch (and Joloran’s egg-partner), and the murder of a number of Terrans living in the research station and space port. The Science Fiction/Fantasy is the setting on the ice planet, Paralan, space travel, a matriarchal alien culture of furry creatures (the Paralans), and the male-dominated future Terran society that PIO Staven is attempting to enter.

The author has created an interesting and complex world both on Paralan and on future-Earth or Terra. She has characters from two distinctly different cultures, both of which are disdainful of the other. Prejudices abound on both sides: the Paralans call the Terrans “hairless apes,” while the humans routinely refer to the native inhabitants as “snow bears” and “animals.” This story brings the two cultures together to find common ground as well as capitalize on each one’s strengths in order to come to a successful resolution to the kidnappings, disappearances, and murders.

The setting on Paralan is a harsh one from the Terran point of view, and few human characters venture to the surface of the planet to the frigid temperatures and the company of the native population. Little is known about the Paralan culture by the humans and their prejudices keep them from gaining such knowledge. The same can be said of the Paralans who only suffer the presence of the Terran “tourists” because of the desperate need for ingredient twenty-two oh seven found only on the Terran home planet.

POI Vera Stavens is a plucky young woman yearning to be let loose as a fully functioning Galactipol investigator. She silently and maturely deals with the misogynistic hierarchy and idiot male coworkers while slowly learning her profession. She loves living and working on the ice planet and is glad when she is teamed up with a Paralan counterpart to help find the missing wee-ones.

Joloran is the “not-so-glad” male Paralan counterpart assigned to the children’s disappearance. He automatically sees Vera as a weak link but a necessary evil to gain the cooperation of Terran leads and witnesses. But Joloran is highly motivated to solve this case – one of the missing wee-ones is one of his grand-daughters and the missing matriarch, Munara, is the mother or egg-partner of his children.

The story is chockfull of the day-to-day implications of such two diverse races coexisting and working together from how they deal with each other’s temperature or climate requirements to what a simple “smile” might mean.

I highly recommend this to book to anyone that enjoys their science fiction less technical, their fantasy with talking furred beings, and mysteries with elements of the aforementioned. For me it was total enjoyment.