Whispers In The Stars (Mass Market Paperback)

Zara is gifted with what I would call Active Empathy. She has the ability to reach out and touch the minds of her people and "feel" their thoughts and emotions. Since she is the queen and high priestess of her faith, she is the most powerful wielder of this gift. Logan is aware that his wife is different, but he can never seem to grasp how until the very end of the book, where he suddenly sees the light. The relationship between the two is guarded at best with Zara unwilling to completely "bare" her mind/soul to her husband and Logan incapable of trusting his wife until she "shows" her loyalty by revealing the whereabouts of the hidden rebels. Zara's faith makes it impossible for her to reveal the rebels location, "A promise given is a promise kept". Logan, due to his military upbringing feels his wife either sides with him or she is a traitor to the Council.

There is no action in this novel. The only nod to a futuristic setting is the "honeymoon" trip to a mining colony in order to open Zara's naïve mind to the dangers that exist outside her nice, bland world. This futuristic romance should have been set in the Middle Ages with a battle seasoned knight and druidic priestess. The secondary characters were flat and in no way do I feel, based on the closed minds/hearts of the main characters, that they at anytime developed a meaningful love for each other. When did this wonderful feeling happen? When she couldn't trust him to open her mind? When he couldn't trust her to believe her constantly voiced reassurances that the rebels were no [danger] to the Council?

Spiritual faith plays a big part in this tale and in the conflict that exists between Zara and Logan. His inability to understand and accept Nubria's god(s) is a stumbling block that Zara can't get past. But to be fair to Logan, at no time during this narrative does Waddell explain their religion. Zara prays and chants, leads her people in blessings and prayer circles and attempts to spiritually heal her people (but they are so good what is there to heal?). She takes pilgrimages to pray to god(s) that either have no name or the names have been forgotten (Huh..for a people so steeped in religion, how did they manage to forget their god's name?) The only thing I can say about their beliefs is that they must be born with them because it certainly can't be explained to a non-believer. And how does Zara's gift entitle her to be High Priestess? Yes, it may help her in understanding the troubles of her followers, but why is it a requirement?

The story is riddled with inconsistencies. The Galactic Guard has space transports, Watchtowers and laser pistols, yet they regularly use and carry swords?? Zara's gift is "not telepathy" but the ability to feel another's thoughts, yet in the book she "talks" with her mentor, Nessa, and engages in mind speak with her husband during one love scene in a grotto?? Most of Zara's duties as Queen involve meeting planetary dignitaries as well as envoys and Nubria regularly trades with the other Council planets, yet she has no understanding of the [danger] her Utopian world is faced with by the greedy Pharmons?? Why was Logan chosen to be the one to marry Zara and thereby rule a planet as King? He had no distinguishing battles to his credit, he didn't hail from a long line of deposed rulers and as far as the reader knows no high ranking official owed him a favor. The only reason given in the book is because of his success with women ...

All in all I was extremely disappointed. The story crawled, was very predictable and the anti-climatic ending made the whole premise obsolete. Why didn't Zara just tell the truth about the rebels in the first place and thus avoid the whole sorry mess??

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