Who says Christian science fiction has to be predictable and boring? A Star Curiously Singing by Kerry Nietz is a first-rate sci-fi thriller with a plot that’s completely original and it definitely isn’t boring. The story is set in the not-too-distant future when the religion of Islam rules the world and a rigid class system has gone into effect. Our main character, Sandfly, is a low-class debugger. That means his whole existence is defined by his enhanced abilities to program and repair artificial intelligence. When a robot goes crazy on a government spaceship, Sandfly is brought in to find out what went wrong. What he finds is much more complex and dangerous than he’d expected, even in his wildest dreams.

I found A Star Curiously Singing to be a well-written and intelligent novel. Author Kerry Nietz has a down-to-earth straight forward writing style that I found refreshing. His characters feel real and interesting, especially the main character, Sandfly. The story is written in first-person and by mid-novel, I’d become deeply invested in what would become of such a likable yet flawed individual. Another thing I found fascinating was the science. Part of being a debugger is living with a computer chip that has been surgically implanted in his brain. That chip allows debuggers like Sandfly to access a futuristic version of the internet, all within his head. The author has a past working as a computer programmer and it shows in his descriptions of this future technology. The believable science along with great characters, an original setting, and the author’s smooth writing style make A Star Curiously Singing an outstanding book that’s a lot of fun to read.