Leena Chirikov is an astronaut (well, cosmonaut to be specific). Finally given the opportunity to realise her dream she has been given the Vostok 7 mission. As she orbits the Earth she sees a strange mirrored sphere. Seconds later she realises that the planet beneath her has changed dramatically from the Earth she had just left.

Soon Leena finds herself in a strange land where she meets another refugee from a different time – Hieronymus Bonaventure who left home to fight against Napoleon and never returned. He is accompanied by a strange creature – Balam – the outlaw prince of the jaguar men. Together they travel through the world of Paragaea looking for a way for Leena to return home again.

As they make their way across the country they encounter a number of strange people and beings; Jaguar Men, Androids and Pirates. At the same time they become closer to one another leaving Leena with a very difficult decision - to stay in Paragaea or to return to Earth.

Paragaea is the latest book from Author Chris Roberson and follows the experiences of Leena Chirikov as she is transported to a strange new world and struggles to find the route home. It has been described on the book cover as a Planetary Romance and this is a good definition. The developing relationship between Leena and Hiero is delicately handled and provides a gentle undercurrent to the main theme of adventure and exploration.

The three main characters are very different in personality and I think this is one of the things that makes this book so fascinating. Hiero is just out for adventure and excitement; Balam is looking for anything to keep him entertained while he regains his throne and Leena is desperate to find the way home and trying to rationalise her strange situation in contrast to her rigid Soviet upbringing.

This was a fabulous book – one that I enjoyed from the first word to the last. Having read a couple of Roberson's books I think he is a very talented author and I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.

Synopsis
Paragaea: A Planetary Romance is the story of Akilina "Leena" Chirikov, who shortly after launching from Star Town in the Soviet Union, finds herself thrown into another dimension, a world of strange science and ancient mystery. There she meets another time-lost person from Earth, Lieutenant Hieronymus Bonaventure of the Royal Navy—who left home to fight the forces of Napoleon and never returned—and his companion, Balam—outlaw prince of the jaguar men. Bonaventure is interested only in adventure and amusement, while Balam only wants distraction until the day he can reclaim his throne. Having little better to do, they agree to help Chirikov find a way home.

In the tradition of the planetary romances of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Leigh Brackett, Paragaea is in fact a "hard" science fiction adventure, grounded in the latest thinking in the fields of theoretical physics, artificial intelligence, genetics, and more. There is a rigorously rational explanation behind all of the unearthly elements, with most of the "magic" the protagonist encounters being the products of a forgotten, transhuman, post-singularity culture that has long since disappeared. Chirikov, a strictly rational Soviet cosmonaut, interprets these as best she can, using the framework of early 1960s science. Being a dutiful Soviet, she wants only to return home to Earth, to inform her superiors about what she has discovered. But she soon finds herself developing ties to her companion Bonaventure that make her wonder whether she really wants to go home at all.