Prince Xander Rhii, fresh out of the academy and headed for his new post overseeing workers (slaves) on Vertullis, has been called Davi by his mother all his life. Like the unique necklace he wears, he bears the name as a mark of his royal upbringing without ever thinking about it very much.

There are rumors, though, rumors that cause his brutish rival (whose name, Bordox, delightfully echoes Brom Bones to my ear) to call Davi the “folkloric prince.” The rumors say that one of the royal princes is actually a foundling, extracted from a courier ship that one day landed near a royal palace. The palace was occupied by a childless princess and the child was raised as hers.

If you have not already twigged to the fact, The Worker Prince is a space-operatic elaboration of the story of Moses. This is not a new thing (Superman is also Moses), but the epic scope of the Exodus and the archetypal power of its key characters give Schmidt a strong set of tools with which to tell an engaging tale of identity, shame, redemption, exile, rivalry, power, liberation, and salvation.

With great science fiction action sequences.

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