Jodenny soon finds that the warnings she received were more than accurate. Even her most capable staff member, Sgt. Terry Myell, whom she quickly grows to like, was accused (but not convicted) of sexual misconduct and plans to leave the navy in a few months. Her understaffed department is filled with malingerers, hypochondriacs and other underachievers. She immediately seeks to impart discipline and accountability to the department, but begins to suspect that far more serious problems exist among a number of officers and crewmembers. Equipment goes missing, records appear corrupted, there are unexplained accidents, and there is dislike that occasionally erupts into violence between crewmembers.

On an overnight trip planetside, she follows several Aral Sea officers acting strangely, and unidentified security officials try to retain her for questioning. She flees custody and ends up with Terry, who is visiting his family. The next morning, while Jodenny and Terry are driving back to town to catch the shuttle back to the Aral Sea, they visit the local Wondjina Spheres, made by the same aliens who made the Alcheringa, and make the startling discovery that they are personal interplanetary transports with ancient Australian Aboriginal symbols.

Back aboard their starship, intrigue builds as Jodenny uncovers anomalies that appear to indicate a smuggling conspiracy aboard the ship. Her investigations threaten not just her career but also her and Terry's lives. Mysteries involving who in the ship can be trusted, the actual cause of the Yangtze's destruction, the true nature of the Alcheringa and Wondjina Spheres, an apparent connection with Aboriginal myths and the nature of the smuggling operation must be solved for Jodenny and Terry to save their lives, careers and nascent romantic relationship.

Military romance by a promising new author

Sandra McDonald's first novel is a very readable military science-fiction romance in the tradition of David Weber's Honor Harrington novels and various novels by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon. She combines the military knowledge of Moon with the starry-eyed romance of McCaffrey, uniquely flavors it with a touch of Australian culture and Aboriginal myth, adds a broad array of interesting characters and keeps it moving with sufficient mystery and intrigue to make the story compelling.

McDonald's greatest strength in this novel is what appears to be an intimate knowledge of peacetime naval bureaucracies and the problems endemic with them, as well as the leadership techniques that work best to avoid those problems. The verisimilitude of the story and characters aboard the Aral Sea make it clear that McDonald, a former U.S. naval officer, knows this turf and can make it interesting. She manages very well, for a new author, the wide range of characters needed for a story set aboard a ship with almost a thousand crewmembers, and a narrative with numerous plots and subplots. The Aboriginal mysticism gives the novel a unique flavor not found in other similar novels.

First novels are seldom without some problems, and The Outback Stars has a few. Jodenny and Terry are both very likable characters, but they could have been characterized more deeply. (Perhaps McDonald plans sequels that better characterize them.) The main problems, however, occur in the ambitious denouement as McDonald seeks to resolve all of the mysteries and bring all of the subplots to resolution. While the Aboriginal mysticism and Wondjina Spheres add unique flavor to the novel, there are contradictions and lack of clarity that make it difficult to understand their true nature. How do the Wondjina Spheres work? (They appear to operate differently the two times Jodenny and Terry use them.) What is the exact connection between the ancient Wondjina aliens and Australian Aborigines? Are the mystical elements of the narrative real or just imagined? These and other mysteries appear to have been lost or blurred in the fast-paced and otherwise exciting conclusion of the book.

The Outback Stars is nevertheless a very enjoyable first novel that will please fans of similar Weber, Moon and McCaffrey space-romance novels, and it establishes Sandra McDonald as a promising new author in the field.