Maz’hura: Book One of the Twelve Dimensions

Maz’hura: Book One of the Twelve Dimensions is full of action, violence, tenacity, and love. The book begins with Captain Shirakaya and her crew on a journey through space. Shirakaya is an enchantress who is chosen to lead the ship because of her arcane (magical) abilities. While investigating a lead prophesied by her Oracle about the creation of a protostar, the crew is attacked by an alien species believed to have been exiled from their galaxy years ago by Maz’hura – the Koth’vurians. The scriptures of the Holy Tal’manac state that this alien species will only return during the last days.

The aftereffect leaves the crew in danger of being sucked into a black hole while the Koth’vurians flee to cause further havoc in the galaxy. Because the scriptures are taken literally, no one believes Shirakaya and they call her blasphemous. Within a week, the reader will watch Shirakaya and her crew embark on more adventures as she sets out to prove that the Koth’vurians are real. They will venture to far off planets, meet aliens and creatures, and work to maintain their survival. The captain will lose important things and people in her life along the journey but will learn about herself and the struggle to make something of her life when dealing with close-minded people.

From the first chapter, there is constant action throughout the book. Centeno did an excellent job with using the in-between times to develop the characters and make them deep and well-rounded. As a woman, reading about Shirakaya is exciting because there is now another heroine around in the literary world who speaks up for herself and makes things happen. Depending on your religious views, Centeno wrote the enchantress as a lesbian with one minor sex scene and minimal other references.

The writing is visual and (in this reviewer’s opinion) could be seen as a successful movie someday. While reading, I thought of references to movies and novels that were similar to Maz’hura – Star Wars, The Maze Runner, and the HBO series Dexter are a few of them. Aspects of the Christian Bible were noticed; Maz’hura is a female God, there are “scripture” passages that begin each new section of the book, and the evil Koth’turians will come back in the last days to be destroyed by Maz’hura. Regardless of similarities, the book shone on its own. The amount of creativity that was involved with imagining every aspect of each planet, alien race, and adventure that was recorded is amazing. I’m pretty sure The Twelve Dimensions will be my next series to read.