The Golden Queen was one of those books that had all the makings of a wonderful story, but just didn't have the publicity to rise very high in the ranks of Science Fiction masterpieces. While this story has been rudely criticized for it's style (a sweeping adventure by a team of characters that covers a myriad of worlds) many elements of the story are freshly original and would easily translate into a motion picture blockbuster.

For those who are unfamiliar with the story, the general buildup of events goes as follows (I will leave out as many spoilers as possible). Gallen O'Day, a body guard and sort of a knife-for-hire lives on a backwards planet (an intentionally technologically regressed world among a community of highly-technological worlds) lives an exciting but somewhat directionless life. He is caught up in a dangerous adventure of galactic proportions when a young queen, named Everynne, shows up with her Lord Protector, Verraisse, on a mission to survive long enough to challenge a race of alien invaders, called the Dronon, to single combat to win back freedom and safety for the entire human race.

Some amazing technologies are introduced, such as the "Terror" a small nanite-bomb that releases billions of microscopic machines that can literally devour all life on the surface of a planet. Also introduced is the concept of genetically enhanced bears, futuristic chemical rifles that fire intense consuming incinerating liquids (somewhat reminiscent of Greek fire), a computer world that can control the defensive systems of thousands of planets, brain controlling devices called "guides", and brain enhancing devices called "mantles", among other things.

The Dronon are a remarkably complex race living in communities much similar to bees, except this insectoid race wields incredible technology and rules other races with brutal efficiency. Each dronon is also incredibly superior to humans in hand-to-hand, or claw-to-claw combat, and are a very scary but very logical enemy.

Gallen O'Day is an iconic character, surprisingly unlike other leading male characters I usually see on the big screen. His atypical and outside-of-the-box thinking leads this character into some amazing victories over insurmountable challenges.

This story, while not introducing the edgy mind-twisting cerebral garbage that many of the sci-fi critics hail as brilliant and necessary, has all the elements and creativity to create a wonderfully complex universe with enormous theatrical potential. This story is definitely a summer blockbuster wrapped in the humble bindings of a run-of-the-mill sci-fi paperback. It is underrated, under-appreciated, and has spent way too much time in science fiction obscurity.

I really hope some gifted director gets a hold of this book and makes a good pitch to some studio out there. This story is much too richly crafted to remain on the bookshelf.

As a side note, the sequels were not written nearly as well, the third book being quite a disappointment. If this was to become a movie series, the directors and producers are best off just reinventing the second two books, but that shouldn't be hard.