I don't think you have to be a libertarian to like this book, but it helps. F. Paul Wilson is best known for his horror fiction, particularly his bestselling vampires-among-the-Nazis, The Keep. I rather enjoyed that pot-boiler, but I like his LaNague novels much more--but then I am a libertarian. This first of the LaNague books, An Enemy of the State, deals with a favorite theme of science fiction--a interstellar empire. Enter Peter LaNague and down with the empire, up with the Federation. It's very much space opera of the Star Trek/John W. Campbell kind. There are faster-than-life ships using warp drives and crystals and aliens and even time-travel tech, but above all the first book was economic fiction as much or more as science fiction, weaving in economic theory on monetary policy into the yarn. There's some of that in this second book, which takes place in the middle of Healer, the first published novel set after the events of the first book. I like Wheels Within Wheels a bit more than the first book, which I'd finished just before. I just plain like Jo Finch and Old Pete more. And this feels more like classic space opera rather than libertarian screed. Plenty of action and intrigue.
