Elder Race

 Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 201 pages.

Lynette Fourth Daughter is a princess who isn't respected by her family, or pretty much anyone. But when a demon starts terrorizing neighboring kingdoms and she's the only one who believes the refugees she decides she has to take matters into her own hands and invoke the pact her family made generations ago with a wizard, the last of the elder race. Nyr is an anthropologist second class, and he is NOT supposed to interact with the local population. But he's been abandoned for centuries, and does it really count as interference if the problem didn't arise from within the population he's studying?

This book is so cool. It is told in alternating chapters, one half being firmly in traditional swords and sorcery fantasy and the other being the type of sci-fi that involves colony ships and computers that interface psychically. It manages to pull this off while both characters are on the exact same trip. I'm astounded at how well done this is, and the little novella honestly reads like a much longer book. I think I'm going to have to look into other works by the author, because I'm thoroughly impressed, and very curious what he can do with a full length book.