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The backstory of Cadet Lucinda Hardy, from her time as an orphan to her daring exploits during the Javan War.
The timeline of this novella shifts back and forth between Lucinda’s orphan days, putative “present time” during the Javan War, and her time at the naval academy, with a brain injury and memory reconstruction as a framing device. Fast paced and full of action, it is a solid bildungsroman.
Astronomer Stephanie Bronson discovers a interstellar object approaching the Solar System. It turns out to be an alien spacecraft, soon dubbed “Fenrir”, which remains stubbornly silent. As the spacecraft is decelerating, it suffers an apparent catastrophic malfunction. A bold rescue plan is put in place for the enigmatic alien intruder.
An excellent adventure story with high adventure and solid science. Mr. Flint and Mr. Spoor make the plot flow smoothly, with interesting characters, and very engaging prose. Reminiscent of, and purposefully calling back to, a more optimistic time. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
With his past well and truly in the open, Mike must take steps to secure his enormous inheritance from his adversaries. They run the family trust, abused his mother, and are tied into evil globe-spanning conspiracies.
Mr. Ringo can make reading about legal proceedings and land purchases interesting, and that’s what he does here. There isn’t very much action, and the book seems sometimes like a long political lecture. If you’re a Ringo fan, you’ll probably enjoy it anyway.
Over forty thousand years in the future, humanity is established in the distant Centauri Cluster, colonising it with arkships leaving Earth. The early arrivals evolved into posthuman races collectively known as Celestials. Later arrivals, still baseline humans, are now second class citizens in the Celestial dominions. Finn, a Uranic human, meaning he is a human with some ability to directly interface with Celestial system, is the scion of a wealthy family of administrators on the planet Anoosha. Surviving an assassination attempt, he is rescued by two recent arkship arrivals, and sees in them his future independence. Meanwhile, the Celestial noble families play “great games” of power and influence over centuries and millennia. They value stability of dominion, with upstart humans wanting more independence being a major concern.
Even for a Peter F. Hamilton novel, this one has almost overwhelming scope and complexity. Multiple interweaving storylines spanning decades weave a gorgeous tapestry of future society. However, it is sometimes difficult to know who to root for. Finn is the obvious protagonist, and he definitely grows as the story progresses, but there are so many plots and storylines to keep track of that he is often overshadowed by other events, or unmentioned for several chapters. That being said, Mr. Hamilton’s smooth prose and masterful plotting keep the story going.
Humanity is engaged in a war with a savage and relentless enemy over vast tracts of space and time. Kirin is a paramedic on a human settled planet. Together with his colleague and friend Piotr he enlists in the Livesuit Infantry, composed of elite troops who spend their entire tour of duty encapsulated in suits made of living tissue. The suit is responsible for feeding, waste elimination, and medical care. Kirin soon begins to suspect that the livesuits have much more sinister aspects.
This excellent novella is very much in the vein of The Forever War. Humanity is lost in a war which, due to the distances involved in both space and time, is well beyond the comprehension of the troops. Friends and lovers will never be seen again once separated, and the end goals are remote and difficult to fathom. Kirin’s slow loss of humanity, both mental and physical, is the perfect metaphor for pointless war.
As Lynn Raven and her friends are about to graduate from high school, the Transdimensional Hunter national championships loom. Lynn’s suspicious mind starts to see glimpses of the sinister truth behind the transdimensional monsters, while she also has to deal with bullies, hormones, and keeping the team focused.
The battle scenes and banter are solid as in the previous two books, making this an easy page turner. This installment also develops Lynn’s character, and the storyline in general, moving things forward nicely.
After the events in Time Trials, the team is transported to a new mysterious location in the deep past. Surjan unintentionally shakes things in the civilization they find there.
Unfortunately the first part of this book left me decidedly lukewarm and disinterested, so I have up after about a quarter of the book. The characters don’t engage me as a reader, and unfortunately this particular LitRPG title falls flat.
One night, when best friends Tyler, Jason, and Diane are children, they escape outside from an adult party. As they watch, the stars disappear from the night sky. Earth has been enveloped in a membrane which will come to be known as The Spin. Who created it, or why, is a complete unknown. As it turns out, time outside the membrane passes thousands of times faster than inside. Within a few decades of time on Earth, the sun will have aged to the point of enveloping the Earth, dooming everyone inside. As Tyler, Jason, and Diane grow up and lead their lives, a culture of fatalism takes root, but Jason, a genius scientist with drive and ambition in spades, has other plans for humanity.
The premise is very clever, and the scope is ambitious. Mr. Wilson takes the reader on a decades-long journey, both in the wider story of Earth and humanity itself, and the much more intimate narrative of Tyler, Jason, and Diane, that veers off in many unexpected directions. The trap of a Big Dumb Object scifi premise is not developing it beyond the obvious, but in this case the author certainly does. Where the novel falters a bit is focusing too strongly on the story of Diane’s descent into religious cults based on The Spin, and Tyler’s actions in response. While certainly the eschatological element of the physical effects is worth exploring, it becomes too long winded, and the somewhat tacked-on side story doesn’t do very much to set up Diane and Tyler’s future anyway. The story goes very dark in places, but that, in essence, is what Mr. Wilson is exploring. How would humanity react when the clock is ticking?
After retrieving the data core from the Kantovan Vault, the crew of the Defiance proceeds to an ancient asteroid settlement known as Defiance. The plan is to uncover technologies and equipment to help them fight the encroaching machine intelligence threat.
The story moves forward some more. Mainly this book stands out for the great action sequences, which unlike in previous books where many characters were wearing semi-obvious plot armour, feel like they have very real stakes.
Michael is a thirteen-year-old orphan who grew up in a ghetto, raised by a transexual black prostitute. He is also extremely intelligent and a smartarse. For reasons unknown, he is bestowed with superpowers. The Junior Super Corps enlists him, but he doesn’t quite fit in. In the background, world spanning shadow organisations spar within vast hidden conspiracies.
This is a controversial book even for Mr. Ringo. Michael is an fast talking, clever, precocious youngster with ADHD. He does not fit the establishment mould, mostly because he speaks truth often uncomfortable. While the book suffers from excessive infodumps, especially at the start, and is in perhaps too many ways a platform for Mr. Ringo’s ideology, it also exposes harsh truths about society which many people would benefit from hearing. Mr. Ringo can write engaging prose and good action scenes with his eyes clothes. Writing something that delivers a message while having a terribly contrived backstory is quite a feat. If you’re the kind of person who is offended by strong and controversial opinions, you will be offended. I may not agree with Mr. Ringo’s political views as a whole, but I respect him for approaching and explaining them in an honest and mature, albeit often hilariously smartarse, manner.
Our heroes must venture deeper into Tavalai human space in their search for evidence of a conspiracy against not only humanity, but several other species as well. This instalment involves a heist, breaking into a mysterious vault on a planet with a crushing atmosphere.
There is a bit less character development and more story focus in book three, but the great action continues.
The story continues as Phoenix and her crew ventures ever further from human space in order to track down evidence of an ever-vaster seeming conspiracy against the current order. Old and terrifying ghosts from ancient history, in the form of the Hacksaws, machine intelligences that once dominated the spiral, are found to be very much still a presence. The mysterious and advanced alo race, ostensibly humanity’s allies, seem connected to the Hacksaws, somehow.
The second instalment takes the series more into an adventure direction, as the story itself solidifies into a quest. The crew must track down clues and ancient mysteries, whilst navigating a complex network of shifting loyalties and alliances. The action scenes remain excellent, and the characterisations are solid.
Lieutenant Commander Erik Debogande and the rest of the crew of the capital ship Phoenix are going home. One hundred sixty years of war are over, and a victory parade awaits. Erik subsequently reconnects with his family, ultra-rich industrialists with a keen interest in human politics. But things soon go awry as Phoenix’s captain is framed for a crime he did not commit, and the crew must escape the homeworld, taking Phoenix, in order to not meet the same fate.
Mr. Shepherd builds a rich and intricate universe of shifting alliances and complex national interests, both between the various spieces inhabiting galaxy, and amongst the humans themselves. Past history going back tens of thousands of years indicates that no one is without blame in some way, and every race and faction has skeletons in its closet, including humanity, which itself is still traumatised from near extinction. The action scenes are top notch, especially those involving the marines. One gripe is that the descriptions of large ships, space stations and other locales, while comprehensive, are often a bit confusing.
The fifth instalment picks up all the storylines from the previous books, and adds more. A pair of Bobs discover the abandoned planets and space installations of an ancient and multiracial civilization. Friction continues with various human factions. A new race is found and their civilization explored. The aliens from Heaven’s River deal with digital life after death. And more.
This book is a hot mess. There are far too many storylines, and only two get the attention they need to be interesting. The dragon storyline is neat, but not necessary for the main story. In essence, only the implications of the ancient civilization that decamped is really relevant. There is a lot of time spent in various meetings where various things are discussed, and only the characters’ snarky and snappy dialogue makes it bearable. The whole thing would have been better off as a short story collection, allowing the reader to focus on one thing at the time in depth.
Siobhan Dunmoore is assigned as Chief of Naval Operations at headquarters in Geneva by her old friend Kathryn Kowalski, who is now Grand Admiral. They have set themselves the challenge of setting up the armed forces as a fourth branch of government and moving headquarters to the world of Caledonia. Meanwhile, scheming politician and avowed centralist Sarah Lauzier has become Secretary General. Dunmoore, Kowalski, and their allies feel that continued centralisation of power will lead to unrest among the outer worlds, and eventually plunge humanity into a devastating war.
The concept of separating the armed forces from direct political meddling is interesting, but it also raises many ethical questions, the most important one being the matter of oversight. There is also the fact that the armed forces are taking matters in their own hands, which as stated in the book is unconstitutional. In essence, they are rebelling against the government. The ends seem to justify the means here, as not seeking independence would likely lead to hundreds of millions of deaths and a possible slide into barbarism. The author clearly takes the side of the military but does not really explore the opposing arguments, simply casting the Centralists as meddling and deeply corrupt bureaucrats. A deeper discussion than “our heroes are on the side of good” would have benefited the narrative. That being said, this is a competent political thriller, though the last section felt somewhat unnecessary and only seemed added to bring some extra action to the story. This ninth instalment neatly concludes the Siobhan Dunmoore saga.
Siobhan Dunmoore is assigned to Third Fleet as chief of operations. It soon turns out that she has been posted there to clean up the ineffective and corrupt leadership. Organised crime interests soon try to recruit her into a web of corruption.
An interesting change of pace from the naval action of previous instalments, which was becoming stale, to spy/crime thriller, and well executed. Given the state of the greater political narrative of the series, and Dunmoore’s high rank, having her chase around the Galaxy for more fleet action would have stretched credibility.
Retired army officer and now ancient history professor Arthur Vandenberg, along with four of his students, is summoned to a lab in Austria in 2032. Around them, the world is descending into imminent nuclear war. The lab has perfected time travel, and the group of five finds itself in the Roman province of Pannonia Superior, in the late second century, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. As they hurriedly leave 2032, the final war has begun, and they’be been sent back to change history, equipped with supplies and reference materials. From that starting point, Arthur (now Artorius) and his crew introduce numerous improvements to agriculture, medicine, architecture, and crucially the military arts, aiming to strengthen and preserve the Roman empire and prevent the Dark Ages.
Mr. Stirling is back to form in a fast-paced novel filled with fascinating historical detail. The casual cruelty of the social norms of the time is starkly presented, but in contrast with the barbarian tribes, the Romans believe in peace and thus prosperity. Artorius and the other four “moderns” are all interesting and fully-formed characters, as is their new friend Josephus the merchant. This is part historical fiction page-turner, part history lesson, and goes well beyond any superficial “moderns are superheroes” tropes.
While back in captivity, Aden Jansen is recruited by the Rhodian military to infiltrate dissident elements at home on Gretia. Dunstan Park and his crew find a major pirate base. Meanwhile, things on Gretia go from bad to worse, as Idinia Chaudhary finds herself fighting a losing war.
The story progresses in this instalment, but it seems any actual conclusion is not forthcoming quite yet. Nevertheless a strong book in this enjoyable series.
Following the battle at Trade Point at the end of Artiface Space, Marca and the crew of the Athens find themselves with two alien prisoners from different races, and no end of mysteries about the newly discovered Hin. There follows a series of running battles as the Athens has to fight its way home while trying to gain the support of certain Hin factions.
While it starts somewhat slowly, the novel picks up pace as it goes. The aircraft carrier inspired operations are well depicted, as well as the lack of sleep and free time during combat. The relationships between the crew are maturing and growing, perhaps somewhat predictably. The aliens are very well conceived, truly alien, whilst being driven by at times understandable and at times completely inscrutable motivations.
The story does come to a satisfying conclusion, but many, many questions are left unanswered.
A decade has passed since the end of the Shrehari war, and Dunmoore is facing forced retirement. The postwar years have not been kind to her career, and she has a reputation for stirring trouble by publishing bold and controversial papers on tactics from her seat at the War College. She now leads an audit and inspection team which assesses units for combat readiness. Meanwhile, a cruise liner with passengers on a study mission into frontier territory is hijacked, with the perpetrators abducting a number of members of the ruling class. Through the machinations of Dunmoore’s allies at naval headquarters, she is given the task of fixing the problem.
The decision to transform Dunmoore into a washed-up warhorse is an inspired one, and the machinations at the heart of government are interesting. However, as in the previous instalment, Dunmoore’s seemingly magical leadership powers make things perhaps too easy.
After finally convincing her squadron commander on the merits of wolfpack tactics, Dunmoore leads increasingly daring raids into Shrehari territory, culminating in a decisive battle.
Again as in the previous instalment, this is a fun read, but the real risk to life and limb seems rather abstract, with character assassination the main threat.
Jason Graham wakes up in a strange room, which turns out to be on a massive space station orbiting a newly terraformed planet. Mysterious cybernetic aliens have rescued humans from Earth’s destruction, and separated them along political lines. In the space station orbiting the planet Bellerophon are five hundred million people, all of a politically conservative bent. Jason is a science fiction fan and lifetime tinkerer who soon figures out how to take full advantage of the technologies now available to humanity. He makes his way down to the planet to set up a food business, recruiting old friends and business associates along the way.
There is a lot to like in this book. The premise is interesting, with a new world ripe for the taking but an economic system that needs kickstarting. Jason is certainly well fleshed out, but most of the other characters are cardboard cutouts. The adventures of Jason setting up food harvesting with futuristic tech on the planet are fun. Unfortunately, the novel suffers greatly under the weight of two things. First off, there are numerous infodumps and long digressions that become rather tedious. Secondly, the conservative message is very heavy-handed. I don’t have to agree with the politics of the characters in a story to enjoy it, but this often reads like thinly veiled propaganda, which is a bit much. All that being said, it does feature Mr. Ringo’s engaging prose and sharp ironic wit, which makes it rather more engaging that it deserves to be.
After the dramatic ending of Ballistic, the story starts to move a bit faster. Dunstan helps the crew of the Zephyr with their quest for revenge in an engaging action piece, while on Gretia, Idina and Solveig finally meet during yet another attack by the unknown aggressor.
Not much is resolved in this installment, but the series continues to be entertaining military science fiction.
Under the threat of an unknown aggressor, the system slowly moves towards war again. Aden finds himself unwittingly embroiled in a terror plot and again at the mercy of the Rhodian military, running into Dunstan. Idina struggles with insurgency on Gretia.
The series is still on a slow burn, but Mr. Kloos’s characters are engaging to read about, and just spending time with them is nice.
Five years after waging a system-wide war of aggression, the planet-nation of Gretia is still under occupation by the victorious powers. Prisoner of war Aden Jansen, a former elite soldier from the losing side, is released from captivity on Rhodia, and must start rebuilding his life. On Gretia itself, Idina, a sergeant with the peacekeeping forces, contends with increasing violence. Dunstan, a military spaceship captain, sees an increase in piracy and other events. Finally, on Gretia, young corporate scion Solveig is being groomed to take over the Ragnar corporation.
The dialogue and the fast-paced action scenes are on point. The four narratives don’t really meet in the first instalment of the series, but it works anyway, as Mr. Kloos progressively illustrates out the political and social layout of the Gaia system. A great start.