FORBIDDEN SUNS

Final part of Clark’s (Forgotten Worlds, 2017, etc.) The Silence, a widescreen, all-action military/space opera trilogy in which giant alien jellyfish called the Blue-Blue-White threaten to exterminate all sentient life in the galaxy.

Last time out, a small detachment of ships commanded by 300-year-old invincible ex-Navy pilot Aleister Lanoe encountered the Choir, a tiny remnant of an alien civilization that has survived, but only just, repeated attacks by Blue-Blue-White robot drones. The Choir can open up space-time wormholes, so Lanoe demands to be sent to the Blue-Blue-White’s home system—not that he cares about the existential threat; he just wants revenge. The Choir duly oblige. Unfortunately, a squadron of ships dispatched by hostile interstellar megacorporation Centrocor slips into the wormhole in pursuit. At the far end, there’s no sign of the Blue-Blue-White, so Lanoe’s first order of business will be to defeat the superior Centrocor fleet. No problem, right? However, it turns out that the Choir not only sent them thousands of light-years across space, but half a billion years into the past! True to form, the pace picks up on the first page and never slackens as our heroes face overwhelming odds—remember the old “Space Invaders” games?—and sustain crippling damage. Favorite characters from the previous books pop up, of course, doing what they do best: artificial intelligence Tannis Valk has the useful ability to copy and install himself in ships and space suits; annoying traitor Auster Maggs continues his oleaginous wiles; and straight-shooting executive officer Marjoram Candless wonders if Lanoe’s going totally bananas. Major new plot wrinkles (the time travel thing in particular) plus fresh menaces (alien reinforcements, mutinies, mad hallucinations) on every page avert any danger of predictability.

The whole impressive enterprise roars and rattles along, thrilling, relentless, gripping, and utterly improbable: pure delight for fans.