BLUE SUNSET

In Overman’s SF novel, a group of resourceful astronauts on Mars struggles to survive in the aftermath of an attempted genocidal attack on Earth.

In the latter part of the 21st century, a breakthrough NASA Mars mission, staffed with scientific geniuses, negotiated danger after danger while discovering ancient water deposits on the red planet, making life there (past and present) theoretically possible. But there was much more: Coincidentally, Earth transmissions had been received in deep space by the Koombar, a congenitally treacherous and selfish civilization of rat-like humanoids who became a galactic superpower by enslaving (and killing most of) the Trees, a semi-sessile plantlike race whose longevity and empathy made them too altruistic and kind to survive. Now the Koombar, on a planet ironically called Harmony, use Tree technology (faster-than-light antimatter missiles, mostly) to summarily annihilate any evolving, distant planet that might represent a threat to Koombar supremacy. The murderous campaign was carried out in the ancient days of the solar system…not against Earth, but Mars, where insect-like, subterranean hive-minds mastered survival in the harsh environment. Now, the NASA human expedition has reawakened the very last of the Martian natives. Meanwhile, on Harmony, reeling from the failure of their attack, one particularly rebellious Tree hatches a suicidal plan to reach out and enlist the humans in opposing the renewed Koombar malice. The stalwart NASA team, dealing with riddles and enigmas posed by being caught among three different alien cultures, have an additional challenge: On a shaken Earth, a xenophobic and superstitious fundamentalist church gains political power in America, and its dogma assures they will be no friends to Martians.

Overman ably continues his SF series (begun with Blue Sunrise, 2011), though this installment is a little skimpier on the Koombar/Tree backstory. He tells the multi-tiered yarn from a variety of different vantages, including those of aliens (and machine intelligences) with limited or skewed sensory input with which to understand or trust each other. A plethora of pop-SF genre references surface to provide a little bit of relatability for readers less enamored by the hard-science engineering, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology that Overman insinuates into the narrative’s considerable twists, turns and whorls. The plot grows more extreme and audacious in the last act, but the resolution is still a satisfying one, pointing to further installments. Throughout, his Mars-based human ensemble rises to meet the most formidable crises with courage, brilliance, imagination, and creativity. As the team leader, Commander Ki Thon, says, “We were chosen out of all the billions of humanity because we have what it takes to make things work even in the places where anyone else would give up and die. We are the best they had, and now, due to our transition, we are tougher and smarter than ever.” There is also an endorsement of Buddhism, contrasted with a portrayal of Old Testament Christianity backward and cruel enough to make tree huggers of anyone.

Solid SF followup in an exceptionally ambitious, insightful and peril-filled First Contact saga.