A sturdy entry in an ongoing space saga.
In Lallier’s SF novel, one in a series, raids from ferocious reptilian space pirates test the mettle of space-faring 23rd-century humans.
The author continues his Solar Commonwealth series in this installment, set in the early 23rd century. Humanity is spreading across space with its membership in a widespread “Concorde” alliance of alien worlds, not unlike the Federation in Star Trek. Earth is part of a vast, pan-galactic Commonwealth of advanced civilized worlds, but humans tend to be poorly regarded as junior members—newcomers compared to the more ancient species. Even human-appearing races, such as the blue-skinned Tyndal, are considered to be lesser than the rest. Still, it’s a surprise to human leadership (and their sponsoring aliens, the elephantine, tentacled Ssenn) when the customarily aloof Tyndal propose their own special alliance to share trade, intelligence, and defense. Just as the various players are digesting this offer, attacks hit some remote human outposts and outlying Tyndal routes. The Ssenn reveal the existence of the Krayd, a reptilian race with savage warrior instincts, unpredictable high-risk tactics, and a piratical culture; practically all they have has been plundered from others in and out of the Commonwealth. Defending against Krayd predation tests the barely formalized Earth–Tyndal accord, with many eyes (or eye-stalks) watching. The SF military action (which resembles naval engagements) is excitingly conveyed from the vantage points of the humans, the aggressive Krayd, and the rest of the ensemble cast. Some asides feature series regular “the Regent,” an uncommonly sensible Earth man endowed by the Ssenn with an extraordinarily long life and mythic presence, wisely guiding the Terrans to become responsible citizens of the stars while striving to preserve democracy and oppose despotic intervention. Readers can practically visualize Patrick Stewart in the role, and there’s even talk of building a ship called Enterprise. Ultimately, the novel delivers a diverting yarn of interstellar diplomacy and warp-speed combat strategy: “Now the gunboats scattered as the swarm defender let loose with its own guns, each shot bathing the gunship in sapphire death and causing it to spin in a different direction.”
A sturdy entry in an ongoing space saga.Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 9798421483021
Page Count: 506
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Once again, a highly impressive must-read.
Second part of an alien-contact trilogy (The Three-Body Problem, 2014) from China’s most celebrated science-fiction author.
In the previous book, the inhabitants of Trisolaris, a planet with three suns, discovered that their planet was doomed and that Earth offered a suitable refuge. So, determined to capture Earth and exterminate humanity, the Trisolarans embarked on a 400-year-long interstellar voyage and also sent sophons (enormously sophisticated computers constructed inside the curled-up dimensions of fundamental particles) to spy on humanity and impose an unbreakable block on scientific advance. On Earth, the Earth-Trisolaris Organization formed to help the invaders, despite knowing the inevitable outcome. Humanity’s lone advantage is that Trisolarans are incapable of lying or dissimulation and so cannot understand deceit or subterfuge. This time, with the Trisolarans a few years into their voyage, physicist Ye Wenjie (whose reminiscences drove much of the action in the last book) visits astronomer-turned-sociologist Luo Ji, urging him to develop her ideas on cosmic sociology. The Planetary Defense Council, meanwhile, in order to combat the powerful escapist movement (they want to build starships and flee so that at least some humans will survive), announces the Wallfacer Project. Four selected individuals will be accorded the power to command any resource in order to develop plans to defend Earth, while the details will remain hidden in the thoughts of each Wallfacer, where even the sophons can't reach. To combat this, the ETO creates Wallbreakers, dedicated to deducing and thwarting the plans of the Wallfacers. The chosen Wallfacers are soldier Frederick Tyler, diplomat Manuel Rey Diaz, neuroscientist Bill Hines, and—Luo Ji. Luo has no idea why he was chosen, but, nonetheless, the Trisolarans seem determined to kill him. The plot’s development centers on Liu’s dark and rather gloomy but highly persuasive philosophy, with dazzling ideas and an unsettling, nonlinear, almost nonnarrative structure that demands patience but offers huge rewards.
Once again, a highly impressive must-read.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7653-7708-1
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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