A somewhat standard-issue premise effectively commanded by a fan of the genre.
In Lallier’s first flight in a new military SF series, humans in deep space go from joint Earth-alien war games to the real thing when they answer a distress signal.
This story is set in 2144, when humankind is a discounted, junior member of a vast space “Commonwealth” of spacefaring civilizations. They’re somewhat friendly with the Tyndal, blue-skinned humanoids who superficially resemble earthlings and play a mentoring role; however, they often come across as curt, aloof, and suspicious due to their mystical and highly logical nature. Their war games are strained when the humans realize that their Tyndal opponents have been cheating by using long-embedded surveillance devices. Then the humans’ instruments detect a weak distress signal, indicating an attack in territory that’s under the control of the Ssenn—a race of headless quadrupeds whose wisdom and technology even the Tyndals respect. At the insistence of the Earth’s Regent, the war games’ ships divert to Ssenn space on a rescue mission—one that not only strains treaties, but also becomes a violent conflict with alien raiders, and self-doubting Rear Adm. Jason Ngene is in the thick of it. The author specifically credits the original 1960s Star TrekTV series as a major influence, and the human-Tyndal relationship here certainly recalls the one between humans and Vulcans on that classic show. However, the material also calls to mind a number of other favorite SF franchises with its mix of interplanetary diplomacy, derring-do, and troopship maneuvers, including David Weber’s Honor Harrington novels, Larry Niven’s tales of the Man-Kzin wars, and Ian Douglas’ Star Carrier series. The essential thrust of the narrative is also familiar for the subgenre—a crisis test in which Earth soldiers must exhibit proper courage, brains, and judgment to prove they can take their place among more advanced alien cultures. But despite its familiarity, Lallier executes the mission successfully, and indeed, once things get underway the pace doesn’t let up. The plotline, which emphasizes duty, ethical choice, and sacrifice, avoids any romance or unexpected twists, but the author manages to wrap up this installment with a satisfying conclusion.
A somewhat standard-issue premise effectively commanded by a fan of the genre.Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-70698-732-1
Page Count: 314
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
PROFILES
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
An unforgettable story of survival and the power of friendship—nothing short of a science-fiction masterwork.
Weir’s latest is a page-turning interstellar thrill ride that follows a junior high school teacher–turned–reluctant astronaut at the center of a desperate mission to save humankind from a looming extinction event.
Ryland Grace was a once-promising molecular biologist who wrote a controversial academic paper contesting the assumption that life requires liquid water. Now disgraced, he works as a junior high science teacher in San Francisco. His previous theories, however, make him the perfect researcher for a multinational task force that's trying to understand how and why the sun is suddenly dimming at an alarming rate. A barely detectable line of light that rises from the sun’s north pole and curves toward Venus is inexplicably draining the star of power. According to scientists, an “instant ice age” is all but inevitable within a few decades. All the other stars in proximity to the sun seem to be suffering with the same affliction—except Tau Ceti. An unwilling last-minute replacement as part of a three-person mission heading to Tau Ceti in hopes of finding an answer, Ryland finds himself awakening from an induced coma on the spaceship with two dead crewmates and a spotty memory. With time running out for humankind, he discovers an alien spacecraft in the vicinity of his ship with a strange traveler on a similar quest. Although hard scientific speculation fuels the storyline, the real power lies in the many jaw-dropping plot twists, the relentless tension, and the extraordinary dynamic between Ryland and the alien (whom he nicknames Rocky because of its carapace of oxidized minerals and metallic alloy bones). Readers may find themselves consuming this emotionally intense and thematically profound novel in one stay-up-all-night-until-your-eyes-bleed sitting.
An unforgettable story of survival and the power of friendship—nothing short of a science-fiction masterwork.Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-13520-4
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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