DAWN

Humans and alien exiles must cooperate and mount a defense of Earth when hostile forces penetrate the solar system.

Wood (The Hoo-Lii Chronicles, 2019, etc.) concludes his Clash of the Aliens pentalogy with a military-diplomatic sci-fi novel. Newbies beware: Readers are presumed to be intimate with all four earlier volumes. Humanity has rebounded from a global nuclear war as spacefarers, thanks to hardworking survivors like Cleveland-area engineer Taylor MacPherson and timely technology copied from the Qu’uda, a salamanderlike, advanced alien race. Their stratified, xenophobic society led an interstellar exploratory team to abandon part of a Qu’uda expedition on semi-anarchic Earth. But more visitors have arrived—the insectoid Hoo-Lii, a hivelike matriarchy, personified by the imperious queen Suh-Joh. When her battle-damaged scout craft was welcomed without violence by Earth in previous narratives, Suh-Joh’s cultural point of view led her to the conclusion that the natives were unconditionally submitting to her as “new servants.” But there are far worse first contact problems. Suh-Joh is pursued under a death sentence by her fellow Hoo-Lii as a dangerous “heretic” and armadas of warships from their home world are on an attack vector for Earth. Meanwhile, MacPherson and his allies in the Space Force are under siege by homegrown political hacks. Backed by Chinese imperialist warlords who parrot Maoist propaganda of yesteryear, they are trying to force MacPherson and his pragmatic pals (human and alien) out of power. In this fast-paced, lively, and enjoyable finale, Wood offers a wide array of intrigues, battles, and retreats. MacPherson and numerous resourceful supporting characters whom series followers have come to know tend to blur in the whirlwind, and some significant names just seem to drop out altogether (or are killed in action without comment). But the author finds the breathing space—just barely—to deftly convey through various ET and human dialogues the bewilderment and ultimate Starfleet/Federation-esque good sense shown by three vastly different intelligent species learning to get along, despite their disagreements and misunderstandings.

A satisfying wrap-up to a multispecies sci-fi saga that delivers plenty of aliens and clashes.