A solidly entertaining and sometimes enthralling interplanetary yarn.
In Bruno’s debut SF series starter, refugees of a cyborg invasion colonize a distant, exotic world only to find bizarre and terrifying new threats.
In the future, humans on Earth have had to contend with an uprising of cyborgs called the Undriel, who are reminiscent of the Borg of the Star Trek universe. Human survivors in a war spanning the solar system wind up making a final stand on Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter. The Undriel overwhelm them, but young mechanic Denton Castus and his family manage to flee just in time by joining tens of thousands of humans in stasis as part of a desperate plan called the Telemachus Project. They take a 300-year flight to a habitable planet called Kamaria, which is “Earth-like, but different from Earth in a lot of ways.” For example, the exotic and potentially dangerous life-forms, from airborne bacteria to a race of technologically advanced, psychic flying humanoids called the Auk’nai, are very different, indeed. In a flashback, a previous Telemachus Project ship lands on Kamaria and its passengers make a tentative accord with the Auk’nai and explore the immediate vicinity, which includes a forbidding, abandoned city. There, a malevolent influence possesses war hero Roelin Raike. The two story threads come together when Denton awakens on Kamaria and integrates into the colonists’ society, where a long-ago incomprehensible crime is a lingering trauma. Before long, Denton also begins to feel the same psychic presence that afflicted Raike. Bruno is a highly imaginative and natural storyteller, conjuring numerous technologies, cultures, and creatures and providing a particularly spectacular ending. SF fans may detect echoes of H.P. Lovecraft’s work, TV’s Babylon Five, the blockbuster film Avatar, and other works; the smoothly polished prose and snappy pace are reminiscent of a no-nonsense master thriller author such as Alistair Maclean. The technology and biology descriptions don’t get in the way of the suspense, and the references to ancient Greek legend sharpen the backstory of Kamaria’s godlike aliens, who do indeed seem mythic. Hall’s illustrations feel like a tribute to the material’s stated origin—a comic book that Bruno created in elementary school.
A solidly entertaining and sometimes enthralling interplanetary yarn.Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73464-701-3
Page Count: 514
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Does the world blow up? Only the most doggedly persistent of readers will care to find out.
In space, no one can hear you scream—especially if the satellites grow cold.
Former naval officer, NSC advisor and war-gamer Coumatos teams up with writers Scott and Birnes to tender a cheerless tale of the near future in which the bad guys finally figure out what makes America tick—namely, anything high-tech. Arthur Clarke’s 2010 it ain’t; as today, it’s the old Hobbesian world of each against all, with a vigorous Taliban and al-Qaeda out there making things miserable in the imperium and a constantly resurgent Iran complicating matters—to say nothing of China, North Korea and a few other assorted states not yet convinced of essential American decency. The war-gaming scenario is this: What would happen if some rogue state or enemy organization decided to go up against the US on the technology front, starting by shooting down or otherwise silencing a satellite? If the US military had no GPS systems or satellite-guided missiles, what of its power? “Few of the world’s intellectuals, statesmen, and military leaders understand the subtle implications of a few satellites simply going silent in the cold blackness of space,” the authors aver. It’s the last subtle statement in the book, which goes on to square off square-jawed ace pilot heroes of the corn-fed variety against be-turbaned baddies who hate freedom—and, presumably, iPods and suchlike. Heavy-handed and portentous (“The room’s skepticism was palpable, hanging in the air like steam”), the narrative develops like a Mickey Spillane whodunit that had somehow landed a doomsday bomb, though with little of Spillane’s grace and class. Part Tom Clancy techno-geekery, part locker-room patriotic pep talk, part western oater in mullah’s clothing, the book grinds its way across the Asian sands and, yes, the cold blackness of space, in agonizing detail best suited to a Popular Mechanics article.
Does the world blow up? Only the most doggedly persistent of readers will care to find out.Pub Date: April 17, 2007
ISBN: 0-765-31379-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Forge
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2007
Ringo lays on the military style with a trowel, but the scenario's sound, with plausible consequences and action that never...
The centaur-like, predatory Posleen threaten a peaceful galactic confederation, to whose member races violence is nigh unthinkable. Finally, the dominant Darhel decide to enlist Earth against the Posleen—meaning that humans will do most of the fighting, the galactics having only relatively ineffectual artificial intelligences capable of battle. Why should Earth get involved? Well, a Posleen invasion fleet, already heading for Earth, will arrive in five years. With their advanced science, the relatively belligerent Darhel supply devastating new weapons, fighting suits, spaceships, AIs, and rejuvenation techniques so that aging vets can be drafted into the struggle. Three main storylines unfold. A squad of highly trained and experienced specialists departs for swampy Barwhon, newly conquered by the Posleen, for an intelligence mission. A huge but poorly trained multinational army lands in the deserts of Diess IV to try to stem a mighty Posleen invasion. Meanwhile, back on Earth, the few experienced soldiers that remain must fight to prevent a social and military meltdown. Nobody yet realizes that the Darhel fear humanity almost as much as the Posleen and will resort to underhand tactics to preserve their ascendancy. Antagonists battle furiously: human against alien, politicians opposing the military, and military old guard resisting the new order.
Ringo lays on the military style with a trowel, but the scenario's sound, with plausible consequences and action that never falters. A spirited, gripping debut: stay tuned for sequels.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-671-31941-8
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Baen
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
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