Book Review: Earth - Last Sanctuary, by Christian Kallias

I came across this series by accident.  I either saw it on Twitter, or I saw it in the "customers also bought" section of another book on Amazon - I can't really remember where.  This is currently a series of 10 books - I got the first trilogy in a Kindle box set for $0.99.  There are a few novellas in the series between some of the books, and there is even a sequel series now.

I checked out the reviews on Goodreads and Amazon - they were mostly positive, although there were some that complained about bogus science, stating that the author should go back to the 6th grade.  This complaint made me want to check out the series anyway.

It made me remember back when Stephen Baxter's first novel Raft was published.  Reviewers made a big deal of the fact that his novels got the science right.  Raft first appeared back in 1991, and science fiction has been around for a long time.  Take the Barsoom series (John Carter) by Edgar Rice Burroughs; A Princess of Mars was published in 1912.  This was a good story, especially for the year it was released, and I'm sure there are all kinds of problems with the science.  I also remember a foreword written by Arthur C. Clarke which indicated that all the early science fiction writers got lots of space science wrong - after all, nobody had ever been there (this foreword can be found in the novel Encounter With Tiber, by  Buzz Aldrin).

I'm sure there are science problems in all of the TV shows I grew up watching:  Battlestar Galactica (the original series in 1978), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), Star Trek (1966), Space: 1999 (1975), The Six Million Dollar Man (1974).  The fact that the science may have been wrong did not detract from my enjoyment watching these shows.

So, why should it effect my enjoyment of a novel?  Such a science argument should effectively wipe out all works of fantasy - they are impossible, so nobody should read them.  Well, given how many fantasy novels exist, I'd say this is a pointless argument - many people enjoy fantasy.  So, why can't we have many subdivisions of science fiction - some which are deadly serious, with correct science, and others which border on the ridiculous but are still entertaining (yes, I'm a fan of The Orville TV show - every bit as enjoyable as Star Trek).

Within the first few chapters, I see similarities with Battlestar Galactica and the anime TV show called Star Blazers in the US (formerly Space Battleship Yamato in Japan).  While reading this book I learned that the author was a big fan of Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, and Stargate.  By the midway point, I definitely saw some Babylon 5 influence, and perhaps some inspiration from the Battlestar Galactica reboot (from 2004), and the mythological elements of Stargate.

It's not a bad thing that these books have elements drawn from other sources.  Some may complain that it is just duplication of other material, but I feel these books definitely put a new skin on the concepts, and there are definitely some original ideas here.  This is an easy, enjoyable read, with some nice surprises along the way - certainly ones that I didn't see coming.  Of all the shows I've mentioned above, would have to say the story style is most like Star Blazers, which means that it also follows suit with many anime from the "Super Robot" period of Japanese animation in the mid-to-late 1970's (Grandizer, Danguard Ace, Gaiking, etc) - lots of escapes and over-the-top action.  Reading this series definitely brought back great memories from my childhood. 

If you are looking for action of this style, this series is a good read.  We get to see the growth of the main character, Chase, through his journey throughout the series.  The friends he makes are explored in depth, and they have interesting backgrounds and motivations.

I'm getting to this review rather late - two years after I read the series through book 8.  I took a break from the series during a difficult time, and have not yet completed it, but I will.  The action continues and the various mysteries continue to be revealed as far as I read - very entertaining all the way.  I can't really say too much without revealing some of the main components of the story, so you will have to read it for yourself.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: Monster Hunter Legion, by Larry Correia

This is the fourth book in the Monster Hunter International series.  The third book, Monster Hunter Alpha, was pretty much a solo mission for Earl Harbinger, the leader of MHI.  Monster Hunter Legion brings back the rest of the crew, including Owen Zastava Pitt, the protagonist of the first two books.  I thought it was great that we got more background on Earl in the previous adventure, and we learned more about his background and his secret condition - but I kinda missed Owen, the accountant who survived a werewolf attack and got recruited by Earl to become a Monster Hunter.

The story starts off with a most of the teams from MHI attending the first International Conference of Monster Hunting Professionals, which is being held in Las Vegas and is being attended by many other companies of Hunters from around the world.  Things start off with a bang, with immediate ties to Earl's adventure in the previous book, and things get kind of messy - though not necessarily because of a monster, and I won't reveal the details.  Let's just say, things are not always as they seem.

You might wonder how can such a conference be held, when monsters and the organizations that hunt them are supposed to be secret?  This is explained in detail, and we eventually learn who organizes the event, and it was a big surprise for me.  There's more going on right under our noses than we are aware of, or could even imagine.  There is a war coming, and we will have allies from unexpected places.

Eventually we learn that humans are, at least, partially responsible for the current crisis - and this is an enemy that cannot be killed by pumping them full of lead.

While this fourth installment brings back Owen, and more is revealed about Julie Shackleford's situation from past events in the series, it has a different tone than the other books, but that doesn't make it any less effective.

This is a good continuation to the series, and I'm looking forward to reading book 5.

Book Review: Remanence by Jennifer Foehner Wells

This is the second book in the Confluence series.  I read book one in 2017 and it was one of the best books I read that year.  I've been looking forward to reading this one, but I've had a large number of books on my "to read" list, so it has taken a while.

Remanence picks up pretty much where Fluency left off.  Jane has a two-fold mission that she is undertaking with several of her former NASA crew members.  First, return the ship which they found in Fluency to its makers.  Second, seek out more of E'Brai's race, the Kubodera.

This story took a turn that I both did and did not expect, which is somewhat strange.  We learn during Fluency that there are a few things going on.  First, all sentient races have been under attack by The Swarm.  Second, there is no knowledge of what started the mysterious plague that wiped out E'Brai's crew, leaving him stranded in the asteroid belt of Earth's Solar System.  In Remanence, we learn a great deal more about what has been going on.

While searching, Jane does indeed find other ships; damaged, with no crew, and frequently with a dead kuboderan floating in space.  This reveals that the plague is not an isolated event - it is widespread.

Ultimately, Jane finds a world, and its populated moon, which have been ravaged by the same plague that killed E'Brai's crew - and, like E'Brai, not a single soul knows where it came from or how it started.  We finally get to meet the aliens who created the ships and harnessed the Kubodera, although they have reverted to a pre-industrial society that is barely holding on.  All of their technology, which was based on the squillae (think organic nanites), could not be trusted after the plague, so none of it is used.

Jane's relationship with E'Brai', begins to change, as she proves her trust of him over and over again, giving him more freedom.  We learn more about E'Brai's race, where they come from, and how they are harnessed into the ships.  As with the first book, there are many surprises when it comes to the relationship between these two characters.  Very inventive.

As a side note, I recently started watching the TV show Farscape, which aired from 1999 - 2003.  In this show, there is a living ship - a Leviathan named Moya.  There is a pilot for the ship, which is physically linked in many ways to Moya, and acts as a middle-man between the crew and the ship.  In addition to having a pilot, the ship also has a control collar, which limits the independent actions of the Leviathan.  To me, this all seems somewhat similar to E'Brai's situation, with his limited freedom and servitude, and his complete control of the ship - although I don't believe the ship itself is truly alive.  I wonder if there is some inspiration here?

At the conclusion of the story, we do learn more about the plague came, and as you could expect, things are far worse than anyone could have dreamed.

Highly recommended read!  I'm very interested in reading the next three books in the series, but the "to read" list is quite long and ever changing.

As always, I'm interested in hearing from fellow science fiction and fantasy readers.

Have you read this book?  What did you think of it?