Book Review: ALIEN MORNING - Rick Wilber

Rick Wilber
ALIEN MORNING
Tor / A Tom Doherty Associates Book
Science Fiction

The year is 2030. Peter Holman was a minor league basketball player. He enjoyed modest success, and fame until a knee injury took him out of the game for good. Left with few options, he took the money he had and invested in an up and comping technology. Sweeping. Connected to the web, viewers tune in to watch live, and pre-recorded feeds as Holman interviews athletes, hits the clubs, and peeks into his personal life.

For unknown reasons, when aliens make contact on earth it Holman they want as their spokesman. His audience following is exactly what they admire. Likeable, they feel he can inform everyone of the plans the S'hudonni have for the planet, and put anxious minds at ease.

It comes down to family, basically. Holman's past is a constant pull on his thoughts. A stern father who never thought him good enough, a sister who spent her life making bad mistake after bad mistake, and a brother who was always father's favorite. Holman knows truths, though, that he has kept to himself since he was a teen. Revealing the information would destroy his brother. The sibling rivalry between Holman and his younger brother is at the center of the story.

The sibling rivalry doesn't stop there. Alien representatives Twoclick and Whistle are at odds as well. The agreement prior to arriving on earth was how to divide the planet. Twoclick, a jovial and happy being is nothing like his brother, Whistle. While Holman works hard at putting earthling minds at ease about the aliens, Whistle destroys the peace, the trust, with aggressive actions that leave countries protesting, and rioting in the streets, putting the world leaders on high-alert.

Exposed to secrets about the aliens, and thrust into compromising positions with his family, Holman is forced to pick through the jigsaw pieces and find out how best to make everything fit! With proven superiority the S'hudonni race can not just cripple, but destroy the world in a war. If Holman can't gain control of the situation, billions of lives are at risk.

Rick Wilber's ALIEN MORNING was not what I expected. It was better. It was more.  His creation of Sweeping can't be far from happening. We're almost there with some of the shelf products, and apps available now. Wilber's narrative is engaging, and easy, descriptive, and tight. The characters are so precisely drawn, that all I wanted was more. More about Holman's past. More about his brother. More about his sister. I wanted more about the aliens. More. More. More. I cannot wait for the next installment in this series.

Phillip Tomasso
Author of The Severed Empire Series, and
The Vaccination Trilogy

Book Review: STARCRAFT-Evolution - Timothy Zahn

Timothy Zahn
STARCRAFT: Evolution
Del Rey
Science Fiction

I have been reading Timothy Zahn books since he started putting out Star Wars novels. There is not one book that he has ever written that has ever disappointed me. STARCRAFT: Evolution is no exception. I do, however, have a confession. I am not a gamer. I've heard of Starcraft, but . . . When I was reading this book, I'll admit, I was Google-Imaging the monsters. Not that Zahn didn't describe everything wonderfully, but because I knew there would be a ton of images out on the net. And there was. And it was extra-helpful.

The War between the Terran, Protoss, and the Zerg is over. It is a time for rebuilding. Trust among the races is limited. After the death of his father, Valerian Mengsk has stepped up as the new emperor of the Terran Dominion. Unlike his father, he refuses to brain-pan marines, and now allows ghosts who want out of the program to leave. Peace, aside from restructuring, is his primary focus. When they receive a vague request for assistance from the Zerg, Valerian is determined to at least try bridging an alliance.

Against counsel, Valerian assembles a small team for the journey across the stars. Marine Sergeant, Foster "Whist" Cray, Lieutenant Ranger, Dennis Halkman, Ghost, Tanya Caulfield, researcher, Protoss Ulavu, and xeno-biologist Dr. Erin Wayland.

The Zerg, a race of exoskeleton beasts like mammoth monsters, are led by Zagara, Queen of the Swarm. She and her evolutionist, Abathur have also been busy since the war. Now living on the plush planet, Gystt, once thought destroyed, they are doing their best to rebuild, cultivating new plant life, and new life in general.

Although Zagara claims the Gift of Choice was given to her by the Queen of Blades, and that her ruling is no longer violence based, but to create an empire of peace, neither the Terran nor the Protoss believe her. They want to, they are just struggling to accept the sudden one-eighty in behavior.

With limited information, Valerian and his team decidedly rely on goodwill and faith when they agree on helping the queen. What they uncover is a trap. Mutalisks, (almost like the grunt soldiers of the queen), and a new race, psyolisks, have some kind of sinister plan in store for the Terran, and Protoss enlisted to offer the queen aid.

On the planet, the ambushes are relentless. It looks like the queen may have employed sneaky tactics to trick the other raises to respond to her pleas for assistance. As Valerian’s team works to uncover the mystery around the pods of infantile creatures, and the odd attack patterns.

With limited long range communications, the fight on Gystt’s surface looks as if it will be one to the death. Unless, that is, they can uncover the truth behind the new breed of monsters attacking them!

Timothy Zahn’s novel (almost) makes me want to go out and buy the Starcraft video games. It does, however, make me wish for more books in the series. The characters are three-dimensional, and clear. I can see them as if real people while reading. The banter, the wit, the frustration, the anger, and the friendship was all evident in crisp, concise dialogue, and relevant narrative.

STARCRAFT: Evolution was a fast ride, an intense journey, and epic tale of war! Loved it.

Phillip Tomasso

Author of The Severed Empire Series, and

The Vaccination Trilogy

Book Review: RED RISING - Pierce Brown

Pierce Brown RED RISING Del Rey / Random House YA / Dystopian On the planet Mars, the world is split into castes, and those castes are represented by colors. Gold being at the top; Reds at the bottom. When I say “bottom,” I mean bottom. The Reds mine the bowels of the planet. It is a dangerous job. It is one they are proud to do. Their mining will one day allow people to live on the planet’s surface. In a way, they feel like they are saving humanity. Darrow, the main character, operates a drill. It requires brains, and skill, and more than a little bit of recklessness. Recently married, Darrow puts his time in on the job, and then enjoys spending time with his wife, Eo and family. There are guards in place, and although the Reds volunteered to mine on Mars, there still needs to be order. Food is scarce. Competitions are devised. Groups that dig deepest win. Winning involves baskets of food and other hard-to-get items. Darrow’s group has never won before. The skeleton visible under his wife’s skin is constant proof of the failure. The need to provide, and protect family is what Darrow clings on to. Eo is more than a strong wife. She is a strong person. She reveals a truth to her husband. It shatters the world Darrow has always known. The Reds have been lied too. Mars is already a thriving planet. Government has kept them in the mines for generations; has let them starve needlessly. Unfortunately, the knowledge shared comes with a price. There is always a price. With it, Darrow agrees to undertake a secret assignment. He will leave the Reds and become a spy. After enduring a year of changes, training and education, Darrow infiltrates the Golds. Now as a Gold, Darrow is sent to school. The school is not unlike The Hunger Games’ battlefield. Except, in Brown’s book –it is worse. Darker. More violent. More ruthless. The students are split into Houses. The Houses are overseen by Proctors. The Proctors report to leaders. At the end of the game there can only be a single winner; a Primus. Each House ultimately needs to pick a leader. The Houses will then battle against each other, until one house is left standing. Until one Primus has control over it all. It isn’t that the other students will not get sponsors after the games. The talented and skilled ones will. It is the Primus will have his pick. As you can then imagine, the war begins at home. Months go by as each House struggles to establish it’s own Primus. From there, Houses are then pitted against houses. Who will win? Which House will be triumphant and which student will be the victorious Primus of the games? If Red Rising is like The Hunger Games — it is The Hunger Games on steroids. Brown has clearly created a world with defined language, and defined hierarchy. The characters are well-crafted. I read the book fast, constantly needing to read what happens next. I’d set the book down, and think about it until the next time I was able to pick it up. A powerful story full of violence. It is intense, dark and infuriating — I loved the Red Rising. Loved it. I and cannot wait for the sequel. Phillip Tomasso Author of the Severed Empire Series Wizard’s Rise Wizard’s War Queens of Osiris