The Cruel Stars: A Novel (The Cruel Stars Trilogy)
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Description
“This jarring, engrossing story of a species-wide fight for survival is recommended for all science fiction readers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
The galaxy was once terrorized by the Sturm, a group of “species purists” intent on destroying any human with genetic or cybernetic enhancements. Fashioning themselves as the one true “Human Republic,” the Sturm cut a bloody swath across the stars, killing billions before finally being defeated and driven into the far reaches of Dark Space. Centuries of peace bred complacency. Everyone believed the Sturm had died out in the Dark. They were wrong.
The enemy has returned and, with a brutal and decisive attack, knocks out almost all of humanity’s defenses. Now on the brink of annihilation, humankind’s only hope is a few brave souls who survived the initial attack: Commander Lucinda Hardy, thrust into uncertain command of the Royal Armadalen Navy’s only surviving warship. Booker3, a soldier of Earth, sentenced to die for treason, whose time on death row is cut short when the Sturm attack his prison compound. Princess Alessia, a young royal of the Montanblanc Corporation, forced to flee when her home planet is overrun and her entire family executed. Sephina L’trel, the leader of an outlaw band who must call on all of her criminal skills to resist the invasion. And, finally, Admiral Frazer McLennan, the infamous hero of the first war with the Sturm hundreds of years ago, who hopes to rout his old foes once and for all—or die trying.
These five flawed, reluctant heroes must band together to prevail against a relentless enemy and near-impossible odds. For if they fail, the future itself is doomed.
“Frenetic action viewed in a black fun-house mirror.”—Kirkus Reviews
Book Information
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Right now, this book is sitting at a rating of 4.17 with around 1600 reviews and i'm sorry to say that i can't fathom how that even happened. I picked it up because of the tagline putting it in between the Expanse and BSG. But I found a mil sci-fi book that's got a potpourri of tropes that is way closer to Gladstone's Empress of Forever than BSG/the expanse. The zombie-virus and the literal space Nazis were especially jarring. The latter don't get any nuance at all and all they function as is as a mix mildly incompetent (when it comes to being competent) and wildly effective (when it comes to elevating our protagonists) villains that just want to cleanse the gene-pool. For whatever reason. Other issues I had were with the ending (which felt unearned, rushed, and not really engaging) and the world-building, which was unsatisfying and relied too much on tropes ... again (space nobles and monarchies, indentured servitude, literal slaves, corporate overlords/megacorps, dynasties etc. how the latter are even compatible with the former never gets touched on), so that the whole thing didn't really feel like a believable universe in the end. Quite disappointing.
Description
“This jarring, engrossing story of a species-wide fight for survival is recommended for all science fiction readers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
The galaxy was once terrorized by the Sturm, a group of “species purists” intent on destroying any human with genetic or cybernetic enhancements. Fashioning themselves as the one true “Human Republic,” the Sturm cut a bloody swath across the stars, killing billions before finally being defeated and driven into the far reaches of Dark Space. Centuries of peace bred complacency. Everyone believed the Sturm had died out in the Dark. They were wrong.
The enemy has returned and, with a brutal and decisive attack, knocks out almost all of humanity’s defenses. Now on the brink of annihilation, humankind’s only hope is a few brave souls who survived the initial attack: Commander Lucinda Hardy, thrust into uncertain command of the Royal Armadalen Navy’s only surviving warship. Booker3, a soldier of Earth, sentenced to die for treason, whose time on death row is cut short when the Sturm attack his prison compound. Princess Alessia, a young royal of the Montanblanc Corporation, forced to flee when her home planet is overrun and her entire family executed. Sephina L’trel, the leader of an outlaw band who must call on all of her criminal skills to resist the invasion. And, finally, Admiral Frazer McLennan, the infamous hero of the first war with the Sturm hundreds of years ago, who hopes to rout his old foes once and for all—or die trying.
These five flawed, reluctant heroes must band together to prevail against a relentless enemy and near-impossible odds. For if they fail, the future itself is doomed.
“Frenetic action viewed in a black fun-house mirror.”—Kirkus Reviews
Book Information
Posts
Right now, this book is sitting at a rating of 4.17 with around 1600 reviews and i'm sorry to say that i can't fathom how that even happened. I picked it up because of the tagline putting it in between the Expanse and BSG. But I found a mil sci-fi book that's got a potpourri of tropes that is way closer to Gladstone's Empress of Forever than BSG/the expanse. The zombie-virus and the literal space Nazis were especially jarring. The latter don't get any nuance at all and all they function as is as a mix mildly incompetent (when it comes to being competent) and wildly effective (when it comes to elevating our protagonists) villains that just want to cleanse the gene-pool. For whatever reason. Other issues I had were with the ending (which felt unearned, rushed, and not really engaging) and the world-building, which was unsatisfying and relied too much on tropes ... again (space nobles and monarchies, indentured servitude, literal slaves, corporate overlords/megacorps, dynasties etc. how the latter are even compatible with the former never gets touched on), so that the whole thing didn't really feel like a believable universe in the end. Quite disappointing.