Humanity is saved. But its troubles are just beginning.To achieve their extraordinary triumph over the invading Metigen armada, humanity put aside its myriad of political and social conflicts and united against a common foe intent on annihilating civilization. In victory, unparalleled peace and prosperity are theirs for the taking—if they can keep hold of them.When the secrets behind the daring … them.
When the secrets behind the daring plan that defeated the Metigens begin to escape the shadows, the very people who won the war find their lives in danger. Facing anti-synthetic terrorists who want them dead, power-hungry politicians who want them chained, and a rapidly dwindling number of people they can trust, the Prevos—human/synthetic meldings who shouldn’t exist—must take their fate into their own hands, and with it the fates of everyone.
51 Portals. 51 Universes. One mysterious gateway connecting them all.
In Aurora Rising, humanity discovered it was not alone—but few grasp the true magnitude of the discovery. Intent on learning the purpose behind the Metigens’ elaborate multiverse network, Alex Solovy, Caleb Marano and Valkyrie embark on a gripping journey through the network’s portals, each one leading to a universe not their own. In a mosaic of spaces inhabited by fantastical aliens and worlds both beautiful and deadly, they will be forced to question everything they thought they knew, including the nature of life itself.
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It is a time of accelerating technological change and shifting allegiances as the old rules fall away and the old balance of power is upended. A new world rises—one of unshackled AIs, indestructible starships, ethereal quantum spaces and potent new weapons—and the race is on to determine who will control its future.
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I love the direction this series is taking. Lots of excellent world building but still anchored by fabulous characters. A pleasure to read!
Everything that Jennsen writes is worth reading. You will come to love her characters. Rather than just being parts of one big plotline, each of her series’ seems like they follow one another to an even bigger story. A series is like a tube. Start at point A have some action and fun, and end at B. Then pick up at B, have some more action and fun, and end at C. Start at C, and you have a climactic event before you get to D, but ultimately that is where you end up. The Aurora stories are more like a funnel shape, and by the time you end up at D, you’ve almost forgotten how small the trip from A to B was. Based on the first of the Aurora stories you may think you know where she is going, but you are wrong.
Sidespace was a thrilling and engaging story that introduces us to the new trilogy in the Aurora Rhapsody saga. I enjoyed the first trilogy, but this is easily my favorite of the four books so far and I am eager to see where the rest of the Aurora Renegades trilogy will take us. The story introduces us to new conflicts that arise naturally from the events of the Aurora Rising trilogy. Alex and Caleb set off to explore the pocket universes beyond the alien Metigen portal. Meanwhile, the merging of humans and artificial intelligence to create prevos leads to some complicated challenges for the other characters. I appreciated how well the story flowed from events in the previous books while still remaining new and interesting and unpredictable.
Another thing I loved about Sidepsace was that it seemed to have to a more narrowed focus on the most important characters in the story without shifting unnecessarily to characters who seemed unimportant, which has been one of my qualms about earlier books. It made the story much more enjoyable for me and kept things moving right along. The pacing was excellent. It’s a pretty long book but it definitely doesn’t feel that way because the story moves from one event to another without getting bogged down in unnecessary detail or backstory. I loved how creative the author was with all of the different worlds and alien races Alex and Caleb encounter. It is also immensely rewarding to watch their relationship continue to develop. Characterization, character relationships, and emotions are some of the things G. S. Jennsen excels at, and for me, those are easily the most important aspects of any story. At one point I even found myself tearing up a little, which is pretty rare for me when reading. I appreciate her dedication to creating believable and interesting characters who continue to grow and change with the story.
I loved this book and I am so excited to see what’s in store for all of these characters in the next installment.