“I’d tell you to be careful, but we wouldn’t be here if you’d ever taken that advice. No reason to start now, right?”For millennia the Anadens have ruled the known universe. They believe they’ve crafted the perfect empire, ordered and impervious to challenge. They believe the fight has been crushed out of the species they subjugate. They are wrong.It’s a suicide mission, without a doubt. Alex … without a doubt. Alex Solovy and Caleb Marano must steal crucial intelligence from the Anadens’ central military headquarters. To succeed, they’ll need to navigate a strange universe ruled by a cabal of powerful immortals, populated by aliens they’ve never met and fueled by technology they’ve never seen. They’re going to need a little help–the kind of help only a suicidally defiant anarchist on the run from more than just personal demons can provide.
As Anaden agents close in, back home in Aurora humanity races to prepare. Steeled from the Metigen invasion and the rise of Prevos, no longer will they wait for doom to come to them. Forewarned the Anadens intend to crush them out of existence, humans, Artificials and Prevos join together to bring the war to the doorstep of the enemy, even as a shadowy foe re-emerges to jeopardize all they’ve built.
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Our universe is but a snowglobe–an experiment born of desperation and hope. The true universe is unfathomably vast, teeming with life and untold wonders. And it is enslaved.
Created by ancient aliens in a daring gambit to understand the nature of the enemy, humanity is now asked to be the savior of a universe not their own. If they are to succeed, they must rise above not only their fractious past but the sins of their genetic ancestors to boldly embrace a future they never dared imagine possible.
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Another wonderful addition to this series! All of our favorite characters are back with a few new additions in another gripping storyline. Ms. Jennsen’s worldbuilding is complex and layered. This is so much more than space opera. Highly recommend!
If you read Abysm and thought the story couldn’t possibly get any bigger, the stakes couldn’t be raised any higher, and the universe couldn’t get any more complicated, you were wrong. G.S. Jennsen delivers all of that and more in this fast-paced introduction to the third trilogy of her Aurora Rhapsody saga.
We get a much closer look into Anaden society here. There are pieces of it that feel familiar and human and other parts that seem entirely foreign and alien. We get to meet some of their opposition in the anarchs, including an Anaden named Eren asi-Idoni. He was quite possibly my favorite part of this book, and easily gets bumped up towards the top of my list of favorite characters in this series. He’s different than many of the other heroes we’ve seen in the story, clever and reckless to the point of being almost insane, and surprisingly charming and immediately endearing compared to the other aliens we’ve encountered in the series thus far. Another alien moving up a few spots on that list after reading this book: the Metigen Mnemosyne, who plays a bigger and more vital role in the story here than they ever have before.
Back at home in our own universe, things aren’t all peaceful and quiet. The characters there find themselves in some dire situations facing a new, mysterious enemy while trying to prepare for the Anaden threat. Brooklyn Harper, Devon Reynolds, and Malcolm Jenner really get a chance to shine here, and Miriam Solovy continues to be a force to be reckoned with.
There’s a lot of science here, so those of you who enjoy that sort of thing should be pleased. I honestly don’t; in fact, in previous reviews of earlier books in this series, I complained about what felt to me like an overwhelming amount of scientific explanation crammed into the story. Here, that’s not the case. The science becomes central to the plot in such a way that it feels relevant and drastically alters many of the scenarios the characters find themselves in. More importantly, it’s integrated into the story in such a way that it never felt like I was reading an overly complicated textbook, so even non-scientifically-inclined people like myself could grasp and even enjoy the concepts presented. And it’s just a really well-written piece of literature. I’ve always thought the author was talented, but she really outdid herself this time around. This stands to become my favorite book of the series, and I can’t wait to see what Jennsen has in store for us next. Whatever it is, it’s sure to be one hell of a ride.
Read Jennsen’s books from the beginning. You’ll love them.
This book and the whole series are seriously well written works. The author’s style is entertaining to read for a change from books written for ‘inexperienced’ readers. Great story, very imaginative and inventive. Best written series in the last few years makes it very enjoyable.