Andromedan Dark

September 5, 2016
In this staid opener of the Andromedan Dark military SF series, Douglas (the Legacy trilogy) sends Lord Commander Grayson St. Clair on an expedition to the home base of the Coadunation, a galactic organization that’s vastly more technically advanced than the United Earth Directorate. St. Clair knows his cynical attitude toward the Coadunation pits him against the Directorate and is likely to tank his career, but he never imagined that the directorate would exile him to the center of the galaxy. The expedition’s ostensible goal is to aid the Coadunation in a war against the Denial, but when their ship arrives, all hell breaks loose: the base is gone and the ship is suddenly hurtling toward a black hole. Douglas tosses out acronyms and astrophysical concepts willy-nilly, but there’s little plot, characterization is an afterthought, and the few space battles fizzle. Agent: Ethan Ellenberg, Ethan Ellenberg Agency.

Space war trouper Douglas (Deep Time, 2015, etc.) pilots a new alien-warfare series into furious action powered by intriguing speculation.A few decades after humans encountered the vast, multispecies galactic civilization known as the Coadunation, Lord Commander Grayson St. Clair commands an enormous vessel comprising a warship and two enormous habitats with a population of over a million scientists, diplomats, soldiers, robots, and AIs. The Coadunation, it seems, need Earth's help with their war against the mysterious Denial, a development about which St. Clair has profound reservations. Dutifully the humans follow their alien guides to Sagittarius A*, the gigantic black hole at the center of the galaxy where lies the alien HQ. They arrive to find Harmony totally destroyed; debris strikes the ship, knocking the star drive offline and leaving them trapped in the black hole's immense gravity. The ship's civilian authority, Lord Director Gunter Adler, who disapproves of military control, demands the formation of a civilian administration. St. Clair ignores him. Suddenly the ship pops out of the black hole; St. Clair, appalled, discovers that 4 billion years have elapsed, with the Andromeda galaxy colliding with the Milky Way. Far, far worse, they're attacked by incomprehensible brain-sucking, space-warping aliens who appear to be composed of dark matter. Douglas backs up his military space opera with some advanced scientific speculation. What's annoying is the way he pauses the action to insert background minilectures, a recurrent flaw longtime fans will recognize. And don't expect any real characters: the closest we get is Newton, the AI that runs the ship. Just go with the razzle-dazzle factor driving the thrills, tension, and excitement. Not Douglas' finest opening statement, but fans should be engrossed enough to come back for more. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 15, 2016

In 2124, Earth ships met up with their first aliens, the Coadunation. Now, in 2162, the Tellus Ad Astra will make its way to the Galactic Core, ferrying nearly a million scientists and soldiers. Commander Grayson St. Clair is not looking forward to the mission, knowing that humanity is technologically way behind its proposed allies. As the ship jumps toward its final destination, it gets caught and sucked through a black hole. Dropped four billion years into the future, the Ad Astra and its crew work on trying to survive. With the fall, rise, and fall again of many civilizations, and Earth a distant memory, the soldiers search for allies to help their way. But this is not their time or space, and St. Clair fights not only the ship's politicians and civilians but an enemy with inconceivable power. VERDICT Launching a terrific new space opera series, Douglas ("Star Carrier" series) immediately engages with a swiftly moving plot and intriguing characters--both human and AI.--KC

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