Brian Nelson (5)

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The Last Sword Maker by Brian Nelson is a science-fiction book, the first in The Course of Empire series which takes place in the near future, 2025 and the invention of gene self-replication. Mr. Nelson is a best-selling author and scholar.

Admiral James Curtiss has been privy to information that a mass pandemic in is actually a mass genocide. The Chinese have come up with a way to genetically target humans, killing show more mass amounts in minutes.

Admiral Curtiss is out of time to try and defend the country, he has gathered the brightest minds to help him, including graduate student Eric Hill. If trying to solve the complex issue of gene self-replication, Hill and his friends soon become involved in events beyond their control being forced to help the enemy.

This is the type of science-fiction which requires little willing suspension of disbelief. The author acknowledges the fact that he went back and forth for a long time in this book, changing characters, storyline, settings and revisions. It was well worth it, in The Last Sword Maker, author Brian Nelson got it right.

The story is very realistic dealing with a new type of Manhattan Project, in which scientists are busy creating self-replicating genes which will change our whole life as we know it. From medicine, to defense, to weapons, industry, and even the food we eat. The concept is amazing and gives the reader much to think about.

Mr. Nelson is a gifted writer and story teller, the narrative could have easily been jumbled up with scientific mumbo jumbo, but he managed to write it in a simple manner which even a schmo like me could understand. I thought the narrative moved fast despite the explanations into nanomachines and gene-replication, the author included the concept that one needs to know to follow the story and intrigue properly, but he never made it boring.

To my surprise, this techno-fiction book became, about half way in, a world spanning espionage and intrigue story. Everything is drive, of course, by this new technology that would set the world into a new age that everyone wants to get their hands on.

I think the author was putting a lot of Easter eggs in the book. There are several really interesting characters that come and go, several really interesting technologies that are not being used, etc. This is part one of a series, so I’m really looking forward to see if the author takes advantage of these pearls he peppered in the story.

I really enjoyed this book, the story is coherent, the narrative concentrates as much on the science as it does on the fiction, and yet much of it is character driven. The scary part is that I can certainly imagine how this technology can be created, and weaponized almost immediately. show less

Just barely 2.5 stars. My wife and I were without power for a week so we listened to this audible freebie at night by candle light back in February . She didn’t feel like she needed to hear the ending so I just knocked it out while in between books . It has some clever ideas but for us the characters just didn’t quite work and the plot devices were pretty easy to see coming. It was ok for a freebie. But I don’t plan to continue the series.