Star Carrier, Book 4 - Deep Space
Author: Ian Douglas
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Publishing Date: 2013
Pgs: 355
Dewey: SF DOU
Disposition: Interlibrary Loan - Plano Public Library System, Christopher A Parr Library, Plano, TX via Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX
=======================================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
20 years after the events of the previous books, Admiral Koenig is the President of the United States of North America and still at odds with The Confederation of Earth. Sandy Gray is a Captain commanding the Star Carrier America. The alien collective known as the Sh’daar has broken the treaty and just as the navies of the Confederation membership are responding, the leadership in Geneva makes a move against the USNA to bring them to heel and make them toe the line. All hell is breaking loose from Columbus to Geneva to 36 Ophiuchi and 70 Ophiuchi. Wars within wars.
_________________________________________
Genre:
Science Fiction
Militaria
Hard Science Fiction
War

Why this book:
Spaceship combat. Fleet actions. Stuff blows up.
_________________________________________
Hmm Moments:
Considering the existing Sh’daar peace treaty, time travel, bubble ships emerging from the Black Rosette, and civil war breaking out on Earth, I worried that this was going to end in a cliffhanger. While there are elements that are left open, the story does have a satisfying end.

Considering the popularity of the Ancient Aliens stuff right now, including it in this future tale as a religion is awesome.

Meh / PFFT Moments:
President Koenig shouldn’t have told the Leader of the Confederation that he knew they were coming for the USNA A. I. Moonbase, then, maybe they wouldn’t have had their surprise ready for the defenders.

The Sigh:
Roetgen, the Leader of the Confederation, should have been left faceless as a villain. Her brief screentime robbed her of some of her import in the story. Course with the Sh’daar already being effectively faceless, if they have faces, this may have been the intent.

Missed Opportunity:
Should have called Lavalle out for being a coward and wanting to leave those fighter pilots behind. Course if he would’ve stayed, his by-the-book pigheadedness would have resulted in disaster.
_________________________________________
Pacing:
Great.

Last Page Sound:
Pretty damned good. This may be the best one in the series yet.

Questions I’m Left With:
What is the bubble ship? Is it the Starborn, the things they are doing to the stars in the neighborhood of the Black Rosette at the end of the story seem to indicate that they are?
======================================= ( )

Douglas' epic trilogy into a 4th volume. A fun read if you filter out the tired trope of the nasty cowardly Europeans stopping North American derring-do.

Yes, 20 years after the apparent end of hostilities, the Sh'daar ar back.....
( )

This story felt like a reprise of book one of Ian Douglas's original series.

The Sh'daar alliance seems to be falling apart. The earth alliance is falling apart. The Star Carrier America leaves the solar system and goes rogue after a wild and wooly battle with another unknown alien race.

What is compelling about this story are the mysteries that this story sets up. Who created the Black Rosette, where did the Sh'daar really go, and how does a modern spacefaring culture have a civil war without destorying itself. ( )

As usual, I received this book via a GoodReads giveaway. Despite that kind consideration my candid opinions follow.

In a nutshell, it's 2424 and the human race is under threat and what ever can possibly save the day? Yeah, that about sums up the plot. 'nuff said.

The first thing that strikes me about Douglas' work is that he's not afraid to weave a complex and satisfying world with a long history and many varied inhabitants. He rightly expects his readers to concentrate and pay attention if they have any hope of keeping up with him. Somewhat relately, this is not your pablum science fiction of yesteryear. The author has reworked entirely the social and cultural norms for humankind and unabashedly parades his characters around in the nude no matter what the backwards 21st century types might think of it. Lastly, our good author has no fear of new technology and while his stories read contextually like the space-cowboy novels of the 50s, these marauders of the icy vacuum are equipped with latest gadgets and gizmos that have barely been dreamed up yet even in the average writer's most inspired dreams.

The only real down-sides to Douglas' novel, and I apologize a bit since I feel a perpetual compunction to be at least somewhat constructive in all reviews, is that the naming of some of his technology can at times be distracting and unrefined. In a similar vein, if I had a nickel for every time the two syllables 'nano' appear together in this novel then I would be an abundantly wealthy man.

In summary though, Deep Space is a articulately and minutely constructed novel written in an old style and tradition but thoroughly and wonderfully modernized. While I have not read any of the others in the series (my free giveaway only blessed me with the 4th) I recognize well an established and reliable style and milieu. ( )