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A review by gerhard
Heaven's War by David S. Goyer, Michael Cassutt
4.0
Warning: the sequel to heaven's Shadow begins almost immediately where the original volume ended so spectacularly, with the so-called alien 'vesicles' transporting a random assortment of people to the Keanu NEO.
Initially, I thought this lack of a proper beginning meant an inevitably weaker middle volume. However, once you get past the problematic beginning, and our intrepid sorties begin to explore the mysterious interior of Keanu, the authors carefully ratchet up the suspense and intrigue.
As with the first volume, the real joy of this is the meticulous world-building and attention to the scientific and socio-political impact of First Contact. Some people will find this boring; I think many diehard SF fans will be in, er, seventh heaven at this clever trilogy, which is shaping up to be one of the more important SF trilogies of recent times.
Hugely enjoyable, exciting to read and fun to try and work out where the authors are going with this. The ending to Heaven's War seems quieter than Heaven's Shadow, but in many respects the implications are much, much bigger. It will be fascinating to see how all this is concluded in Heaven's Fall, out in July, I think.
And an aside: some reviews have commented on the lack of characterisation. I think the characters are perfectly serviceable to the story, and there is sufficient variety and backgrounds to make for interesting interactions (there is even a science fiction writer, a hack who is a bit of a prick, and a source of much humour). The alien creatures are well thought out and truly alien. And there is even a dog and cute moppet of a child ... who turns into a vicious murderer. What is there not to like?
Initially, I thought this lack of a proper beginning meant an inevitably weaker middle volume. However, once you get past the problematic beginning, and our intrepid sorties begin to explore the mysterious interior of Keanu, the authors carefully ratchet up the suspense and intrigue.
As with the first volume, the real joy of this is the meticulous world-building and attention to the scientific and socio-political impact of First Contact. Some people will find this boring; I think many diehard SF fans will be in, er, seventh heaven at this clever trilogy, which is shaping up to be one of the more important SF trilogies of recent times.
Hugely enjoyable, exciting to read and fun to try and work out where the authors are going with this. The ending to Heaven's War seems quieter than Heaven's Shadow, but in many respects the implications are much, much bigger. It will be fascinating to see how all this is concluded in Heaven's Fall, out in July, I think.
And an aside: some reviews have commented on the lack of characterisation. I think the characters are perfectly serviceable to the story, and there is sufficient variety and backgrounds to make for interesting interactions (there is even a science fiction writer, a hack who is a bit of a prick, and a source of much humour). The alien creatures are well thought out and truly alien. And there is even a dog and cute moppet of a child ... who turns into a vicious murderer. What is there not to like?