How humanity came to the planet called Anjiin is lost in the fog of history, but that history is about to end.
The Carryx—part empire, part hive—have waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy. Now, they are facing a great and deathless enemy. The key to their survival may rest with the humans of Anjiin.
Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team. Then the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them.
They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure. Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to survive: learning to understand—and manipulate—the Carryx themselves.
With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers.
Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination. He will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people.
This is where his story begins.
Staff Choice: Matty
If I’m totally honest I haven’t finished this yet but nearly and it’s so good and fun I still want to recommend it to people! It’s a new universe from the well known James A. Corey ‘Expanse’ world and maybe a bit less with the full on fun cheese of that series (which I love by the way), but still has the same rollicking pace which makes it tricky to put down. Despite this fun and high-octane pace, like other Corey books it’s underpinned with intelligence and a really thorough exploration of human motivation which makes it much weightier in the end than it might at first seem. But if you like the idea of a bit of space colonialism from a hyper intelligent alien race, locked in an eons long battle with a powerful enemy, galactic war, space battles and all the good sci-fi tropes we love, then this is for you. I had such fun reading this & I’m excited for the next stories in the series. If you’re a sci-fi fan this will scratch your space opera itch with aplomb.
Staff Choice: Tiemen
My sci-fi pick for 2024. Imagine if the aliens win in The War of the Worlds, abduct the smartest people of the world and transfer them to their home planet. Now imagine the aliens have done this already countless of times and each conquered species either proves they are useful tools to be integrated into their empire… or get culled.
The writer duo Corey already proved they have writing chops with their Expanse series. With the start of this fresh new sci-fi saga it feels as if they have moved beyond space opera popcorn and are claiming their place next to sci-fi giants like Ursula K. Le Guin, Joe Haldeman and Octavia Butler.
