Rarely do I have the opportunity to be whisked away to an incredible story that is thought provoking without the political face-slaps that have become so common place in… well, in everything…. but especially in the genre.
THIS series delivers all that! …and so much more! While there may not be any sucker punches – there are certainly some GUT CHECKS…. which the author so consistently delivers in all his work. Intensity – and consequences!
At first, I started with Infinite, thinking…
“Oh this will be cool… couple books about a cool starship – something to fill the gap while I wait for Backyard Starship…and Hell Divers… and HHFWM… and all my other series.”
THEN I saw the full line-up of the series…
Yeah….NOPE!
I found myself plunged into and absorbed by the vision of a series that… while I’m only a few books in…I think will end up being seemingly disparate sci-fi explorations which converge like the film CRASH…into a moment of singularity and breathtaking clarity. (Mr. Robinson… if you’re reading this? You could be the absolute master of this method!)
This is a feat I’m sure most authors would not even attempt… but one which Jeremy clearly nails from the first Prologue of Infinite.
Without a lot of cumbersome exposition dumps or overly indulgent action sequences… the author keeps the pace PERFECTLY! Just enough to be gripping – without sensory overload. As a martial artist and combat vet, I can SEE the action unfolding in my mind…as a poet and romantic I can feel the tension and conflict of the characters…a little TOO well, if I’m being honest.
Of course, then we have our narrators…Bray AND Kafer!!!?? Are you insane!?? Do you know how f@#%!<? INCREDIBLE that is!? That's WAAAY too much llama for just one hand. I'm surprised that my phone didn't melt. That's just….SO MUCH AWESOME!
In this installment each of these total stars gives a SUPERB performance! It feels as though it was written specifically with the two in mind. And once you get into it you end up thinking to yourself, “Well of course it was!”
The conversation (as the author rightly positions this piece) is completely MASTERFUL!! As an analyst and lover of philosophy it feels like a conversation I’d have with my own intellectual circle. BRILLIANT! Lewis would be proud. (Thinking of the Infernal Correspondences…)
R.C., Jeff… GENTLEMEN… my hat is off to you both!!!
Finally, the call backs… the easter eggs….subtle, you may miss them. They don’t slam you in the face. But if you do catch them? You see the payoff for the series building. And it’s so rich that you WANT to take all the steps the author has laid out in the series. You DON’T want to skip ahead. Because once you see it you have FULL confidence in the author’s I.O.U. You know he’s going to be good for his marker.
This series deserves a HUGO… in my opinion.
Get them ALL… go through them ALL. If you’re starting mid series… you’re a horrible human…FIX YOURSELF. Go back to the beginning and start moving forward from there. You will find the journey most rewarding!
Thank you to the author, the narrators and the friends and teams who brought this all together. I was delighted you were willing to share it with us.
On to the next one!!