Steve White, Vietnam vet, long-time David Weber collaborator and co-author, with Weber, of the New York Times best-seller The Shiva Option, joins with Analog contributor and military SF scholar Charles E. Gannon to carve another notch in the Starfire adventure saga.
An implacable foe with telepathic cohesion in battle, near-immortality, and eons-advanced engineering skills threatens to wipe humanity from the galaxy. What’s more, they’ve overcome their one weakness–no faster-than-light travel–and have followed humanity through our star gates and beyond. But humans are the master of adaption, and have got a counterpunch of devastating proportions in reserve. Now a hard-bitten and brilliant admiral must face down renewed alien attack and somehow communicate to the enemy that if he is forced to use his ultimate military option, galactic civilization itself may come to a fiery end.
About Extremis:
“Vivid. . .Battle sequences mingle with thought-provoking exegesis . . .”–Publishers Weekly
About Steve White and David Weber’s The Shiva Option:
“[Leaves] the reader both exhilarated and enriched.” –Publishers Weekly
About Steve White:
“White offers fast action and historically informed world-building.”–Publishers Weekly
About Steve White’s Forge of the Titans:
“. . . recalls the best of the John Campbell era of SF. White's core audience of hard SF fans will be pleased . . .”–Publishers Weekly
The telepathic Arduans fled their galaxy as their sun went nova. They traveled for centuries until they reached their destination Bellerophon. However, they are unhappy to find a sentient race recently colonized the planet. Still after what they have been through to reach their new home, the Arduans believing they are supreme as the only sentient race see the humans as a minor irritant.
Adding to their manifest destiny belief is the feebleness of human existence. Whereas the humans live one short life as telepathic mutes, Arduans live numerous lives while recalling each. The warrior caste wants to cleanse the orb and the rest of the galaxy using stolen technology from humans and their allies (Orions, Ophiuchi and Gorm) of these nothing species while Ankaht the scientist-philosopher tries to find a peaceful solution to benefit both species as well the indigenous population.
The latest entry (co-authored by Charles E. Gannon) in Steve White's Starfire saga collaborating with David Weber (see The Stars at War) and Shirley Meier (see Exodus) is a terrific military science fiction that is at its best during the non-combat scenes. The battles are entertaining, but it is the philosophical debate on belief systems, species profiling and ethics especially from the alien perspective that make for a powerful timely thriller with applications in our society.
Harriet Klausner
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted June 9, 2012
Solves every question and storyline from the first book. Many great endings for the true bad guys.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted October 27, 2011
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
Steve White, Vietnam vet, long-time David Weber collaborator and co-author, with Weber, of the New York Times best-seller The Shiva Option, joins with Analog contributor and military SF scholar Charles E. Gannon to carve another notch in the Starfire adventure saga.
An implacable foe with telepathic cohesion in battle, near-immortality, and eons-advanced engineering skills threatens to wipe humanity from the galaxy. What’s more, they’ve overcome their one weakness–no ...