Under Strange Suns

by Ken Lizzi

Overview

The inventor of the Faster-Than-Light Drive is missing, lost undertaking the first interstellar voyage. A terrorist attack leaves the Earth in a state of constant war. Amidst the global decline mankind begins emigrating to the stars. Special Forces soldier Aidan Carson is tired of fighting and his term of enlistment is ending. Brooklynn Vance, the niece of the FTL-drive's inventor, thinks she knows where her uncle might be. Her offer to join the search gives Carson a chance at a fresh start; the starship Yuscehnkov offers a new home. Space travel is uncertain. Mechanical systems fail. People are unreliable. But war is a constant. Carson learns there is nothing new Under Strange Suns. And so he finds he must once again take up the sword, this time in defense of an alien race. Can he secure a lasting peace this time? "Ken Lizzi's new novel [Under Strange Suns] blasts off in an action-packed flight to worlds far away, in a cross between John Carter and Star Trek, with just a dab of Starship Trooper tossed in. And it's swords and guns and aliens, oh, my ... What's not to like?" Steve Perry, New York Times Bestselling Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781606193440
Publisher:	Paladin Timeless Books
Publication date:	12/15/2015
Pages:	298
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.67(d)

Editorial Reviews

11/02/2015
With the world in chaos, Aidan Carson signs on to a rescue mission to find a lost aerospace engineer, in this story of interplanetary discovery with some strong points but significant flaws. Aidan hopes to leave his past behind, but he soon learns that conflict is inescapable. Treading dangerously close to Islamophobia in early scenes, Lizzi (Reunion) recovers by moving the story off Earth, only to stumble once more by creating an alien theocracy that hews far too close to fearmongering portrayals of Islam. The aliens look significantly different from humans, but Lizzi suggests that sentient life on other planets would experience the same struggles that we do. There’s a great pulp-like feel to the exploration, theoretical technology, and desperate battles, but generic characters and bloated sentences weigh the story down. Worse, Lizzi keeps all of the female characters on the sidelines, while male humans and aliens play key roles. Brilliant in some ways, broken in others, this work suggests that Lizzi is a writer to watch—but not necessarily one to read just yet. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly