A familiar and very good author has started a new series and it’s good! While it’s not my usual “military” science fiction, it still has a lot of action to it. Still, it’s something of a detective story which isn’t bad, but a lot depends on how it’s written. The story is also pretty straightforward and simple. Although, getting ready to depart Earth for a new home world might not seem all that simple.
Earth is currently split into two major cultures that don’t exactly get along very well. The Eternals are wealthy, very prosperous people who just happen to have the money to buy an immortality drug. Yeah, they’ll live forever as long as they don’t have a terminal accident. They are also changing with this drug. They appear as albinos with pure white skin and deep blue eyes. On the other side are the Transients. This is the middle and lower classes of society or those who can’t afford the miracle immortality drug.
Initially, the Transients weren’t happy with the way they were treated as second-class citizens by the Eternals. It seemed as if all the top management jobs were always filled by Eternals who controlled about everything. The Transients staged something of a revolt and the Eternals decided to offer the Transients an out. Build a number of colony ships and head out to deep space to form your own civilizations. There were to be twelve colony ships, including the one that Dean Slade was working on as Mechanic Grade-2, Transient.
You’ll find that Dean is a very quiet type of guy and he really doesn’t want to get involved in most anything. He seems to have a past that he’s hiding and you’ll eventually find out about it. Dean also definitely doesn’t want to go on one of the colony ships. He’s just kind of happy with where he’s at and not into all the recent uprisings.
As I mentioned, he’s a Grade-2 Mechanic which isn’t much more than a common laborer except that he’s working on one of the colony ships currently on Earth. Then his normal routine of going to work is interrupted when he sees a trio of gang members attacking a female mechanic in his neighborhood. Although he’s reluctant to step in and do anything, he does so and runs the three thugs off. The other mechanic is grateful, but she’s not what she appears to be and her and Dean will be spending some interesting times together.
Then there’s the Disciples. This is the group of Transients that are still causing a great deal of trouble. It seems that they don’t like the idea of the Transients being told to leave Earth. They think the Eternals are an abomination and no longer humans and Earth should belong to humans and these monsters. So, they have become a terrorist group bent on stopping the colony ships from leaving if at all possible. The do attack the Orion while Dean is working and he does get involved, involved in a big way.
The story is not that long and it’s pretty easy to understand what’s going on. The ending is interesting and that’s what makes this series much more interesting. I’m looking forward to reading the next book which I hope will be out soon.