This is a very great example of why I read science fiction books. You can do just about anything in them and there’s just about no limit to what you characters can do. I like that. It gives authors a blank page upon which to describe entire galaxies and what is happening in them. This book does most of that and more. It describes our galaxy under attack by a ruthless enemy of which we know nothing about. They are relentless in their attacks and destruction of every star system they visit. They not only destroy any resistance found in those star systems, but they also encase the very planets with an impenetrable shield allowing nothing in and nothing out.
The forces fighting against this enemy do not know what is happening to the billions of people that have been encased on these planets. They do know that they cannot contact them or even know if they are still alive. Earth has already been conquered. Fortunately, numerous colonization vessels left the planet and the solar system a long time ago and are now trying to prevent their new systems from falling before this unknown and unbeatable enemy.
There has to be a hero some where in this book and there is. He’s a StarFighter although he’s not what you would expect. He also gets help from a very surprising source, Earth. I liked the story very, very much. While it is a dark read, the StarFighter has his periods of doubts, and even his surprising ally has her dark moments, so this is not a “happy” story. The writing is done very well and the story flows pretty quick. Lots of action and lots of aliens and mysterious science going on all around.
There were a few too many missing words that are due to the lack of close editing. Words like “the”, “and”, “or”, and other connectors are missing in many paragraphs. I’ve read worse but a little better editing would be called for in future books. This one doesn’t lead to a series but as it’s own story it was very, very good.