After losing his wife, a man embarks on a mission to gain his revenge—but the galaxy has other plans in Arriaga’s SF novel, one in a series.

Chief engineer of the spaceship Foundra Ascension,Neven Kenk, just watched his wife murdered by the villainous Entradis. If that wasn’t hard enough, despite all the scientific advancement the crew of the ship has access too, and all the repair work they did on her body, Neven must effectively watch her die all over again when they have to pull the plug due to her Do Not Resuscitate order. When Entradis’ ship is located, Neven, his AI bot Ellipse, and crewmate Tashanira are in one of the several sent to scout the location and see what the psychotic killer’s craft is capable of. But in his grief-ridden, enraged state, Neven cannot keep himself from firing at Entradis, and returned fire sends them crashing onto a planet. Stranded (“The cockpit and half of the storage bay is all that remains. Everything else is gone: no engines, no suplight drive, no communications array…”), Neven has to change his plans from revenge to survival. The third installment in Arriaga’s SF series, this novel is a direct continuation of the previous entries, with events picking up right where the previous book left off. The author does a fair job walking the fine line between not overloading continuing readers with excessive repeated information and providing enough context to help newcomers find their footing. Readers new and old will feel intense sympathy for the protagonist as he mourns the loss of his wife at the outset of the story—Arriaga effectively portrays how quickly Neven can switch from heartbreak to intense fury as he grieves and demands revenge. The uninitiated may not expect just how much sex and nudity occurs in the narrative; those seeking a more chaste, straight-up SF yarn may want to look elsewhere.

A stirring story of survival and revenge with a little more steam than SF readers might expect.

In the far future, a rookie recruit to the armed forces of an intergalactic empire tastes his first military action (and maybe his last) during the rampage of an ancient, hostile entity.

The story opens generations after war has shaken the “Twin Galaxies” and spawned the benevolent Huzien Empire. The humanlike Huzien are magnanimous to vanquished opponents (including Earth), absorbing them as allies and even intermarrying with the conquered populace. Lucky individuals in the highest echelons have attained literal immortality (though, with effort, they can be killed), and leaders such as Lanrete must bear the pain of watching loved ones age and perish over centuries of maintaining order. Behind the immortality is the concept of the “Enesmic,” powerful energy existing on another plane. (“You can think of it as a new elemental force, similar to gravity, which holds our galaxy together.”) The most skilled “Cihphist,” or master manipulator of the Enesmic, is, surprisingly, a human, Lord Soahc. Lanrete brings a fresh recruit into the Huzien military’s “Founders’ Elites,” a young technology prodigy named Neven. Neven learns quickly just how much danger is involved in this peacekeeping fellowship after a mining crew disturbs a tomb-prison from eons ago, releasing Sagren, an 8-foot-tall “Eshgren,” one of a secretive race from the Enesmic realm. Sagren summons Enesmic energy to create ghoulish creatures and assemble alien cronies and thought-controlled warships to attack the Huzien. The material is action-rich and fortunately not as comic-book chaotic as it sounds. Not all is gloom; Huzien females are super-sexy, and steamy encounters abound. When the real battles begin, though, recreational mating recedes to make way for an impressively epic pageant of devastation, horror, loss and outsized heroics. Glossaries, printed maps, diagrams, and character portraits (resembling Japanese anime characters) appear throughout. The SF combat jargon also deploys amply: “Quickly holstering her WMAs—Wopan master arms—Phoenix pulls out Unquenchable, the Nenifin blade’s power core emitting a soft hum at her expert touch.”

Epic action, tragedy, and romance amidst superhero-types fighting cosmic evil.

Military forces and female warriors fight to protect a distant galaxy from space pirates and a merciless hidden enemy in this SF sequel.

Following the catastrophic Rift War, entire planets in the Twin Galaxies make efforts to rebuild. But pirates continue to run amok; their latest target is the cruise ship the Empress Star. But its passengers include members of a military faction, the Founder’s Elite, who don’t readily surrender. Fellow Elites scour space for the missing ship, and Elite engineer Neven Kenk has an added incentive, as his military scientist girlfriend is onboard the Empress Star. Elsewhere, Serah’Elax and other Ashna Maidens, female warriors who police the Twin Galaxies’ Outer Rim, face an antagonist they can’t identify. Powerful, mysterious vessels bombard the warriors’ ships, leaving destruction in their wake. Unbeknown to the Maidens, an enemy from the Rift War has a nefarious plan under way to infiltrate their group. Once Serah’Elax suspects something is amiss, she’s a target for assassination. She strives to shine a light on the mastermind before it’s too late as the Maidens and the Founder’s Elite, who share no alliance, battle pirates and an even deadlier common foe. Arriaga skillfully handles numerous characters and subplots in his space opera’s latest installment. For example, perpetually changing narrative perspectives are easier to follow with relatively few settings (for example, several Elites on the Empress Star). Certain storylines, like a man’s astonishing reunion with the wife he believed had died, don’t initially seem cohesive but link with others by the end. Still, even clocking in at nearly 600 pages, the novel can’t fully spotlight every character; some players, like Serah’Elax, could have carried the story on their own. The author vividly details his SF world, from individual attributes and chic tech to periodic sprinklings of alien races’ distinctive languages, such as vusg, a decidedly popular Huzien and Tuzen expletive.

A colorful cast invigorates this epic, indelible futuristic tale.

In Arriaga’s sci-fi debut, an elite military team tries to stop a vindictive enemy from a parallel universe hellbent on annihilating races and leaving planets in ruin.

The Huzien Alliance, encompassing various species (including humans), is headed by three immortal Founders: Lanrete, Ecnics, and Cislot. After the Founders’ Elite loses a member in battle, leader Lanrete brings in human Neven Kenk as chief engineer of the Foundra Ascension. Neven undergoes training in physical combat as well as mental defense against Cihphism: a master of telepathy, telekinesis, and more. But the newbie may very well see conflict sooner than he thinks. Someone’s been attacking colonies, the same entity who later orchestrates assassination attempts targeting the Founders’ Elite. A force of evil beings, with Sagren the Fallen Commander at the helm, has managed to squeeze through a rift between the Havin Plane (the natural one) and Enesmic Plane. Newly escaped from prison, the vengeful Sagren destroys whatever he can find, from different worlds to their inhabitants. The team sets out to thwart Sagren and his minions, not the least of which are reanimated corpses. Along for the ride is Lanrete’s pal Soahc, a Cihphist whose skill is legendary. But Sagren is a formidable foe, possibly too powerful for even Soahc—making the Fallen Commander virtually unstoppable. The story is a definitive space opera: beaucoup action with creatures and preternatural capabilities coupled with a bevy of romantic entanglements back on the good guys’ ship. Arriaga wisely concentrates on a select few of the many characters, and Soahc, Destroyer of Worlds, is a standout. The Elite uses call signs (Maj. Jessica Olic is Phoenix) that set the mood for blistering action and also spotlight the protagonist, Neven, who doesn’t get his own sign until the end. Unfortunately, the females, though laudable in the field, are otherwise flat. They’re generally objects of the male gaze (mostly Neven’s) or, in the case of catlike Uri, Tashanira, endlessly crave sex. The final 60 pages burst with lists of characters, character classes, races, and terminology. It’s a helpful guide that will come in handy as the series progresses.

Delightful genre piece with all the right ingredients: monsters, warfare, and romance.