Book 3 of the Old Man's War series unites the main characters from the first 2 books, John Perry and Jane Sagan, and jumps ahead to their retirement on the peaceful colony of Huckleberry. Of course their relaxed existence is disrupted as interstellar politics and conspiracies take over and they find themselves facing one impossible challenge after another. The Conclave plot line from earlier in the series finally picks up steam and the stakes get ever larger as the story goes on. All of this makes for an interesting enough premise but in the end author John Scalzi just didn't keep me immersed this time around.

​​​​​​​This is the second book in the Old Man’s War series but it is a stand-alone story that can be read on its own. I still recommend that you read Old Man's War first just to have additional context about the universe although only a few characters appear in both books. The main character from the first book is CDF soldier John Perry and in that story the legendary Special Forces only play a background role, but in this book the Special Forces take over the main storyline. Known only as the Ghost Brigades, the Special Forces are composed of an elite breed of human soldier enhanced by a myriad of "upgrades." Very little is actually known about these soldiers throughout the rest of the CDF so it is time to find out what they are actually capable of.

The Yherjak are an alien race that has traveled for many years across the galaxy to reach Earth with a plan to make first contact with us. Being a benevolent people they decide take it slowly and they spend time monitoring our communications in order to figure out how best to proceed with reaching out. After careful study of our culture they realize that their appearance, a translucent gelatinous mess, combined with the fact that they communicate through smells, bad ones at that, will likely result in a poor first contact scenario. Since the Yherjak have dedicated many years of their lives to making successful contact with us they are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure it goes well. Of course that means that they hire a top Hollywood agent to represent them and handle their introduction to the rest of the planet. :)

No? How about if they could make you young again? In the future, the Colonial Defense Force recruits 75 year olds to fill their ranks. Rumor has it that if you sign up for a tour of duty then they will make you young again; however, since nobody that joins the CDF ever returns to Earth, it's hard to know for sure. Joining the CDF is a minimum 2 year commitment that can be extended for up to 10 years and not surprisingly, many people decide to go for it. After all, isn't it worth trading your next 10 years on Earth as a 75 year old up for 10 years of combat in space? It sure is worth it but what if the rumors aren't true? Well, there is only one way to find out for sure.

Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter team up to pen this novel which has a very interesting premise: Humans figure out how to "step" which allows a person to instantly teleport to an alternate Earth. They take that concept even further by the fact that there are an infinite number of alternate Earths and one can "step" from one to the next. Since the technology required to build a "stepper" device is readily available to almost everyone on the planet this fundamentally changes civilization as we know it. Economies collapse as millions leave our Earth to go to unclaimed worlds with pristine land and resources while our existing governments struggle to deal with the concept of governing their same territory across multiple Earths.

​​​​​​​The Second Ship walks on hallowed sci-fi ground and goes where many stories have gone before, the rumored alien ship crash in 1948 in Roswell, New Mexico; but Richard Phillips does bring a unique twist to his version of the tale. That twist is that a second ship also crashed at the same time but remained undiscovered by the US government. Of course since this is a young adult (YA) novel that second ship is eventually found by 3 high school students that live in the area. They make their discovery at about the same time that the US government comes clean about the first ship that they have kept secret for so many years. These kids decide keep the discovery to themselves and use their secret alien technology to uncover the true motivation behind the President's bold promise to freely share advanced alien technology with the rest of the world.

Exigencies and despair are two of Stephen R. Donaldson's favorite words and there is no shortage of either in this final entry of the Gap Cycle. The fifth book of the series is the largest of the bunch, and despite some of the typical un-needed bloat found in any Donaldson book, it builds up to a worthy conclusion. Holt Fasner has put the Earth itself in jeopardy with his attempt to unlock Amnion secrets that will allow him to live forever and Warden Dios turns out to be just as culpable for the extreme actions he takes in an attempt to stop him.  Both have abused their power in unforgivable ways and those who have been the recipients of that abuse, mainly Angus and Morn, finally arrive back at Earth just in time for a public reckoning.

Our solar system will never be the same.  Book 6 of The Expanse picks up right after the end of the last one in the bleak aftermath of the sudden and devastating attack on Earth by the Free Navy. Out of nowhere they laid waste to the bread basket of the solar system and now humanity struggles to pick up the pieces and find a way to survive. The super powers of the solar system who were central to mankind's expansion into space now find themselves mere shadows of their former selves and short on resources. Earth is in disarray after the attacks with billions of starving people and Mars is a hollow shell after being left behind by those that moved through the ring gate to colonize other planets with actual atmospheres. To add insult to injury, those same Martian defectors were the source of the military ships acquired by the Free Navy to wreak havoc on Earth so Mars also finds itself in the middle of a political upheaval. 

This one starts slowly as the Machiavellian schemes of Holt Fasner and Warden Dios are flushed out in great detail. However, when the story finally transitions back to the main characters aboard the ship Trumpet things really pick up speed. Fasner and Dios are locked in a battle of plots and schemes that puts the very government of Earth, and their own lives, in great peril. With a new bill being proposed that would move the UMCP (the human police) out from under Holt Fasner and over to the government itself, Fasner is willing to go to any length to stop such an action, including terrorist actions against the government. At the same time, the two of them are also manipulating events as they relate to Trumpet who is on the run from the Amnioni with multiple other ships in pursuit.

The war with the aliens that was the backbone of the Ark Royal series is over and it's now time to deal with the aftermath. Humanity knows it is not alone in the universe and only a fraction of Earth's infrastructure and space navies remain intact. Heavy losses were suffered by many nations and the balance of power is changing. It is within this turbulent time of rebuilding that Warspite, the first of a new class of heavy cruiser produced by the Royal Navy, is created from a combination of alien and human technology. The series begins by following Captain Naiser on Warspite's maiden voyage and it is composed of all new characters that are basically the next generation after the main characters from the Ark Royal series.