Earth's two main governing factions have gone in different directions now that interstellar travel is a reality. One has decided to focus on Alpha Centauri and the other, The Republic, has decided to focus on New Eden. The main difference being that Alpha Centauri is uninhabited while New Eden is controlled by a sentient species known as the Zodarks. Of course, attempting to take New Eden from the Zodarks has blow back potential for all humans because the Zodarks are clearly technologically superior to us. If they ever discover where Earth is located then there is no way we could defend ourselves from the inevitable attack. The Republic's fleet is still rather small, but they are going all in on New Eden. Basically, they are gambling humanity's future against the ability to mine the precious resources that New Eden contains, which will quickly advance their military power if acquired.

Taking New Eden is one thing, but setting up a colony and holding it against the Zodarks is entirely another. The only chance the Republic has to incorporate the new technologies into their ships is if they leverage the knowledge of the humans from New Eden. These humans, who are not from Earth, will only agree to help with the tech upgrades in exchange for our commitment to free their worlds from Zodark control. A dangerous bargain as New Eden becomes the front line in a conflict that could cost us everything. It's all a decent backdrop for an engaging story but there are a number of flaws that keep it from rising above the pack.

The first is the pace of our technological advancement just feels way too fast and unrealistic. Yet, I was still able to put that aside and enjoy the story of us plucky humans trying to fight back against the galactic bully. The second is that the author chose to include alien provided "proof" that dinosaurs roamed the Earth 4,000 years ago and were wiped out in a flood. Sigh. Again, I moved on, but ultimately the tipping point for me is the entire story takes a significant turn once the humans start to explore beyond New Eden. I won't spoil it here, but lets just say that the "plucky humans fighting the galactic bully" story pretty much gets tossed out the window and replaced by a narrative that I found much less interesting. The series does continue, but at this point I am choosing to bow out. If you want to know exactly what that is then I am sure you can find plenty of reviews that spoil it on Amazon or Audible.

Jonathan Davis again does an excellent job with the narration of the audiobook version.