Exultant
Destiny's Children Book 2
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4.8 • 13 Ratings
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
Twenty-five thousand years in the future mankind is still locked in its twenty thousand year long war for survival with the Xeelee.
Billions die every day and mankind's best soldiers are children, bred to fight and die. The war has gone well but has now stalled at the galaxy's core, the Xeelee stronghold.
And as we fight what we cannot believe will be the final battle the cosnequences of a war fought in the first few nano-seconds after the big bang are coming to fruition.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Military SF fans will relish the second entry in Baxter's Destiny's Children trilogy, set long after the events recounted in 2003's Coalescent. When navy pilot Pirius and his crew violate protocol during a skirmish with the alien Xeelee and end up capturing a ship from "mankind's most ancient and most powerful foe," instead of accolades, two versions of Pirius Pirius Red and Pirius Blue, from different time lanes receive punishment. Pirius Red accompanies the eccentric Nilis (we know he's odd because he never wears shoes) to the Earth system to research the captured ship and concoct a way to end the war, while Pirius Blue is sent in disgrace to the Xeelee front for army combat training. As Pirius Red explores the solar system, picking up clues to create a strategy to defeat the Xeelee by striking at their home system, Pirius Blue narrowly escapes death in combat and grows into a leader. Both come to question the doctrines that guide their lives as they realize the extent of their military conditioning. Weak characterization mars an otherwise well-told story as fast-paced action sequences flip to long, dry discussions about physics. Not content with one drop-dead hard-science idea, Baxter concatenates them, one building on the other; even his aliens represent ideas. Female readers may wish the author would take some lessons on portraying romance from Sharon Shinn.
