The Mercy of Gods
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4.4 • 416 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Expanse comes a spectacular new space opera that sees humanity fighting for its survival in a war as old as the universe itself.
★ “Masterful . . . . This is space opera at its best.” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The start of something truly epic." ― Fonda Lee, author of Jade City
How humanity came to the planet called Anjiin is lost in the fog of history, but that history is about to end.
The Carryx – part empire, part hive – have waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy. Now, they are facing a great and deathless enemy. The key to their survival may rest with the humans of Anjiin.
Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team. Then the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them.
They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure. Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to survive: learning to understand – and manipulate – the Carryx themselves.
With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers.
Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination. He will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people.
This is where his story begins.
"Corey is always one of the most engaging voices in the genre." ― Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Time
"A bang up read. I want more." ― Paolo Bacigalupi, author of The Water Knife
"A powerful, provocative masterpiece that I will be thinking about for a very long time." ― Ryka Aoki, author of Light from Uncommon Stars
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Academic squabbles take on a deadly edge in this new alien-conquest epic by the author duo who brought us the Expanse series. On the planet Anjiin, Tonner Freis’ top-ranked biological research team is under threat by jealous rivals, but that threat is soon swept away when the planet is conquered by the Carryx, alien creatures whose guiding principle is that other species must submit and prove useful to them…or die. Transported to a distant world, Freis’ team must continue—and succeed at—their research, even while other alien research teams are working on the same project and are willing to kill to get ahead. And as if all of that weren’t enough, the team has been compromised from within. Anyone who has negotiated the tricky interpersonal dynamics of an academic or corporate department will relate hard to the high-stakes workplace drama, and science fiction fans will love James S. A. Corey’s fascinating world-building. In either case, you won’t want to miss this start to a promising series.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Writing as Corey, bestsellers Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (The Expanse) create a dazzling new world in their masterful Captive's War series launch. In the distant future, humanity has settled on the planet Anjiin, but the history of how they arrived there has been lost to time. Tonner Freis, a brilliant research scientist, has achieved a historic breakthrough in humanity's ability to translate the language of Anjiin's native, silicon-based, life-forms. But before he and his colleagues can learn more, Anjiin is invaded by the Carryx, which resemble "unthinkably vast cockroaches that bent up at a right angle in the middle." Having conquered countless worlds, the Carryx operate from the conviction that "what can be subjugated, must be." The authors create suspense through a prologue that foreshadows the conquest of Anjiin to be a Pyrrhic victory—in the process, the Carryx unwittingly bring the enemy who will defeat them into their midst. With that Damoclean sword dangling over the plot, the focus shifts to Freis and his team as they struggle to survive the invasion and their subsequent captivity. In Corey's hands, world-shaking events don't preclude nuanced and moving portraits of the people caught up in them. This is space opera at its best.
Customer Reviews
Feels like half a book
Good writing and an interesting concept, but it ends pretty abruptly
A fantastic beginning!
This is a great start to what will likely be a long epic tale of galactic war and subterfuge. Setting everything and knowing nothing. That kind of thing. I tore through this book in less than a day, I enjoyed it so much.
Gripping and visceral
A fine showing from the author.