| Title | : | Binary System: Deneb (Binary System, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 345 |
| Publication | : | First published May 30, 2015 |
Nearly a millennium has passed since the mysterious invaders known as the Gray forced humanity to abandon the cradle of their birth. Spreading out among the stars, the wayward children of Earth are fiercely united under the ancient and enduring banner of the Sol Alliance as they struggle to survive and thrive in the cold darkness.
For Alisa Pierce, fighting the Gray is all she knows and all she is. Aloof, efficient and focused only on total victory, her sole close companion and confidant is Rin, her artificial intelligence operator and partner. Alisa's cold distance from her fellow humans only served to draw her ever more closely to Rin. After the success of a deadly and difficult solo mission, Alisa and Rin transfer to the celebrated and elite 703rd Hyperspace Assault Wing.
On the surface, Alisa's future seems a brilliant star rising, placed firmly on the heroine's path. All is not as it seems, and the fortunes of war can easily take a very dark turn. A devastating and tragic event erupts into a sinister conspiracy within the Alliance. As the line between ally and enemy is erased, Alisa and Rin will have no choice but to fight for their lives, their people and their love.
ALSO CONTAINS AN ORIGINAL SHORT STORY BY K.J. RUSSELL
Speculative fiction writer and cat-herder K.J. Russell, author of THE DUSTY MAN, presents a different perspective on the ancient conflict with the Gray. In his short story, "Destructive Interference: ISO 953," the Nightshade, one of the Alliance Fleet's seven cutting-edge stealth destroyers, scrambles to replace one of its sister vessels in an emergency redeployment. Surrounded on all sides by the enigmatic Gray who seem determined to deny humanity even the slightest foothold on the frontier, the Nightshade's crew will have to overcome impossible odds to complete the mission!
Binary System: Deneb (Binary System, #1) Reviews
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I got my first taste of Binary System in its rough draft awhile back. At that time it was just a great story in an excellently broad setting for military science fiction. The rewrites turned it into all of that, plus a vivid personal journey with the kind of mature love story you don't usually find in science fiction (the couple are way past the juvenile will-they-won't-they stage of the relationship), as well as some of the best-written space battles I've ever read. The technology and politics of the world are cohesive and tied directly into the plot, just like good science fiction needs to do more often.
I believe this novel is going to be the launching point of an excellent series, an introduction to a setting that I want to know more about, and I'm thrilled that the author let me play in that setting as well. I can tell from the massive list of details I had to keep track of when writing my own story (which is included in the back of the book), that the setting is the same kind of ironclad sci-fi that inspired me to write in the first place.
I simply can't recommend this novel enough. If you have any interest in space opera or military science fiction at all, Binary System is an unquestionable must-read. -
Classic scifi, using technology as the lens with which we examine humanity
On the surface level, this is compelling science fiction. Immersive world building, intricate space battles with complex yet intuitive technological mechanisms, and a faceless monolithic enemy that threatens all humanity leads to a gripping adventure from start to finish. But the part that really grabs is the inner workings of the characters struggling against their own psyche. What starts as charming character development and a continually developing cast becomes the real heart of a treacherous journey through what it means to struggle. The view on AI is a classic story, well told and wonderful, seeking a place where one belongs when one is both inhuman and yet more human than most. But the real impact of the one two punch comes from the deep unsettling question of what it means to be human at all.
