Alexis Glynn Latner

The startling and unexpected arrival of a new starship in their sky completely disrupts the fragile colony of humans on planet Green. Having escaped the problems of Earth to found a new civilization far beyond the solar system, the colonists are distressed to discover the sour grapes eaten by their fathers have set the children’s teeth on edge, and especially so because one of those fathers is a prominent member of their new community. This cautionary tale of the potential danger inherent in genetic engineering, is also a tale of hope for a saving remnant of humanity and an adventure to read.… (plus d'informations)

Just before leaving Earth forever, the starship Aeon has a request to take on another passenger. Chief Medical Officer Catharin Gault must approve the addition of Joseph Devreze to the crew. It’s not an easy call. She finds him obnoxious and full of himself, but more than that she’s appalled by his ethics, or rather his lack of them. Here’s a brilliant molecular biologist, a world renowned expert on DNA, with a Nobel Prize who’s made a fortune creating sea dogs, dogs with flippers and gills so they can breathe underwater. As he puts it, “Novel organisms are very profitable. And people pay outrageous sums for cosmetic genetic alterations, such as calico hair.”

Much later Gault is relieved that she approved him for the mission, because the Aeon has been in space centuries beyond the safe limit for its crew to remain in stasis. Their DNA has begun to decay, and the colonists that have finally made it to the new world of Green are in danger of being both the first and the last generation of colonists.

Latner’s tale of interstellar exploration and colonization is fascinating, believable, and thought provoking. The science is hard and the romance appropriately stimulating.… (plus d'informations)

I read the first two books in this series with great delight, but this one fell rather flat for me. The plot is moved forward in some interesting ways, but the writing just isn't on a par with books 1 and 2 and according to the author's webpage was written earlier, which reflects what I saw: that the plot development is much less polished. Here the risen members of the Aeon starship's hibernating crew finally find a possible home but meet scientifically advanced humans (Avendians), and neither side is sure if the other can be trusted. A diplomatic mission to the Avendian home planet is undertaken.

The most distracting problem for me was the main character's navel-gazing and his obsession with the physical attributes of the Avendian ambassador and whether a cyborg and his hologram might be rivals for her affection. To me, it would have been preferable (and sufficient) for the reader to be made aware that he found her attractive and was beginning to fall in love with her, and then leave it at that until she'd made her own interest obvious. The agony of young love is boring in an adventure story.

Second, as this is the story of a critical and delicate diplomatic mission, it is not believable that the second-in-command would be the angry, outspoken and sometimes violent Steed. In real life she would never have been considered, or, if she was a last resort, she'd have been controlled.

On a positive note, the cyborg is a wonderful character, and I look forward to reading more on the Starbirds, an alien race met along the way. And despite my lack of enthusiasm for this particular entry, I look forward to the next volume.… (plus d'informations)