For four thousand years, the Guardships have ruled Canon Space—immortal ships with an immortal crew, dealing swiftly and harshly with any mercantile houses or alien races that threaten the status quo. But now the House Tregesser has an edge: a force from outside Canon Space offers them the resources to throw off Guardship rule. This precipitates an avalanche of unexpected outcomes, including the emergence of Kez Maefele, one of the few remaining generals of the Ku Warrior race-the only race to ever seriously threaten Guardship hegemony. Kez Maefele and a motley group of aliens, biological constructs, an scheming aristocrats find themselves at the center of the conflict. Maefele must chose which side he will support: the Guardships, who defeated and destroyed his race, or the unknown forces outside Canon Space that promise more death and destruction.
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A fine piece of sprawling space opera by Mr. Cook. Sharp character development, deviously plotted politics, classic gunfights between unspeakably large space armadas, and sturdy, overarching thoughts regarding the history of seemingly invincible empires and the complex revolutions that seek to overthrow them as seen through the lens of an unfathomably immense space-time context. The struggle between the righteous species warrior Turtle, the underhanded, self-assured Lupo Provik, and duty-driven WarAvocat Hanaver Strate make for page-turning reading across the story's one hundred and fifty chapters; a large host of well-attuned subsidiary characters lend the tale a broader “human” depth and Cook has a keen eye for developing each one just enough to find a unique attachment for each. Glen keeps the pacing brisk whilst never losing sight of the dense (perhaps too much so in parts) plot threads. The ending seems just the slightest bit too inconclusive (though almost necessarily so) and some of the characters' motivations could have been outlined more clearly in the broader context of what is a tectonically shifting, galaxy spanning narrative. Still, this is a must-read for Cook fans; hardcore science fiction fans will also find plenty to love in this mammoth saga.
