"Space opera" that
both exceeds the spatial scope of most of that genre and is much more serious
and even sober.
(Lucy Cohen Schmeidler, Orb)
The second Williams & Dix space opera was both
darker and more ambitious than its predecessor.
Set much closer to home, at the dawn of human exploration, it almost
(but not quite) stands as a prequel to Evergence, with the first interstellar
colonists--fragile copies of real people abandoned by their distant homeworld--thrust into deadly First Contact with two quite
different alien species.
"[T]he book can't be discussed or even described
without spoiling some of the surprises," said Locus, "which are mutually reinforcing as well as juicy in
themselves. I will, however, give in to
the temptation to drop a few more of the names that came to mind as I was
reading: the Three Gregs (Bear, Benford,
Egan), Linda Nagata, and Frederik
Pohl."
Paul di Filippo raised the stakes even higher,
declaring Williams & Dix the " Niven & Pournelle for the 21st
century", so it seems fitting that he should have the final say here:
"The series ends with more questions than answers, but that outcome might
very well reflect both the true nature of the close-mouthed universe and a
postmodern outlook where certainty is less attainable and less valued than in
the olden days of Doc Smith's glory."
(Sean
Williams and Shane Dix)
In
the early 22nd century, humans have shed their bodies to travel
through space. Produced through
nanotechnology, their electronic reproductions, known as engrams,
have been sent on fact-finding missions throughout the known
universe--searching for signs of alien life...
As the crew of a survey ship watches, ten orbital towers are constructed around an uninhabited planet's equator--by unidentifiable, spindle-shaped entities. Then, without any attempt at communication, the spindles withdraw. Cautiously exploring the towers, Peter Alander finds what appear to be gifts from a technologically-advanced race, including a faster-than-light ship. But when Alander pilots the shop back to Earth with news of the unprecedented event, he may be giving humanity a gift it can't afford to accept...
"Echoes of Earth is a dazzling
adventure, sweeping the reader along from marvel to wonder, and it includes one
of the most heart-stopping moments I've encountered in a novel in
years." Jack McDevitt
"the book can't be discussed
or even described without spoiling some of the surprises, which are mutually
reinforcing as well as juicy in themselves. I will, however, give in to the
temptation to drop a few more of the names that came to mind as I was reading:
the Three Gregs (Bear, Benford,
Egan), Linda Nagata, and Frederik
Pohl... As the first of a series...Echoes promises to rev its Ideas
right past the red-line and drive them hard." (Russell Letson, Locus)
"The good people at Ace forgot to add this
warning, so let me insert it here: For your own safety, strap yourself in with
every seatbelt at your disposal. You're headed on a trip through space and time
that could easily leave you far behind if you aren't ready... Hold your breath and hold on tight. This is
going to be a ride such as you've never seen before." (Lisa DuMond, SF
Site)
"This book is true hard science fiction...[which] places the novel within the long tradition of
Anderson, Asimov, Brin, and Clarke." (VOYA)
"The authors have already made a name for themselves
as writers of intelligent space opera, and Echoes of Earth is sure to
bolster that reputation. The book is
chock full of marvelous events, cosmic significance, mysterious alien
motivations, and the wonder of outer space." (Science Fiction Chronicle)
(Sean
Williams and Shane Dix)
"This is an open
broadcast. We are the sole survivors of
the human race. Our primary task is to
locate those colonies that have survived.
We must cooperate in this venture--even if it is to be our last."
In the wake of
Earth's demise, true human Caryl Hatzis
and human engram Peter Alander have but one goal: to
warn the surviving colonies of a coming menace--deadly alien ships, seemingly
intent on the destruction of everything in their path. The only way to defend against them is to use
the Gifts, advanced technological devices given to humanity under mysterious
circumstances. But no one really
understands the Gifts--and there is mounting evidence that it is their very use
that attracts attack.
With time running out, Hatzis and Alander are desperate to find a way to save the scattered orphans of planet Earth. And then help arrives--from an unexpected and unwelcome source...
"...Especially elaborate
are the varieties of mental architecture and the corresponding social
arrangements: the Yuhl's intensely binary view of
everything, rooted in their own exaggerated symmetry; the interchangeable,
changeless, and relentless army of Frank Axfords; Caryl Hatzis's longing for the
amputated greater part of her extended, multi-minded persona; a damaged Alander engram crashing and
rebooting every few minutes in an attempt to preserve a simulacrum of
continuous personality.
"And for those of us who need a big finish, there's a whacking great space battle when the Starfish show up to wipe out a colony and get a surprise cooked up by their unexpectedly clever intended victims. But by this time Orphans has accomplished its middle-book mission and complicated the initial situation, raised more questions than it has answered, planted hints about where the next volume will go, and in general, as my old dad would say, added the cornstarch to thicken the plot." (Russell Letson, Locus)
"this book shines" (Cinescape)
"Delivers plenty of
action and intriguing speculations" (Off the Shelf)
"Fresh concepts and a
fascinating foray into space exploration" (Romantic Times Bookshelf)
"High adventure in deep space for fans of far-future SF" (Library Journal)
"Dense, tense, and
exciting." (Lucy Cohen Schmeidler, Orb)
(Sean
Williams and Shane Dix)
Earth has been destroyed, and the
natural order of things destroyed with it.
What little remains of humanity is caught between
the Spinners and the Starfish, unsure whether to run, hide, or fight back. None of the options is particularly attractive, none offers much hope for survival...
The mysterious
aliens known as the Spinners brought great gifts to humanity--and those Gifts
brought great destruction in their wake.
Now, the Spinners are gone--and the genocidal
Starfish who came after them are continuing their reign of destruction. Time is running out for the handful of
surviving humans, their engram brethren, and the newfound alien species that
has allied itself with them. Faced with
almost certain annihilation, Caryl Hatzis, Peter Alander, and a crew
of desperate beings hatch a last-ditch plan--they will take one small ship and
attempt to penetrate the very heart of the Starfish fleet...
"Williams
and Dix do an amazing job of creating the impression of some vast order behind
the alien actions, a large and almost comprehensible pattern. That outline, too
large or maybe too small to see, lurks in the corner of the entire series and
gives the uncertain ending the concrete inevitability of the inexplicable
tragedies humans have always faced.
Desperate and tightly paced, Heirs of the Earth is a disturbing
end to a discomforting series. Sean
Williams and Shane Dix turn away from the often comforting rules of fiction,
forcing the real and sometimes intolerable uncertainty of survival on their
heroes and their readers. It's not an easy book to read but it's much harder to
ignore." (Rambles)
"Just as the authors' "Evergence"
trilogy turned pulp interstellar adventure into gloomy-but-bracing post-human
Jacobean tragedy, this sequence constitutes a melodramatic (or space-operatic)
take on Stapledon, a grittier, bleaker take on
Clarke. And because it is melodramatic and bleak, it cannot easily avail itself
of the appeal to transcendence that allowed those writers to resolve the
otherwise unresolvable in their treatments of the
vast and numinous. The universe of these books is a chilly, indifferent, and
perhaps unintelligible environment‑‑"home" is far too
cozy a word. It may be filled with gods and wonders, but we will never have
more than a corner-of-the-eye glimpse of them, and even that can burn our
brains, scramble our identities, and sow our fields with salt. As the Greeks knew
millennia ago, attracting the attention of deity is rarely a good thing. On the
far side of their brush with the Ambivalence, all that the heirs of Earth
(which I suppose indicates some improvement over being orphans) can do is
hunker down and, Candide-like, cultivate their
devastated gardens. It's a vision very different from the triumphalism
of traditional SF adventure, but its darkness seems entirely appropriate to the
twenty-first century we actually inhabit.""
(Russell Letson, Locus)
"The impulses behind Williams and Dix's awe-inspiring trilogy are as old as the science fiction genre. From the first days of Doc Smith's Skylark series-initially conceived in 1915, but appearing in magazine form in 1928-writers have lusted to depict cosmic vistas, baffling aliens, super-science technology and mankind's role amidst such wonders. As real-world science advances, as ethics evolve, as new metaphysical and cosmological theories crop up, the previous generation's space opera becomes outdated and insufficient, requiring a new generation of writers to update the core values of the subgenre, to clothe them in shiny new chromalloy armor. Dix and Williams do so in exceptional fashion.
"Their willingness to
drive mankind to an evolutionary bottleneck is typical of their hard-nosed,
revisionist approach. Space opera can be a very comforting, cozy mode, with its
interstellar empires and royalty and guilds. But when dramatic Darwinian forces
are brought into play, as here, space opera can become a kind of bracing, near-apocalyptic
tale. Gregs Bear and Benford
are fond of this approach, and Williams and Dix can stand shoulder to shoulder
with them.
"In terms of character
development and successfully rounding out their narrative arc, the authors do
not disappoint either. All the protagonists mature and change, even if they do
not undergo literally shattering metamorphoses, as does Thor. And the climax
(or climaxes, actually) to this third installment are resonant and satisfying.
Although open-ended, the book feels like a true conclusion.
"The authors are dab
hands at speculating as well. Their super-science rings like logical yet
ingenious extensions of current theories...
"This Australian team
bids fair to become the new Niven
& Pournelle for the 21st century.
"The series ends with
more questions than answers, but that outcome might very well reflect both the
true nature of the close-mouthed universe and a postmodern outlook where
certainty is less attainable and less valued than in the olden days of Doc
Smith's glory.
Rating: A
(Paul Di Filippo,
scifi.com)