This week I decided to review Star
Carrier: Dark Mind by Ian Douglas. The story opens with a peek into
the the thoughts of The Consciousness, a force so ancient that it
doesn't even remember its age, which travels between universes seeking
advanced life to assimilate, and has recently arrived in the primary
Star Carrier. This is followed by an encounter between a European
fighter squadron, deployed in response to The Consciousness
destroying a human research base in the Kapteyn system, and the
hostile new force in the universe.
Meanwhile, the Star Carrier America
is leading a fleet back in time to try to convince the leadership of
the Sh'daar Collective, which humanity recently fought a decades long
war against, to ally with them against The Consciousness, which is
believed to be the force responsible for the Milky Way's destruction
in a future the America had traveled too. But first the human fleet
must survive an attack by Sh'daar rebels and succeed in negotiating
with a force containing dozens of wildly disparate species.
Worse, when America and what is left of
her fleet return to their native time, a number of the crew, including
the fleet's commander Admiral Gray, have been infected by a new
disease, leading to the ship being quarantined. But investigation
reveals that the illness is actually sentient, and further study
reveals that it is the binding force behind the Sh'daar Collective,
with the restrictions on technological development that the Sh'daar
wish to impose on humanity coming from a combination of the host
species' fear of a repeat of the technological singularity which
devastated their civilizations, and the infection's fear that those
technologies could be used to destroy it.
Meanwhile, the AI Konstantin has been
trying to convince President Koeing to deploy the America to Tabby's
Star, where it believes knowledge vital to humanity's survival can be
found. But after the President decides to send America as part of a
massive fleet to reclaim Kapteyn's Star, the AI sets out to convince
Admiral Gray to go rogue and take America to Tabby's Star. Gray
agrees to go but even if America finds the technology Konstantin
believes is waiting it may be too late to turn the tide of battle as
the fleet sent to Kapteyn's Star's finds itself facing an
overwhelming Consciousness defense including a battleship the size of
a planet. And there are unknown forces waiting at Tabby's Star as
well...
I give this book 9.5 out of 10 It has
some great battle scenes and some interesting scenes showing the
thoughts of the various players or contemplating why those forces
might be acting the way they are. It also has some interesting new
aliens and technology. My only complaint is that I feel the ending
should have included a few more clues regarding what is coming next.
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