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Hellgate #5
Flashpoint
With the frontier worlds going down before the Zunshu and the DeepSky Fleet headed out with orders to use any means necessary to extinguish the Colonial Wars, the board is set, the pieces are positioned – and Neil Travers and Curtis Marin find themselves in Freespace, hunting for old enemies.
The rogue industrialist behind the event that almost destroyed Omaru is hiding out on Halfway -- surrounded by a regiment of bodyguards, in the fortified heights of a lawless space city where anything goes, from the dark, virulent, violent underbelly to a dazzling place called Xanadu. Sergei van Donne is also gunning for Boden Zwerner, but even he can’t get close, and an unlikely pact is made between sometime enemies.
The data trail leading to Zwerner takes Richard Vaurien’s crew through the muck trodden by slave dealers. They’re after the survivors of the super-carrier Shanghai – soldiers, pilots, techs, who made it through the Battle of Ulrand alive, only to be snatched by unscrupulous Freespacers and sold in hellish colonies on the wrong side of the frontier. Harrison Shapiro wants them back, and the trail sends the Wastrel to an open-pit mine of a world. The slaves are just part of the treasure that might be seized -- and perhaps another clue to the secrets of the Zunshu will be uncovered.
The ancient Resalq have emerged from stasis to discover a harsh new reality … the Zunshu are too close, no world is safe, and Mark Sherratt’s people will become fugitives once again, while Lai’a launches into the incredible realm of transspace, which the Resalq called Elarne … ‘the stormy side of the sky.’ Its mission was simply to test the hyper-Weimann engine. Its reality is stunningly different.
For Travers and Marin, the day of reckoning has arrived. The super-carrier Chicago has brought Earth’s war to Velcastra. The colonial republic is proclaimed, and peace reigns for a matter of hours, while worlds like Jagreth and Borushek watch shrewdly, and chart their own future. Harrison Shapiro’s bridges are burned – the only way back is victory.
And at a place called Alshien’ya, a very different drama explodes with the return of Lai’a … the heroes of the modern frontier and the icons of other centuries are players, pawns, in a vast game of statecraft and survival – winner take all.
HELLGATE #5: Flashpoint is a massive novel – 250,000 words long – driving the story toward its immense conclusion, which you’ll be reading in 2012, in #6: Event Horizon.
The rogue industrialist behind the event that almost destroyed Omaru is hiding out on Halfway -- surrounded by a regiment of bodyguards, in the fortified heights of a lawless space city where anything goes, from the dark, virulent, violent underbelly to a dazzling place called Xanadu. Sergei van Donne is also gunning for Boden Zwerner, but even he can’t get close, and an unlikely pact is made between sometime enemies.
The data trail leading to Zwerner takes Richard Vaurien’s crew through the muck trodden by slave dealers. They’re after the survivors of the super-carrier Shanghai – soldiers, pilots, techs, who made it through the Battle of Ulrand alive, only to be snatched by unscrupulous Freespacers and sold in hellish colonies on the wrong side of the frontier. Harrison Shapiro wants them back, and the trail sends the Wastrel to an open-pit mine of a world. The slaves are just part of the treasure that might be seized -- and perhaps another clue to the secrets of the Zunshu will be uncovered.
The ancient Resalq have emerged from stasis to discover a harsh new reality … the Zunshu are too close, no world is safe, and Mark Sherratt’s people will become fugitives once again, while Lai’a launches into the incredible realm of transspace, which the Resalq called Elarne … ‘the stormy side of the sky.’ Its mission was simply to test the hyper-Weimann engine. Its reality is stunningly different.
For Travers and Marin, the day of reckoning has arrived. The super-carrier Chicago has brought Earth’s war to Velcastra. The colonial republic is proclaimed, and peace reigns for a matter of hours, while worlds like Jagreth and Borushek watch shrewdly, and chart their own future. Harrison Shapiro’s bridges are burned – the only way back is victory.
And at a place called Alshien’ya, a very different drama explodes with the return of Lai’a … the heroes of the modern frontier and the icons of other centuries are players, pawns, in a vast game of statecraft and survival – winner take all.
HELLGATE #5: Flashpoint is a massive novel – 250,000 words long – driving the story toward its immense conclusion, which you’ll be reading in 2012, in #6: Event Horizon.
- GenresScience Fiction
626 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 6, 2011
2 people are currently reading
20 people want to read
About the author
Mel Keegan
52 books71 followersA self-confessed science fiction and fantasy devotee, Keegan is known for novels across a wide range of subjects, from the historical to the future action-adventure. Mel lives in South Australia with an eccentric family and a variety of pets.
Every Mel Keegan book is strong on gay or bisexual heroes (also, often, on gay villains), and some of these heroes are the most delicious in fiction: Jarrat and Stone from the NARC series, Bill Ryan and Jim Hale from The Deceivers, Neil Travers and Curtis Marin from Hellgate, and many more unforgettable characters. Because Mel's books feature the same sex relationships, the partnership at the core of each book is integral: this is the relationship driving the story, and it can be very powerful indeed.
Every Mel Keegan book is strong on gay or bisexual heroes (also, often, on gay villains), and some of these heroes are the most delicious in fiction: Jarrat and Stone from the NARC series, Bill Ryan and Jim Hale from The Deceivers, Neil Travers and Curtis Marin from Hellgate, and many more unforgettable characters. Because Mel's books feature the same sex relationships, the partnership at the core of each book is integral: this is the relationship driving the story, and it can be very powerful indeed.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 10, 2014
4.5 stars
The Freespacers have had their first victories - against Confederation and against Zunshu automata. The moment of final showdown with Zunshu is approaching, but they will have to brave the Hellgate and transspace first. Some of the things I suspected have come true and made me very happy. Now, I have my suspicion about Zunshu and it is sheer luck I decided to finish the series at this time because the final book - Event Horizon - will be released on December 16th and it will be 302,000 words long!
This is incredibly complex story, with great characters and incredible scientific and speculative details. Now to take a little break before the final adventure!
The Freespacers have had their first victories - against Confederation and against Zunshu automata. The moment of final showdown with Zunshu is approaching, but they will have to brave the Hellgate and transspace first. Some of the things I suspected have come true and made me very happy. Now, I have my suspicion about Zunshu and it is sheer luck I decided to finish the series at this time because the final book - Event Horizon - will be released on December 16th and it will be 302,000 words long!
This is incredibly complex story, with great characters and incredible scientific and speculative details. Now to take a little break before the final adventure!
November 26, 2015
You'll find my full review of “Flashpoint” at my web site.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews