Force Cantrithor

by Michael McCloskey

Space is vast. No matter how much firepower you have, you can't defeat your enemy unless you know exactly where and when to strike. That's why Lieutenant Emil is so critical to his task force. He's a type of electromagnetic warfare specialist called an emmer serving in an interstellar war. However, Emil is slowly going insane— a path already taken by two other emmers in the task force. He's seeing scenes from all over the ship, noticing things that can't be real, and starting to doubt his own humanity. What’s worse, the war isn’t going well, and the crew of the flagship Excalibur are dependent upon Emil to do his job better than ever before. When the alien enemy called the Vothriles ask for a secret meeting in deep space with Emil's task force, everyone is suspicious. The warship Excalibur heads out to meet with the alien foes that no Terran yet understands. The Vothriles propose joining forces against an even greater common menace, a mysterious enemy code-named "Force Cantrithor". No one knows if Force Cantrithor can be defeated, or if the Vothriles can be trusted. But it may not matter. How much longer can Emil hold it together, anyway?

Genres: Science Fiction

242 pages, Paperback

First published February 19, 2013

About the author

I am a software engineer in Silicon Valley who dreams of otherworldly creatures, mysterious alien planets, and fantastic adventures. I'm also an indie author with over 150,000 paid sales and another 150,000 free downloads.

Visit http://www.squidlord.us for more information.

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Reviews

[Matt Knepper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lieutenant Emil is quite possibly the most important crewmember to the Terrans in the war against the Vothriles. Everyone will rely on him when the Vothriles propose an alliance to fight against an even more dangerous common threat: Force Cantrithor. There is an interstellar war of epic proportions, but the real story is about Emil’s internal battle. Emil is trying to stave off insanity.

Emil is a fascinating character, but not entirely relatable. This may very well have been the intent, though. As he struggles with the stress of war he questions his reality, his own existence, and his significance in the universe. His existential conflict is what makes this novel so compelling.

All in all, I had mixed feelings about this book. The story was great, but there didn’t seem to be a good flow. There were several events that were unexpected to me, but the revelations were somewhat brusque. The ending left me feeling a bit cold. While the story reached a fantastic climax, it didn’t linger there long enough for me to savor it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, but went for long periods of time without even picking it up. It was a pretty middle-of-the-road novel for me, but I’m glad to have had the opportunity to read it.

[David Caldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won a copy on Goodreads Firstreads.

Humans have been fighting a war against the Vothriles for ten years.The war isn't going that well for the Humans.Their only real advantage is the emmers,individuals that can manipulate electromagnetic fields.The problem is the emmers are getting lost(going crazy).Emil is one of the emmers and he is starting to doubt his own sanity.He is having nightmares of his ship being boarded and the crew slaughtered by the Vothriles.Emil is even starting to doubt his own humanity.But when the Vothriles approach the Humans about a new mysterious threat to both of their races, Emil has to try and do even better while holding onto his sanity.Can the combined forces of Human and Vothriles stop the common menace?Can Emil stay sane and beat all the problems?What if Emil's fears prove to be true?

Force Cantrithor is a strong character driven science fiction.Depending more on character interactions than science or "special effects" driven scenes of space battles.There is plenty of suspense between the menacing nature of Force Cantrithor and the mystery of the emmers.The descent of Emil into madness while still trying to do his job and discover his own nature will keep the reader turning pages.But don't be mistaken, there is still plenty of space warfare and other action to keep the story exciting.

Force Cantrithor reminded me of going down a small side street and finding a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant.Thinking it won't be anything spectactular, you decide to try it anyway.Then you discover that while the restaurant may be a no-frill establishment, it has excellent food and great service.Force Cantrithor is the same kind of gem in the rough.It is just a book from an independant publisher but is an excellent story and well worth a read.It should appeal to a wide range of people, not just science fiction fans.

[Kio · Rating 5 out of 5]

The one really salient thing about this book is, I think, its use of perspective. Aside from the brief intro and outro chapters, it's all told from the standpoint of one character: Emil. Emil is a technician aboard a capital starship responsible for operating a device called an 'Effector'. More on that a little later. The story itself is seen throw the eyes of this character, including through their use of the above device, and so his viewpoint of the other characters, events, and so forth.

Naturally, this is a pretty introspective book. Something I normally beware, but McCloskey does an excellent job of keeping it from become abstract/tedious. It's concretely tied into each scene and a direct response to the dialogue or events thereof and the more exploratory ones are played off other characters, e.g. the ship doctor or another friend Emil makes. It's also paced with the audience's own questions as events unfold and bits and pieces are revealed (or at least, it was so in the case of myself and a few friends). In short, very interesting.

You have inferred from the above that it's (thematically) a story of self discovery. However, there's an external plotline - war with an alien race (but each side has more depth than just raw xenophobia) - and lots of good supporting elements. I found the take on space combat to be pretty interesting and it did a good job of establishing the admiral as a proficient tactician in my eyes. I generally liked the characters, and it was also a particularly interesting take on/use of Effectors, and some other things I can't mentioned without spoiling. Some other nice geekery for us scifi readers too.

And of course, as this is McCloskey, each of the aliens that make an appearance (some of them very brief) are pretty interesting and not just the usual humanoid spinoffs of the genre.

Eh. I could offer a few criticisms but they're really minor and, in my opinion, it's really an excellent book. Highly recommended. Although... Downer ending.

[Tyko Brising · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could I'd give it four and a half stars. I can't give it that last star though because the ending felt a bit rushed and there seemed to be so many good ideas that just never quite came through.

But what the hay, I'll give it five anyway, I had a really hard time putting it down after all!

[Simply N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of a man, and his electromagnetic superpowers, and his existential journey as he slowly loses his mind.

Refreshingly hard scifi. McCloskey has a good imagination regarding technology and aliens, and he can write a plot that keeps you guessing.

For the negative: McCloskey's writing had improved by the writing of this book, but he's still not great. I feel that the detail that hurt the narrative the most was that the plot twist felt...abrupt, somehow. I think a lack of foreshadowing might have hurt the delivery.

Also, if you're familiar with McCloskey's other works, you'll know that the characterization for his human characters tends to suffer. They don't have the same quality of writing dedicated to them that's given to the feature McCloskey wants to explore within a given novel.

Don't get me wrong. McCloskey writes good books that are fun to read, but these flaws keep his good books0 from becoming sleeper hits.

[LW · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is really one of the peak "could have been better" books in my library. It had a good setting, good world building, interesting characters, but the author couldn't execute it. The best part was probably "Force Cantrithor" itself, except most of the book isn't about it. Plus, Adrian Tchaikovsky used the same concept in The Final Architecture series and did a way better job. Honestly, if this pulls your interest, you're just better off reading Shards of Earth.

Things I did not like:
- Emil is the only well written character in the whole book. It's so fixed on him that the whole thing might as well be written in first person.
- The female love interest is a secret agent sent to spy on Emil and decides the solution to keep him from going insane is to have sex with him (not that it works, but it was crazy to try in the first place). It was a great setup for an ace character (which makes total sense because Emil isn't human) but obviously that isn't allowed. Also, it seems out of place because it doesn't change anything, like it was just a literary checkbox that had to be ticked off.
- Emil is largely a "fly-on-the-wall" to everything going on on the ship, his "powers" largely allow him to see and hear everything, to the point of selective telepathy.
- The commander's deathwish. Is no one sane on this ship?
- The fact Emil isn't actually going insane. Because it's just escapism. The insanity is that he wants to stay on those infinity far away planets and help the aliens while ignoring the war around him. Everyone else on the ship is trying to escape the reality of the war, but when Emil wants to do it, he's the crazy one. It's shown as an all-or-nothing option where in reality, he can absolutely do both.
- Lack of action

Things I liked:
- Emil's internal battle
- Emil isn't human
- The electromagnetic warfare style (which has a notable lack of dramatic space battles)