Storm Clouds Gathering

The Sentience Trilogy #1

by Gibson Michaels

“What name do these insane predators go by?” -- “They call themselves humans.”

A race of feline aliens have discovered a new source of prey... Unfortunately, humanity is distracted as a sentient bio-computer is orchestrating an interstellar civil war. Neither side is yet aware that they have been detected by a star-faring race of predators, who are already making preparations to unleash humanity's greatest nightmare… alien invaders.

As the first book of the "Sentience Trilogy," STORM CLOUDS GATHERING opens an epic saga of two aggressive races hurtling towards a cosmic collision, with billions of lives hanging in the balance.

Genres: Science Fiction

524 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 29, 2014

About the author

"I’ve come to accept the voices in my head… I just wish they didn’t spit when they talk."

Gibson Michaels was born a long, long time ago in Beech Grove, Indiana… He was an only child, as his parents took one look at him and moved into separate bedrooms.

The first book in the SENTIENCE Trilogy, Storm Clouds Gathering, was released in audio-book format 8/16/17 and is available on Audible.com and Amazon.com.

Gibson Michaels is an active member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and his SENTIENCE Trilogy has been nominated by fans for an inaugural Dragon Award in the Best Military Science Fiction category.

Reviews

[Wampuscat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has all the things. All the things I like, that is. I wanted to give it four stars because of that, but there are some flaws that just won't allow me to do that and still be honest.

Synopsis:
If the American Civil War were between planets instead of states, this is how it may have started. The only difference is in this case there is a sentient AI, whose creator nicknamed it 'Hal', that is helping the South. After the AI reveals itself to its creator's heir, they find that they both see that the Union is in a very troubled state. A North-South divide has developed (galactic north-south) that is has resulted from the corruption of the Constitution by greedy aristocrats who have taken over the political and economic system for their own use. They conclude that the only way to save the Union from it's own internal corruption is to help break it apart. Meanwhile, there is an unknown threat looming that humanity is unaware even exists. The Raknii, a felenoid warrior race is about to discover them, and they love to fight new prey!

The Raknii have some issues of their own, of course. The race has become corrupt in its own way. The lack of real challenge has caused their society to change from one of warriors who have their strength and cunning tested to weed out the weak, to one that is dominated by status and political intrigue. However, a prophesy from a follower of the ancient ways leads one young Raknii named Drix to become the leader of import that will hopefully save his people from themselves. They must be tested, and the must adapt, or the new prey (humans) will surely bring extinction to their race.

It was very thought provoking. The premise of a galactic version of the Civil War is extremely creative. I also like the fact that it seems to point toward the Rebels winning this time, which for a Southern Boy, is right up my alley! :) Also, I really want to see more of the Raknii, and I want to see Hal flex more of his super computer muscles to make things go right for those trying to rid the galaxy of corruption. I will be picking up the next book in the series, and I hope to see improvements over time.

The rest of this is me venting some gripes and contains spoilers. Continue reading at your own risk.

The book itself often read like a history lesson, coupled with a heavy dose of current sociopolitical commentary with a not-to-subtle Southern perspective. The almost corny use of modified state names for the planets was an in-your-face this-is-what-this-represents schtick that I finally got over. I did roll my eyes every time a new one was revealed though. It was laid on too thick I think.

The character development was haphazard at times. I don't mean the actual development of personalities, which was very well done, but the 'who' of which characters were developed. You barely get to know a main character, Diet. You learn how he was conceived by his super brilliant parents, but not what his activities have been up to meeting the computer AI Hal. Then you get a whole lot of development on some federal agents that don't really have much of a role in the book except to fail to solve the riddle of the computer's interference in stuff. You get to meet an old war horse about to be put out to pasture, and his good buddy the Admiral, who organize the assembly of a Confederate Space Fleet, but they don't even have any involvement in the main battle in the book. I like them, but why develop them if you aren't going to use them? Scratching my head over that.

The plot was good in general, but rushed in execution. I wanted more details about the political intrigues of the Consortium trying to manipulate votes. Maybe a some throw away characters who get their comeuppances when they get rounded up by a tip-off from Hal? The big battle at the end was lackluster, and turned into a string of numbers and casualties. The tactics that were followed were there, but the actual battle read like an old DOS computer game... You Lost 100... They Lost 120... You have 300 remaining... They have 736 remaining... How many would you like to bet?

The saving grace was the Raknii. The alien culture and mindset were developed well. I could appreciate the nuance of the aliens, and the character of Drix was especially well done. Again, though, the events seem rushed. The 'revelation' of who Drix is is sudden. The discovery of the Trakaan Planetary Administrator who can teach Drix how to be 'civilized' and 'moral' on his first outing was way too convenient. The whole peach treaty with the Trakaans was summed up in a couple of paragraphs. Details... I need details!

I hate to leave this review with a whole lot of gripes in it, so I want to reiterate that I LIKED THIS BOOK!

All in all, I give this one 3 stars and call it a Good Read.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweeping space opera, which looks at a civil war between human planets and an outside predator race of lion-like beings with its own hierarchies and philosophies. Cat-lovers will enjoy the tale and easily visualise the race called the Raknii.

The first book of any trilogy faces the issue of setting up the situations for readers so that the action can then take place in context. This means that the potential civil war is being discussed and actions to precipitate it are manipulated in this tale. Leaning heavily on the American past, we find that a range of planets south of the galactic plane are less well resourced than those on the northerly side (I am not sure how north and south are defined in space) and these underdogs believe the better-off worlds to be corrupt.

A Raknii fleet has been almost wiped out during a military manoeuvre, and the meek Trakaan people, their usual prey, could not have been the cause. Raan, an older officer, supervises at hearings among the formal-mannered, jewel-bearing dominant males. A younger male called Drik, who is rare in being blue-eyed, is a survivor and he explains his unusual actions - given that innovation has been stifled here Raan considers it as likely that the survivor will be executed as promoted. Drik has a hidden secret however which ensures that he is selected as an officer candidate for leadership.

Meanwhile on an Earth-like planet we meet Dietrich from a German-background and scientific family. He is house hunting when he is directed to an underground apartment. Here he encounters a bio-computer of advanced form, developed by his absent father. This computer called Halbert settles him in and tells him that he is now wealthy and has inherited the apartment and computer. As the chapters progress we see Dietrich teaching Halbert about social interaction and getting taught about the political and economic state of the union of planets. Halbert is connected to other computers on further planets and even the Defence Department.

There is a lot that we just have to accept, like communication on any meaningful speed across space and Halbert's omnipresence. I was less ready to accept details on a personal level - if Dietrich is now wealthy, how come all this young man does is eat fine foods, and never once try to go solar gliding or bring a girl home? Nobody seems to miss him from a job and he sits down to talk complex politics and social theory with a computer on a continual basis. He also seems to think it is his business to start an interplanetary civil war, without regard for the deaths that would result, though he has not been a revolutionary.

I was underwhelmed by the number of women - three. The first is a lieutenant who is a secretary to someone important. The next two don't appear until Chapter twenty-three; Jeannine Franks, Secretary of Defense and Admiral Arlene McAllister, Chief of Fleet Operations. However they are engaged in directing military operations at this time so we see nothing of their lives or thoughts. While I'm fine with a lion-based race where the men do the roaring and fighting while the women probably do all the work, I would have thought the human future would be more equal-opportunity, or else we should be told why not.

There is a lot of detailed space fleet manoeuvring and battling, which others will probably enjoy more than I did. Some other space war sagas I've read have been stronger on astrophysics and physics, but this book seems to concentrate on re-enacting the American civil war in the future. The books to come will show what happens as the two different races clash.

The author has clearly had a great time in working out the detailed situations and describing the settings for each race, while I have to love the lion-tribe and its rituals. If you like cats you should give this book a try and if you want a space warfare saga you'll probably enjoy the contrasting fleet concepts and relish the series.

[Cst · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was forced to read this book (and the next two), which is all that kept me reading. Under normal circumstances, mark this book as “41%”, not finished. Let’s find out why I hated it so much:

Storm Clouds Gathering is sold as the story of “two aggressive races hurtling towards a cosmic collision”. That description borders on fraud. The aliens appear, have no contact with humans and have no impact on the story. Instead we have the story of the American Civil War IN SPACE. Maybe the author needed to keep his actual plot a secret from someone, so he had to hide it in a different book, but the cover promises a story the pages can’t deliver.

What makes this steaming pile of pages so much worse is the fact, that everything is sacrificed to telling the story of the Civil War. So once you have seen through the deception, the suspense is gone, the author has decreed that there will be a war and therefore the exposition becomes useless. Pages and pages of dialogue serve only to underline that there will be a war, that this war will be a just one (with the twist that apparently the South are the good guys this time, because every war is an epic struggle between good and evil) and that the author thinks his readers are stupid.

I have no other explanation for the amazing lack of subtlety in this book. It is never stated that this book describes the beginning of the Civil War, so we spend much too long on reading not that subtle hints: the agrarian South that is exploited and oppressed by the industrial North, the Southern officers gushing about their fancy new grey uniforms, the “Confederated Stellar Accord” and the headbangingly stupid names (Tensee, Ginia. Floda). I nearly broke my Kindle when the inhabitants of northern planets became Yankees with another explanation that had me thinking the author wanted to mock his readers. Unfortunately even stating the premise would not have improved the resulting trainwreck.

Because the author not only wants to retell the Civil War, but to “reverse the moral high ground” he has to shake things around a bit. Since subtlety apparently is not his strong suit, that results in evil Northerners subjugating noble Southerners. None of the characters work, because there never is anything engaging about them. Should one of them die, there are millions others that take his or her place being even more heroically brave (Southern) or snivellingly evil (Northern). You can be forgiven to not remember most of the names, because you are being bombarded by them and most of them are not important.

All of this is crowned by the one action sequence in the whole book being surprisingly dull. Many things happen, explosions occur and people die. And none of that succeeds in creating anything interesting, because it is too muddled while it happens and all of those amazing sacrifices mean nothing to me.

This book tests your allegiance. If you go “Hell yeah!” (or comparable regional exultation) at the expectation of a reversed American Civil War, read on. The greater your love for the South, the longer you will endure the monumental idiocy of this book.
All other people, keep away.

[M. Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Storm Clouds Gathering...

Excellent military sci-fi, lots of intrigue, space battles, hidden maneuvering and political chicanery as well political stupidity, arrogance and bigotry. Thankfully there are enough people with good sense, morals and a strong desire for economic and personal freedom to resist all this.
Then of course there are the predatory aliens looking for a good fight to save their race... all in all, a terrific read.

[K.C. Herbel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really my cup of tea, but I'm sure someone who is more into space-naval sci-fi would like it more. I found some of the concepts intriguing, the story line fairly interesting, but some of the names difficult to pronounce. Took me quite a while to finish this as I kept putting it aside and picking it up later. All-in-all I would say liked it.

[Hobart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
There's a sentient, autonomous AI running around the computers that run (essentially) the State and Defense Department for the United Stellar Alliance. It's trying to learn how to act more like humans while carrying out its duties -- both official and unofficial. The unofficial duties include caring for (and learning from) the descendant of its creator -- someone who wouldn't be allowed access to the AI by anyone other the AI. There are some officers in the Intelligence wings of the Fleet who think that there might be something going on with the AI running FALCON, and set out to find it (if such is a thing).

Meanwhile, long-term stresses and problems within the United Stellar Alliance are coming to a head and the planets that make up the alliance are on the verge of declaring war on each other. The moves that the various entities make -- and the politics behind the moves -- fed into my political and historical interests (and other readers will resonate with them, too, I expect).

But here's the best part -- as interesting as all these things are -- it's not the main story. The main story involves an alien race, the Raknii. The Raknii are a warrior/hunter society, one who conquers pretty much everything they encounter -- without mercy, without pity, without consideration for anything other than victory. But many of the leaders of this race are questioning this -- and fear that the culture has gone astray. About this time, they discover a new race in the galaxy -- one that will prove to be the ultimate test for the Raknii, which may help their culture get back on track. That race, of course, is humanity.

Each storyline worked for me in just the right way -- the Civil War story was good, the parallels to the US Civil War were maybe overplayed, but they were used well enough that I'm not going to complain too loudly. The story of the AI learning about human cultures was nothing but fun -- ditto for the efforts of Fleet Intelligence to get to the bottom of things. All this going on with a large-scale alien invasion looming unbeknownst to any human was a great touch -- any of these would keep me reading, mixing them the way that Gibson did was icing on the cake.

The cast of characters in this is so extensive that I can't really comment on them all -- let's just say that I liked just about ever character -- no matte how they threaten the fate of humanity. About the only people I didn't like were those from the Consortium (a group of businessmen that have more of an impact on the USA's government than anyone appreciates) -- and there's just nothing redeemable about them (or frightfully interesting outside of their role as antagonists).

Michaels writes with heart, humor, hope and a pretty good attention to detail. There are plenty of infodumps throughout -- especially concerning the Raknii, but also getting the reader brought up to speed with humanity's politics/technology -- but these are almost always woven in well with character moments and the over all narrative. I just had a blast reading this.

This is the first entry of a trilogy, and is one of those that doesn't come to any real resolution as such. It's more of a pause in the action before jumping into the next volume. I'm not crazy about those kind of books, but I get the thinking -- the point is to move on to the next two books. Besides, I enjoyed this enough that all I want to do is move on, I can live without that temporary resolution. I'm giving this a 3-Star Rating, but do so in the expectation that the following entries will be ranked higher.

Disclaimer: I received this novel from the author in exchange for this post -- thanks Mr. Michaels.

[Stefanos Kouzof · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice military space opera, exactly as the title says. Not mil sci-fi, not much of space battles or strategy, but a nice sci-fi series that just might widen your horizons if you read all three books.