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Shapeshifter
Sequel to Clear Sky, the latest in the Admiral Series. Now married, Tessa Salmagard hasn’t given up her crusade against weapons initiatives like Project Sunrise and the people behind them, but she can’t fight them alone. To get the help she needs from a former enemy, she’ll have to go to a remote colonial world in the Demenis system called Aegir. She has a daring plan.
Tessa’s wife, Nina, is attempting to leverage her brief military experiences to seek elected office in Cohengard with a balanced, centrist platform. She also wants children and to spend time with Tessa. She has a sensible plan.
Tessa’s mother, Jane, is out of retirement and in at Imperial Security as a trainee; she wants only the best for Tessa, and she too has a plan.
Aegir is possibly the least hospitable world in regulated space. The relatively new Evagardian colony there is a monolithic habitat built to protect against corrosive oceans, endless storms, and titanic natives who don’t take kindly to strangers. Locked together inside are thousands of colonists, an assortment of foreign spies and domestic terrorists, and something that does not belong. It is unlikely to be the romantic holiday that Nina is hoping for.
Tessa’s wife, Nina, is attempting to leverage her brief military experiences to seek elected office in Cohengard with a balanced, centrist platform. She also wants children and to spend time with Tessa. She has a sensible plan.
Tessa’s mother, Jane, is out of retirement and in at Imperial Security as a trainee; she wants only the best for Tessa, and she too has a plan.
Aegir is possibly the least hospitable world in regulated space. The relatively new Evagardian colony there is a monolithic habitat built to protect against corrosive oceans, endless storms, and titanic natives who don’t take kindly to strangers. Locked together inside are thousands of colonists, an assortment of foreign spies and domestic terrorists, and something that does not belong. It is unlikely to be the romantic holiday that Nina is hoping for.
- GenresScience Fiction
404 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 7, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
October 23, 2025
With Shapeshifter, Sean Danker gives us a convergence of characters and events that has been years in the making, providing a satisfyingly epic adventure filled with cameos, connections to previous novels, and exciting peeks into what could follow.
In pursuing Clear Sky's mission, Tessa Salmagard has a bold plan. To infiltrate New Unity, through unorthodox means. To do so, she will need to enlist the aid of a former enemy.
To do THAT, she will entwine her plan with the plans of her wife Nina, who is running for office in Cohengard. As part of her aspirations, she has a visit planned for a new Evagardian colony on the planet Aegir in the Demenis system, a hostile ocean planet with a massive habitat and a large population of Cohengard colonists. Tessa plans on doing her recruitment covertly.
Managing this colony are our old friends Mao and Oen from "The Glory of the Empress", war heroes that now manage the colony as governor and director of security respectively. The colony is successful, but there are rumblings of New Unity hiding within.
Tessa's mother Jane, and her mentor Alice, have also come to Aegir for their own ends as fresh Imperial Security agents.
A lot of moving parts circle each other and eventually grind together in an explosive climax which I won't spoil.
Tessa has demonstrated through multiple novels that she is a badass, yet she tends to operate on incomplete information, which means she makes mistakes, Evagardian training notwithstanding.
The presence of Jane puts her on the defensive and the mother/daughter dynamic takes her off her game, something all of us resonate with completely.
Danker masterfully distracts both the reader and the characters with these relationship dynamics, while nefarious things happen subtly (and then not so subtly) in the background.
When it all sets off, the combination of all these characters we have grown to love, respect, and root for makes for truly engaging reading. That climax is absolutely brutal.
There was a small moment of revelation near the end of the novel that had me stop and grab my jaw off the floor and makes us question if we understood the implications.
Danker, in his wisdom, nails us down with the epilogue, making clear that yes, we definitely understood them... to a point, since the implications are much larger.
I have done my best to avoid spoilers, but I can say that I loved this new addition to the Admiral universe. It was greatly satisfying to see all the things Danker has been building up to coming together in such an intense way and I am beyond excited to see what will happen afterward.
The next novel can't come out soon enough!
In pursuing Clear Sky's mission, Tessa Salmagard has a bold plan. To infiltrate New Unity, through unorthodox means. To do so, she will need to enlist the aid of a former enemy.
To do THAT, she will entwine her plan with the plans of her wife Nina, who is running for office in Cohengard. As part of her aspirations, she has a visit planned for a new Evagardian colony on the planet Aegir in the Demenis system, a hostile ocean planet with a massive habitat and a large population of Cohengard colonists. Tessa plans on doing her recruitment covertly.
Managing this colony are our old friends Mao and Oen from "The Glory of the Empress", war heroes that now manage the colony as governor and director of security respectively. The colony is successful, but there are rumblings of New Unity hiding within.
Tessa's mother Jane, and her mentor Alice, have also come to Aegir for their own ends as fresh Imperial Security agents.
A lot of moving parts circle each other and eventually grind together in an explosive climax which I won't spoil.
Tessa has demonstrated through multiple novels that she is a badass, yet she tends to operate on incomplete information, which means she makes mistakes, Evagardian training notwithstanding.
The presence of Jane puts her on the defensive and the mother/daughter dynamic takes her off her game, something all of us resonate with completely.
Danker masterfully distracts both the reader and the characters with these relationship dynamics, while nefarious things happen subtly (and then not so subtly) in the background.
When it all sets off, the combination of all these characters we have grown to love, respect, and root for makes for truly engaging reading. That climax is absolutely brutal.
There was a small moment of revelation near the end of the novel that had me stop and grab my jaw off the floor and makes us question if we understood the implications.
Danker, in his wisdom, nails us down with the epilogue, making clear that yes, we definitely understood them... to a point, since the implications are much larger.
I have done my best to avoid spoilers, but I can say that I loved this new addition to the Admiral universe. It was greatly satisfying to see all the things Danker has been building up to coming together in such an intense way and I am beyond excited to see what will happen afterward.
The next novel can't come out soon enough!
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review