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AEONS
Not yet published
Expected 1 Sep 26At the turn of the century, a doomed science vessel was lost to the stars. Eighty-five years later, its legend casts a shadow across the galaxy.
Decades of bloody interstellar conflicts with the Serpents have left humanity desperate. The only hope for peace is membership in a powerful alien republic. The day of the admission summit finally arrives—and it’s bombed by Human extremists.
Boyd Firedrake is thrust into command of the intelligence agency AEONS (Agency for Extraterrestrial Observation and Surveillance), a job he never wanted. As he races to prevent the next attack, he battles the fracturing of his own mind. His investigation leads to two unlikely allies. Andrea Gordon, a felon xenopsychologist who also happens to be his ex. And Ley’eta Azati, an empathic alien linguistics student who may hold the key to exposing an apocalyptic conspiracy.
Republic membership is on the line. As Firedrake and his team journey to the farthest reaches of known space, they face the most frightening question of does the Human race even deserve to be saved?
Decades of bloody interstellar conflicts with the Serpents have left humanity desperate. The only hope for peace is membership in a powerful alien republic. The day of the admission summit finally arrives—and it’s bombed by Human extremists.
Boyd Firedrake is thrust into command of the intelligence agency AEONS (Agency for Extraterrestrial Observation and Surveillance), a job he never wanted. As he races to prevent the next attack, he battles the fracturing of his own mind. His investigation leads to two unlikely allies. Andrea Gordon, a felon xenopsychologist who also happens to be his ex. And Ley’eta Azati, an empathic alien linguistics student who may hold the key to exposing an apocalyptic conspiracy.
Republic membership is on the line. As Firedrake and his team journey to the farthest reaches of known space, they face the most frightening question of does the Human race even deserve to be saved?
435 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication September 1, 2026
About the author
Bill Joseph
1 book2 followersBill has wanted to be an author since he started an online message board RPG in 2003. Bursting with untamable creativity, he took his love of the arts and science fiction... and became an attorney. Hey, nobody's perfect.
Today, Bill is a father, native plant proselytizer, and sci-fi author whose interests are as enduring as his ADHD will allow. Follow him on TikTok, Instagram, and Bluesky at @thequillbill.
Today, Bill is a father, native plant proselytizer, and sci-fi author whose interests are as enduring as his ADHD will allow. Follow him on TikTok, Instagram, and Bluesky at @thequillbill.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
AEONS is a blisteringly paced sci-fi thriller debut with a fun yet complex plot and lots of exciting twists and turns. Despite relying on cliché turns of phrase at times and having the occasional stilted moment, the interesting world, great set-up and pay off of various mysteries, and realistic and intriguing characters really sold this story!
The plot of AEONS has a lot going on, but it manages to hit a blistering pace without ever leaving the reader behind. These authors definitely know how to set up a clue or mystery and then have it pay off later! I just had to keep reading to find my answers (and I am definitely interested in reading any possible sequels to find out the answers to the hooks they've left us!). The entire plot was very well planned and logical, with lots of fun ah ha! moments. For example, there were lots of clues left as to the identity of the final villain, which I didn't 100% manage to guess in advance, but looking back all made complete sense!
The other half of the combo that really gripped me were the characters. All of AEONS' main characters feel well-drawn and very real. My favourites were definitely Levi and Ley'eta! I loved Levi's narrative voice so much, the separation between his dry internal observations and what he actually said out loud. Loved his burgeoning friendship with the alien Senator, and kind of wished we could've seen more of it, if only for my own enjoyment! I loved Ley'eta's fun, kind, but super smart vibe, and I really enjoyed getting into her head as she was an alien of a different species. I really loved how the authors represented her conversation with her mentor in the text, blending their spoken words with the feelings they could sense empathetically. I also really appreciated Firedrake as a character who wasn't your typical action hero type. He's honestly a bit of an anxious wreck and even a bit annoying at times! But I think I found myself connecting to him even more because of that realism, because I admired the idea of him being brave and principled despite all that.
The only character I didn't love so much was Andrea; I didn't hate her, she just didn't stand out much among the others. I also thought the presentation of her as some kind of 'savant' when it came to interrogating people/getting people to tell her things fell a bit flat because she never seemed to do anything mind-blowingly clever in that regard. This was especially true in her undercover scene, where the conversation made her read so obviously as a plant fishing for info before Ley'eta even turned up to blow her cover xD And while we're on the subject of annoying characters, this may just be a pet peeve, but I hate it so much when characters throw random words in a different language into their speech when they're speaking English. This made me actively dread Moira being on page; if I have to hear one more random 'entonces' I will scream xD
I did really enjoy that the authors made sure their world was realistically diverse, and included a lot of neurodiverse, LGBT+, and POC rep! I appreciated the note that they consulted with an expert about their portrayal of mental health issues.
The only real downsides were that there were moments where it felt like the book was relying a little too heavily on cliché dialogue and turns of phrase in the prose. This was especially obvious at the beginning, and actually got better as the book hit its stride. There were also a few moments where dialogue felt a little stilted, which could have been improved. And as much as the pace is overall very solid, there was the occasional moment where things got resolved implausibly fast.
I enjoyed the world the authors set up a lot, though I did think we could've used a few more details here and there. The narrative gave us a great snapshot of their world as it exists - I especially liked the attention to detail in places like the waystation Ley'eta visits, which showed the thought the authors have clearly put into how people in this world go about their lives day to day. We get a lot of interesting information on Ley'eta's species from her being a POV character, but I felt we could have used the same level of info on the Octopods and Mycosians, since they're so important to the story. A small nitpick, but I really think the info about why these species don't have concepts of violence/conflict would have been much better placed nearer the beginning of the novel, as this was something I was constantly wondering about until it was brought up later. We also could have done with just a bit more information on the specifics of humanity - for example, I couldn't work out how far in the future this book is set (the new dating system is an interesting idea, but sadly incomprehensible to me), and I would've loved a brief overview of how exactly the government is set up and how many colonies there were, and when the first was founded, etc. None of this really detracted from my experience reading the novel, but these small details would've made the world feel a little richer. The worldbuilding we do get is really interesting and nicely weaved into the narrative (there was never a moment I felt like the book was info-dumping on me) so I guess I was just interested in more!
Overall I had a really fun time reading AEONS, and I really enjoyed the characters the authors presented. The sequel hooks are really fascinating, and I can't wait to see a continuation!
AEONS is a blisteringly paced sci-fi thriller debut with a fun yet complex plot and lots of exciting twists and turns. Despite relying on cliché turns of phrase at times and having the occasional stilted moment, the interesting world, great set-up and pay off of various mysteries, and realistic and intriguing characters really sold this story!
The plot of AEONS has a lot going on, but it manages to hit a blistering pace without ever leaving the reader behind. These authors definitely know how to set up a clue or mystery and then have it pay off later! I just had to keep reading to find my answers (and I am definitely interested in reading any possible sequels to find out the answers to the hooks they've left us!). The entire plot was very well planned and logical, with lots of fun ah ha! moments. For example, there were lots of clues left as to the identity of the final villain, which I didn't 100% manage to guess in advance, but looking back all made complete sense!
The other half of the combo that really gripped me were the characters. All of AEONS' main characters feel well-drawn and very real. My favourites were definitely Levi and Ley'eta! I loved Levi's narrative voice so much, the separation between his dry internal observations and what he actually said out loud. Loved his burgeoning friendship with the alien Senator, and kind of wished we could've seen more of it, if only for my own enjoyment! I loved Ley'eta's fun, kind, but super smart vibe, and I really enjoyed getting into her head as she was an alien of a different species. I really loved how the authors represented her conversation with her mentor in the text, blending their spoken words with the feelings they could sense empathetically. I also really appreciated Firedrake as a character who wasn't your typical action hero type. He's honestly a bit of an anxious wreck and even a bit annoying at times! But I think I found myself connecting to him even more because of that realism, because I admired the idea of him being brave and principled despite all that.
The only character I didn't love so much was Andrea; I didn't hate her, she just didn't stand out much among the others. I also thought the presentation of her as some kind of 'savant' when it came to interrogating people/getting people to tell her things fell a bit flat because she never seemed to do anything mind-blowingly clever in that regard. This was especially true in her undercover scene, where the conversation made her read so obviously as a plant fishing for info before Ley'eta even turned up to blow her cover xD And while we're on the subject of annoying characters, this may just be a pet peeve, but I hate it so much when characters throw random words in a different language into their speech when they're speaking English. This made me actively dread Moira being on page; if I have to hear one more random 'entonces' I will scream xD
I did really enjoy that the authors made sure their world was realistically diverse, and included a lot of neurodiverse, LGBT+, and POC rep! I appreciated the note that they consulted with an expert about their portrayal of mental health issues.
The only real downsides were that there were moments where it felt like the book was relying a little too heavily on cliché dialogue and turns of phrase in the prose. This was especially obvious at the beginning, and actually got better as the book hit its stride. There were also a few moments where dialogue felt a little stilted, which could have been improved. And as much as the pace is overall very solid, there was the occasional moment where things got resolved implausibly fast.
I enjoyed the world the authors set up a lot, though I did think we could've used a few more details here and there. The narrative gave us a great snapshot of their world as it exists - I especially liked the attention to detail in places like the waystation Ley'eta visits, which showed the thought the authors have clearly put into how people in this world go about their lives day to day. We get a lot of interesting information on Ley'eta's species from her being a POV character, but I felt we could have used the same level of info on the Octopods and Mycosians, since they're so important to the story. A small nitpick, but I really think the info about why these species don't have concepts of violence/conflict would have been much better placed nearer the beginning of the novel, as this was something I was constantly wondering about until it was brought up later. We also could have done with just a bit more information on the specifics of humanity - for example, I couldn't work out how far in the future this book is set (the new dating system is an interesting idea, but sadly incomprehensible to me), and I would've loved a brief overview of how exactly the government is set up and how many colonies there were, and when the first was founded, etc. None of this really detracted from my experience reading the novel, but these small details would've made the world feel a little richer. The worldbuilding we do get is really interesting and nicely weaved into the narrative (there was never a moment I felt like the book was info-dumping on me) so I guess I was just interested in more!
Overall I had a really fun time reading AEONS, and I really enjoyed the characters the authors presented. The sequel hooks are really fascinating, and I can't wait to see a continuation!
Displaying 1 of 1 review