Baranak: Storming the Gates

The Shattering Saga: The Above #2

by Van Allen Plexico

Volume 2 of the critically-acclaimed The Above series, and a vital part of the vast SHATTERING Saga! The long-awaited prequel to DARK GOD'S HOMECOMING! Cosmic gods are born as alien agendas are revealed, mighty star fleets clash and the galaxy stands on the brink of annihilation! This book tells the story of the earliest days of the SHATTERING saga, revealing the age before the gods of the Golden City--and the origins of the mightiest beings in the galaxy. On the very eve of his conquest of the Seven Worlds of Man, an assassin has struck down General Constantine Baranak. Now his son, Gaius, has formed an alliance with a mysterious being who walks between worlds to track down those responsible for the murder. But this enigmatic figure possesses dark secrets no one else knows, and pursues an agenda all his own. When the true threat is at last revealed, the two will have to battle the enemy side by side before the dreams of alien conquerors seeking godhood bring about the destruction of all that is... “Plexico is master of Space Opera.” –Pulp Fiction Reviews “If adventure has another name, it must be Van Allen Plexico.” --David Michelinie, writer of the Avengers, Iron Man and Spider-Man The ABOVE DARK GOD'S HOMECOMING (The 1) STORMING THE GATES (The 2) HEART COLD AS ICE (The 3) Learn more about the Above series and the Shattering Saga at

252 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 26, 2015

About the author

Van Allen Plexico has written a dozen novels and contributed to at least that many anthologies, but is best known for his popular and critically-acclaimed SENTINELS superhero novels, as well as the two-time Novel of the Year Finalist LORDS OF FIRE and its sequels in the "Shattering" space opera series. In the realm of nonfiction, he co-wrote the best-selling DECADES OF DOMINANCE and SEASON OF OUR DREAMS books about Auburn football and created the ASSEMBLED! books, exploring the history of Marvel’s AVENGERS comics. He writes and edits for numerous publishers including Airship 27, Pro Se Press, Permuted/Swarm Press, Maple Street Press, New Babel Books, Adamant, and White Rocket, along with occasional columns for RevolutionSF.com and the War Eagle Reader. He serves as an Associate Professor at Southwestern Illinois College.

Reviews

[T.S. Hottle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science fiction writer Van Allen Plexico is bringing back the pulp in space opera. And he's injecting it healthy doses of fantasy with hints of the superhero.

I started reading in the middle of his sprawling series with Baranak: Storming the Gates. In it, humans have discovered that the long dormant gates between stars have started functioning again after a long dark age that found Earth and her colonies isolated from each other. The gates, built by a race far older than Homo sapiens, allowed humanity to spread to six other worlds.

The story begins with the murder of Constantine Baranak, a general with a plan to reunite the old Terran Empire. Before son Gauis's eyes, his father is incinerated by a suicidal priest with an incendiary device just as Constantine's armies are about to fan out across the seven worlds. An emergency meeting of the Baranak family, who all but rule Gaius's homeworld of Majondra, reveals a traitor in their midst, but not the traitor's identity. Gaius follows a stranger skulking about the family estate until he accidentally wanders down a "Path," a connection between dimensions that reveals how the gates between stars worked in the past. Gaius meets Istari, a near immortal alien with title "the Renegade" for opposing his fellow immortals scheme to become gods.

Plexico integrates fantasy into a science fiction epic by presenting such things as the Paths as technology older and far more advanced than anything humans have ever seen. Equal parts Game of Thrones and Doctor Who (if not quite so timey wimey), Plexico's work incorporates gods and pocket universes with equal ease and promises there are even more bizarre things in heaven and Earth (such as they are here). He calls it space opera, and it certainly fits that description. But it hits on fantasy without any part of it becoming supernatural. And it parallels the myths of old, suggesting that maybe the likes of Zeus or Odin weren't nearly as immortal as legend suggests.

[John Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic read. The book started and just kept escalating. By the end I can't wait to read the rest of The Shattering books.