What do you think?
Siege
This is humanity's last stand. Threatened on all sides by enemies they can't fight and often can't even comprehend, the human race has taken refuge in an inhospitable corner of the galaxy. A tiny pocket of habitable space concealed by black holes and dust clouds, hiding a cluster of colonies where the last humans in the galaxy reside, preparing themselves for a war of annihilation against all comers. Crystallia is a hidden military base that guards the access route to the colonies. The main mission of the soldiers there is to remain undetected for as long as possible, to spot any incursions from the outside and to hit them with everything in humanity's arsenal. No one is quite convinced that this strategy will be enough to save the colonies or even to create enough of a delay for some of the colonists to escape. The best bet for the human race is to remain concealed. Unfortunately, something has found them.
250 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 12, 2016
About the author
Gustavo Bondoni
225 books42 followersGustavo Bondoni is novelist and short story writer with over three hundred stories published in fifteen countries, in seven languages. He is a member of Codex and an Active Member of SFWA. His latest novel is Test Site Horror (2020). He has also published two other monster books: Ice Station: Death (2019) and Jungle Lab Terror (2020), three science fiction novels: Incursion (2017), Outside (2017) and Siege (2016) and an ebook novella entitled Branch. His short fiction is collected in Pale Reflection (2020), Off the Beaten Path (2019) Tenth Orbit and Other Faraway Places (2010) and Virtuoso and Other Stories (2011).
In 2019, Gustavo was awarded second place in the Jim Baen Memorial Contest and in 2018 he received a Judges Commendation (and second place) in The James White Award. He was also a 2019 finalist in the Writers of the Future Contest.
His website is at www.gustavobondoni.com
In 2019, Gustavo was awarded second place in the Jim Baen Memorial Contest and in 2018 he received a Judges Commendation (and second place) in The James White Award. He was also a 2019 finalist in the Writers of the Future Contest.
His website is at www.gustavobondoni.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 16, 2020
It is a great example of hard sf that does what the genre does best: grapples with “big” issues in an intelligent and thoughtful way. Without giving away too much: the issue here is the definition of humanity, and how much we are willing to sacrifice to remain individuals. A new spin on space opera, it is perfectly paced and has easy to read. My only complaint is that I would really like to know more about Oneness and about the biologically alien races that it subsumed. May be a prequel is in order.
March 14, 2017
Boring, Hackneyed Progressive Political Agenda Driven SciFi
"Siege," authored by Mr. Gustavo Bondoni, is a tiresome, plodding, poorly written reworking of numerous concepts and themes, much better expressed by others.
Reading the book became a chore, a task, rather than an enjoyment. Finally, at 64% in, I called it, enough-DNF.
The far future story, has humanity cowering in six (6) colonies, isolated near the galactic core, hopefully undiscoverable due to the juxtaposition of various black holes, stellar clouds, and the deep subterranean conclaves. harboring the millions of remaining humans. Lost wars against humans who uploaded their consciousness into mainframes, aliens who lobotomizes humans for use as slaves, and aliens who ingest humans for protein, are the cause for humanity's low state. A splinter group of digitalized humans approach, hoping for an alliance, in order to save themselves from "The Oneness," and to assist corporeal humans survive.
Bluntly, it is all very plodding, unimaginative, hackneyed, and most importantly, poorly written. Mr. Bondoni, the author, in his author's "blurb," lists his ability to speak seven (7) languages and being a prolific writer. He lacks any fluidity when writing in the English language. The prose are stilted, awkward, and basic skill, coherent sentences are far and few between. In reading, I stopped at Chapter 5, and began highlighting every use of the word "but." The result were dozens highlighted, with a few run-on sentences that used "but" twice. Proofreading and editing are below competent.
The author is also another of progressive left, who espouses the emasculating of males, in order to empower women. The story has strong female characters, while the male characters mainly are wimps. Mr. Bondoni, like so many of the leftist leaning, seems to believe that by reducing all to the lowest common denominator, it empowers. A better choice would be to raise all to equality, and let the various differences bring out the best of all: the highest common denominator.
The book is not recommended and was fully read via Kindle Unlimited.
"Siege," authored by Mr. Gustavo Bondoni, is a tiresome, plodding, poorly written reworking of numerous concepts and themes, much better expressed by others.
Reading the book became a chore, a task, rather than an enjoyment. Finally, at 64% in, I called it, enough-DNF.
The far future story, has humanity cowering in six (6) colonies, isolated near the galactic core, hopefully undiscoverable due to the juxtaposition of various black holes, stellar clouds, and the deep subterranean conclaves. harboring the millions of remaining humans. Lost wars against humans who uploaded their consciousness into mainframes, aliens who lobotomizes humans for use as slaves, and aliens who ingest humans for protein, are the cause for humanity's low state. A splinter group of digitalized humans approach, hoping for an alliance, in order to save themselves from "The Oneness," and to assist corporeal humans survive.
Bluntly, it is all very plodding, unimaginative, hackneyed, and most importantly, poorly written. Mr. Bondoni, the author, in his author's "blurb," lists his ability to speak seven (7) languages and being a prolific writer. He lacks any fluidity when writing in the English language. The prose are stilted, awkward, and basic skill, coherent sentences are far and few between. In reading, I stopped at Chapter 5, and began highlighting every use of the word "but." The result were dozens highlighted, with a few run-on sentences that used "but" twice. Proofreading and editing are below competent.
The author is also another of progressive left, who espouses the emasculating of males, in order to empower women. The story has strong female characters, while the male characters mainly are wimps. Mr. Bondoni, like so many of the leftist leaning, seems to believe that by reducing all to the lowest common denominator, it empowers. A better choice would be to raise all to equality, and let the various differences bring out the best of all: the highest common denominator.
The book is not recommended and was fully read via Kindle Unlimited.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews