Rogue Powers

Allies & Aliens #2

by Roger MacBride Allen, A.T. Chandler (Narrator)

It was just as the League had feared. The disappearance of Mac Larson's Survey Service training ship, the VENERA, had been engineered by the Guardians. Mac and Joslyn's fellow Survey recruits were captive in enemy hands - and forced to lend their expertise to the Guardian's plan for total conquest.

In their first encounter, the League had vanquished the Guardians. But now the enemy had a new ally - an alien race whose biological weapons were as deadly as they were invincible.

Genres: Science Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Military Fiction

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Roger MacBride Allen is a US science fiction author of the Corellian Trilogy, consisting of Ambush at Corellia, Assault at Selonia, and Showdown at Centerpoint. He was born on September 26, 1957 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He grew up in Washington D.C. and graduated from Boston University in 1979. The author of a dozen science-fiction novels, he lived in Washington D.C., for many years. In July 1994, he married Eleanre Fox, a member of the U.S. Foreign Service. Her current assignment takes them to Brasilia, Brazil, where they lived from 2007 to 2009.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second, and final, installment in the series I found at least as good as the first. While this could be loosely called military space opera, as it involves an interstellar war, the war is really a backdrop behind a first contact story. The first volume concerned the invasion of New Finland by the 'guardians'-- a rouge civilization that colonized a planet over 100 years ago. The 'guardians' are a loose amalgamation of several right wing hate groups-- neonazis, KKK, John Birchers, Africaaners, etc.-- that fled Earth shortly after FTL drives became available, and then quietly disappeared. They managed to colonize a planet and build up a war machine and were all set to take on humanity to 'purify' it of minorities and so forth. The first book tells the story of the New Finland invasion and the final triumph by the League of planets.

RP switches among several POVs and includes most of the main characters from the previous novel. Some new characters emerge early one that are central to the story. It seems that the 'guardians' world orbits a binary star, and orbiting the other star is a planet they call outpost. Outpost is not really fit for colonization and is largely covered in clouds, but one day the guardians set a ship down and discover an indigenous alien race. Outpost station--largely a communications and supply depot that orbits Outpost-- is tasked with making first contact. One of the captured CIs (basically slave labor from League worlds that had been pirated in space) is sent down as a linguist as she at least speaks several languages and guardians only speak English. Hence, we are introduced to the strange outposters, vaguely centaur like beings who possess very sophisticated biological sciences and are also largely nomadic. I will not go into great detail here, but there are several 'clans' if you want to call it that of outposters and some want to work with humans to carry out their philosophy.

Mac is back along with his wife Joz and for the first half of the book we deal with their various trials and tribulations. The League is searching for Capital, the planet of the guardians, and until that is found, there is little to do regarding the ongoing war effort.

RMA paces the story well and the first contact story really steals the show. I mentioned in my review of the previous book that Allen writes something akin to hard science fiction and his scientific background (or good research) really shows in his understanding of the alien 'outposters', who have a very different biology from Earth species-- you could say it is alien! These folks are not cheesy Star Wars types, but developed in detail, warts and all. All in all, a fun, fast read-- good adventure and enough mental stimulation to keep you entertained but not overwhelmed. 3.5 stars rounding up!

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Where to start. I am very impressed by this book. I started reading about 4 days ago. It has several parts that got my attention. There is almost too much to be in one book. Planetary alliances, national relations, military operations in space, alien contact, genocide, gender differences, bio-weapons, romance, betrayal, trust, drunkenness and faster-than-light travel. If that is not enough, there are at least 15 characters to keep track of, and where in space they are during the narrative. Good thing there is no time travel in this book, or it would be more of a mess.

Let me itemize some of the parts of the book that work for me. There is an interstellar war between the loose federation of planets connected to Earth against a mysterious enemy group of humans who left Earth years earlier. I would roughly assign the time of the book as about 200 years in the future. Technology is very similar to what we have in the 20th century with some advances to be compatible with space travel. Societies are descended from national groupings including British, United States, Finns, etc.

The main characters from the first book are involved in this sequel. Mac and Joz are still married and working for the unified militaries that are fighting the Guardians. The Guardians are the evil enemy humans as they were in the first book. We see what happened to the lost survey ship that was mentioned extensively in the beginning of the first book. We see more of the world of the Guardians and more of their individual soldiers. New characters are introduced who play different roles in the story.

Big new elements in this book are the aliens. On a planet controlled by the Guardians, first contact is made with aliens who are planet bound and know nothing about humans. These aliens have a profound impact on the war and the plot-lines of the book. The aliens impact the story through introduction of new weaponry, language discoveries and startling differences in biology between the two species.

The book is military fiction, alien interactions, social commentary and a buddy story. The author is making a strong point at the end of the book about the need to be loyal to the people closest to you. The beginning of the story addresses an angle of that message as Mac is being court-marshaled for treasonable actions after saving his bosses so well in the first book.

I always try to guess who will enjoy reading books I review. This is hard to do for this book, as with most books. I believe many people would have a hard time with this book. The story and writing are all over the map. The book merges many genres, there is military action, but it is not all fighting. The book contains interaction with aliens, but, that is not the whole book. The book talks about bio-tech and space technology, but, the book is not about science. I think the book requires the reader to be willing to take their time with it.

What changed my rating from a 3 star or 4 star to a 5 star is one aspect of the book I have not described. There are many dramatic differences between the humans and aliens. The process of learning each others language is detailed in the book. There is one difference that is revealed suddenly near the end of the book that has such momentous importance for relations between the two species that it can decide the war and the future of the two species.

I am so glad I read this book. My review of the first book in this series, states that it was a moderately competent space opera that includes military fiction. This second book seemed a great deal more to me. This book helped me think about why human beings are the way we are, and why we do some things the way we do. I read the 1985 version of this book.

[Ira · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was raised with the idea of you couldn't say something good about someone then you shouldn't say it. It's good then that this is a book and not a person.

Rogue Powers book started out being quite interesting, then, about halfway through, I was forcing myself to finish reading it. The initial capture of the CI's by the Guardians was nice. The meeting with the Z'ensam was even better. After that, the story became a series of paragraphs which could which were, in turn, immediately summed up with a few bits of dialogue. Even then, the reader isn't spared from circuitous arguments and monologues which really only serve to take away from the action. This says nothing of the military maneuvers and behind-the-scenes scheming which, while interesting, make the story lumpy and not flow well.

I give this book two stars, one because it was written and published, and one because the story of the Z'ensam and their interaction with the humans is actually interesting. Other than that, one could easily excise a hundred pages from the books and be left with a tighter, and more enjoyable, story. I would recommend this book if you're a fan of the author or have started reading the series. Otherwise, there are better books with which to spend your time.

[S.A. Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superior to book one in the series. Space war and aliens. Lots of storylines and characters. Some deep thinking about why humans are the way we are.

[Scott Stephenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, for me, was an obvious improvement from his last book. Less offensive language and more depth of plot and character development.