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Star Carrier #8
Bright Light
New York Times bestselling military science fiction author Ian Douglas brings us the eighth—and penultimate—Star Carrier novel, Bright Light, combining the best action, adventure, and hard science into this universe-spanning series
There’s no more time . . .
There’s always more time . . .
Trevor Gray has been stripped of his command of the starship America, and is unsure what to do with his life. Having dedicated so much of himself to the service, he knew following the super-AI Konstantin’s advice could have severe consequences. He just never thought he would be out of the fight.
Because that’s what Earth is a fight against a sinister alien force that is so technologically advanced, there seems little hope. And that’s why he had disobeyed his orders in the first to figure out a way to stop them. But now he’s beached.
Which is just what Konstantin wanted.
For the super-AI has a connect Gray with the Pan-Europeans, and set him on a course to the remote star Deneb. There, he is to make contact with a mysterious alien civilization using the new artificial intelligence Bright Light, and maybe—if they can make it in time—prevent humanity from being wiped from the universe.
There’s no more time . . .
There’s always more time . . .
Trevor Gray has been stripped of his command of the starship America, and is unsure what to do with his life. Having dedicated so much of himself to the service, he knew following the super-AI Konstantin’s advice could have severe consequences. He just never thought he would be out of the fight.
Because that’s what Earth is a fight against a sinister alien force that is so technologically advanced, there seems little hope. And that’s why he had disobeyed his orders in the first to figure out a way to stop them. But now he’s beached.
Which is just what Konstantin wanted.
For the super-AI has a connect Gray with the Pan-Europeans, and set him on a course to the remote star Deneb. There, he is to make contact with a mysterious alien civilization using the new artificial intelligence Bright Light, and maybe—if they can make it in time—prevent humanity from being wiped from the universe.
389 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 27, 2018
136 people are currently reading
315 people want to read
About the author
Ian Douglas
100 books575 followersIan Douglas is a pseudonym used by William H. Keith Jr..
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
March 25, 2019
I love the science and technology in this series. It's one of my favorite looks at the future tech.
June 10, 2019
Another great military science fiction story from Ian Douglas. This is book 8 in the Star Carrier series.
Alien cultures collide and a disgraced Captain must come to the rescue.
Highly recommended Author and series
Alien cultures collide and a disgraced Captain must come to the rescue.
Highly recommended Author and series
November 24, 2021
Very good SiFi series. Tons of really good science based theories that help make this a interesting read. nice action and characters also. Very recommended
May 5, 2019
How does this guy keep writing such interesting, mind-bending, exciting, and page-turning books???
December 11, 2018
Here we find ourselves in the 8th installment of the ongoing saga of the humans vs. the rest of the galaxy. At present I'm not sure how much more can be mined from this story. I have read everything written by the author under this pseudonym. I think his older books have more substance.
As always, the author takes the latest ideas of today and extrapolates them out to an extreme. Don't get me wrong, it is part of the fun to see how far they play out. Tabby's Star is an excellent example. Or the idea of emergent intelligence from trillions of individual micro machines. Here it is mainly a quest for the humans to communicate with things bigger and more advanced then themselves. Not as much action this time around, just a lot more zooming around with some problems waved away (lots of expository paragraphs about time dilation).
In the end, this is about average space opera. The author has done much of this before. It does feel like this could be an end point in the series. I think eight books is long enough. As I said, the author's books are overall a lot of fun to read. He makes excellent points about consciousness and the merging of organic & machine intelligences. But he needs a new story to bring a fresh perspective.
As always, the author takes the latest ideas of today and extrapolates them out to an extreme. Don't get me wrong, it is part of the fun to see how far they play out. Tabby's Star is an excellent example. Or the idea of emergent intelligence from trillions of individual micro machines. Here it is mainly a quest for the humans to communicate with things bigger and more advanced then themselves. Not as much action this time around, just a lot more zooming around with some problems waved away (lots of expository paragraphs about time dilation).
In the end, this is about average space opera. The author has done much of this before. It does feel like this could be an end point in the series. I think eight books is long enough. As I said, the author's books are overall a lot of fun to read. He makes excellent points about consciousness and the merging of organic & machine intelligences. But he needs a new story to bring a fresh perspective.
February 2, 2019
Far too ambitious in scope to be successful.
Like the previous book, this tries to make us feel the fight of advanced humans vs an ultra-transcendent enemy. The problem is that you can't make it realistic; the enemy is so advanced that it's basically hunter-gatherers vs PacFleet. You have to resort to various cheese, and handwave the stupidity of the Rosetters opponent as "alien minds". Throw in a lot of additional transcendent civilizations - which is hardly believable as the series started with a massive star empire going around preventing anyone from transcending - and the end result is disappointing.
Like the previous book, this tries to make us feel the fight of advanced humans vs an ultra-transcendent enemy. The problem is that you can't make it realistic; the enemy is so advanced that it's basically hunter-gatherers vs PacFleet. You have to resort to various cheese, and handwave the stupidity of the Rosetters opponent as "alien minds". Throw in a lot of additional transcendent civilizations - which is hardly believable as the series started with a massive star empire going around preventing anyone from transcending - and the end result is disappointing.
December 7, 2018
This is the 8th book in the Star Carrier series by Ian Douglas a.k.a. William H. Keith. In this one, Trevor Grey has been stripped of his command and drummed out of the USNA Star Service. Strangely he is then asked by USNA President Alexander Koenig to take command of the newly refurbished USNA CVS Republic, with a mixed crew of civilian scientists and military personnel. Their mission is to try to enlist the aid of the mysterious alien civilization at Deneb to combat the invasion by the super advanced Rosetta aliens. As they are leaving the solar system they see the Rosetta aliens moving into Earth orbit and assume they are attacking Earth. The super-AI Konstantin reveals that he has transferred himself into the computer networks of the CVS Republic for the two-fold reasons of escaping assimilation by the Rosetta aliens and to help Grey with his mission of enlisting the aid of the aliens at Deneb. This book has a complex plot and is full of action in the form of space battles and many of the characters from the previous books have returned for this one. Another very good read in this series and I recommend it to all fans of Military Science Fiction and fans of Ian Douglas a.k.a. William H. Keith.
October 19, 2020
This is the mega species collaboration and networking that I was wanting so much from this series: Us vs everyone, or us and the Shadar vs the Rosset. Fully intergalactic combat by interspecies means. Throughout the entire book, we see the human perseverance, and all of the human emotions that go through a space travel and isolation. We see loss, love, emotion, reunion, success, failure, and everything in between. We see the best book in the series.
May 12, 2020
What a blast!
I stumbled into "Earth strike" a few years ago and couldn't put it down until I finished it. And bought every book of the series that was published then, and after that waited impatiently for the next one to be published. This one was not exception.
And it was also not an exception in being a fantastic book, with an amazing story, amazing ideas, an amazing development.
The way this series is written is unbelievable. The way the big events fold into each other, the way you are pulled into them from multiple individual points of view, the way the small events in fast sequence make up this epic story, the way you are introduced to multiple civilizations, ...
No doubt, the best sci-fi series I did read so far, and the closest i found to hard sci-fi written this century, specially taking into account the amount of detailed science you find in the books.
If I could give 6 stars once, this series would be it.
I stumbled into "Earth strike" a few years ago and couldn't put it down until I finished it. And bought every book of the series that was published then, and after that waited impatiently for the next one to be published. This one was not exception.
And it was also not an exception in being a fantastic book, with an amazing story, amazing ideas, an amazing development.
The way this series is written is unbelievable. The way the big events fold into each other, the way you are pulled into them from multiple individual points of view, the way the small events in fast sequence make up this epic story, the way you are introduced to multiple civilizations, ...
No doubt, the best sci-fi series I did read so far, and the closest i found to hard sci-fi written this century, specially taking into account the amount of detailed science you find in the books.
If I could give 6 stars once, this series would be it.
September 27, 2020
Oof, my eyes hurt. I did it, eight books in three days, all in all this was a great series, I loved the technical/scientific jargon. The only thing that confused me was the way the author changed the way intimate/sexual relationships work, with monogamous relationships being seen perverted/primitive. Like I don’t understand how polygamous/polyamorous group marriages are seen as normal and ok, but a person is looked down upon and antagonized for wanting to have a monogamous relationship. For me if some guy wants to have four wives or four husbands, that’s totally fine so is a woman wanting two wives and a husband. Why can’t a man or a woman who wants an exclusive monogamous relationship be normal as well? I don’t get it, why promote poly relationships only to turn around and demonize monogamous relationships? If all parties in the relationship are happy it doesn’t matter what kind of relationship they’re in.
July 2, 2021
This series certainly creates ever more powerful antagonists. The audacity is the constant human, and American exceptionalism that would have us pose a serious challenge to cultures (machine cultures, at that) millions if not billions of years old.
As before major echos, if not lifting dialog, from Babylon 5.
All that said, few authors push into such issues as far, and this remains an interesting, if flawed, series. Of course, if you’re still along for the ride, you either have come to grips with this style, or enjoy it.
Audio narration is somewhat off on this one, with quite a bit of evidence of edits and re-takes.
As before major echos, if not lifting dialog, from Babylon 5.
All that said, few authors push into such issues as far, and this remains an interesting, if flawed, series. Of course, if you’re still along for the ride, you either have come to grips with this style, or enjoy it.
Audio narration is somewhat off on this one, with quite a bit of evidence of edits and re-takes.
May 29, 2019
I don't know what to make of this novel. .The author mixes time travel, space Gods, high technology, and Artificial Intelligence. He paints these ideas using the galaxies as his canvas To its credit the space battles are well written. Yet the motivations of the the principal beings in this story can be confusing and obscure. Despite these flaws I enjoyed reading the book and struggling with the science concepts behind them.Finally looking back on the whole series this story seems be a satisfying conclusion.
May 9, 2024
Picked this up at Dollar General when I was "desperate" for reading material - because military science fiction isn't my 'thing.' That said, I did enjoy this, although most of the science part was over -my-head/not particularly interesting. The military part, again not my thing but understandable given the story line. The story line - uh, war. The whole thing was war. All of these things is why I stopped reading sci-fi 'back in the day.' So why, with all that, did I give it 4 stars? Because it was interesting and well written.
January 4, 2019
It's book 8 so a plot summary would be somewhat disjointed. Let's just say things get even more complicated, there's more time travel, and new alien species. We end with a scene not unlike the Shadows and the Vorlons going beyond the rim. "Will we be alone?" "No, there are others and they will help you."
A lot of loose ends were tied up so we're probably at the end of this series. A good lark while it lasted.
A lot of loose ends were tied up so we're probably at the end of this series. A good lark while it lasted.
July 24, 2019
More amazing science fiction mixing military, space opera, and a.i. strains of the genre. These books are shorter and more manageable than most space opera, and are each worth the effort. The aliens in particular really shine as well thought out possibilities for the distant future. And as I've written before, space opera allows for humans to exist another three or four centuries. Longer than we actually have I'm afraid, but who knows?
December 9, 2019
Another amazing novel of future entanglements in far outer space up close and personal for humanity to deal with. How does this guy think up these wonderful tales over the years? He must have the biggest chalkboard in the universe to map it all out to keep it straight in his head, thence to his fingers on his keyboard.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am anxiously awaiting the next volume in the series.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am anxiously awaiting the next volume in the series.
November 30, 2020
Humans cannot get past their humanity
A grand, sweeping tale of discovery and military science fiction. Solid human characters, excellent conscious artificial intelligences, amazing aliens. Many years into the future humankind has not come together and is still practicing politics. When confronted by alien civilizations and massive alien intelligences, humans fall back on the most primitive of responses— attack. This time we get lucky.
A grand, sweeping tale of discovery and military science fiction. Solid human characters, excellent conscious artificial intelligences, amazing aliens. Many years into the future humankind has not come together and is still practicing politics. When confronted by alien civilizations and massive alien intelligences, humans fall back on the most primitive of responses— attack. This time we get lucky.
December 1, 2018
The last in the series?
It is a good book just the break one needs from reality. I marvel at the author's grasp of the future science. I am not sure technology can be the leveller of human biology but the thought is hopeful. One would hope we take the time to improve the human along with the technology.
It is a good book just the break one needs from reality. I marvel at the author's grasp of the future science. I am not sure technology can be the leveller of human biology but the thought is hopeful. One would hope we take the time to improve the human along with the technology.
January 17, 2019
Military space opera
Another fun read. So I probably missed other developments in the series, having read only book six and now book eight, but this edition was still a candy treat. Alien aliens and exotic tech, and a stream of action scenarios.
No pithy comments, but this novel left a smile on my face.
Another fun read. So I probably missed other developments in the series, having read only book six and now book eight, but this edition was still a candy treat. Alien aliens and exotic tech, and a stream of action scenarios.
No pithy comments, but this novel left a smile on my face.
June 9, 2019
Good ending to the series
Good finish. What do you do with conflicts involving hyper intelligent beings? Exit, stage left.
The author has clearly read the Orion’s Arm Universe Project, as he makes unattributed use of a number of terms and concepts developed there (which *are* properly attributed), including J-brains, topopoli, and multiple singularities.
Good finish. What do you do with conflicts involving hyper intelligent beings? Exit, stage left.
The author has clearly read the Orion’s Arm Universe Project, as he makes unattributed use of a number of terms and concepts developed there (which *are* properly attributed), including J-brains, topopoli, and multiple singularities.
January 28, 2022
The saga continues, Questions are Answered, More Questions Arise
This is a fantastic continuation of the saga with even more challenges overcome and more revelations about the “universe” in which we exist. The characters remain engaging and the world (universe) building extraordinary.
This is a fantastic continuation of the saga with even more challenges overcome and more revelations about the “universe” in which we exist. The characters remain engaging and the world (universe) building extraordinary.
December 14, 2018
Is this the end?
I know should check out his website but I feel like this the closure that I could move on from the series. I won't leave any spoilers in here but it was like always well written and gets your mind rolling about possibilities. Thank you for the awesome read!
I know should check out his website but I feel like this the closure that I could move on from the series. I won't leave any spoilers in here but it was like always well written and gets your mind rolling about possibilities. Thank you for the awesome read!
December 23, 2018
A very good book. Even though it's fiction it makes you think about what the future might bring in the way of Artificial Intelligence and Nano Technology. Will we ever be uploading or minds into computers and living forever after our bodies start failing.
December 30, 2018
Recent Reads: Star Carrier Bright Light. Volume 8 in Ian Douglas' space opera series concludes its universe-spanning Conciousness arc. A visit to a superintelligence that feeds off blue stars might just be the key to saving more than just Earth. Super AIs last all universe long.
January 20, 2019
And the scope and reach of the book outpaces the story into grandeur...A let down for the series but the series has been headed this direction. In summary humans are the magical creatures to save universe.
August 29, 2019
In Bright Light, Ian Douglas deals with the philosophical issue of how a higher-order civilisation could deal with more primitive cultures (i.e. humanity) and presents an eerily plausible vision of a future where advanced civilisations end up morphing into a single, "AI" entity.
November 4, 2019
Another amazing saga from the Star Carrier series. Several "gods" competing with each other, how is Ian Douglas going to top this one?
Really enjoyed this latest novel. Hoping there will be more.
Thanks!
Really enjoyed this latest novel. Hoping there will be more.
Thanks!
November 12, 2021
good read.
They take a really Scientific estimation of the future and mix it with more tradiitional And probably less realistic Science fiction concepts to make a fun story that’s quite different than most in the military sci-fi genre.
They take a really Scientific estimation of the future and mix it with more tradiitional And probably less realistic Science fiction concepts to make a fun story that’s quite different than most in the military sci-fi genre.
February 9, 2025
This should probably have been the end of this series. Yet, there is a book 9 that I have not read yet. This concludes at a point where the future of mankind makes sense, so I do not know how the author will be able to top it. For some reason, I really enjoyed this book.
December 5, 2018
Awesome series
Ian Douglas never disappoints. I have read nearly all of his books. Great writing, stories, and characters. You are missing out if you don't read his works.
Ian Douglas never disappoints. I have read nearly all of his books. Great writing, stories, and characters. You are missing out if you don't read his works.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews