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Thunder & Lightning
In the early twenty-second century, humanity has spread through the solar system – and their electromagnetic signals have traveled hundreds of light years. An alien race called the Oghaldzon has decided that mankind is dangerously insane… and must be forcibly taken under control.
The invasion fleet’s technology is decades ahead of Earth’s best. They have more ships than the human fleets combined, and a seemingly-inexhaustible number of ground troops. And they’re not afraid to kill billions of people.
Humanity is outnumbered, outgunned, and divided. But they have a few cards left to play – and they’re not going down without a fight.
The invasion fleet’s technology is decades ahead of Earth’s best. They have more ships than the human fleets combined, and a seemingly-inexhaustible number of ground troops. And they’re not afraid to kill billions of people.
Humanity is outnumbered, outgunned, and divided. But they have a few cards left to play – and they’re not going down without a fight.
554 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 8, 2018
371 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 5, 2018
I really don’t like books like this! Now, I hope that doesn’t turn you off from reading the book because some of you might very well like the theme of this kind of book. It’s an Earth invasion story. Simply put, some aliens travel the stars to our lonely planet and literally kicks our butts! They kill some where around 3 billion, yeah, that’s billion humans and then say they were trying to help us!
What I hate about these books is that they are so depressing during the first seventy-five percent of the book. Earth and humans that live on this planet have been broadcasting our TV and radio waves out into the universe for hundreds of years now. Sooner or later, some civilization on a distant planet will capture our old broadcasts and that will form their basis of figuring out who we are. That’s pretty frightening. I don’t think we can stop it. I mean our radio and TV just shotgun everything all over the planet and that stuff is what we call “entertainment”. But, what if the aliens started just now hearing stories and news releases of World War I and then not long after, news about World War II. I would guess they would think we’re all deranged and I would know that’s what they’d think after viewing some of our comedy shows.
Well, that’s what happens in this book. The Oghaldzon live on a moon of a gas giant in a system not that far from Earth. They have started receiving our radio and TV transmissions and are terrified that humans might some day get out into the vast reaches of space. They believe that we need to be turned into civilized society and are willing to help us get that way. Except, they start out be firing the first shot. Now, who isn’t civilized?
Anyway, the story goes on to tell how Earth has barely colonized Mars and even have some terra-formers on Venus. The Moon is a thriving colony although they don’t want to be consider a colony of Earth. They want independence! And then we have all the people who have settled in the asteroid belt. These “Rockrats” have hollowed out asteroids while mining them for their minerals which are then sold back to Earth. Hollow asteroids can be a very nice place to live and be away from all the problems now on Earth. The Rockrats are also wanting independence from Earth so humans now have found more reasons to fight with each other. Still, humans in general, don’t take kindly to aliens showing up and lowering the boom on our Earth.
The Oghaldzon are very, very alien. They don’t look like us at all and they don’t think like us. They are about 50 to 100 years more advanced than we are, after all, they made the journey between stars and we have not. They demonstrate their superiority right off the bat although they are a little surprised when the asteroids Earth has place in orbit for mining and habitation, don’t self-explode when they fall out of orbit towards Earth. So, we have numerous very large astroids striking Earth and causing the death of millions. It’s pretty easy for the Oghaldzon to then being their invasion. No telling how many soldiers they have brought, but there are a lot. They also control LEO or Low Earth Orbit which means they can shoot KEW (Kinetic Energy Weapons) right down on anything they want on Earth. KEWS can be just about anything. Mostly their either rocks or chunks of junk metal blasted down to Earth with gravity making a huge assist. When they hit, it’s almost like a nuclear strike; nothing in the area survives.
Just for once, I’d like to read a book that has aliens arriving in our Solar System only to find out that we are armed to the teeth and they aren’t getting anywhere close to Earth. I’d like to read about a huge alien armada suddenly showing up thinking they are the superior race and then finding out that they just hadn’t met humans before. Once we disposed of their huge armada, we’d then head to their home world and see how they like being blown to heck. That would be a very good book.
So, should you read this book? By all means, please do so. Christopher Nuttall has written a lot of very good books and nothing like this one. I usually enjoy his writing, but this book follows the same pattern as most alien invasion books and it’s really depressing to have to read through seventy-five percent of the book before I start to feel better. But, that’s just me!
BTW - I have no idea what the title has to do with this book!
What I hate about these books is that they are so depressing during the first seventy-five percent of the book. Earth and humans that live on this planet have been broadcasting our TV and radio waves out into the universe for hundreds of years now. Sooner or later, some civilization on a distant planet will capture our old broadcasts and that will form their basis of figuring out who we are. That’s pretty frightening. I don’t think we can stop it. I mean our radio and TV just shotgun everything all over the planet and that stuff is what we call “entertainment”. But, what if the aliens started just now hearing stories and news releases of World War I and then not long after, news about World War II. I would guess they would think we’re all deranged and I would know that’s what they’d think after viewing some of our comedy shows.
Well, that’s what happens in this book. The Oghaldzon live on a moon of a gas giant in a system not that far from Earth. They have started receiving our radio and TV transmissions and are terrified that humans might some day get out into the vast reaches of space. They believe that we need to be turned into civilized society and are willing to help us get that way. Except, they start out be firing the first shot. Now, who isn’t civilized?
Anyway, the story goes on to tell how Earth has barely colonized Mars and even have some terra-formers on Venus. The Moon is a thriving colony although they don’t want to be consider a colony of Earth. They want independence! And then we have all the people who have settled in the asteroid belt. These “Rockrats” have hollowed out asteroids while mining them for their minerals which are then sold back to Earth. Hollow asteroids can be a very nice place to live and be away from all the problems now on Earth. The Rockrats are also wanting independence from Earth so humans now have found more reasons to fight with each other. Still, humans in general, don’t take kindly to aliens showing up and lowering the boom on our Earth.
The Oghaldzon are very, very alien. They don’t look like us at all and they don’t think like us. They are about 50 to 100 years more advanced than we are, after all, they made the journey between stars and we have not. They demonstrate their superiority right off the bat although they are a little surprised when the asteroids Earth has place in orbit for mining and habitation, don’t self-explode when they fall out of orbit towards Earth. So, we have numerous very large astroids striking Earth and causing the death of millions. It’s pretty easy for the Oghaldzon to then being their invasion. No telling how many soldiers they have brought, but there are a lot. They also control LEO or Low Earth Orbit which means they can shoot KEW (Kinetic Energy Weapons) right down on anything they want on Earth. KEWS can be just about anything. Mostly their either rocks or chunks of junk metal blasted down to Earth with gravity making a huge assist. When they hit, it’s almost like a nuclear strike; nothing in the area survives.
Just for once, I’d like to read a book that has aliens arriving in our Solar System only to find out that we are armed to the teeth and they aren’t getting anywhere close to Earth. I’d like to read about a huge alien armada suddenly showing up thinking they are the superior race and then finding out that they just hadn’t met humans before. Once we disposed of their huge armada, we’d then head to their home world and see how they like being blown to heck. That would be a very good book.
So, should you read this book? By all means, please do so. Christopher Nuttall has written a lot of very good books and nothing like this one. I usually enjoy his writing, but this book follows the same pattern as most alien invasion books and it’s really depressing to have to read through seventy-five percent of the book before I start to feel better. But, that’s just me!
BTW - I have no idea what the title has to do with this book!
April 7, 2018
Boring, predictable and Bad
The writing and editing are not great. The characters are flat and dialogue anemic. The character roles and plot are predictable.
The writer has the black military officer saying to himself how, "grateful he is that his parents were slaves" and saving him from living in Africa. That's at 2% in. I read a little more to see how far the writer would go.
His soldier dwells on the honesty in the U.S. army that makes it so much better than non-western militaries. He congratulates his army on being loved by its citizens rather than being viewed as an occupation force (how strange is that). He is disappointed that other countries don't have American values, since the last of racism in the U.S. faded away during the wars on terror, as if it was never a big problem.
I would love to read the history of the hundred years that changed the U.S. so completely, since one hundred and fifty years after the civil war the treatment of blacks and Latinos shocks Europeans today. With the majority party courting white supremacist support (a neo-nazi is running for Congress as a Republican on a white supremacist platform, with no backlash), just how did things change. With Texas disenfranching any married woman whose ID doesn't match her birth certificate, I wonder how the change occurred. Foreign born legal residents have been deported or denied reentry, a practice not opposed by either party, I can't wait to read how this was changed. A U.S. military that minimizes the reporting of civilian casualties from Vietnam to iraq, must have undergone some serious change.
This writer is just south of mediocre but when he adds shocking assertions into his story and then puts some of the worst in the mouth of his black character, he's no longer just bad. He's despicable.
I bailed at the 14% mark. There was much more badness but I don't have the energy to detail it.
The writing and editing are not great. The characters are flat and dialogue anemic. The character roles and plot are predictable.
The writer has the black military officer saying to himself how, "grateful he is that his parents were slaves" and saving him from living in Africa. That's at 2% in. I read a little more to see how far the writer would go.
His soldier dwells on the honesty in the U.S. army that makes it so much better than non-western militaries. He congratulates his army on being loved by its citizens rather than being viewed as an occupation force (how strange is that). He is disappointed that other countries don't have American values, since the last of racism in the U.S. faded away during the wars on terror, as if it was never a big problem.
I would love to read the history of the hundred years that changed the U.S. so completely, since one hundred and fifty years after the civil war the treatment of blacks and Latinos shocks Europeans today. With the majority party courting white supremacist support (a neo-nazi is running for Congress as a Republican on a white supremacist platform, with no backlash), just how did things change. With Texas disenfranching any married woman whose ID doesn't match her birth certificate, I wonder how the change occurred. Foreign born legal residents have been deported or denied reentry, a practice not opposed by either party, I can't wait to read how this was changed. A U.S. military that minimizes the reporting of civilian casualties from Vietnam to iraq, must have undergone some serious change.
This writer is just south of mediocre but when he adds shocking assertions into his story and then puts some of the worst in the mouth of his black character, he's no longer just bad. He's despicable.
I bailed at the 14% mark. There was much more badness but I don't have the energy to detail it.
July 17, 2018
Good setting, some flaws
This was a tough one to review and I was holding between 3-4 stars. The setting is great, and the political structure is plausible. For comparison, think "The Expanse" about 50 years earlier. Humanity has interplanetary, but not interstellar travel. The premise- that our collective cultural insanity terrifies our galactic neighbors- is both clever and completely believable. And the aliens, other than their weird reproductive methods, are well-written, complex and not entirely unsympathetic enemies.
The flaws- almost all the characters end up being redshirts. The author definitely doesn't pull his punches when he shows just how much of a bloodbath this kind of war would be. But you can never really get invested in the characters and that makes the story more hollow. The ending had a little bit of a deus ex feel to it, but the humans' desperate scheme pays off in the end. And there were a surprising number of technical errors in editing.
But it's generally good medium-hard sci-fi and not a bad use of your time as a kindle unlimited member.
This was a tough one to review and I was holding between 3-4 stars. The setting is great, and the political structure is plausible. For comparison, think "The Expanse" about 50 years earlier. Humanity has interplanetary, but not interstellar travel. The premise- that our collective cultural insanity terrifies our galactic neighbors- is both clever and completely believable. And the aliens, other than their weird reproductive methods, are well-written, complex and not entirely unsympathetic enemies.
The flaws- almost all the characters end up being redshirts. The author definitely doesn't pull his punches when he shows just how much of a bloodbath this kind of war would be. But you can never really get invested in the characters and that makes the story more hollow. The ending had a little bit of a deus ex feel to it, but the humans' desperate scheme pays off in the end. And there were a surprising number of technical errors in editing.
But it's generally good medium-hard sci-fi and not a bad use of your time as a kindle unlimited member.
June 12, 2018
First contact about 200 years out, gone horribly wrong. The author I think made it "just so" by making the technology gap between these two completely separate civilizations a mere 50 years and the technologies so similar- to help make it a competitive race. Another reason to take off a star is, it really could use some editing to tighten up and clarify some scenes as others have mentioned. Once you can accept the premises, the story execution is fine and the resolution is plausible.
April 15, 2018
Too tedious, too detailed
The plot is good and the characters are solid. But it just drags on and on making the same point over and over before moving on. Edit out 1/3 to 1/2 of the dialogue or descriptions and it would be improved.
The plot is good and the characters are solid. But it just drags on and on making the same point over and over before moving on. Edit out 1/3 to 1/2 of the dialogue or descriptions and it would be improved.
May 6, 2018
A good sci fi survival romp
Many eddies of power coalescing in the face of overwhelmed humanity to find a course out of a genocide brought on in the speed of war in space is a good read.
Many eddies of power coalescing in the face of overwhelmed humanity to find a course out of a genocide brought on in the speed of war in space is a good read.
April 13, 2018
Great read!
Good characters and exciting story. He keeps the action alive and the plot stirred. And it’s over in one book!
Good characters and exciting story. He keeps the action alive and the plot stirred. And it’s over in one book!
April 28, 2018
Not the best
Did not enjoy this book. I had real trouble finishing it. A far cry from the authors usual wok. Not recommended.
Did not enjoy this book. I had real trouble finishing it. A far cry from the authors usual wok. Not recommended.
October 25, 2018
Reasonably plausible account of what might happen if aliens attempted to invade the solar system in order to reform humanity.
June 27, 2020
Excellent Example of the Complexities of Interplanetary Warfare
No matter how many iterations you find of interface i am still impressed at how Nuttall and Champion have found an entirely new take on the subject. I quickly became totally engrossed in the plot and characters and read it as fast as I could to see what how it ended. Very enjoyable book filled with thoughtful challenges about okay, what happens next. Read it and see for yourself.
No matter how many iterations you find of interface i am still impressed at how Nuttall and Champion have found an entirely new take on the subject. I quickly became totally engrossed in the plot and characters and read it as fast as I could to see what how it ended. Very enjoyable book filled with thoughtful challenges about okay, what happens next. Read it and see for yourself.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews