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Ultrahumans #5
Guardian
New Millennium City is quiet. Cygnus and Twilight, the city’s protectors, have organised crime on the run. But things are about to change in a big way as the alien peacekeepers known as the Guardians arrive on Earth looking for a rogue member of their Cygnus. The Guardians are effectively immortal and they are determined to bring Cygnus in, so how do you defeat someone with advanced technology who can simply take a new body if they should happen to die? What sacrifices will Cygnus and Twilight have to make to defeat their greatest ever threat?
181 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 5, 2018
About the author
Niall Teasdale
74 books294 followersI was born in the vicinity of Hadrian's Wall so perhaps a bit of history rubbed off. Ancient history obviously, and border history, right on the edge of the Empire. I always preferred the Dark Ages anyway; there’s so much more room for imagination when people aren’t writing down every last detail. So my idea of a good fantasy novel involved dirt and leather, not shining plate armour and Hollywood-medieval manners. The same applies to my sci-fi, really; I prefer gritty over shiny.
Oddly, then, one of the first fantasy novels I remember reading was The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper (later made into a terrible juvenile movie). These days we would call Cooper’s series Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy and looking back on it, it influenced me a lot. It has that mix of modern day life, hidden history, and magic which failed to hit popular culture until the early days of Buffy and Anne Rice. Of course, Cooper’s characters spend their time around places I could actually visit in Cornwall, and South East England, and mid-Wales. In fact, when I went to university in Aberystwyth, it was partially because some of Cooper’s books were set a few miles to the north around Tywyn.
I got into writing through roleplaying, however, so my early work was related to the kind of roleplaying game I was interested in. I wrote “high fantasy” when I was playing Dungeons & Dragons. I wrote a lot of superhero fiction when I was playing City of Heroes. I still loved the idea of a modern world with magic in it and I’ve been trying to write a novel based on this for a long time. As with any form of expression, practice is the key and I can look back on all the aborted attempts at books, and the more successful short stories, as steps along the path to the Thaumatology Series.
As of 2015, I have thrown in my lot with writing. After thirty years of being a computer programmer I am making enough money to quit the day job and write full time. Dreams, occasionally, come true. My favourite authors are Terry Pratchett, Susan Cooper, and (recently) Kim Harrison. Kim’s Hollows books were what finally spurred me to publish something, even if the trail to here came by way of Susan, back in school, several decades ago.
Oddly, then, one of the first fantasy novels I remember reading was The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper (later made into a terrible juvenile movie). These days we would call Cooper’s series Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy and looking back on it, it influenced me a lot. It has that mix of modern day life, hidden history, and magic which failed to hit popular culture until the early days of Buffy and Anne Rice. Of course, Cooper’s characters spend their time around places I could actually visit in Cornwall, and South East England, and mid-Wales. In fact, when I went to university in Aberystwyth, it was partially because some of Cooper’s books were set a few miles to the north around Tywyn.
I got into writing through roleplaying, however, so my early work was related to the kind of roleplaying game I was interested in. I wrote “high fantasy” when I was playing Dungeons & Dragons. I wrote a lot of superhero fiction when I was playing City of Heroes. I still loved the idea of a modern world with magic in it and I’ve been trying to write a novel based on this for a long time. As with any form of expression, practice is the key and I can look back on all the aborted attempts at books, and the more successful short stories, as steps along the path to the Thaumatology Series.
As of 2015, I have thrown in my lot with writing. After thirty years of being a computer programmer I am making enough money to quit the day job and write full time. Dreams, occasionally, come true. My favourite authors are Terry Pratchett, Susan Cooper, and (recently) Kim Harrison. Kim’s Hollows books were what finally spurred me to publish something, even if the trail to here came by way of Susan, back in school, several decades ago.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 23, 2021
Teasdale really pulled the trigger on this one.
Guardian follows Teasdale's usual format of episodic storytelling. Along withe the usual Slice-of-Life part there is a lot of adventure and action int this novel. With Cygnus being virtually unstoppable for the past few books, this book introduces a real thread in the form of the Guardians. Immortal aliens who are hellbent on capturing her and, who do not really care for humans that much.
Overall I liked this novel quite a bit. Seeing superhuman/ fantasy creatures going about their mundane life has always been fun to me. And this book has plenty of it. As for the rest. It's a Teasdale book, you know what to expect. An overpowered sexy protagonist, impractical clothing and plenty of action (and 'action').
4 stars, on to the next book.
Guardian follows Teasdale's usual format of episodic storytelling. Along withe the usual Slice-of-Life part there is a lot of adventure and action int this novel. With Cygnus being virtually unstoppable for the past few books, this book introduces a real thread in the form of the Guardians. Immortal aliens who are hellbent on capturing her and, who do not really care for humans that much.
Overall I liked this novel quite a bit. Seeing superhuman/ fantasy creatures going about their mundane life has always been fun to me. And this book has plenty of it. As for the rest. It's a Teasdale book, you know what to expect. An overpowered sexy protagonist, impractical clothing and plenty of action (and 'action').
4 stars, on to the next book.
July 18, 2018
The first half of this book is completely pointless. There are subplots that don't connect at all to the rest of the book, but instead set the stage for future books. There's the gratuitous sex scenes that are thrown in just because. And then there's the rampant feminist bent to the narrative that is beyond tiresome: all the the female characters are understanding and compassionate while all the male characters are raving lunatics, morons, or furniture.
Unfortunately, I'll have to get into spoilers to point out why I dislike this book so much.
TL;DR -- most of the story elements make no sense and are just setups to push the author's political beliefs.
Amazonia:
The main story
Unfortunately, I'll have to get into spoilers to point out why I dislike this book so much.
TL;DR -- most of the story elements make no sense and are just setups to push the author's political beliefs.
Amazonia:
The main story
January 19, 2019
It has taken me a while to get around to reading this book as I was a little irritated by the previous story Frostburn. The main characters only seemed to be interested in clothes and sex and didn’t really deal with the ‘bad’ guys.
This story certainly has more action, in fact there is probably too much going on and there are quite a few loose ends left at the end of the book.
I enjoyed this much more the previous book Frostburn, although I wasn’t happy with the author’s twist with Twilight and this did effect my overall rating.
This story certainly has more action, in fact there is probably too much going on and there are quite a few loose ends left at the end of the book.
I enjoyed this much more the previous book Frostburn, although I wasn’t happy with the author’s twist with Twilight and this did effect my overall rating.
July 11, 2018
Loved it
Fast paced page turner with characters you instantly root for. Can't wait for the next book. I highly recommend this series and any of the other books written by this author
Fast paced page turner with characters you instantly root for. Can't wait for the next book. I highly recommend this series and any of the other books written by this author
July 21, 2018
Great!
As always Niall Teasdale’s Ultrahumans books are incredibly good all over. Great plot with interesting twists, awesome characters with really impressive powers. Great book!
As always Niall Teasdale’s Ultrahumans books are incredibly good all over. Great plot with interesting twists, awesome characters with really impressive powers. Great book!
August 29, 2018
Another pleasant little story from Mr. Teasdale.
I quite like the Ultrahumans series. They are a nice easy read and Niall seems to have fun writing them, which comes across to the reader.
I quite like the Ultrahumans series. They are a nice easy read and Niall seems to have fun writing them, which comes across to the reader.
July 11, 2019
Interesting
I have been enjoying the adventures of both Cygnus and Twilight and my favorite Lady Mink. Well looks like Twi has some interesting twists coming for us.
I have been enjoying the adventures of both Cygnus and Twilight and my favorite Lady Mink. Well looks like Twi has some interesting twists coming for us.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews