In the series finale of The Alliance, the An’Atee have incredibly advanced spaceships, but as a people they are incapable of pulling the trigger. The Harbok desperately need an ally, but they hold the An'Atee beneath contempt. Suddenly, success of the embryonic Alliance is not optional. Greg Hamilton must compel the An’Atee, Harbok, and Earth to ally against an ominous threat sweeping through the galaxy.
Before you read this one, please note it is the third book of a series and will need to have read the first two or the characters, scenes, etc. won’t make much sense to you.
After being disappointed with the second installment of the series, I will say this was an improvement and I enjoyed it. While there is a conclusion that was unexpected, this is touted as the last book of the series but the author left it where it has the possibility of a “to be continued” If there is a continuation, I would read it. If you enjoyed the previous installments of the series I would imagine you would enjoy this one, also. I picked this one up with my Kindle Unlimited subscription vs. the normal Kindle price of $4.95 and received more than $4.95 in entertainment value.
Boy, has Greg Hamilton, Earthman come a long, long way since he first saw aliens dogfighting over Earth. His rescue of one of them from a burning crashed spaceship was the start of an impossible journey. After having met with and lived with the An’Atee, he’s convinced that they need to be saved, from themselves, if nothing else. Having just been appointed the Chairman of the Alliance, Greg develops a plan that starts with Earth.
Knowing that most An’Atees cannot “pull the trigger” or kill another being even in a space battle, puts any forces he has at his disposal at a distinct disadvantage. It’s so bad that the Harbok consider the An’Atee so far beneath them that they won’t even talk with the An’Atee. Some how Greg must get the attention of the Harbok. He plans on doing that by bringing Earthmen into the picture as the fighters that will “pull the trigger” and kill the Oort!
Yes, the Oort is the name of the vile creatures that have taken over a vast number of Harbok colonies. They are parasitic in nature attaching themselves to the backs of their host and then totally controlling the being within. The Harbok have for 2,000 years been single-handedly fighting the Oort, but the outcome is just a precarious stalemate. Something must happen to give the Harbok they edge they need to defeat the Oort. They certainly don’t believe an edge could in any way come from the An’Atee or this Earthman of which they know nothing.
So, Greg heads back to Earth to contact some of his former military commanders. He doesn’t care if they are active duty or how old they are since the An’Atee can fix the age problem. But, he’ll need the President of the United States’ cooperation in order to quietly spirit away a thousand old warriors. He also goes to see Nancy, his sister and Jim, her husband. That was an unexpected visit. As you know, Nancy and Jim were missing for quite some time and Greg figured they had been captured by the Harbok. Now released and home, he wanted to see how they were doing and let them know he was alive and doing very well. What he didn’t expect to see during the visit was their house guest, a Harbok!
Maybe this is the opportunity Greg needs to establish some kind of contact with the Harbok. Greg turns out to be a very persuasive man. Will the Alliance that Greg is pushing for ever materialize? He wants Earth to speak with one voice, but that could take centuries and the Harbok are really skeptical that the An’Atee or the technologically inferior Earthmen can make a difference. It is an exciting and a well written account of a pretty good story. While it seems to end with this book, I wish it could go on, it’s that good of a story.
Personally, my brain imagined Klingons whenever Ollie’s race was mentioned in this book, and the An’ Atee aren’t too dissimilar from Vulcans, then that leaves little ol’ Earthlings to finish it all out (except, I don’t know of any Star Trek parallels for the Rat Race that was taken over by the Oort — and the author conveniently forgot to pursue anything about their civilization). The battles that overtook the last 25% of this book were somewhat confusing and not well written, but the general idea was clearly described. Also, I think the author went too far into the realm of disbelief when he characterized the Oort’s Overlord’s capabilities of physically changing one’s body (rather than just psychologically impacting one’s belief) after exerting his mind control.
This series was incredible. So much so, I lost sleep, too engrossed to go to bed. I've been looking for an author with the vision to tell a story about life in the cosmos that's not always about an evil alien invasion out to conquer and destroy. While there is a bad guy, the real story here revolves around the dream of multiple sides coming together, working together, and supporting each other, accepting the diversity of all sides as necessary for growth, instead of judging those differences as less than, or unworthy. There were some truly wonderful twists to the plot, twists that really make you think. Well done, Mr White! I wish this series wasn't over!
So this is a good ending for a good series. It seemed a little rushed but all the prices are in place for the creation of a new empire. The Alliance. I like the whole series and this book as well but it wasn't the best I've read. A little to deep and often in the philosophical aspects of empire making and racial predisposition. It was constantly rehashed. I found the "ride of the valkarie " scene at the end to be fun but a bit contrived and cliche. A needed glue for the aliens to have common ground. Still over all a good read and I will recommend the series.
A little wordy in spots but the storyline, characters and thought put into these books will leave you with a good memory of a good read. The problem with some science fictions today is length. Everyone is writing 10 and 12 book masterpieces and most people get bored after for or five books. The Alliance series is three books, they are easy to follow and just a good read. Take a look at book one and let me know if you feel the same way.
Loved this series..wow...the author did a fantastic job creating the different aliens and their worlds. The characters were great and what heroes they became!!..I really enjoyed all three books. Will be looking for more stories from this author.
Well, written series and a action pack last episode. I love and support the final struggles,but keep wondering what happened to the all ships and fighter control Greg had installed in all vesles, it's use to disabled the other ships especially the larger ships would have save many more lives! I do appreciated the ending.
I did like the general story and the first two books were fairly nice reading. Three out of five stars at best but enjoyable. This one however, got a four out of five from me.
It continues the story and finally picks up some speed action wise. The An’Atee finally wises up and steps out of their incredibly naive and downright stupid worldview. The Harbok are, understandably, somewhat reluctant to ally themselves with the An’Atee. As a matter of fact they feel mostly contempt for the An’Atee.
To no ones surprise, not only do they both overcome their differences, but throw in a retired kick-ass Earth Admiral, a whole bunch of marine volunteers, also from Earth, and thing starts to get interesting. When we then combine An’Atee advanced science with Harbok honor and “warriorism” a’la Klingons (the original ones, not the Discovery retards), well then it’s time for some fireworks.
As I wrote, I quite do like the story. Although it follows a reasonably predictive path there are a few twists before the end. There are plenty of likable characters around from all the races. Well, not among the actual bad guys of course.
On the whole I quite liked this ending of this trilogy. The fact that it was quite long, around 600 pages, didn’t make it any worse.
Finally, a story that actually addresses the realities of first contact. The depth and degree of discussions were a nice change from so many first contact type stories that just gloss over the realities of such a scenario. Great characters and excellent twist to the plot in the last book. Looking forward to reading more by this author!
Mr. White concluded the trilogy well! I often find endings difficult or trite but throughout the series new elements, dangers, and conflicts were judiciously added with very satisfying results! I highly recommend for those looking for a first-conflict story not too heavy on aliens and space battles.
I would LOVE to see the series come to life on the Big Screen!!
I have enjoyed every page of this series. I normally don’t write reviews but I really appreciated the twists and different views of the races and the difficulties they went through. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves science fiction.
If you enjoy fiction, good fiction. This will satisfy your thirst. I started the first book and didn't lay down the third book until finished. It was good and a very fast read.
I read the complete series of three books nonstop. I found the series impossible to put down. It spoke to me of how we, as a world, far to often fail to hear what is being said and done. It's to bad that opposing sides of an issue fail to listen.
This is a series that is hard to put down. I spent nights reading well past midnight. Really enjoyed the story. The almost non stop action and situations that the happens. I highly recommend this entire series.
Larry does a great job of keeping the science fresh and realistic. Add to that his grasp of military strategies and tactics and you have a great series. The characters are complex and realistic. The action never stops.
BUT! This series leaves a lot of details, story lines, unexplored and/or ignored. Yet I recommend the series as I enjoyed reading it. For me anyway, that is a lot.
Loved it! Can't wait to read more. Connection s to current events were well placed throughout the story. I felt like I was experiencing the whole story with the characters.