Xenogene

by Nathan M Hurst

She had been human once. In those times, the stars had been a place of wonder and fascination, somewhere for the future and her imagination to roam. She never dreamt like that anymore. Now a custodian to thousands of lives aboard the UTS Intrepid and a guardian of the colony fleet sent to Hayford b, she worked to protect them. But her previous life was a raw, unresolved memory, a subject on which she had had many years to reflect.They had made first contact, they had been attacked and now they were on the brink of becoming unwilling subjects of the Zantanath Unity. The chance that they might encounter another civilisation had been treated with a level of disregard by the mission scientists back home; it had left them unprepared. Now, with an evil to confront, allies were needed, but how do you overcome a technologically advanced and malevolent culture? Leadership had fallen to Larsen. He had been capable, inventive and resilient, but—ultimately—she would need to control events.Her life on Earth had presented its own complications, but she had sworn to herself that things would be different. When the fleet reached landfall, she would start again, put the old world behind her and focus on the new. But it was never going to be that simple, and now events were escalating. Things had to be put right; she would put things right.Ellie had made the first step into that new world, and secrets, lies and violence had been her reward. But drastic events required drastic measures. She would bring resolution. Leaving her old life behind, it was time to embrace the new.

379 pages, Paperback

Published October 6, 2020

Reviews

[James Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Xenogene is the long awaited third book in the Sol Protocol saga by Nathan M Hurst. This story ties in much of the disparate stories from the previous two books and lays out the path for the next. As with the other two stories, each chapter of Xenogene is entitled with the character with whom the reader gets to experience their part in the unfolding drama. There are a lot of characters to wrestle with and numerous strands that compete and I wondered if coming to book three so long after reading the previous book that I would find it difficult to pick up the threads again. It is testament to Nathan's writing skill that this wasn't an issue for me. Pushing the multiple story lines forward we witness more about the Zantanath's hold over the Xannix and the mess that man has caused since the arrival of the ships from a doomed Earth. I really liked the back story of Ellie back on the home planet before the armada took flight and thought this helped to explain much of the unanswered questions in the previous books but I did feel that this aspect was delivered late to the saga and not developed enough. Perhaps we'll get more in the next book. There was also a back story for the soldier Elderson which was very interesting but again felt a little unfinished. This is such a big story and rooting it in key individuals and how it affects them certainly keeps it firmly planted, but I found it slightly overwhelming in places trying to keep track of them all. The strength of NMH's writing is that he does actually manage to juggle all the narative's balls in the air. It is very readable with many alternating scenes and situations, from old Earth to space ships and a new planet as the battle for power resolutely seems to be with the Zantanath. Xenogene is also very different from the first two stories which matters in a series to prevent stagnation. I enjoyed this book and found it worth the commitment it required from me. Looking forward to the next one.