In a distant future in which the empire of humanity has spread throughout the stars, the Xenic Bureau of the Grand Ekumenical Security Directorate investigates any hint of aliens, strange disappearances, or other anomalous events. When rumors spread of the mysterious reappearance of a long-lost battleship, a priest, an alien-killer, and a cashiered starship engineer find themselves caught up in a chase across the empire and into secrets better left forgotten.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Premium Space Opera,
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This review is from: Death of a Starship (Paperback)
Jay Lake has surprised me again. His steam punk fantasy has been excellent, but this excursion into Thomas Harlan's speciality -- alien contact set in a well thought out universe is terrific. This book involves concepts from Dan Simmons' Hyperion series with the Aztec future of House of Reeds. The story concerns a search for a McGuffin -- a vanished dreadnaught from an ancient civil war. The fascination concerns the pursuers -- chruch, state, radicals, and a hero caught between. I for one will be hoping for the sequel.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book,
By Learner (US) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Death of a Starship (Paperback)
I recently read a great short story by Jay Lake named "To Raise a Mutiny Betwixt Yourselves" (found in The New Space Opera 2, edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan). I had so far not heard of Lake, but I was highly impressed by this story. The prose was polished, almost literary. The story was compelling, the characters and their psychology had real depth. So I naturally looked for more of his sci fi.
When I picked up Death of a Starship I actually thought it was going to be an extension of that short story I read. I was wrong and disappointed. The book is short too, about 180 pages. Hm. I kept reading. The prose didn't seem as polished. The characters didn't seem terribly interesting. Was this book going to be a dud? The book kept my interest enough to keep reading. At about page 50 or so, the story really took off. It just got better and better from there. My investment in the first 50 pages was paying big dividends. This is classic hard sci fi, a space opera of the modern, intelligent kind. I highly recommend it. Now that I'm done with this book, I want more. (I hope Lake will revisit this "universe.") I'm off to find more Jay Lake sci fi.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some good concepts, but the book did not come together,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Death of a Starship (Paperback)
I wanted to like it, but it seemed rushed. There was not enough character development and the setting was not very reasonable. They wanted to find a lost battleship, because it would be the most powerful thing in space. They expected that it could determine the winner of a civil war. Give me a break. Is a 200 year old battleship from our past going to be of any use against modern ships ? Particularly since the rate of change of technology has always increased. A Roman son could probably get by with his dad's sword, but a modern son would be better off with a 19 shot Glock than his father's old .38 revolver. 200 years of change will make current weapons look like stone axes.
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