Endless Blue [Mass Market Paperback]

Wen Spencer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 26, 2009

The appearance of the warp drive from the long lost Fenrir spaceship triggers an epic quest for Captain Mikhail Volkov.  According to the drive's computers, Fenrir had been lost to hypothetical “nowhere” of subspace, but with the drive's housing covered with coral and sea life, obviously Fenrir has gone somewhere.  Faced with genocide at the hands of the alien Nefrim, humans need a miracle to survive.  On the chance that Fenrir's mysterious location holds such a miracle, Mikhail jumps into the unknown and crashes into the endless blue of the Sargasso Sea.

Every ship that misjumped from any race that discovered travel through subspace has crashed into its waters, creating a graveyard of rusting spaceships.  On the Sargasso's great oceans, humans live alongside aliens in uneasy peace. 

His ship damaged, his younger foster brother lost, and his sanity rattled, Mikhail discovers a secret that might save the human race—but only if he can repair his ship and return home.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The 2003 John Campbell Award Winner, Wen Spencer lives outside of Boston with her husband and son.  She's a fan of Japanese anime and manga, and it flavors her writing.  Her fantasy novel Tinker won the 2003 Sapphire Award and was nominated for the Romantic Times Review Choice Award for Best Fantasy.  Anne McCaffery has listed Wen on her website as one of two recommended authors.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Baen (May 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439132712
• ISBN-13: 978-1439132715
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #395,557 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars engaging characters...confusing world, December 7, 2007

By 

Jan Keller "Happy_Reading" (Salt Lake City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Endless Blue (Hardcover)

I'm a big fan of Wen Spencer's books, really liked Tinker and Wolf who Rules, and while Endless Blue is good, it's not at the same level. I found the "world" confusing to the point of annoyance because I couldn't figure out what was going on, but the characters - especially Mikhail and Turk and their relationship - were wonderfully engaging. So engaging the book got 4 stars instead of 3. I CARED about what was happening to them. My involvement in the characters literally pulled me from page to page.

After the first few chapters the book splits to follow Mikhail and Turk separately and while usually this means having to read about one uninteresting character until you can read about the interesting character, I found myself fully engaged with both plots. That being said, whenever descriptions of the "world" popped up I just skipped them until I reached dialogue which contained all the info I really needed to know to follow the plot.

Overall I liked it and would recommend it, but be prepared for a world that makes no sense and characters that are so engaging you read the whole book any way.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Exciting Adventure with Space Empires, Aliens, Pocket-Universes..., April 25, 2008

By 

A. Lee (L.A., CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Endless Blue (Hardcover)

Captain Mikhail Volkov has a lot to prove. His 'father,' Tsar Ivan Volkov, is distant and unloving and ruler of the Novaya Rus Empire, and is a clone of the legendary Tsar Viktor, just the same as Mikhail. Mikhail, heir presumptive, has had a career that has been less than stellar, marred by a poor psych exam that has denied him an important posting in the past. But he hopes to try to live up to his genetics when he's assigned a possible suicide mission. A warp engine of a ship that was MIA years ago suddenly warps back into known space. They can send a ship back along its mysterious route, but are not sure where it came from... suspecting a pocket-universe of some kind. Novaya Rus and and its allies in the United Colonies forces are in a losing battle with the alien nefrim. It's imperative to know if the nephrim are involved in this phenomenon and if it's something that may help their war effort.

Along with Captain Mikhail is his 'brother' Turk, a creche-born adapted humanoid called a Red that are used as soldiers, without all the rights of true humans, who was raised alongside with Mikhail. The hazards of this mission into the unknown, along with a mutinous plot among the newly acquired Reds, trying to cope with the unknown conditions of the new world and actually trying to complete their mission and find out if there is a way back to their universe is all fascinating. Mikhail and Turk also have to deal with their personal demons and with the social issues that contribute to them. The setting of the Sargasso, the watery pocket-universe with floating islands and settlements grown around the wrecks of great starships is also intriguing.

I would happily read more books about this universe (and pocket-universe).

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking Adventure, May 2, 2008

By 

Hope Ring - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Endless Blue (Hardcover)

Wen Spencer's eighth novel, Endless Blue, can be read as simply a fast-paced, engaging scince fiction novel...but that misses half the fun. Under the action, well-realized characters, and thoroughly unique setting are the kind of questions that science fiction was originally invented to ask. What is the nature of humanity? How do we define, and choose, good or evil? Is there a meaning to the cosmos, and do we have a place within it? What is God?

Set in a far-distant future, this is Spencer's first "Pure" science fiction novel. The action is fast enough that it is almost impossible not to read it quickly, but the writing is worth a closer look. Earlier novels have boasted some excellent lines, but the writing here is consistently tight without sacrificing poetry.

One caveat: while her "Alien Taste" series is PG to PG-13, and the Tinker Duology is rated R, this book is R shading into NC-17. While occassionally graphic, it is never gratuitous, but I would not be comfortable recommending it to readers much under 18.