Customer Reviews

Prophets: Apotheosis: Book One

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This novel has just about everything I want in a space opera: lost colonies, political intrigues (here the Caliphate and Roman Catholic Church vying for control and influence in the worlds of human space - a space that includes the human/animal chimeras called moreaus), vividly described violence, forbidden technologies (genetic engineering of humans, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence), espionage, and subversion.

Swann's style strikes just the right balance with his physical descriptions - cinematic but not too long to slow the plot down. And I liked every chapter having an epigraph from sources historical and fictitious. This is a continuation of Swann's work in his moreau/Confederation universe and is chronologically the latest story but don't worry. Swann provides enough background explication so that, if you've never read the Moreau Omnibus (Daw Book Collectors) or the Hostile takeover Trilogy - or, like me, it's just been a long time since you read them, you won't be lost.

Actually this novel reminded me a lot of a stripped down version of Peter Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga: a human political order with its internecine squabbles is threatened by an invading force willing to do anything to alter that order. However, Swann's universe is never as utopian as Hamilton's world.

If you havent read the Moreau and Hostile Takeover trilogies, I'd recommend you do so before picking up this book. You'll still be able to get into the book, but it helps gel everything together if you read them first.

S Andrew Swann continues his sci fi novels with this book, the latest in his Moreau universe. This time, it is set in the year 2525 and begins with two competing religious groups vying for influence and control of some previously unknown human colonies beyond known space, and a Race AI called Mosasa, who has detected anomalous signals from that region of space and decides to investigate as well.

I always enjoy books which have ties to characters in previous books. Prophets brings back Mosasa, Tetsani, an offspring of Rajastan, and an egg. Those who have read his previous books will understand what I mean by the egg.

Explaining more may give away the story but suffice it to say- it's another good book from Swann.

The one thing I am wary of however is the revelation of the enemy towards the end. I fear it may be too technologically advanced for the humans and have some doubt over how the enemy was able to create it in the first place. Swann may have backed himself into a corner and there may be a finale which is unrealistic (unrealistic for this book's premises I mean)

If you made it this far, thank you for reading.

In a universe of many religions, one of the oldest remaining AI gets up and goes on expedition. Beyond man's known boundaries, to explore what is there and what is upsetting the patterns he sees. The departure of his expedition leaves the universe in turmoil. And when they arrive, the surprise waiting for them is not a pleasant one.

It's clear that Andrew prepared well for our return to Bakunin, the planet of systemic anarchism. He places his characters well, with quite a few dramatic tensions between them.

The universe he created in his Moreau books, as well as in the Hostile Turnover, is great to return to. It was brilliant, in either one of these series. Hopefully this exciting return will turn into a wonderful series too.

It's a bit of a slow starter, this book. Putting the characters in play reads pleasantly, yet the story actually only really starts at the very end. Andrew throws in yet another stimulating variation (as in his previous books). I'm definitely looking forward to #2 in this series!

The beginning of this book demands some attention from the reader if they haven't read any of Swann's previous work, namely the Hostile Takeover Trilogy but it really isn't necessary because the author does a pretty good job with back story. The beauty of this book is the straightforward writing style in which the story is told. There is a rather large cast of characters that are introduced and each one has somewhat of an interesting history associated with them. The plot is well conceived and the story moves at a rapid pace due to the large amount of action and plot twists involved. The world building is great and the universe that Swann has created is loaded with detail. The book is not too long (under 500 pages), however the series is basically one long book chopped into three parts so they each end with cliffhangers. The only issue with this book is maybe some of the highly technical descriptions of spacecraft and drive technology as well as weaponry and overall technology in general may be a little much for first time sci-fi readers, but if you're a science fiction veteran (like myself), you should be used to it. Some may complain that the characters are a little under-developed but it IS a series so stick with it and they will certainly grow on you. Overall this is one of the better science fiction books I've read in a while and definitely deserves a shot, so check it out.

S. Andrew Swann had me hooked before the last page of the prologue to Prophets. Mallory is a priest and former marine living a quiet life teaching at a university. Nicolai is outcast royalty, alone and disgraced on the anarchic world of Bakunin. Flynn is a societal reject because of his choice not to accept his culture's norms. Tetsami is the ancestor that lives in Flynn's mind. Parvi is the pilot and mercenary who is increasingly the pawn of events beyond her control. And all of them are about to find themselves at the mercy of a power greater than stars.

Prophets takes place in the twenty-fifth century, a time when man has reached the stars, made contact with alien civilizations, and already survived both an interstellar war with some of those civilizations and civil war with itself. The Confederacy, the one government that held humanity's far flung planets together, has collapsed and divided into factions, some along secular lines, some aligned with the Vatican, and some a part of the Islamic Caliphate.

A balance exists between the worlds of the Caliphate and all others. But when shadowy forces start moving on the fringes of civilized space, speaking of lost human colonies and astral anomalies, everyone must race to be the first to arrive, to lay hold of what might tip the balance of power in their direction.

Swann spins a tale that is cinematic in vision and has echoes of Dan Simmons' Hyperion series. He fills the story--equally mystery, cloak and dagger, political intrigue, and science-fiction--with characters that are mercenaries, scientists, priests, A.I.s, aliens, spies, saboteurs, and mutants. And there are also, of course, lots of space ships with faster-than-light travel drives (what would space opera be without that?). Almost none of the characters are clearly hero or villain, and each is a well drawn composite of traits that are likeable and flawed. Their interactions are unpredictable and gripping, each pulled by the plot in ways neither they, nor the reader, expects. By writing his characters credibly, and not balking at their pain or suffering, Swann creates a story that is both enjoyable and that the reader cares about.

Unlike many scifi and fantasy authors today, Swann is willing to tell the story in under five hundred pages. The length keeps the story alive, stopping on characters just long enough to paint a portrait of their history and relationship to the plot, then moving along again. Chapters cut to the chase, inserting the reader as far into the action as possible, then leaving them right at the point of greatest impact. The result is a page-turner that demands to be finished.

I have a bad habit of parachuting into authors worlds mid-series, and while Prophets is definitely the first in the Apotheosis series, it is the third series that Swann has written in the so-called "Moreau" universe. The first two--the Moreau series and the Hostile Takeover Trilogy--occur hundreds of years earlier than the events in Prophets. I had decided, upon picking up Prophets, that if I liked it I would go back and read the Moreau and Hostile Takeover. The good news is that I enjoyed it immensely, and as soon as I finish the Heretics and Messiah, the next two books in the series (which are both waiting on my bed stand), I'll go hunting for the previous series.

S. Andrew Swann's Prophets (book one of his Apotheosis series) provides a heady mix of intrigue, plots within plots, creative world-building, and explosive action. In the fractious world of humanity there exist three heresies, all outlawed due to past disasters: the genetic engineering of humans and other creatures; the creation of artificial intelligences; and the use of nanomachines. When Father Mallory--a Roman Catholic Priest and former marine--is sent undercover to find out what's going on in the lost colonies, he comes face-to-face with all of the heresy he can handle, and then some. Even though several members of the team he joins are heresies in themselves--an AI and two descendants of genetically engineered warriors (one human-based, one feline)--they're nothing compared to what he'll eventually have to come to terms with.

The world-building is creative and thorough, including inventive use of FTL travel, high-tech weaponry, new and ever-more-fantastic ways of engaging in the "heresies", and unusual social structures. The intrigue and complex web of plots exist courtesy largely of Mosasa, the AI--he was designed to analyze vast arrays of economic, social, and cultural information, and affect events by subtly manipulating small details here and there. The ways in which he goes about preparing for and setting off on his expedition to the anomaly fascinated me. I also loved the fact that the technologies became integral parts of the plot rather than window-dressing; for example, the manner in which ships travel faster-than-light factors intimately into several major plot points.

The characters were good but not great. I enjoyed Father Mallory, Wahid and Mosasa most; some of the other characters seemed one-dimensional or melodramatic. Also, there were definitely some rather static and repetitive informational dumps. Despite those two issues, I absolutely enjoyed the plotting and world of Prophets, and have already started in on the other books in the series: Heretics and Messiah.



[NOTE: review book provided by publisher]

By 2525, two centuries have past since the collapse of the Confederacy civilization. From those ruins two major rivals form: The Roman Catholic Church and the Eridani Caliphate compete for dominance on earth and on other planets in other solar systems. Both groups believe there are lost colonies in space who prefer not to belong to either power; instead they keep low profiles hoping nether empire find the needle in the haystack. However, a super intelligent AI who can pass as human has noticed an anomaly in the star Xi Virginis sector.

The AI Tjele Mosasa is headquartered on the planet Bakunin. Since an AI is banned in most places as are self-replicating nanotech and genetically engineered sentient beings, Masassa arranges to have mercenaries Nikolai the descendent of genetically engineered tigers and Julia Kugara, a genetically engineered human, as well as Father Francis Mallory join his expedition to Xi Virginis; there he plans to investigate the anomaly. When they arrive at their destination, they are greeted by the vanishing of the star and a saboteur's explosion on board their ship cripples the vessel. The survivors make an emergency landing on the xenophobic planet Salmagundi.

The first book in the Apotheosis saga sets the slope for the next tale Heretics while containing an action-packed futuristic science fiction. The story line is told from many viewpoints so readers obtain a 360 degree perspective of what is happening though that somewhat subtracts from character development yet enables the audience to understand how different factions perceive reality. S. Andrew Swann provides an intriguing look into life a half millennium from now.

Harriet Klausner