Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Species Imperative-Julie E. Czerneda

Species Imperative
Julie E. Czerneda
Daw, Sep 2 2014, $17.00
ISBN: 9780756410148

“Survival.”  In the far distant future, humanity begins to reclaim the earth and at the same time joins the Interspecies Union.  Brymn the gigantic blue Dhryn arrives to warn earthlings that the hostile Ro armada plans for their genocide; humanity’s only survival hope is Norcoast Salmon Research Facility Administrator Dr. Mac Connor.

Migration.”  Trusting Brymn, Mac travels to his home world where to her horror he and his race transform into feeders, devouring every planet that is in their path. Back on Earth, Mac wants to forget the revulsion she witnessed.  Unfortunately she is the only one who can read and speak Dhryn; so the Interspecies Union needs her to learn why a staunch ally turned into carnivorous predatory adversary.  Mac’s salmon migration expertise enables her to understand the Dhryn and who the enemy really is. 

“Regeneration.”  Mac believes that the Ro somehow changed the Dhryn into a biological weapon of planetary mass destruction.  She knows the Ro live in a dimension beyond ours, but believes the means to save the Dhryn and bring the Ro to intergalactic justice may be found on destroyed Myriam.

This Species Imperative omnibus reprinting brings together the brilliant trilogy that focuses on sentient races allied for political, economic, and cultural reasons, and now a common enemy.  Mac is a superb heroine, but it is the incredible world building with intricately drawn species that make for a fantastic dark futuristic outer space series.


Harriet Klausner

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