Andrew James Walker

In the far future, space is a very friendly place with not much going on. An interstellar space craft is on a routine search for planets that have possible mineral deposits that can be mined. When it comes upon a planet that shows signs of emitting some kind of power source, which it shouldn't have, a team led by Jack and Hope is sent to investigate. Finding pyramids and the remains of what appears to have once been an alien civilization, Jack and Hope discover "mind tapes" that can be accessed and played in their heads, as if they were there themselves. We are then taken to a time in the planet's past where we see how their peaceful civilization is disrupted by a high-ranking assassination uncovering a conspiracy that reaches all the way to the top of that civilization's government and ultimately to an off-planet threat that we do not get to see how it gets resolved until part two of the series (where, hopefully we'll get to see more of Jack and Hope). A summary like this does not do the novel justice, which is extremely well written with characters that are believable and a plot that you have no idea where it is going until the separate plot lines begin to converge to form the overall story. I don't know how the author kept it all straight in his head, a tour de force. Even if most of the character names are unfamiliar and the planets described are certainly unfamiliar, thankfully, one true note of present day continuity does continue to dominate into the far, far distant future: Arsenal Football Club. Now, that's class.… (más)

Thoroughly enjoyed the first in the series and had to come back for more. The second takes off right from the cliffhanger of the first book and we're immediately off and running. Great to see the return and further development of the characters from book one and we get to know more about the nature of the enemy and the continuing series of events that threaten the destruction of a once-great civilization. Although Jack and Hope are back, I did want to get to spend even more time with them and I guess I'll have to read the third book in the series to find out how everything resolves.… (más)