Too much hand waving buzz word science, only one character I cared about, and a plot I couldn't swallow.

It's written well, and moves along enough I almost enjoyed it regardless.

Unless you've read the previous novels ( I haven't) I'd skip this one. ( )

Bandicut and company have fallen out of the frying pan and into the fire in Sunborn, Book 4 of The Chaos Chronicles. This go round they actually have a choice: accept the mission and possibly die or don't accept the mission and probably die. As if saving worlds wasn't a big enough challenge for them, this time they've been tasked with saving a stellar nursery, a job that will push them to the breaking point and possibly beyond. Each book in this series has been better than the last and Sunborn is no exception. I hope Mr. Carver finishes writing Book 5 soon. ( )

Sunborn, by Jeffrey A Carver, is truly a novel of epic proportions. Something malevolent is killing living stars.
Fresh from a solving a galactic mystery, a human, John Bandicut, three beings and two robots are enlisted in the fight by Jeeves, a sentient robot, just when they were hoping for a respite.
This is a non-stop ride that takes them to the Starmaker Nebula using a quick transport method called threading space aboard an n-space ship that is more energy than a solid. There they must first discover what the enemy is and how it’s destroying stars before they can try to stop it.
From the frying pan into the fire and back again, this intrepid team of human, robots and aliens leaps across vast reaches of space, encountering other beings of immense power and knowledge as they seek answers.
Carver creates a panorama of situations and adventures that pushes the team’s abilities and friendships to their limits and beyond. The cast of characters is unique and as real as you and I, though with an alien flare.
Their ship has no offense weapons, so to defeat the enemy they must use their wits and the special talents of the beings they encounter along the way.
Threaded through this story is yet another. Julie Stone, Bandicut’s girlfriend, a scientist at a mining colony on the moon Triton, encounters an alien device that speaks only to her. The device agrees to allow the humans to transport it to Earth, but once aboard the Park Avenue everything changes. Julie and the device take off in a maintenance shuttle to stop an alien device that’s mission is to destroy Earth.
Julie’s story is a novel all its own as they hunt down, capture and attempt to destroy the device before it destroys them, escapes and completes its mission. Much easier said than done.
As a fan of Carver, I was pleased to see this novel not only meets my expectations, but roars past them with quality writing, believable characters and a tale of universal magnitude. ( )

Failing to hit the highs of the previous volume this is still better than the first two - once it finally gets going.

The inital third is a very slow recap of events to date. I don't know why this is suddenly become necessary, the previous books managed fine without it. Eventually some kind of story begins to emerge. Our heros don't get much of a breather after escaping their last successful rescue and are called upon to try and talk to the stars, and prevent a nebula from going nova. Their break is still long enough for John to get some more alien sex in though. The four breasts continue to feel very tacky.

In a somewhat abrupt change of character most of the Company decide they don't want to go and try and talk to stars. They don't manage to give any reasons for this, and just voice general opposition to the AIs running the ship. Meanwhile we're still following the frankly predictable subplot of Julie out on Triton. Oh I so don't wonder or care where this is going. But I bet I know.

I've given Carver a bit of a pass for the physics so far in the series. N-space was cheating a little, but it's SF so a few things go. However it starts to get frankly silly by now. Carver is mixing a few contradicotry physics hypothesises together and treating them as if they were all real. He'd be better of sticking to just making stuff up.

I like the concept of talking stars though. ( )