Intent on joining with an Artificial, Alex goes to war against the aliens trying to eradicate humanity.

Aside from classics, I don’t often read entire trilogies in one shot. This one, however, had me hooked, and given that it was written more like a single book, I took the plunge, and it was worth it. The end of this trilogy is very satisfying, though in a different way than the first two books. We are on full-in war mode here. Characters established, we can let them drive or follow the plot, as necessary. This book was a little weaker than the first two because of that, but it’s trying to do something different. Running from the alien colluders, convincing two governments that they know the only way to win the war, and then attacking two foes, Alex and Caleb go through a lot of trauma, and all of it makes them stronger. The book itself is more about moving to the next level of humanity, which needs some forcing as fear prevents the natural evolution. Alex, being a force of nature in herself, is the perfect person to get this done. The supporting cast continues to get excellent treatment here, from the rogue general to Richard and Miriam, Noah and Kennedy, and others. The little subplots keep their characters interesting as they navigate Alex’s plan. I’m now more intrigued by this universe than ever, and will definitely continue to read this author in the future.

There is a lot to cover in this novel, which once again picks up the moment the previous book ended.

The book itself is about making the leap from human to human-artificial connected. Strangely, that doesn’t happen until about halfway through, because there’s a lot to do before that can happen. Alex and Caleb return to our universe and go to two secret hideouts, both of which are infiltrated. The first one, on Seneca, is blown up after they leave, while the second leaves Caleb near death. Fortunately, Alex was nearby to help, having wandered off after hearing about the death of an ex-lover. She and Alex’s mom give him emergency field aid, and he recovers on the way back to Earth.

Caleb himself is angry with Graham for not telling him about his father’s death and the fact that he didn’t betray Caleb’s family, so now the two are even in their reactions, both storming off at some point. I found Caleb's reaction to be probably the weakest part of the book, as I'm not sure it was necessary. But they reconcile and their bond is now stronger than ever, not just based on sex.

The only sex scene is brief and truncated, just before Alex undergoes the procedure to connect her to the Artificial Valkerie. Alex is of course passionate about everything she does, and convincing the Alliance and Federation that the threat is real and that the only way to defeat them is to connect with Artificials, the governments reluctantly agree, and will deal with the consequences later, if humanity survives.

There is a good sense of how nervous people are about Artificials, and given what I recall from Exin Ex Machina, it will go farther than that. The government knows it’s dangerous, but has no choice. The people involved in the research are eager to see their work progress. The people joining with the Artificials are excited to go to the next evolution of humanity. And there are of course the critics, who think it would be better for humanity to be wiped out by the aliens than be turned into slaves by Artificials afterwards.

The military will do what their superiors tell them to, though they often have opinions of their own, of course. Malcolm is annoyed by diverting resources to evacuating Valkerie and the person who created it, until he gets the message from Alex telling him how important it is. Mia is evacuated to Earth with her Artificial. Devon is already on Earth interfacing intimately with Annie, while Morgan is a super-pilot who can’t go any further in human form, so jumps at the chance to merge with Stan (or Stanley as she calls it).

Together, they go through the procedure of interfacing permanently with the Artificials, and immediately go to work reordering the military and all wireless services to their benefit, for efficiency and for the future. They can communicate instantly with each other, and easily reach consensus on so many things, in less time than it would take to discuss any single one of them. And they all agree to keep some of their abilities secret from normal humans. So it begins…

Kennedy features a lot near the beginning of the book, but not so much later on. After providing the Alliance with the countermeasure to the alien signal jammer and a piece of an alien ship, she maneuvers Noah into visiting his father, to mass-manufacture the new material Caleb and Alex discovered while melding her ship with pieces of his, back in Starshine. It’s a tough moment for their relationship, as Kennedy has a dual purpose –to heal Noah’s psyche by reuniting them, since he is a clone who rebelled, and getting the material into manufacturing facilities. The second part works, but the first only makes Noah resent her. Kennedy is right when she says he jumps at the chance to leave with Caleb, avoiding her.

Caleb, feeling useless while Alex heads out to the war front, goes to Krysk to evacuate his sister before General O’Connell attacks. I was hoping at the end of the last book that this wasn’t just a way to fill space in a book that didn’t need it. I’m still not sure if the plot was necessary, but it was definitely fulfilling, and provided us with an enemy that was more personal and easier to relate to compared to the faceless aliens, so I’m considering it a win.

O’Connell uses dirty tactics because he knows both the Alliance and Federation are hunting him. They aren’t, actually, since neither military has the resources to spare while dealing with the alien threat. So he gets to destroy one Senecan colony without resistance, killing millions of people in one swoop. Then he uses nuclear bombs to take out the defense grid of another colony, which spreads radioactivity throughout its atmosphere before he starts his massacre. O’Connell has the ship tight in his fist, killing anybody who opposes him, though they know their tactics against civilians is wrong. Only a marine has the courage to sabotage his efforts, but somebody else is executed because of her plan.

So the end of that story is satisfying, with Caleb arriving in the invisible and indestructible Siyane. He single-handedly takes out the fighters firing on the city, then rams Alex’s ship through two cruisers, causing them to crash, before embedding the ship inside O’Connell’s frigate. He and Noah encounter the marine who guides them to the bridge, where Caleb kills the general. The sequence is very exciting and played for pure satisfaction against an enemy who is unhinged and determined to go down as a martyr after doing as much damage as possible.

The mission doesn’t end there, but gives enough time to the rescue of Caleb’s sister in the basement of the building she took shelter in. The description of the scene was hauntingly realistic, and it’s inevitable to wonder which category of people the reader fits into –those who turn away when asked to help, those who risk their lives, get supplies, and when a hole is cleared, the people who cower in fear, climb out without assistance, or help others get out. A very interesting and battlefield-type of situation.

Of course, rescue and revenge only matter if we win the war with the aliens. The prevos, which is what the human-Artificials are calling themselves, determine that the alien Metigens will bypass several colonies in favor of attacking Seneca in a full assault (which reminds me of the tactics from Babylon 5). Mia/Meno is sent back to her own colony to help with its defense, but the Allilance military there refuses to work with her until Malcolm gets there and takes her under his wing. She and her Artificial find a weakness in the Metigen shields, which they exploit to great effect. But then a soldier under alien influence blows up Meno, throwing Mia into shock. It sends the other prevos into momentary confusion, as well.

Alex and Morgan coordinate in Senecan orbit, Alex the overall battle, and Morgan taking over squadrons using her arcalaser to great effect, though the pilots and commanders are not happy with her control. Alex sneaks on board a Metigen superdreadnaught and infects it with a virus thanks to Valkerie. Between all their efforts, they do significant damage to the alien forces.

In a twist that makes their victory even more sweet, Devon isolates the signal the aliens are using to communicate with their human sympathizers, who are all taken into custody or executed –such that they can destroy the superdreadnaughts hiding invisible above several Earth cities. Miriam is unforgiving for being left out of that planning, especially when asked to trust Alex when told everything will be fine, as the prevos take over the Earth defense grid and point it at Earth. It looks like a betrayal, when it had to be done in secret.

Olivia doesn’t get much to do in her criminal organization in this book, but she still manages to get in some interesting scenes, like disabling the people rioting around her headquarters, or killing her rival as the war comes to an end.

Finally, yes, Noah returns to Earth and reunites with Kennedy, having realized he can’t live away from her and it was wrong to run away.

I read this trilogy as a boxed set, which comes with two short stories, one before Starshine, and the other after Transcendence. The second one doesn’t do much, except show how Restless Alex and Caleb have become after the war. They get married, and then go soaring in gliders from an alien mountain. Finally, they decide to pass through the portal to seek out the Metigens and explore their other universes.

The book ends with a strange passage from Mesme’s point of view. It looks like he’s been exiled for his meddling in the war against humans, though he thinks whatever the aliens are searching for, it exists in the human universe, which they call Aurora.

I’m hooked, now, on this series, and intend to follow every book (of which there are a lot) to the conclusion.