Earth, 2512 A.D. Humans populate the six arms
of the Milky Way Galaxy. The oppressive Unified Authority controls Earth’s
colonies with a powerful military made up almost entirely of clones – until
civil war leaves the U.A. struggling to survive…
Stranded on a frontier plant, rogue clone
Wayson Harris is desperate to get back into battle. When a group that wants to
return to the Unified Authority’s command and protection asks him to deliver
their offer of allegiance, Harris finds himself in the uniform of a U.A. marine
once more. But as he leads a strike against the enemy, Harris discovers that
the rebels have a powerful ally no one could have imagined….
Last March I was introduced
to The Clone Rebellion series of Steven L. Kent that is published in the UK by
Titan Book. I was very excited about this series. And after finishing the first
book was even more so. Now finally getting around to reading book #3, Alliance,
in the series I’m again very pleased with just how all the stuff in the books
works out. It’s cool, it’s military science fiction that’s written in a great
way, catchy but serious as well. Not hard to grasp at all, it seems like that
every time I pick up a book in this series, it’s over too fast.
In the first two books you
were introduced to the distant future of 2500 AD where humankind is inhabiting
the six arms of the galaxy. The military of the Unified Authority exist mostly
of clones. From Republic (the first book), the Unified Authority is in for a
surprise as their rules and laws are usurped by a group known as the Mogat
separatists. The events neatly unfold in Republic and more so in Rogue (book
number two). In the midst of this all you have one special kind of clone Wayson
Harris who firstly didn’t think he was a clone because he looked quite
different and had more freedom to act… but he soon found out that he was quite
wrong. Wayson was already thrown in the promotion track and went from private
first class up a few rungs. It seems that each problem is just follow Wayson...
Alliance follows up on the
events of Rogue quite well, again you are following the adventures of Wayson
Harris, but what I must mention first is that even though there were quite a
few weeks for me in between finishing Rogue and picking up Alliance, it just
felt that from the first sentence of the book I was back in to the story once
again. Steven L. Kent has his own way with words that just readily pulled me
into his series. Back to Wayson now. You got his history in the first two books
and the third really plays directly onto all that was laid down in Republic and
Rogue. In Alliance Wayson’s clone “side” kicks in more than a few times, and I
found this inner struggle that he had with himself well thought out and on more
than one occasion quite funny to read about. Like in the first part of the book
with being stranded on a ship without enough food to survive the long space
trek, he is contrasting opinions with himself, his rational thinking says, pull
the pin of the grenade but then his military training(programming) survival
instinct kicks in and he doesn’t. Only later mentioning that hopefully Ray
Freeman wakes up to do it anyway. It was interesting to read about these sides of Wayson’s clone being that
just adds that little bit extra to the story. This really takes the concept of
being a clone that much further.
In Alliance Wayson again
finds himself, against all that he thought and said to himself, fighting for
the Unified Authority. In his adventures, Wayson isn’t entirely on his own, in
the first two books you were also introduced to a quite enigmatic character:
Ray Freeman, mercenary and badass first class. He is a typical
I-do-it-my-way-blow-stuff-up-and-I-won’t-hesitate-to-shoot-you-if-you-look-at-me-wrong
kind of guy. All in all the characters Wayson and Ray make up a large part of
the story but you also get to know a lot of different marines, SEALs and
commanders along the way. Wayson and Ray don’t grow that much more in their
personalities but with the groundwork that was already laid down in the first
two books, it isn’t necessary. Instead they keep true to how they were shown
earlier, but with the focus on them it does create a very strong character
driven narration. All the characters really play well into the existing world
and all help to broaden the storyline.
There were some great
revealings in the end of Rogue, involving the general plot line with betrayals
in the Unified Authority combined with the Mogat separatists and also with
Wayson and several other characters.. Alliance seamlessly plays into these
events and shows the bold actions that is being undertaken by the Unified
Authority to turn the tide of the war in their favour. Having garnered a new
alley, and re-enlisted Wayson into their ranks once more the Unified Authority
is set out to be superior once again. The first part of the book is really more
like re-establishing the main storyline with showing Wayson and Ray in their
own kind of “peril”, making new alliances, and plotting how to take down the Unified
Authority but it ends on quite a cool promise. The Mogat separatists were
always mentioned in the book that they have old school technology and aren’t
that advanced… well the Unified Authority is in quite for a surprise at the end
of the first part. There was some action in the first part, but for me there
was more focus onto playing out the right cards to set let the main idea behind
the story come to light. The second part, that’s well, wow, it’s just over in a
flash. Once you get down to the action scenes, laser shooting and the like it
just moves fast, real fast. I have no clue how Steven L. Kent manages to
involve you so much into his stories but he just does it and I love it. In the
end you are in for quite a surprise regarding the whole promise that was build
up earlier (I mean this in a good way), just that last twist thrown in there, makes
it that more interesting. And again you have Wayson swearing of working for the
Unified Authority but you and me know better that once his clone imprinting
kicks in... he most likely doesn’t have a choice…
Alliance likes its two
predecessors is just vastly entertaining, cool military science fiction.
Combining deep space, technology filled
science fiction with military fiction may produce a difficult and heavy to read
story. However Steven L. Kent does something very neat with his writing and
turns these heavy elements in to treat to read, alternating the above elements
with enough airy humor to keep the story not only interesting but also to
create a fast-pace and more than enjoyable story. Alliance really narrows the
focus on Wayson himself and his current mission. I hope to see this focus
recurring in the later volumes as well. It really feels like Steven L. Kent put
down all the groundwork already in the first two books and is now able to build
story after story on those foundation, further enriching his series and
universe. My overall favourite part at the story was to really see how Wayson
is dealing with himself and his internal struggles that he has on more than a
few occasions. The Clone Rebellion is a entertaining series that isn’t just a must read for science fiction fans, it
is suited for a much broader audience. You won’t go wrong if you pick up one of
the books in The Clone Rebellion series!