This high tech space opera starts with a demonstration that
even AIs or artificial intelligences can't get everything
right. Bleak Pass is a strategically important computer
location and the AI has failed to keep it entirely secure.
Then we move to an agent spying on another agent, in the
mid-war years of a dull cliff-side town on a failing mining
planet. CONTROL is not easy for Ira as he leads a simple
life for months while the object of his interest, a woman
named Mir Tohno, does nothing out of the ordinary. When she
does change her pattern however, the trained killer who
watches her finds the tables turned.
These people are rooted in our Earth, as is proven by an AI
deciding to don the appearance of Clark Gable. However when
the focus of their attention is an orbital weapon strike on
a munitions facility, there is not much time for levity.
Much of the narrative involves combat zones, so this story
will be best suited to those who love military SF and can't
wait to see what happens when orange-flashed black armour
meets a red mist from high velocity weapons fire, or a gas
giant exerts an inexorable pull on a space traveller without
power. The tale becomes complex quickly, and the characters
we're following are not always sympathetic, but I note that
we still employ mechanics and farmers' daughters, while the
powerful floodlights used by farmers to haul in harvests
around the clock prove an unwelcome surprise for a sneak
attack squad. I liked such set pieces; also the incident
when a grenade is flung at a posse of drones in a tunnel
carved from bedrock.
There is strong language from early in the exciting story
and I decided that author Niall Singers is probably writing
for a male reader, most of the female characters being quite
as tough as the guys. The computer-minded drones, well let's
say they are not amiable towards us hairless apes. The
settings of CONTROL:BLEAK PASS cover much ground and space,
just right for the space opera buff, provided you can cope
with the odd humanitarian nightmare. We need to focus on
such vast possible futures from time to time, since this
gives us cause to look at life today and ask; if this is how
we treat other people, treat our planet, why should anyone
else treat it - or us - any better? CONTROL:BLEAK PASS is
Niall Singers' first book, and the start of a trilogy.
The Coalition has all but lost to their former allies and
one-time industrial arm, now known as the Vorstaat, a
seemingly unstoppable force bent on winning their
independence. When the Coalition’s last hope, the Bleak
Pass, is broken into it looks like the end is upon them.
Fireteam Black Bear is sent in to recover the stolen data
and prevent a catastrophic defeat, but in doing so they
stumble across a new enemy that has designs of its own.
The
Pattern Makers want to end the war, but no one knows what
price they will ask for peace.
Follow the Bears far behind enemy lines as they uncover
old
secrets, fight new enemies and meet unexpected allies. See
the far reaching impact of their actions as soldiers and
civilians on distant battlefields struggle to survive in
the
fallout from the Bleak Pass incident.
Epic scifi action, Control: Bleak Pass is the first in a
trilogy spanning the closing years of the war. The end is
nothing compared to what comes next.
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