Book One in The Sentience Trilogy opens in the year
3854,
with an inquiry being held on the planet Troxia into the
military manoeuvre which destroyed a fleet. Indeed we can
see STORM CLOUDS GATHERING. The people present are furred,
whiskered and clawed; they behave in a formal manner and
wear jewelled adornments on their badge of rank. They call
themselves the Raknii; as predators, they are not
accustomed to losing.
Dietrich is apartment hunting in a society more like our
own, when he is directed to an underground apartment where
a computer personality welcomes him. Dietrich is told by
Halbert, the biocomputer, that as a result of having a
physicist mother and a computer scientist father, he has
inherited the home and Halbert. He can use this sentient
computer to explore other computer systems - including the
United Stellar Alliance's Fleet Defence Command. He's
also
suddenly wealthy.
I liked the way in which we explore the mindset of the
Raknii, something like lions, who respect their prey, such
as the meek Trakaan people, as a source of life for them -
but kill it. All their warships are identical so that only
the skills of the crew give each any advantage. Innovation
has been stifled. Raan, an adult officer, considers his
juniors as cubs, and believes that predators maintain a
natural balance in the universe. His male-dominated people
have forgotten, though, that there might be other
predators
out among the stars. Drik, an unusual blue-eyed male,
survived the surprise attack and might be the leader that
his people will need.
Oddly, I enjoyed less the interactions between Dietrich
and
Halbert as the man teaches the computer social skills and
the computer teaches him world politics. I would rather
see
for myself how the economy affects people's lives than to
see people sitting down discussing processes and trade
treaties. Halbert is connected to similar computers on
other planets, making him able to manipulate bank
accounts. Alliance Planets south of the galactic plane
want to secede from a union with better-resourced planets
to the north.
I had to wait until Chapter twelve before a woman entered
the
scene, Lt. Marilyn Fredricks. She's a secretary. I was
getting impatient with this male-populated future but in
Chapter twenty-three we meet Jeannine Franks, Secretary of
Defense
and Admiral Arlene McAllister, Chief of Fleet Operations.
Unfortunately these ladies are busy directing operations
so
we don't get to see anything of their lives. There's
plenty
of action for fans of space warfare though I thought this
book a little light on astrophysics compared to others
I've
read.
With chapter-heading quotes by anyone from Benjamin
Franklin to Princess Diana, and well-written settings,
including planets called Tensee, Bama and Ginia, the book
clearly reveals that author Gibson Michaels had a great
time writing this complex story and doesn't take his world
too seriously. Mainly I enjoyed his lion-tribe and could
just see them behaving as he describes. STORM CLOUDS
GATHERING is a fun mix for cat-loving space-warriors and
leaves us excited about what is yet to come.
“What name do these insane predators go by?” -- “They call themselves humans.” A race of feline aliens have discovered a new source of prey... Unfortunately, humanity is distracted as a sentient bio-computer is orchestrating an interstellar civil war. Neither side is yet aware that they have been detected by a star-faring race of predators, who are already making preparations to unleash humanity's greatest nightmare… alien invaders. As the first book of the "Sentience Trilogy," STORM CLOUDS GATHERING opens an epic saga of two aggressive races hurtling towards a cosmic collision, with billions of lives hanging in the balance
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