Tuesday, October 29, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review:A Chain Across the Dawn by Drew Williams




A Chain Across the Dawn is the second book in Drew Williams' "Universe After" series, after his "The Stars Now Unclaimed" (Review Here).  In that review, I compared the first book to Star Wars in its space opera roots - but in retrospect, I've seen a few other reviews which make what I think is a better comparison: Mass Effect, being a space opera universe featuring a crew of misfits of different species being forced together to deal with a major threat.  And it was a hell of a lot of fun, with great action set pieces and fun characters, so I was really interested in reading the sequel.

And I think A Chain Across the Dawn is actually a bit better - whereas the first book was Mass Effect-esque, this book is a little bit like Mass Effect crossed with Alien.  The book also switches its viewpoint character to Esa, the young girl with telekinesis from the first book, now 3 years older and an agent in her own right (at age 17), and the switch works really well, giving a fresh look at a plot that once again contains a number of excellent action sequences.  That, along with some excellent character work, makes this book one that I really enjoyed and tore through, and i can't wait to get the trilogy ender in February.


Note: This book was again read as an audiobook, and the reader is excellent once again.  That said, as a result, if I misspell some names, that's why.


-----------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
3 Years after being rescued from her world by Jane and the Justified, Esa is now a full time Justified agent, working with Jane to rescue other "Gifted" children from Pulsed worlds, so they can be free to learn how to use their gifts and to possibly help the Justified prevent a return of the Pulse.  Esa knows that even after 3 years of training she's not as capable as Jane, but she's learned to do far more with her telekinetic gifts, and together they make a formidable team at going into dangerous war torn worlds and coming out alive again, with other children like Esa in tow.

But when a mission to rescue a wulf boy named Sho, gifted with electrokinesis, goes horribly wrong, Esa and Jane find themselves confronted by a strange being using technology that should be impossible on a Pulsed world - and using it to carve a path of death and destruction throughout.  Seeing in this being a possibility they never could've dreamed of - a cure for the pulse - Jane, Esa, and Sho give chase, but that being proves to be like nothing they've ever seen before - and they find nothing but death in his wake.  Soon Esa and Jane find themselves the hunted, and even Esa's tremendous gifts may not be enough to save them from their enemy's zealous wrath......
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The Stars Now Unclaimed was narrated in first person by Jane, a capable, if not hyper-competent, warrior of the Justified with a bit of a death wish as she goes about her work for the Justified in saving gifted children and defending the Justified from an enemy attack.  And, being over 150 years old, Jane knew exactly who she was in her own mission, and the only character development left for her was for her to realize what and who she still had to live for.  She was a strong character and narrator, but she was pretty well formed from the get-go.

Our new narrator, Esa, is very much NOT that.  Three years have passed since the first book, and while Esa is quite a bit more capable as an operative than she was as a 14 year old fresh off her homeworld, she's still a teenager who isn't quite sure if she can handle the tasks she and Jane are up to, particularly the ones that involve killing and taking others' lives.  She's a teen after all, no one would expect her to have her shit together, and she doesn't.  I couldn't find a way to work it into the plot summary there but I have to mention it here: a lot of this book is Esa trying to find her own way as she and Jane go on this mission, with Esa's parental figures - Jane and the Preacher - each having their own ideas about how Esa should turn out, with Esa herself being unsure of how to react to those ideas.  Searching for her own future, for her own family, for her own purpose, is a large part of this book, and Esa's journey through it all is wonderful to read.  She's great, and I really hope we don't lose her perspective next book.

Which is not to say this is a one character book of course.  Jane remains great from an outside perspective as she attempts to lead Esa through the dangerous situations, with the book revealing a bit about her past which explains her cynical outlook on things a bit.  New Gifted child Sho is adorable in his earnest goodheartedness, and will make your heart break at times.  The Preacher and the rest of the cast from the first book return are also excellent, and then new character Mo steals the show from the act he gets introduced.

And then there's the action packed plot.  This book lacks the space battle scenes that filled parts of the first book, featuring instead just action sequences with our characters on various planets and space stations, fighting infantry style against an implacable enemy.  I compared the book to Alien above the jump, and that's somewhat how it feels with these action sequences, as Jane and Esa alternate between hunting and being hunted by their enemy, who they can't seem to quite get away from, and seems an unstoppable force of nature for much of the book.  These action scenes are really well written and vary in settings in interesting ways - that's the Mass Effect part of this book, with each setting really feeling like a different planet/station from that universe, populated by beings/people with different beliefs and ideas that range from wacky to serious.  It all works really well, leading to a highly satisfying ending.

Nothing about this series remains truly must read, although it honestly is coming closer with each book - this is just a ton of fun in an immensely cynical world, with some truly great action and some really solid well differentiated characters, and I can't wait to see how it all concludes next book.


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