annieb123's Review of The Shattered Skies (The Cruel Stars Trilogy, #2)

by John Birmingham

Centuries after they were defeated and exiled to dark space, The Sturm have returned.

The Sturm, an empire of species purists, have returned from the farthest reaches of Dark Space to wage a war against what they call mutants and borgs: any human being with genetic or neural engineering. In a sneak attack on the galaxy-spinning networks, they overwhelmed almost all of humanity's defenses, blasting dark code that transformed anyone connected to the system into a mindless psychotic killer. The Sturm's victory seemed complete, their final triumph inevitable, until one small band of intrepid, unlikely heroes struck back.

Commander Lucinda Hardy and Admiral Frazer McLennan used the Armadalen Navy's final surviving warship to fend off the Sturm, destroying the massed power of an entire Attack Fleet. With brilliant tactics, this ragtag crew sent the Sturm running, managing to save Princess Alessia, the sole surviving heir to the gigantic Montanblanc Corporation and perhaps Earth's only remaining senator.

Now left with the remains of a fallen civilization, they must work together to rebuild what was lost and root out the numberless enemies of Earth. The Sturm invaders remain vastly more powerful – and they may not be the only threat lurking in the darkness of space...

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Shattered Skies is the second book in the Cruel Stars trilogy by John Birmingham. Released 11th Jan 2022 by Penguin Random House on their Del Rey imprint, it's 480 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback due out Sept 2022. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is campaign space opera on an epic scale. Following directly on from book one, it's engaging and intricate. It's not particularly suited to a standalone read and readers who haven't read book one will probably want to pick up and read it first. The language and descriptions are rough and graphic. The writing, characterizations, scene descriptions, choreography, and plotting are superlative; often sublime.

This is an experienced and talented author at the top of his game and there are passages which transcend the genre and should be categorized as good literature instead of "just" good SF. There are a significant number of sly in-jokes and light humor which raised a smile.

The unabridged audiobook version has a run time of 15 hours and 40 minutes and is capably narrated by Morgan Hallett. She has a rather flat, generic Midwestern American (with a hint of homogeneous Central Canadian?) accent, but does a clear and well enunciated job with the read. I didn't find myself distracted by her accent at any point.

Five stars. Highly recommended to fans of the genre. I would go further and recommend it highly to fans of historical/military epics. The third book in the trilogy is due out 2nd quarter of 2023.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

The Shattered Skies (The Cruel Stars Trilogy, #2)

by John Birmingham

Reviewed by annieb123 on Jul 20, 2022

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