brad r. torgersen | St. Gallen's Scribblings

Emancipation

Posted on February 15 by Remy St. Gallen

Emancipation: A Military Archaeological Space Adventure by Craig Martelle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The sixth and final entry of Craig Martelle and Brad R. Torgersen’s Zenophobia series opens with a pre-prologue excerpt where Sankar, the Tigroid protagonist of the entire saga, recovers an old computer archive. The following prologue sees a robotic Swarm moving through outer space, with the main chapters seeing Sankar conversing with Colonel Callahan, a member of the fabled Ur-Race, who knows humans will be surprised by the existence of the zenos. Callahan provides his fleet of Confederation vessels, which Sankar’s love interest, Ausha, fears will conquer the zenos, regardless of whether they win the war against the forthcoming machines.

An outpost in the middle of space has zenos from the primary races in living conditions divergent from those on their homeworld, which the Devourers target. The adversarial Direwolf damages the Bilkinmore while the machines attack the Golongals on their homeworld. Sankar ultimately finds himself in alien surroundings, with a mystical cute responding to one’s genetic makeup introduced as a MacGuffin. A brief focus goes on an elderly Golongan woman named Bela (alternatively spelled Bella), who became tired of the Oligarchy and the Families, consequentially coming out of retirement.

Dekron becomes a notable enemy in the latter half of the novel as a female named Diio survives the wreck of the Direwolf when it crash-lands. Ausha, Sankar, and a random stranger named Zee find themselves in a collapsing building, having to deal with Dekron, who pleads for his life. One chapter features Maglor the Goroid surveying the decimated colony of Ommo and expressing his love for Olympus Alloy. On Golongal, Cho-Ma Continent’s Army contingent defects to the Golongan Peoples Revolution, while the stranded Diio tries to find help by taking another spaceship she happens to find.

Back to Dekron, he yearns to prevent his enemies from escaping, having his subservient robots chase them. Diio finds herself in the darkness, hearing a transmission implying that Ocklar could be going through torture. The fate of the Direwolf is settled, with Sankar and Zee rushing through the capital city of the planet Artemis IV, with Ausha’s life imperiled, but the cube is her possible salvation. A moment of limbo comes for Sankar, who eventually meets Pacjolal, after which the war against the machines concludes. The epilogue sees Sankar and Ausha on Earth, walking along a beach.

After finishing this series, I can honestly say that it fell short of my expectations since while I usually enjoy novels starring animal characters, all six stories suffer from most of the pitfalls that plague literature of its kind. That the collection doesn’t utilize the Kindle X-Ray feature greatly mars the experience, given the near-total absence of reminders of the species of the various characters or various terms and entities, along with the constant leap in perspectives within the same chapters. In the end, Emancipation is an appropriate title for the conclusion of the Zenophobia saga since I am glad to be free from reading it and will happily avoid anything the authors have written or will write in the future.

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Conflagration

Posted on February 10 by Remy St. Gallen

Conflagration: A Military Archaeological Space Adventure by Craig Martelle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The fifth installment of Craig Martelle and Brad R. Torgersen’s Zenophobia series opens with machines completing the construction of an artificial disc world. When the main chapters begin, Sankar the Tigroid seeks to rescue his love interest, Ausha, who seeks to destroy the Overseer. His fellow Tigroid Junak intends to destroy the adversarial vessel Direwolf as Akoni the Ursoid wants to discover the origins of the zenos. The enemy Tigroid Arbai yearns to provide nuclear power for the Golongans, yearning to enslave them also. Meanwhile, Sankar wants to show Qlovys evidence of the machine world, reaffirming his wish to rescue Ausha.

The crew of the Direwolf continues to provide the Combine with improved reactors while fearing that the Bilkinmore could match their unified forces. Arbai assists Commissioner Sachim’s Golongan forces, yearning to eradicate the Golongan People’s Revolution. Given a forthcoming revelation of the origins of life in the universe, the Oteran religious and institutional paradigms face endangerment. Arbai and her companion Yangis pilot the Blood Moon and prepare for battle with the Four-Claw while Akoni assists the Golongans in routing their communications. Sankar altercates with his former Goroid employer, Maglor, who urges him to resolve the situation on Golongal.

The Golongans continue to fight among themselves, while Sankar encounters Combine ships headed to the war-torn planet. Commissioner Sachim fears the enslavement of the Golongans, with the brush war upon the Cho-Ma risking eruption into a planetary crisis if the Golongan People’s Revolution receives zeno armaments. The Bilkinmore arrives, battling the Direwolf and Blood Moon, with each side alternating between getting the upper hand. Meanwhile, Ausha continues to explore the reaches of the universe, discovering from an Earthling that justice exists among Earth’s colonies. The fourth book ends with Sankar negotiating an alliance with the Earthmen.

Ultimately, while I have previously enjoyed fantasy and science-fiction literature featuring anthropomorphic characters, the fifth entry of the Zenophobia series, like its predecessors, didn’t completely click with me, given the absence of eBook quality-of-life features such as the Kindle X-Ray feature and no synopses of previous books or a clarifying list of dramatis personae. Other issues include little reminders of character races, the constant shift of perspectives within chapters, unexplained acronyms, and vague settings. I will read the sixth and final book in the omnibus collection I borrowed through Kindle Unlimited, but I won’t set my hopes high.

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Exodus

Posted on January 28 by Remy St. Gallen

Exodus: A Military Archaeological Space Adventure by Craig Martelle
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The fourth installment of Craig Martelle and Brad R. Torgersen’s Zenophobia series opens with a probe flying through space and the Tigroid Sankar cramped in a holding cell. In the meantime, the enemy vessel Direwolf is stranded in Hinteran space, with another Tigroid, Arbai, wanting to meet the head of the Golongans, another race the aliens had contacted. Next, Doctor Muni analyzes a server in her Oteran computer lab, with a signal leading her to call General Chayken. Arbai eventually meets Commissioner Sachim, while Chayken meets Sankar and wishes to remove the price on his head.

Arbai meets Sachim and wants to help his rebellion as the members of the Veracity Corporation worry about their companion Sankar, fearing he is dead. However, he reunites with them, after which they fly to Golongal and battle Arbai’s forces. Another Tigroid, Ausha, reveals her backstory as a Cadet-Trainer, after which comes a meeting with Commodore Qlovys at a hidden shipyard. The Bilkinmore reenters Golongan space, with its passengers eventually joining the battle among rival factions like the Golongan Peoples Revolution, intelligent machines led by The Overseer, and various religious factions.

Although this entry of the Zenophobia series, like its predecessors, shows promise, given its animal-populated cast, vibrant setting, and intricate backstory, it disappointed me. For instance, a synopsis of prior entries, a list of dramatis personae, and clear indicators and reminders of the species of the various characters would have been welcome. The absence of the Amazon Kindle X-Ray feature hampers the fourth installment as it does previous entries. Thus, I found myself rereading pages, given some confusing dialogue and sudden scene or perspective changes within chapters. Most who enjoyed the last books may appreciate this one; however, while I mostly like books with anthropomorphic characters, I found it inaccessible.

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Extremist

Posted on December 4 by Remy St. Gallen

Extremist by Craig Martelle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The third installment of Craig Martelle and Brad R. Torgersen’s science-fiction Zenophobia series, which they describe as a cross between H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau and Indiana Jones in Outer Space, opens with the main antagonists, headed by the female Tigroid Arbai, yearning to stop Sankar, another Tigroid declared as a heretic for seeking the true origins of his kind and other space roaming animal races, from accomplishing his goal. The main chapters begin with Sankar conferring with his companions, the Ursoids Breon and Akoni, the Wolfoid Bayane, Gwarzo the Goroid, and fellow Tigroid Junak, all visiting an unknown planet and civilization.

On the said planet, a soldier named Evaria acts as Defense Minister of the Golongal Peoples Revolution, recalling her past, with her and her people’s exact species and appearances deliberately left initially undescribed due to twists later in the story. Another soldier of the same race, Coak, receives significant attention during the chapters occurring on the planet. Sankar eventually takes the Four-Claw from the larger vessel Bilkinmore and lands on the world, noticing combat among these less-advanced aliens. On first contact, Sankar attempts communication with Evaria. Meanwhile, Arbai’s vessel, the Direwolf sets down elsewhere on the planet.

Sankar traverses the planet and ultimately meets a mystic called the Abbot, who reveals their race’s backstory and that of the zenos, with the Four-Claw and Arbai’s Blood Moon engaging during their departure. The story concludes with the Abbot beginning to relay his knowledge to a war college of zenos. Overall, while it has some of the same issues as its precursors, such as the difficulty at times of keeping track of the species of the various characters (although reading its predecessors somewhat cemented their races in my mind), the third book does have some good revelations and action, and I will continue reading the series.

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