The third and final book in the Daedalus science fantasy trilogy.
Format: Audio
Length: 13 hours, 4 minutes
Publication year: 2015
Narrated by: Bernardo Setaro Clark, Kristin Kalbli
In the past timeline, 11 years have gone by since the end of the previous book, the Enceladus Crisis.
It's 1809 and the French use undead soldiers and have occupied most of Britain. They also captured King George III and forced him to sign a treaty. However, his son Prince Regent George leads his surviving troops against Emperor Napoleon. Admiral Thomas Weatherby is one of the British leaders and a very experienced officer. A French attack almost interrupts his wedding to his long-time love Anne but the priest manages to marry them. Weatherby must rush off to defend what is left of his homeland. After a daring defense, his old friend and alchemist Andrew Finch convinces him that the only way to stop the undead soldiers is to go to Venus. But the Prince Regent and the other Admirals are planning a counterattack that will need every ship and soldier. Weatherby must make a terrible choice.
In the future timeline, the book starts right after the end of the previous book.
In 2135, Lieutenant Commander Sheila Jain races desperately to catch a Chinese starship. Alien beings have taken over the people and among them is Sheila's lover, Stephane Durant. Durant has also been possessed and is now trying to bring aliens to this world. Sheila's commanding officer General Maria Diaz now commands the Daedalus project that tries to figure out interdimensional physics.
Meanwhile on Earth, the former corporate officer Harry Wu wants to bring the aliens to his dimension. He has two accomplishes but they are acting increasingly weird. Even though Harry has doubts about his plan, it's too late to back out now.
This was a fun ride and an excellent ending to the series. I'd love to read more about these characters, though. In addition to the familiar cast, we also get Anne's son, who is an accomplished alchemist, and Weatherby's daughter Elizabeth who studies science. They're spies on French-occupied Oxford. Also, Finch's character development takes an unexpected turn.
This was a fast-paced adventure in space and on the sea. The collision of two different universes, one where sailing ships also travel in space under alchemical magic and our solar system has several intelligent species, and the other a scientific future, is very enjoyable and keeps together surprisingly well. The characters are engaging, too.
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