Originator

November 3, 2014
Super-cyborg warrior Cassandra "Sandy" Kresnov finds herself at the center of a complex plot that could lead to interstellar warfare in her crackling sixth adventure (after Operation Shield). Unknown terrorists have destroyed a moon with a League mining station on it, and the perpetrators could also be involved with a group of xenophobes bent on misusing NCT, the neural cluster technology designed by the alien Talee and used to create cyborgs like Sandy. If misused, NCT can make peopleâand entire societiesâdangerously unstable. Cai, a Talee agent, warns Sandy that if human use of NCT gets out of hand, the paranoid Talee could target all of humankind. Sandy has personal reasons to get the situation under control, since her adopted son has some of the dangerous Talee tech in his own head. Once again Shepherd delivers lightning-fast thrills and intrigue fueled by sharp extrapolation. Readers who can keep up with all the details of technology and intrigue will enjoy the ride.

November 1, 2014
Sixth installment (Operation Shield, 2014, etc.) in Shepherd's ferocious, far-future, multilateral power struggle.The context, what with opposing human Federation and League civilizations, the humanoid alien Talee and numerous factions within each, is far from easy to assimilate. Federation Spec Ops warrior Cassandra "Sandy" Kresnov and her fellow GIs, synthetic humans with superhuman powers, have taken it upon themselves to try to prevent another devastating war with the League. But with no functioning government, FedInt (intelligence) feuding bitterly with FSA (security), and few natural human organics who trust the GIs, it isn't easy. And when a quarter of a million people die in the destruction of the League moon Cresta, another war seems inevitable, especially when it becomes clear that those responsible are in the grip of a technologically induced psychosis that threatens to infect the rest of humanity. Then the synthetic Talee operative Cai shows up, warning that the Talee once nearly destroyed themselves in the same technologically induced insanity and will go to any lengths to prevent a recurrence. Renaldo Takewashi, who developed the synthetics and their technological implants using ancient Talee technology, arrives with both the League and the Talee in hot pursuit. Takewashi insists that advanced technology implanted in the head of Kiril, the youngest of the three human children Sandy has adopted, is the key to preventing the psychosis-the same technology the Talee fear losing control of. Shepherd, who hails from Australia, writes sustained, intense and gripping action sequences interspersed with powerful dialogue that delves into the complex technological, philosophical and political implications of the situation. Evocative and eloquent, the whole impressive package hurtles along at a relentless pace. A grand saga, though not recommended for newcomers, the implicit assumption being that you're familiar with both the characters and the background.

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December 1, 2014

The sixth book in this action-packed series (after Operation Shield) continues the far future struggles between the Federation and the League, while the alien Talee complicate matters with a warning that a new technology could destroy humanity.

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