What do you think?
GammaLAW #4
To Water's End
The battered GammaLAW mission to Aquamarine had barely succeeded in ending the war with the world-destroying aliens, the Roke. The key to victory lay deep within Aquamrine's terrifying sentient ocean, and Commissioner Dextra Haven was determined to reveal those secrets at all costs. But she and the Exts were running out of time.
- GenresScience FictionFantasy
396 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1999
About the author
Brian Daley
48 books101 followersBrian was born in Englewood Hospital in Englewood, New Jersey on Dec. 22, 1947. A blizzard kept him and his mother at the hospital over Christmas, and the nurses sang "Away in a Manger" to them.
His middle name is Charles. He grew up in Rockleigh, NJ. His mother's name was Myra and his father's name was Charles. He has an older brother, David, and a younger sister, also named Myra. He had no children of his own, but he was always great with his two nieces and four nephews.
He went to Nathan Hale Elementary School in Norwood, NJ, and a consolidated High School - Northern Valley Regional High School in Old Tappan, NJ.
Brian loved to read, drive his '74 Corvette Stingray, spend summers with me on Martha's Vineyard, and travel to wild and exotic places like the jungles of Guatemala and Mexico, and the mountains of Nepal.
He said he wanted to write from an early age, about third grade. He also read a LOT of science fiction as a kid, and that inspired him.
After he graduated from high school in 1965 he joined the army and went to Vietnam for a year's tour of duty. Then he went to Berlin, Germany.
After the army he went to Jersey City State College, majoring in media. While attending college and working as a waiter at a local steak house, he also wrote his first novel, Doomfarers of Coromande. Del Rey Books accepted it and started him on his writing career. The editor picked Brian's manuscript out of the "slush" pile (unsolicited manuscripts) because it was the most neatly typed, but it wasn't accepted right away. The editor made Brian do a lot of re-writing.
When the first STAR WARS movie came out Brian saw it, and he was elated. He said he came out of the theater fundamentally changed. His editor asked which character he would like to write about for a movie-related novel. Brian said he picked Han Solo because Han was the only one who made a moral decision... he started out on the wrong side of the law, but joined with the good guys. And to tell you the truth, Brian was a whole lot like Han, a maverick.
He died of pancreatic cancer in February of 1996. He had just turned 49. He wrote the adaptation for National Public Radio drama THE RETURN OF THE JEDI while he was undergoing chemotherapy. He died at his house in Maryland the night the Jedi radio cast was toasting him at their wrap party, having finished the taping of the shows that day.
When they posted the notice of his death, messages began coming in from all over the world. The gist of them was that his passing created a "disturbance in the Force."
Brian Daley's first novel, The Doomfarers of Coramonde, was published on the first Del Rey list in 1977. It was an immediate success, and Brian went on to write its sequel, The Starfollowers of Coramonde, and many other successful novels: A Tapestry of Magics, three volumes of The Adventures of Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh, and, under the shared pseudonym 'Jack McKinney', ten and one half of the twenty-one Robotech novels. He first conceived of the complex GammaL.A.W. saga in Nepal, in 1984, and worked on its four volumes for the next twelve years, finishing it shortly before his death in 1996.
His middle name is Charles. He grew up in Rockleigh, NJ. His mother's name was Myra and his father's name was Charles. He has an older brother, David, and a younger sister, also named Myra. He had no children of his own, but he was always great with his two nieces and four nephews.
He went to Nathan Hale Elementary School in Norwood, NJ, and a consolidated High School - Northern Valley Regional High School in Old Tappan, NJ.
Brian loved to read, drive his '74 Corvette Stingray, spend summers with me on Martha's Vineyard, and travel to wild and exotic places like the jungles of Guatemala and Mexico, and the mountains of Nepal.
He said he wanted to write from an early age, about third grade. He also read a LOT of science fiction as a kid, and that inspired him.
After he graduated from high school in 1965 he joined the army and went to Vietnam for a year's tour of duty. Then he went to Berlin, Germany.
After the army he went to Jersey City State College, majoring in media. While attending college and working as a waiter at a local steak house, he also wrote his first novel, Doomfarers of Coromande. Del Rey Books accepted it and started him on his writing career. The editor picked Brian's manuscript out of the "slush" pile (unsolicited manuscripts) because it was the most neatly typed, but it wasn't accepted right away. The editor made Brian do a lot of re-writing.
When the first STAR WARS movie came out Brian saw it, and he was elated. He said he came out of the theater fundamentally changed. His editor asked which character he would like to write about for a movie-related novel. Brian said he picked Han Solo because Han was the only one who made a moral decision... he started out on the wrong side of the law, but joined with the good guys. And to tell you the truth, Brian was a whole lot like Han, a maverick.
He died of pancreatic cancer in February of 1996. He had just turned 49. He wrote the adaptation for National Public Radio drama THE RETURN OF THE JEDI while he was undergoing chemotherapy. He died at his house in Maryland the night the Jedi radio cast was toasting him at their wrap party, having finished the taping of the shows that day.
When they posted the notice of his death, messages began coming in from all over the world. The gist of them was that his passing created a "disturbance in the Force."
Brian Daley's first novel, The Doomfarers of Coramonde, was published on the first Del Rey list in 1977. It was an immediate success, and Brian went on to write its sequel, The Starfollowers of Coramonde, and many other successful novels: A Tapestry of Magics, three volumes of The Adventures of Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh, and, under the shared pseudonym 'Jack McKinney', ten and one half of the twenty-one Robotech novels. He first conceived of the complex GammaL.A.W. saga in Nepal, in 1984, and worked on its four volumes for the next twelve years, finishing it shortly before his death in 1996.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 11, 2026
I was reluctant to review each of these books individually, largely because they were originally part of a single manuscript that had been found after the author's death. While the breaks for each book were decent enough, it really was meant to be read as a single story.
Unfortunately, that story is a complete mess. While there are a lot of interesting sci-fi ideas here, they all jumbled together, with far too many characters trying to work their own angles. The first book was almost nothing but exposition, but the second built up to a disaster in a fascinating way, so I had my hopes for the rest. Unfortunately, the third book was just a bunch of filler as characters wandered down different paths, chasing red herrings, and the fourth book (this one) continues that messy style of writing until everything wraps up in a rush in the last handful of chapters, making for an ending that just wasn't satisfying. And despite claiming to be a military sci-fi series, there are hardly a handful of battles across the four books, leaning much more into intrigue and diplomacy (and the horrendous fallout when it fails) instead of action.
I get the feeling that, had the author lived, he would have had the opportunity to work out a lot of these problems with revisions, making the story much more accessible and dialing down all the jargon (or at least making a glossary in the back). Perhaps I'm speculating too much, but there is a decent story here, just drowning in unneeded complexity and world-building. As much as I like Brian Daley's work with the Star Wars Radio Dramas and the Robotech novels he did with James Luceno, I can't bring myself to praise these books very much at all.
Unfortunately, that story is a complete mess. While there are a lot of interesting sci-fi ideas here, they all jumbled together, with far too many characters trying to work their own angles. The first book was almost nothing but exposition, but the second built up to a disaster in a fascinating way, so I had my hopes for the rest. Unfortunately, the third book was just a bunch of filler as characters wandered down different paths, chasing red herrings, and the fourth book (this one) continues that messy style of writing until everything wraps up in a rush in the last handful of chapters, making for an ending that just wasn't satisfying. And despite claiming to be a military sci-fi series, there are hardly a handful of battles across the four books, leaning much more into intrigue and diplomacy (and the horrendous fallout when it fails) instead of action.
I get the feeling that, had the author lived, he would have had the opportunity to work out a lot of these problems with revisions, making the story much more accessible and dialing down all the jargon (or at least making a glossary in the back). Perhaps I'm speculating too much, but there is a decent story here, just drowning in unneeded complexity and world-building. As much as I like Brian Daley's work with the Star Wars Radio Dramas and the Robotech novels he did with James Luceno, I can't bring myself to praise these books very much at all.
August 17, 2014
Good last book in the series. Nice solid SiFi read. I wish Brian Daley hadn't left us so soon in his writing career. Pick up any of his books for a great engaging read. Recommended
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews