Inertial Catalyst

Archeons #5

by James L. Steele

A living antisphere is causing death and destruction on other planets. Deka, Sonjaa, and Kylac have faced it before. It is the disembodied animal instincts of the fox who destroyed their planet years ago. It’s outside the universe, trying to come back.

On Earth, Rive keeps pulling CJ away from the legal case of a lifetime to interview households hosting raptors and foxes. People are getting along well with the Relians, but a few powerful humans are not happy about this, and they have the power to make others afraid of them, too.

Everything is part of the plan.

326 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2021

About the author

James L. Steele has been published in various anthologies and magazines, including: Solarcide, Allasso, Different Worlds, Different Skins: V.2, Tall Tales with Short Cocks V.2, Bourbon Penn, Gods with Fur, Claw the Way to Victory, and Fictionvale.

The Archeons series, his sci-fi novels featuring nonhuman characters, is published through KTM Publishing.

He lives in Ohio, where he pursues his hobby of becoming a wine connoisseur while having between two and six existential crises per day.

Blog: https://daydreamingintext.blogspot.com/

Reviews

[Frank LeRenard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This entry gets pretty much back to form, at least for half of it. Once again, we have our original Archaeons, now accompanied by Deka's mate Sonjaa, hopping from world-to-world trying to prevent/clean up after catastrophe. The cause of the catastrophe this time is truly bizarre if one were to just explain it out of context, but also fully established and so somehow it makes sense.

The book hops between this and some political shenanigans on Earth. Both plots are interesting (though I personally found more enjoyment from the world-hopping), but I definitely felt my focus split. I think the way in which the book hops back and forth from one chapter to the next might have hampered the momentum of both stories, and so in the end, what was an appropriately epic confrontation in the world-hopping plot felt somehow more pedestrian, because the chapter preceding it was a completely disconnected tale of Earth politics. But both plots ended in an extremely cool and satisfying (for me, at least) way, and this made up a lot of lost ground.

I also appreciate the dour, pessimistic way in which humanity is portrayed. But I am hoping, honestly, that with the conclusion of this particular arc, Earth gets shoved aside for the series finale. Seems like the point has been made.

[Rakeela Windrider · Rating 3 out of 5]

I developed disaster fatigue from reading this series. I started to like the book best when good things were happening to people and between people. That happiness is just not what the story is about. I want to read more stories from this universe presented when things aren't collapsing. I don't like the unstoppable catastrophes.

My rating was also dragged down by a sense that the story on Earth developed into a story of an unwanted utopia vs an unwanted dystopia. I believe in the positive potential of technology. I'm not sure I would want freedom at the expense of having to eat raw foods all the time. The contacted universe would be an interesting place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.