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The Xenocide Mission
By Ben Jeapes
Genres: Fantasy/SciFi/Speculative, Science Fiction (Sci-Fi), Young Adult (YA)
Age Groups: 12-18, 18+
Lieutenant Joel Gilmore is part of a multi-species observation team on a hidden base in a distant solar system, when they find themselves under attack by the very aliens they were meant to be watching. Joel and his allies, the enigmatic Rusties, must explore the parameters of trust in a lethal confrontation with a deeply alien third species: one with a proven predilection for xenocide on a planetary scale. Meanwhile the humans and the Rusties rush to their rescue – but as it turns out, are they any better?
Formats
EBOOK, PAPERBACK
Reviews
The Washington Post Book World
Deftly switching between viewpoints and time frames, Jeapes tells a story of interspecies and interworld rivalries that moves at the speed of a space launch. No one has a lock on virtue or even decency, not to mention brains; in this arena, but one thing is clear: A unilateral human victory is neither guaranteed nor necessarily desirable. All kinds of assumptions are shaken up.
Kirkus Reviews
Incorporating the best qualities of YA SF, this is a space opera that employs sociological examination and world building of a very high order — who could ask for anything more? A rip-roaring read.
Alastair Reynolds
Anyone who missed Ben Jeapes’ first novel, His Majesty’s Starship, missed one of the best first contact books in a long while – a gripping, logical, original and fundamentally optimistic retake on one of SF’s richest themes. Brimming with humour and tension, The Xenocide Mission amply fulfils the promise of its predecessor.