"The Remaining" by D.J. Molles

Title: The Remaining
Author: D.J. Molles
Publisher: Orbit

Book One of The Remaining

Blurb:

In a steel-and-lead-encased bunker 20 feet below the basement level of his house, a soldier waits for his final orders. On the surface, a plague ravages the planet, infecting over 90% of the populace. The bacterium burrows through the brain, destroying all signs of humanity and leaving behind little more than base, prehistoric instincts. The infected turn into hyper-aggressive predators, with an insatiable desire to kill and feed. Some day soon, the soldier will have to open the hatch to his bunker, and step out into this new wasteland, to complete his mission: TO RESCUE AND REBUILD.

Synopsis:

Captain Lee Harden, one of 48 coordinators is ordered into his bunker below his house when a plague known as FURY starts to spread within the United States on June 15th.

June 28th was the last day most news websites were last update. By July 3rd, he loses contact with his superiors.

On July 23rd, Lee finally leaves his bunker emerging into a world of destoy or be killed. He immediately learns how the living have changed into those that are the hunters and those that are the hunted. Violent people group together now that law no longer exists to commit whatever crimes they chose, leaving decent people or the meek to be preyed upon.

Lee has to resuce a boy and learns just how far people have come in just a month. Lee must become judge, jury and executioner in the eyes of the law. His mandate requires him to deliver swift justice.

The book focuses on how the character focuses on his mission and the problems he faces in trying to re-establish society.

Verdict:

This story took me a little over four hours to read (219 pages) and has that "don't want to put it down until you have finished it" feel. The story is really well written and keeps you on the edge through the whole book. The description Molles uses in his writing allow you to really picture what is happening as though you were watching a TV series. This would sit right alongside "The walking dead" as a good show.

Rating: 5/5

"A Beautiful Friendship" by David Weber (short story)

Title: More Than Honor

Author: David Weber
Publisher: Baen

This is the first short story in the book "More Than Honor" which is the first volume in the Worlds of Honor series in the Honorverse.

Synopsis:

The story takes place in the year 1518 PD (Post Diaspora) or 3620 AD, approximately 382 years before the events of "On Basilisk Station". The story centers around the first treecat/human interaction on the planet sphinx.

Climbs Quickly, a young treecat scout of the Bright Water clan, ventures to a human settlement intrigued by the plant known to the treecats as "cluster stalk", a plant unlike any known to the 'cats, with a delicious taste.

Stephanie Harrington, an eleven-year-old girl whose family has recently migrated to Sphinx from the planet Meyerdahl is determined to find out who keeps stealing celery from greenhouses and gardens all over Sphinx.

In the middle of a nightime thunderstorm, Stephanie finally catches Climbs Quickly sneaking out of the greenhouse. The two young beings experience a moment of deep psychic connection, the first bonding between a human and a treecat has just occurred.

Wanting to know more about the treecat, Stephanie sets out to track them, with consequences she could not of thought could happen....

Verdict:

This story took me a little over two hours to read and is well written. The story stands on its own merit, with no knowledge needed about David Weber's Honorverse. It was an enjoyable sunday afternoon read.

Rating: 4/5

"By The Book" by Charles E. Gannon (short story)

Title: Beginnings

Author: David Weber
Publisher: Baen

This is the first short story in the book "Beginnings" which is the sixth volume in the Worlds of Honor series in the Honorverse.

Synopsis:

The story takes place in the year 2352, (1650 years before the events of "On Basilisk Station"). It centers around Lieutenant Lee Strong of the Earth Union Customs Patrol, whose current mission as the story starts is to board a hijacked space liner on the outskirts of the Sol System's asteroid belt. The story develops into understanding the earths future history and political strifes up to 2354, the politically split Earth Union is divided between two factions, whom do not have a common agenda.

Without giving the story away, Lee Strong has to discover who is behind the hijacking and the wider implications that are behind it. He must decide where his political allegiance lies and what if anything he is going to about them.

Verdict:

This story took me a little over an hour to read and is well written. If I did not know anythng about David Weber's Honorverse, it would not make a single difference as the story stands on its own merits. What this does do is set up an area for David Weber or other authors to fill in the gap between mankind living in our own solar system and the point where we are colonising the galaxy.

Rating: 4/5