Most military SF emphasizes the military, but while Meluch depicts combat and warrior culture as well as any writer in the subgenre, the true joy of this outstanding effort, her first novel since 1992's The Queen's Squadron
and the first of a new series, lies in its inspired use of current speculation on the origins of the universe, quantum singularities and even the old chestnut of time travel. In the 25th century, an encounter with a voracious space-faring life-form called the Hive forces declared enemies, the United States and a breakaway colony that styles itself as a reborn Roman Empire, into an uneasy alliance to destroy the common threat. When the U.S. space battleship Merrimack
makes first contact with a humanoid race whose star system has apparently been bypassed by the Hive, the U.S. crew is left to ponder how a species that hasn't developed FTL technology can exist in not one but at least three different star systems. Meanwhile, how can an artifact sent by the current ruler of one system exist as an archeological anomaly on another, an artifact 20 billion years old, in a universe only 15 billion years old? Meluch shows particular skill in creating memorable characters while exhibiting a refreshing ruthlessness in subordinating them to the logical ramifications of the plot. Agent, Jennifer Jackson at DMLA. (Jan. 4)
