01/05/2015
Cooper’s awkward trilogy launch assumes familiarity with the world of her Ruby’s Song series and leaves the new reader puzzling, for much of the book, over terms like "the Glittering" and "the Diamond Deep." Humans who experimented with the hybridization of human and machine were exiled to "the deep dark" from which they have now returned, infinitely powerful. They require warmth, or energy, or matter; it’s never made clear. Standing against this Borg-like threat is Nona, a rich young woman given a spaceship by a richer aunt and thus made captain of the vessel, despite having no background or training in "captaining" nor showing any apparent affinity for it. The book is replete with contradictions: after Chrystal, Nona’s childhood friend, is killed and her memory is uploaded into a nonorganic machine, she still somehow feels pain; the invaders are all-powerful and indifferent to human life, yet willing to negotiate treaties. The characters are undeveloped, the politics are muddled, and there is little in this book to inspire longing for the next installment. Agent: Eleanor Wood, Spectrum Literary Agency. (Mar.)

A 2016 Philip K. Dick Award Nominee and Finalist for the 2016 Endeavor Award

“Playing God is dangerous: Edge of Dark is an intelligent, thoughtful look at what it might mean to coexist with superior AIs that we ourselves have created.  Brenda Cooper’s universe is detailed, inventive, and ultimately dazzling.  I will remember Chrystal for a very long time.”
 
—NANCY KRESS, winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula awards

“Edge of Dark is bold, immersive, boundary-pushing sci-fi; a new breed of transhuman space opera. It asks all the right questions: What’s the line between human and posthuman? How would immensely enhanced creatures treat mere humans? And how would we baseline humans view them—as our successors, our future selves, or our exterminators? Whatever opinion you enter this book with, it’ll surprise you. Read it.” 
—RAMEZ NAAM, author of Nexus and Crux

Praise for previous books by Brenda Cooper:

"What The Creative Fire does, and does well, is marry the character-driven focus of Cooper's writing with an intriguing protagonist, a well thought out setting and spins a fascinating story."--SF Signal 

"I loved The Diamond Deep. Excellent writing, fabulous story, and an emotional punch that leaves you wishing that Cooper wrote faster. Damned fine storytelling." --J. A. Pitts, author of Forged in Fire

02/15/2015
Generations after segments of humanity were banished to the edge of space for their experiments in combining humans with technology, the Next (as they style themselves) appear to be coming back to the fold. Whether they will be conquerors or prodigal children depends in part on three people: Charlie Windar, who lives on Lym, one of the few wild places left in the solar system; Nona Hall, who promised her dead parents she would finally leave her station home and see a real sky; and Chrystal Peterson, who gets caught in the first wave of the Next incursion. VERDICT Although the robot hybrids will remind Star Trek: The Next Generation fans of the Borg, Cooper (Creative Fire) builds a striking if still underdeveloped space-opera universe and sets the stage for an ongoing series.