The Barnes & Noble Review
R. M. Meluch's first novel in more than a decade, The Myriad, begins a series that is an amalgam of subgenres: military science fiction, space opera, time paradox, and alternate history.
On an Earth where the Roman Empire never fell (but instead existed in secret societies for millennia, finally reestablishing itself on the planet Palatine) and is now embroiled in a war against the League of Earth Nations, a much more deadly foe emerges from the darkness of deep space -- the Hive. The governments of Palatine and Earth enter into an uneasy alliance to fight the alien invaders, nondescript antqagonists that exist only to consume. While the unified forces try to keep the Hive from destroying human-populated planets, one U.S. battleship, the Merrimack, sets off on a quest to find the Hive's homeworld and take the battle to its source.
During the ship's desperate search, the crew of the Merrimack discovers a strange star cluster with three worlds inhabited by sentient beings. After first contact with the amazingly humanoid populace, Captain John Farragut discovers a series of wormholes that could unlock the secrets that could defeat the Hive -- or destroy humankind forever.
Vaguely reminiscent of Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers (specifically, the relentless alien antagonists and the over-the-top, gung-ho characters), Meluch's The Myriad is lighthearted, fast-paced fun. While obviously not as intense or controversial as Heinlein's Hugo Award–winning classic, this novel will prove thorougly enjoyable to fans of military science fiction authors like David Weber and David Drake. Paul Goat Allen
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) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
