Review: The alternative to death is the cyborg converter
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 14, 2013
Marten Kluge, the hero of Vaughn Heppner's Doom Star series, has grown older beyond his years fighting Social Unity, genetically modified super soldiers known as the Highborn, Socratic psychopaths in the Jovian system and the kill-all cyborgs. This novel, Star Fortress, brings his adventures to conclusion and wraps up all the loose ends in a no-holds-barred battle up in the Neptune sector of space where the cyborg infestation began. The alliance between the Earth government, which has lost most of its contemptible embrace of Marxian theory, and the Highborn, who now have no real leader, continues. But it hardly matters. The cyborgs are confident they can weather the first attempt at an offensive assault. Meanwhile, Kluge and his decimated crew decide to sit out the fight and go after other quarry. The battle in Neptune is intense and peppered with references to details involving velocities, distances and planning ahead to fight in space. Immersion in Heppner's universe means the reader actually learns something. He's something like an Asimov when it comes to imagining what could be in technological advances in outer space. The build-up in this novel pushes forward toward an explosive conclusion. If anything, it comes out of left field. I wasn't expecting what happened. But I totally agree with the direction. I just wanted more. Better download some more Heppner.