Review: Technically good, but requires editing and logic
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 29, 2013
First, the prose is technically well-written, although careful editing would be advised.  There are several mistakes of their/there/they're, place where you can see a sentence was changed but the remnents of the original left in place, and similar mistakes.The plot, however, has some gaping holes.  First off, a massive plague (started by an alient...criminal?  Terrorist?) sweeps through the world...and everyone jumps to the conclusion it was the US.  Such an attack would be far more characteristic of a terrorist group, or a racial supermacy group.Then, when aliens are discovered in the ocean and smash a US sub (by accident, but how would the fleet recognize accident against intent) and the fleet counter-attacks (and, given the technological disparity, gets their butts handed to them), everyone accuses the US of initiating the attack.  Completely illogical, especially given that the rest of the world, by this time, is aware that the plague that killed around 3 billion people was extraterrestrial in origin.It doesn't get any better in the second book, which I gave up on about 20% through.  The author clearly needed a terrestrial bad guy, and latched on to the US.  However, the supposed reasoning (both for the US actions and the world's responses) just don't bear out.Additionally, there are too many alien races introduced too fast, with too little information: the Voorte (are they actually intelligent?  Obviously they're eusocial, but the degree of intelligence, or sentience, is unclear); the Quixxe (sentient craven bird-creatures with a caste or race system, one of whom serve as foodstuffs for another race...and how do you pronounce two Xs in a row?); the Vorinne (they're large and in charge, and that's about all that's really known about them); the Kronte (giant cannibals with an apparent penchant for eating sentients alive); and so forth.  But there's no real feel for the races.  Why do they react the way they do?  How did they end up as "vassal"  races?  What do they actually look like?  There's a lot of talk about edicts; where do these come from, and if they come from the Kronte why would an apparently hostile race issue edicts that protect primitive species?While the writing itself is fairly good, the author really needs to invest time in the world-building side of things.