The Unincorporated War
In The Unincorporated Man (2009), the Kollin brothers spun a riveting story about twenty-first-century billionaire Justin Cord, who cheats death in a cryogenic unit and awakens rejuvenated three centuries later. When Cord discovers that every human in this era is incorporated and that most own only fractions of themselves, he leads a revolution that consigns him and his newly unincorporated brethren to the solar system's outer planets. Now the corporate-run Alliance, embracing Earth and Mars, is gearing for battle to reclaim its territory, triggering an interplanetary civil war. What the Alliance controls in superior firepower, however, Justin's ragtag group of rebels and mining ship captains are able to counter with surprise attacks and other clever tactics. But the war's toll becomes high, including the capture of Justin's wife, Neela, and an assassination plot against Justin by Alliance-controlled AIs. The Kollins' masterful command of multiple plot threads, characters, and the motifs of grand-scale space opera make for a breathtaking sequel. One more book will complete a trilogy. --Carl Hays