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The Dark Crusade by Walter H. Hunt
01/09/2006 . Source: Joules Taylor 
pub: TOR/Forge. 432 page hardback. Price: $25.95 (US), $35.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-31117-8. Buy The Dark Crusade in the USA - or Buy The Dark Crusade in the UK  check out website: www.tor.com
'Mankind has now colonised numerous planets and become the Solar Empire. In the course of their spread from the homeworld, humans encountered the zor, a winged species whose perception of reality is radically different from that of humanity. The two species indulge in a xenocidal war that destroys huge numbers of both races, until a human, Admiral Marais - both angel of death and saviour of both species - betrayed his human heritage to end the war and save both humanity and the zora'e.'
It's now several hundred years later and zor and human mostly live peacefully side by side. Literally in some cases, where they share worlds. Commodore Jaqueline ('Jackie') Laperriere, the human incarnation of the zor hero Qu'u, possesses the legendary gyaryu. It looks like a sword, contains some of the hsi or essence of everyone who has ever handled it. She is also the human representative of the zora'e High Nest and a major force in the story. The war against the vuhl - the insect-like aliens whose mental abilities include being able to take over the minds of the 'meat-creatures' as they call the mammalian sentients has been dragging on for 25 years. Still behind them is a larger and more powerful force using the various forces and races as gaming pieces.
Other players now in the story are the Guardians, an elite group whose sole aim is the protection of the Solar Emperor, who answer only to him though that changes as the story progresses. Their leader, Tonio St Giles, created an AI based on Niccolo Machiavelli, who with the assistance of the enemy attains sentience on a vast, interstellar scale and becomes instrumental in directing the events of the book. Then there's Owen Garret, twice dead but still working to defeat the enemy and, most importantly, John Smith, ex-Guardian, Prophet and Destroyer, whose activities finally threaten to destroy the Solar Empire from within.
It's a vastly complex story of war, shifting allegiances, betrayals, abuses of power, fundamental misunderstandings and intolerance. I didn't particularly enjoy the second and third books in the series, finding them derivative and the characters less than engaging but 'The Dark Crusade' is different. It still took me several chapters to really 'get into' the story, but once I had I found it entirely gripping. This may be, of course, because the action to some extent echoes what is happening in the real world at the moment, of which I am acutely aware, but I rather believe it's because the author has now hit his stride. The characterisation is deeper in this work and the tortuous working of the various factions easier to follow but no less dismaying, occasionally like watching an obviously inevitable train crash in slow motion while being wholly unable to do anything to prevent it. The spiritual and cultural elements generally work well and seem more believable here than in the previous books, although I still find the concept of the sentient rainbow-coloured band a little jarring. I also found the naming and classification of all the ships involved in the war irritating, but I'm not an aficionado of military fiction and will assume that this is fairly standard in any work of this nature. It's not too intrusive.
I particularly like the way the book ends. It's not a cliff-hanger as such, but there are still so many questions unanswered, so many issues unresolved...
It's very realistic and surprisingly satisfying. However, the series still badly needs a glossary for all the zora'e words that pepper the pages. We're only told the different forms of zora'e address, not what the various spiritual and cultural terms mean and given their importance this is something of a drawback as well as being frustrating.
Overall, a very good read, but it can't stand alone.
Joules Taylor
http://www.wavewrights.com 
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