Book 1 of Shadow Gods Saga, the book that started the incredible epic!
The Four Suns, a backwater system in the Deklan Oligarchy, hides a sinister plot to destabilize the Serrll Combine.
Terrllss-rr, a Second Scout in the Serrll Combine Scout Fleet, is assigned as an aide to an Envoy sent to Elexi, the capital world of the Four Suns, by the Serrll government to investigate allegations of slavery on Anulus.
The Envoy is not there to find evidence to compromise Kapel Pen’s government, but to discover why she has allowed Kunoid Minerals—a company controlled by the Karkan Federation—to extensively mine Anulus. This could destabilize the Serrll metals market and the Serrll government on Captal.
Alasi, a beggar boy on Elexi, sees his family taken into captivity by local priesthood guards. Taking freehold families has become common practice to fuel Anulus’ labor needs. He is tracked down, captured and sold to a slave factor. Terr ends up buying Alasi as proof of illegal slavery, which he thinks the Envoy will be able to use against Kapel.
During a survey of Anulus, Terr’s ship is attacked and he is forced to flee. The pursuing ships catch up with him over Anar’on, the desert world of the fabled nomad Wanderers. His survival blister crashes in the deep desert and he undertakes a trek toward an escarpment in the hope of locating water. The Wanderers find him delirious and dying, and bring him to their village.
Although physically recovered, Terr’s mind is still somewhere in the deep desert. Dharaklin, a young Wanderer on leave from the Fleet, enters Terr’s mind in an attempt to return him to sanity. An adept of the Discipline, Dhar leaves Terr a latency of a terrible power.
Terr partially recovers, but remembers nothing of his past. An old Wanderer takes it on himself to instruct him in the life of a Saddish-aa Wanderer. To regain his memory, Terr is forced to confront the gods of Death, and comes away with more than his memory. He returns to Elexi for a final confrontation with Kapel Pen, forcing him to use his power over Death.
Book 2 of Shadow Gods Saga
In an effort to expand their political influence within the Serrll Combine, the Sargon Directorate and the Palean Union are working to merge.
To gain an extra seat in the ruling Executive Council, they need to boost the total number of star systems they now occupy. To achieve this, Sargon and the Paleans are coercing independent systems to join them. Pizgor’s five systems are the prize, but it is resisting all overtures to force it to join Sargon. In retaliation, the Palean Union establishes a clandestine base near Pizgor space and engages marauding raiders to prey on its commerce. Pizgor petitions the Serrll General Assembly to destroy the raiders, accusing Sargon and the Paleans of piracy and political intimidation.
Second Scout Terrllss-rr is tasked to locate the raider base in an attempt to link its activities to the Palean Union, unmasking the merger plot. Despite support from the Serrll Scout Fleet, Terr is dubious that his effort will succeed, but he has his orders.
While escorting a supply ship, Terr feigns drive problems and falls back, leaving the supply ship unprotected—a lure for any prowling raider. A renegade Palean First Scout commanding a Fleet warship and an armed merchant auxiliary, is lying in wait. He detects Terr’s supply ship and attacks, forcing Terr flee toward a nearby gas giant. The renegade cannot allow the knowledge that the raiders are using a Fleet vessel to become known and pursues, but Terr manages to elude him and reports his findings to Pizgor.
He is directed to search two likely outposts that may hold a raider support base. He encounters a raider about to attack a commercial ship and captures it. Interrogating its commander, Terr obtains the location of the raider base and the Scout Fleet moves in. The political fallout against Sargon and the Paleans has serious economic repercussions for both and derails the merger.
But Terr’s mission is not over and an elaborate trap brings a confrontation with the renegade Fleet officer.
Stefan Vucak is an award-winning author of seven techno sci-fi novels. His political thriller, Cry of Eagles, won the coveted 2011 Readers Favorite silver medal award, and his 'All the Evils' was the 2013 prestigious Eric Hoffer contest finalist and Readers' Favorite silver medal winner. His 'Strike for Honor' won the Readers' Favorite gold medal. Stefan leveraged a successful career in the Information Technology industry and applied that discipline to create realistic, highly believable storylines for his books. He lives in Melbourne, Australia.
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Review: I am posting about these books together because I have just finished reading them both and I am already totally gripped by the series! I love sci fi novels and the Shadow Gods Saga is rapidly becoming one of my favourite series ever. Not only are the books extremely well written with wonderfully complex characters, the plot is also extremely easy to keep track of. Sometimes authors pile on so much information that it's a challenge to keep track of what's going on - but that just isn't the case here at all. I really cannot wait to read the rest of the series!!
