When The Children Fight Back (Children Of The Eye Book Three) by Barry Kirwan

 

When the Children Fight Back (Children of the Eye Book Three) by Barry Kirwan.

Published 1st October 2022.

From the cover of the book:

In the near future, Artificial Intelligences will be smarter than us. Is that a good thing?

A mega-AI known as the Eye is intent on purifying the galaxy, by annihilating all 'organics'. Humanity, itself already decimated after an attack by the Eye, must join eleven other species in the final battle at Orion's Gate to stop their nemesis. 

Led by Sally, humans have a secret weapon: Ares, the last AI from a dead alien race. But can they really trust Ares? And as the battle rages in the heart of a star nursery nebula, Sally realises that one of the other species is about to betray them all...


The thrilling climax to the Children of the Eye series...

***********

Many years have passed since the mission to rescue Earth from the Axleth. In the aftermath of the battle, tenuous alliances have been forged and Sally, accompanied by the survivors from the human fighting force that trained on the Athena, finds herself headed to a final reckoning with The Eye as part of the Axel/Axleth armada.

No one knows what lies ahead, but they aim to find allies in the form of eleven other species recruited by the Axleth to rendezvous at Orion's Gate, before taking the fight to The Eye on its mysterious home world at the heart of a star nursery nebulla - but Sally hopes that their secret weapon of the alien AI being Ares, who she has come to consider part of her family, will bring them the edge they need.

Will the old adage of 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' hold true? Can they trust this diverse force of aliens thrown together in a common cause... and when it comes to it, can they really trust Ares either?

When the Children Fight Back is the concluding part of the Children of The Eye trilogy, and what a finale it is! The scope of the first two books has been incredible, morphing from an unsettling apocalyptic blockbuster into a gripping battle for the survival of humankind, but this final book blows them both out of the water with the sheer scale of what Kirwan accomplishes with the delicious space opera twists, turns and conundrums he creates.

It is hard to talk about this one quite as much as I would like, as to do so would give away far too many spoilers, but Kirwan clearly draws on his deep love of the great sci-fi writers of the past to develop his ideas about what might lie out there in space. In many ways he gives the most gracious of nods to some of those eminent writers, but he also goes beyond the groundwork they have laid to weave a really exciting story full of creativity and imagination that carries you along on a thrilling, page-turner of a (galactic) ride. 

There are many familiar faces here for readers of the series, which links the books together nicely and ensures you are fully invested during the tricky trials and tribulations that Kirwan puts them through - I promise you many moments of sitting on the edge of your seat with your heart in your mouth. You also get to know the Axel much better in this book, as many of them become true friends to the human contingent during their quest to rid the galaxy of The Eye. The new characters are intriguing too, especially of the alien ally variety, which Kirwan has a lot of fun with when imagining what they might look like, as well as in terms of what their motivations and sense of fair play might involve. 

There are layers upon layers to peel back before the chilling truth about what has been going on all along in the hearts and minds of some of the players in this epic production becomes horribly clear, but this is balanced beautifully by warmer feelings evoked by comradeship. love and heroic acts of sacrifice that fill your heart - and tearful eyes - to the brim. For a series so packed with hard-edged sci-fi material, it has a solid core of emotional depth, which really raises it above the crowd. I enjoyed how Kirwan takes you on a philosophical journey too, and in many ways explores what it means to be human.

This is some of the most exciting, intelligent and far-sighted science fiction writing I have read in a long while, and I am intrigued about what comes next from Barry Kirwan. There is scope here for more thrilling books to follow on from this series - and I really want to read them!

When the Children Fight Back is available to buy now in paperback and ebook formats via the links below:

Amazon UK          Amazon US

About the author:

Ever since staring up at the stars through his first telescope, Barry Kirwan has wondered what might be out there, and who might come visiting one day. Like most of his favorite science fiction authors, he does not assume they'll look like us, or think like us. 

Both the Eden Paradox series and the new series explore alien motivations and our reactions to them, the new series going one step further to consider how super-AIs might consider humanity.

Find out more about Barry:

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