The Burning Skies

In The Mirrored Heavens, I was introduced to David J. Williams' intricately devised political, social, and technological conflicts - the tensions between East and West, the tensions between mech and razor, and the terrifyingly capable terrorist group, Autumn Rain, in the middle of it all. The second novel in the Autumn Rain trilogy is The Burning Skies. (Note: The finale, The Machinery of Light, comes out next year and Dave promises to go all-out!) While Williams has written Burning Skies to be accessible to all, it definitely helps put things in perspective to have read Mirrored Heavens first. I'll do my best to avoid spoilers for those who have not yet read either. Williams fully demonstrates his ability to bring you almost-irritatingly close to figuring out what's really going on, while withholding just enough information to keep you questioning your assumptions until he really wants you to know for sure. The parallel stories in Mirrored Heavens start to come together in Burning Skies, only to find that they really were intertwined all along and in ways a reader would hardly suspect. I'm one of those people who prides myself on being able to figure out the plot of a movie early on, so it's a lot of fun for me to go through the rollercoaster and still enjoy a few surprises at the end. While the descriptions of the tactical combat maintain their quick pace and appreciation for the absurd, especially in the banter between the characters, the utter devastation inflicted by Autumn Rain and those trying to stop them is much more apparent. In Mirrored Heavens, we see the destruction of a space elevator under construction and various other megastructures. However, much of that is depicted from the perspective of a detached observer, or someone fleeing in the wake. Everyone's attention in Burning Skies, however, is focused on the Europa Platform - an O'Neill-type habitat with millions of people and the largest structure in neutral space. When everything goes to hell, there is no escaping the carnage. The leaders of the United States and the Eurasian Coalition have agreed to meet at Europa in a gambit to end the cold war between their nations and draw out Autumn Rain on a ground of their own choosing. But nothing is as simple as it seems, nor are any of the characters. There are plans within plans at every step of the game and the cliffhanger ending leaves you wondering just how far Williams will go in Machinery of Light...

Both books will keep you guessing and throw you right into the action from beginning to end, I found myself wanting to support The Operative's (Carson's) group from the first book and still do through this one .. you'll choose your own group or individual What's nice about this series is there is no clear cut group anyone will be rooting for. Is The Rain really bad? The Americas? Euros? Asians? Spacecom? Razors (those with the ability to operate within the physical world and 'zone' - the networked world of the inevitable future...) - are they superior, well of course everyone would think so... of course there are those that are even something more than that. Mankind will always evolve naturally or by helping nature along, but one thing is for sure, the utopia some may claim to seek will never satisfy mankind as a whole for what are we without our struggles? If I'm not being clear enough while trying to be vague enough not to spoil anything, I apologize here in my first review, but I hope I've made you curious enough to check out these books, they are very much worth the ride, there's something for everyone, Williams' possible world of the future's possibilities are many, and I can't wait for the trilogy finale.

BURNING SKIES deftly builds on the foundation Williams laid out in his debut novel, MIRRORED HEAVENS. Williams reuses his cast, a group composed almost wholly of characters who never doubt that the end justifies the means. In MIRRORED HEAVENS, Williams teased readers with the Throne, the President of a militaristic America; a man so paranoid that even his own Praetorian bodyguards don't know what he's up to. Now we get a peak at the kind of man who can command the loyalty of the ruthless soldiers and assassins responsible for preserving order. BURNING SKIES goes in a few different directions; some of them follow-ons from the first novel and some of them seemingly tangential, coming out of nowhere. Within the context of a creative, rather diabolical series of set pieces, characters brush against metaphysics and levels of technology not even mentioned previously. In other books I'd consider this to be a loss of focus, but I suspect Williams is once again lulling me into a false sense of security... I can't wait for the next book- and you certainly shouldn't wait for this book. Get off the fence, pick it up, strap yourself into your reading chair of choice, and get ready...you're in for a fun ride.

Burning Skies starts off basically where Mirrored Heavens ended. Mirrored Heavens is a must read (and a great book in its own right) before continuing the saga in Burning Skies. The cast is great and consists of a bunch of wise ass cracking characters. Special ops/ body guards/ handlers and razors double dealing, back stabbing double talking while at the same time having an inner core of sense of duty and self preservation to save the Thorne. I laughed as I turned each page the way the group tasked to save the West from the enemy interacts. Oh, have I mentioned the enemy yet known as Autumn Rain? The enemy is treacherous, devious, cunning and very lethal. The weapon systems mentioned are awesome. Artificial intelligence, droids, nano tech attacks, smart clouds (you have to read the book know what those are), special weapon systems and secret weapons etc. Not to mention how man and machine are merged into a frightening fighting force. The world David J. Williams describes is a battle zone not only forth with weapons. Political alliances, traitors you name it this book has it. I only wish the book had been 2000 pages instead of 400. The best part.....there's a book tree coming out next year titled The Machinery Of Light. Science Fiction simply cannot get any better than this. I hope you all enjoy reading the books as much as I have. Regards to all.

Let me just say that I read this book without reading the first in the series, Mirrored Heavens. While I'm currently going back and reading Mirrored Heavens, I found that Burning Skies does work really well independently. I think David J Williams does a nice job throwing you in the middle of it all without the reader feeling overwhelmed. I like the omnipresence and stealth nature of the terrorist group Autumn Rain, as well as learning more and more about Claire Haskell (arguably the main character). All in all this was a great book, and I cannot wait to find out what happens next.