INTRODUCTION
The fifth and final Aoléon novel involves the franchise’s
titular female alien and her friends, among them the Nebraskan Gilbert,
traveling to Cydonia to rescue Aoléon’s parents, uncovering what has been
behind recent occurrences on Mars and attempting to stop an invasion of Earth.
The cover depicts Aoléon and her companions, including Gilbert in a spacesuit,
walking towards the viewer through a silvery hall. Like its predecessors, the
author makes the rare literary decision to continue chapter numbering from
prior installments, with the fifth book’s initial chapter, for instance, the
twentieth in the whole novella series.
THE GREAT PYRAMID OF CYDONIA
The concluding entry opens with Aoléon and company wandering
the Martian surface, when they encounter a giant pyramid honoring the Orion
constellation, a nice illustration showing a sunrise or sunset with a view of
the structure, after which the party ventures underground in order to enter the
grand building. Several more illustrations depict the battle with their enemies
from different perspectives, with two breaks from the fighting to explain what
the American President and his entourage are up to on Earth, mainly their
dealing with enemy Martians trying to steal the planet’s cows while attacking
its dairy facilities, Aoléon and her friends ultimately going back there.
SPHAIRA
The penultimate chapter of the franchise features an opening
scene with the Martian Luminon wanting to speak with Earth’s leaders in want of
their milk cows, with Gilbert and his Martian comrades invading the mothership,
more battles breaking out, with a few more illustrations from sundry perspectives,
which ultimately culminate in a final confrontation with the Luminon in his
various incarnations that art depicts.
TERRA FIRMA
Gilbert ultimately returns to his homeworld and parts from Aoléon
and her Martian friends, with a final illustration depicting a humorous event
that rounds out the literary pantheon nicely.
CONCLUSION
In the end, the fifth Aoléon novel is a solid conclusion to
the five-part series, with the illustrations really impacting the story
positively and depicting well its various occurrences that most readers will be
able do understand even if they read quickly while glimpsing at the art. Some
reminders in illustration captions on which characters were which would have
been welcome, which is pretty much the sole strike against the book and by
extent its predecessors if a reader breaks between reading them. A glossary
after the main text clarifies some of the various jargon present in the
novella, book five alongside its predecessors being highly-recommended reading
for older and younger audiences alike interested in a solid science fiction
franchise.
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