Worlds Apart

Worlds Apart by J.N. Chaney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the sixth entry of J.N. Chaney and Terry Maggert’s The Messenger series, the key to the critical material known as Dark Metal deep below the seas of a frozen world, along with a new threat that could critically affect the war between Newton “Dash” Sawyer’s Cygnus Realm and the “enemies of life” against humanity. The space station Forge is the center of his alliance, and they continue to seek Dark Metal to increase the station’s weapons output, with an alliance with the alien alliance known as the Aquarian Collective, spearheaded by Al’Bijea, very well augmenting the forces of the Cygnus Realm.

When the sixth story begins, Dash is battling a distortion cannon, visiting the frozen world Burrow with his mech, the Archetype, with his alliance dealing with saboteurs in the meantime. Several battles with the Verity occur throughout the novel, with a mysterious three-ringed construct eventually titled the Greenbelt encountered, and the cultivation of a plant-based Park within the Forge allows the station to sustain greater amounts of life. A secret about the leadership of one of the Cygnus Realms major components, the so-called Gentle Friends, becomes known as well, and more climactic battles end the book, with a few minor events afterward.

Ultimately, I found the sixth entry of The Messenger series to be largely on par with its predecessors, which is definitely a good thing as the various battles throughout the narrative contain excellent description and action, and there are hints at the end of the future possibly depicted in the following stories, to which I am consequentially looking forward. There are some occasional errors within the text, although these luckily don’t detract much from the literary experience. Furthermore, I have a few issues with imagining the appearances of the various luminaries that play part in the plotline, although I definitely wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this story to those who enjoyed its precursors.

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