Saturday 21 December 2019

Review: Defending Elysium - Brandon Sanderson

This story originally appeared in the October/November 2008 Asimov’s Science Fiction (in the US) and the UPC Science Fiction collection (in Europe).

"An image came to him. An image of humankind escaping into space. An image of human merchants trading and cheating, of human tyrants capturing the Varvax, Tenasi, and Hommar. Images of wars, of fighting, of a paradise destroyed."

Oddly enough, the ones who made first contact were an outdated, nearly bankrupt phone company. Second contact was made by the United Governments Military when they accidentally shot down a Tenasi ambassadorial vessel. The Phone Company negotiated Earth out of danger following the Tenasi incident. The Phone Company had brought FTL communication to humankind.

And Phone Company operative Jason Write has sworn to keep the galaxy safe from the barbaric humans who would ruin the Elysium that the galactic races currently enjoy.

Cytonic Series:
Defending Elysium (Free short story)
Skyward
Starsight

Visit the Brandon Sanderson's website for more information

Review:
This short story is set in the same universe as the Skyward series and can be read for free on Brandon Sanderson's website here or you can even listen to it via the StarShipSofa podcast (episode 339) here.

Although this story is set decades or centuries before the start of Skyward I would recommend reading it after that novel as it does contain answers to questions that are only raised in that book. I don't want to go into too much detail because it's far too easy to accidentally spoil a 40 page short story but I will say it gives more information about humanity's first interaction with alien species and it definitely explains certain things that we find out towards the end of Skyward.

Having really enjoyed this short I'm now even more excited to start the second book in the series, Starsight, I can't wait to see what happens next for Spensa and her friends.

Source: Read for free on Brandon Sanderson's website

Other reviews of this book:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

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