OK really quick review of the first two books in the silver ships series. Don’t go into this expecting any amazing writing, or think about any new and amazing technology or military battles again you won’t find it.
What you will find however is a cute sweet little story that actually engages you almost from the get go. The characters while being somewhat two-dimensional are interesting and quite likable. The hero again as in many others of this type of book is seemingly infallible and can make no mistakes. In fact not only is he infallible, he also happens to be the smartest and strongest person around! His kindness and empathy resonate not only with other humans but even with AI’s … basically, he’s the best of us magnified a million times!
Silverships
The first book – Silverships tells of a derelict ship careening through a distant solar system. When mankind departed Earth in the near future they learned some hard lessons along the ways – namely that they needed to care for the environment and the planets and couldn’t continue their destructive patterns. One of the colony ships eventually made its way to a new Terra which is where Alex came across a drifting Meridian ship.
While the technology of the new Terrans was not significantly greater than our own (although they are in space) Alex himself, is as mentioned previously, an infallible genius and is able to capture the Meridian ship before it escapes the solar system. After gaining access to the ship he was able to not only restore it to functionality but revive the remaining 17 occupants of the vessel and learned their story of a hostile attack on the ship. Choosing to believe in the Meridians (being that they were human also but from another colony ship that had left earth at about the same time) he was still astounded and amazed by the level of technology that they demonstrated. However as a peaceful society the meridians had no weaponry or warfare and were completely unprepared when they were attacked by this other (hostile) ship.
After Alex was able to restore their ship he is instated is captain of the vessel and together they returned to Meridian. Here Alex was able to capture one of the silver ships and make a determination that he would still need additional assistance if he was to defeat this enemy for good.
Libre
In book 2 – Libre, Alex, and his crew arrive at the planet Libre populated by independents. These independents are Meridians that do not agree or conform to the status quo of the rest of the society
While Alex initially hoped that they would have some more ships in actuality the Meridians on Libre had chosen to build massive colony ships so that they could run away from the attacking silver ships. Alex and the Librans realize that they have no choice but to accelerate the building as the superships would be attacking them even sooner.
Alex is able to interact not only with the other AIs but also with the implants continues to advance and his skills quickly surpass that of any other Meridian. One is forced to wonder whether Alex really is human himself!