The God engines

Scalzi's rapid ascent to the ranks of speculative fiction's leading authors owes much to his award-nominated Old Man's War series. All four installments are masterpieces of pure sf. His latest novel, however, veers into a previously unexplored fantasy realm of magical starships and soul-devouring gods. Ean Tephe commands an interstellar vessel, the Righteous, which is powered by the will of a shape-shifting, apparently humanoid god. Relying on his own faith to confront the god's temperamental outbursts, his battle-weary crew, and his own personal demons, Tephe takes his ship wherever the ruling Bishopry Militant sends him. When the Bishopry promises him a place on their council in return for converting a remote planet's citizenry by a show of force, however, Tephe will find his faith and his crew's well-being sorely tested. Despite the novel's diminutive length and Scalzi's new genre makeover, his writing has never been crisper, and his ideas carry a freshness and energy most other fantasy authors will envy.--Hays, Carl Copyright 2009 Booklist

Readers who are used to Scalzi's straightforward, optimistic SF (e.g., Old Man's War) will be disconcerted by the dollop of ice-cold cosmic horror in this novella. Capt. Ean Tephe and his crew in the spaceship Righteous trust their Lord to protect them in combat and care for their souls; after all, He has graciously given each of His warships a defeated, enslaved god to propel the ship to its destination by warping space. After battles start going against him, however, Tephe has to struggle to keep his faith. When he meets his Lord in person, innocent belief becomes impossible, and the narrative proceeds to surgically peel away layer after layer of comforting certainty. If J.G. Ballard and H.P. Lovecraft had ever collaborated on a space opera, the results might have been like this: ferociously inventive, painfully vivid, dispassionately bleak and dreadfully memorable. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved