Galacticide. Genocide of galactic proportions. It is the foundational setting for my science fiction universe of the same name. It is also the title of the third and final book in a trilogy set in that universe. Did I run out of ideas?
Au contraire. There were so many story arcs, places, and characters I could not fit them into the recent novel and some painful cuts had to be made. So why use the series title for the last novel? It hints at the cyclic nature of the main story arc, leaving the main characters wonder if they are ever going to escape recurring destruction. Are they just passengers on an ill-fated journey, or could they use grit and ingenuity to escape it? Break the cycle. Undo the Galacticide.
What is the Galacticide? 2,400 Earth years before the plot of the first book, a fleet of galactic raiders descended on the Milky Way and destroyed all spacefaring civilizations, including the humans who had spread out from their ancestral home in the Orion Spur and had colonized large parts of the connected spiral arm. Only a few 10,000 survivors remained after 40 years of systematic destruction, leaving those humans scattered across the galaxy. The raider fleets left for reasons as unknown as their motivation for their aggression.
It is said the raiders left patrols still roaming the Milky Way. It is rumored there could be other sapient survivors. Fantastic stories of survival and superhuman abilities develop into a mythological fabric for a re-emerged humankind.
Many generations have passed when we meet Kel Chaada, the protagonist, a child of the revered survivors of the Galacticide, ignorant about any history before the cataclysm, the origin of his species and the true events leading to it. Humans perceive time as a linear cascade of connected events—but not all species share this limitation. When Kel’s squad of soldiers discovers an ancient ruin, his fate irreversibly connects to events which will take him onto a rollercoaster of fame, doom, friendship, and betrayal, to the fringes of the galaxy, and beyond.
The last novel in the trilogy brings his journey to a mind-bending conclusion. I am fascinated with different ways to perceive time and reality, and the narrative leans into exploring the edges of the thinkable. Each volume expands on previous conflicts, their solutions, and describes stages of an arms race spanning millennia.
If you just got started reading Three Immortals, or if you have followed the series since its debut in 2021, please know that I don’t like cliffhangers. Each book has an ending, wrapping up major plot arcs, and so does book 3, Galacticide, for the trilogy.
Enjoy!
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