The Shattered Skies

The Cruel Stars Trilogy, Book 2

By: John Birmingham

Narrated by: Morgan Hallett

Length: 15 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Humanity’s last surviving heroes must protect a shattered civilization from an all-conquering enemy in this thrilling sequel to The Cruel Stars.

“[The Shattered Skies] is a delightful military space adventure that runs at full tilt.”—Booklist

The Sturm, an empire of “species purists,” have returned from the farthest reaches of Dark Space to wage a war against what they call mutants and borgs: any human being with genetic or neural engineering. In a sneak attack, they overwhelmed almost all of humanity’s defenses, blasting vicious malware across galaxy-spanning networks, dark code that transformed anyone connected to the system into a mindless psychotic killer. The Sturm’s victory seemed complete, their final triumph inevitable, until one small band of intrepid, unlikely heroes struck back.

Commander Lucinda Hardy and Admiral Frazer McLennan used the Armadalen Navy’s final surviving warship to fend off the Sturm, destroying the massed power of an entire Attack Fleet. With brilliant tactics—and support from drunken, grief-ravaged pirate Sephina L’trel and treasonous battle-rig operator Booker—this ragtag crew sent the Sturm running, managing to save Princess Alessia, the sole surviving heir to the gigantic Montanblanc ul Haq Corporation and perhaps Earth’s only remaining senator.

Now left with the remains of a fallen civilization, they must work together to rebuild what was lost and root out the numberless enemies of Earth. The Sturm invaders remain vastly more powerful—and they may not be the only threat lurking in the darkness of space.

©2022 John Birmingham (P)2022 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“This is action-packed space opera at its most breathless.”—At Boundary’s Edge

“The Shattered Skies is brilliant, entertaining, and fast-moving. I’d give this six stars, but that’ll break the meter.”—Interstellar Valley

“Birmingham follows The Cruel Stars with more heart-pounding, breakneck action in the fight for survival between factions with differing views on humanity. Fans of epic, military space opera with lots of last minute reversals will gobble this up.”—Publishers Weekly

Intriguing Plot and Great Characters

Enjoyed this 2nd installment of this series immensely. Even better than the 1st book and can't wait for the next book.

Birmingham rocks again!

John Birmingham is a master wordsmith. He keeps the action moving quickly. Weaves the disparate threads into a logical whole. He brings delightful humor into disparate danger. Best of all, he excels in character development. You find heroes who suffer from impostor syndrome and evil villains who act from what seem reasonable imperatives by their own standards. Birmingham gives you enough insight to love and/or hate these children of his imagination. He provides you with the opportunity to slip inside the skin of his characters to try to imagine how you would act when faced with impossible choices. Well done, JB!

A Fantastic Sequel

The way this fantastic story has unfolded makes me want to never leave this world. I cannot wait for the third installment. This book is a must-read!!

Very good. Looking forward to book #3 in March.

Admiral Mac is one of my favorite characters in recent memory for SciFi reads. Well done on the foul mouthed Admiral and his Intellect. Loved these books. Loved that it was not written for teens. All around good and as engaging for me as The Expanse series from James S. A. Corey. I wish there were 10 others in this series already!

A wild ride through military space

Fast military SciFi action with some remarkable characters. Some produce truly amazing and very original profanity. Another brilliantly novel from a master

A Quality Space Opera

I've read a lot of space opera over the years and this one rates up their with some of my favorites. It has an interesting universe, lots of different characters, and a believable enemy. I definitely recommend this one and the one that came before it. My only complaint is that the next book isn't out yet.