Tara Jade Brown

A Finale Befitting a Galaxy

Tara Jade Brown's Descendants of Earth series is one of the few speculative fiction books dealing with the annihilation of Earth that has a spectacularly positive ending.

So much content is covered in this last book that I'd just do it a disservice trying to summarize the story. My heart was captured in joy and broken so many times, I'm exhausted.

This is one of the finest Science Fiction series I've read in years. I will deeply miss the characters, I've come to love them. The ending was unexpected and glorious but I'm not ready to go. Highly recommended!… (mere)

Who is Minding the Universe?

Welcome back to the New Earth and Dora Dana Dasnan and J. Dora, if you remember, is heartbroken because J's wife, Monica, whom he thought long dead, is resurrected in a batch of cryo storage with the help of Dora.

Although J has very mixed feelings about a reunion with Monica, Dora cannot be convinced that the love between her and J has any future. She devises a plan to use her E-Band, a communication device, to link to an old porting place and flees Earth.

When J finally realized that he can't live without Dora, he races to stop her and gets there only to see her disappearing. Empty and destroyed, he and his friends go back to the village.

Dora is now on the most dangerous mission of her life. As she navigates her return to Uni, using her vast knowledge and the surprising and erratic but accurate Visions she's having, a picture emerges that contradicts everything she's always known.

With the help of an unknown assistant who intervenes by way of her E-Band, Dora is guided to meet with groups of Descendants and helped by AI robots who lead her to a shrinking conclusion.

As Dora barely escapes porting from the main Uni world to Zema4, where humans live apart from the Descendants, she has an enlightening encounter with The Mind, the AI that coordinates all of the travel between worlds.

What Dora discovers, and who she meets on Zema4 are the keys to unlocking her past, present and future. Will she ever see J again? What is really going on behind the government of Uni? Read this fabulous book to find out!… (mere)

Earth-Once and Very Far Away

In the Uni, the organization of worlds upon which the descendants of Earth live, there are many different genetic variants from the original Human genome.

Dora Dana Dasnan is a Senthien. She has the brightest green eyes anyone has ever seen and she is a gifted Visionaire, she possesses the ability to take in mountains of data and to most clearly predict the future.

However, something is rotten in Uni and Dora knows it. She has a second sense about things and, when she is called to see the ruling priesthood, the Zalthars, she knows her life is in danger.

Dora and her companion, Stevanion, are porting to the Zalthars location when there is an error in the Mind, the AI system that runs Uni. They find themselves on a primitive planet full of wild vegetation.

This begins the fantastic story of what exactly happened to Earth and her descendants and the unlikely tale of how Humankind tries to recover from an Extinction Level Event.

The author, Tara Jade Brown mixes technology, genetics, eugenics, space travel, paranormal skills and post apocalyptic themes almost seamlessly into an unforgettable story.

The fact that The Senthien is just the first of three books only makes the reading experience better. When you get to the end, you will be so glad the story isn't really over.

… (mere)

Top Secret Love Affair

Swift Escape has a great plot at the core of the novel. Dr. Jane McGregor, a bright young microbiologist is working in a lab in Boston and steadily gaining acclaim for her work.

After completing a project and being published, Jane and her colleagues are suddenly transferred to a top secret lab. Her boss, Professor David Wright, is put in charge due to the sudden death of the lab's director, Dr. Evelyn Rosenberg.

Jane, along with her colleagues, Frank, Miyako, Florence and Chris are beset with uneasiness at the clandestine manor in which they have to work as well as the unceasing pressure they are under to produce results.

To my dismay, in the beginning of this exciting story, a mysterious love interest, Sam Swift, is introduced into Jane's life. Although Sam does add to the plot line, his character makes Jane turn into a weak kneed, empty headed, witless wonder every time she is near him.

I love a good romance as much as the next person, but the endless ruminations and gasping for breath and passionate love scenes just seemed to take away from a really good story.

And the rest of the book is high intensity intrigue with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. I'm giving it a 3 stars because Tara Jade Brown is a good storyteller. I hope her other books are more like her first one.… (mere)