Haraken is still a mix of utopian science fiction, but at least now we know that utopia is not the only way of existence. Because while there were bad people in the previous books, they were merely a sideshow to the mysterious alien invasion, and they were vastly outnumbered by every good natured human being. Now though, we have humans against humans, and that level of familiarity is actually a great advancement upon which to reset the series. Maybe it’s down to the fact we’re actually seeing a whole bunch of bad people who are powerful enough do many many bad things. I actually find that this book is far more enjoyable than the previous three books. So he puts together a plan that eventually puts Earth in total conflict with its estranged colonies. Anyway, as usual, the Meridiens are putting their head in the sand and hoping that the ship just goes away.Īlex, the manly man of action decides that would be a bad idea, especially since the explorer ship is armed to the teeth. Kind of like the “science vessels” the United Federation of Planets build in Star Trek. Well, they call it an explorer ship, but it’s really armed to the teeth. Alex and Renee even have a kid!Īll that changes when an explorer ship from Earth shows up knocking at the door of the Meridiens. In that time, progress has been made and everything has settled down. It’s been some years since the aliens piloting the silver ships became allies of Haraken and its president, Alex Racine. Now, with the fourth book in the series, Haraken, I’m going to withdraw my criticism, because the bad guys are humans.

I know in the past I’ve criticised the Silver Ships series of books for being too happy, where everybody seems to work for the betterment of humanity. Since the big bad alien death star was conquered, we now get a conflict with a very familiar face.

The silver ships series