Review: Sun Wolf (Space Unbound Book 2) by David C. Jeffrey

A stunning follow-up to the debut of David C. Jeffrey’s Space Unbound series, Sun Wolf is an invigorating shot of prophecy, elevating the stakes for this future world to a universal scale.

While the first book in the series sets the foundation of actors, alliances, advancements, and unique alien life forms, this sophomore serving delves deeper, exposing more complex enemies and a much larger conflict than mere resource squabbling. When the greatest discovery of Earth’s New Age of Space becomes unstable, everything humanity has fought for could be wiped out of existence.

The fearless Aiden Macallan, the eccentric Elgin Woo, the insightful Dr. Ebadi, and the rest of this colorful cast weave a brilliant tapestry that subtly parallels some of the movers and shakers in astrophysics and space exploration today. The friendship between Aiden and Ro Hand is a rare and charming one, with a tenderness and fraternity that is often difficult to capture. This helps to humanize the rough-around-the-edges commander of the Sun Wolf, and juxtaposes nicely with Macallan’s occasionally predictable heroics.

Each figure stands out and plays a crucial part in the desperate mission, with sharply defined personalities, consistent speech patterns, well-justified behaviors, and deep involvement in their specific plotlines. The link between Aiden’s experience on Silvanus and Woo’s relationship with the enigmatic planet of Shénmì is a thrilling thread of the series, and adds an ominous sense of paranormal mystery. Jeffrey is unafraid to push on the edges of the sci-fi genre, nor the edges of knowable space – the deeply creative element of sentient stars and a richly imagined galactic history make this story feel epic and original.

The real beauty of this story lies in its details and allegorical undertones. Concepts like the Zero Population Growth movement feel disturbingly realistic for today’s readers, while the far-flung technology of the Rete calls back to the mysticism of more classic sci-fi tales. This series is only set two centuries in the future, so while the technological advancements may be mind-boggling, this light-year-spanning realm still feels grounded in the foibles of humanity as we know it. There are conspiracy theories, religious extremists, political opportunists, and diabolical plots to stifle humanity’s progress – a familiar paradigm, indeed.

On a technical level, the writing is strong, but could use a superficial polish. Stray grammatical errors, missing commas and hyphens, incorrect expositions, and glitches in the syntax aren’t overly common, but they are noticeable. The dialogue has a similar duality – at times, it hums with energy and drives the scenes with sharp wit, but in other moments, the conversations feel forced, with characters saying far too much at one time to be believable. Exposition through extended dialogue can be exhausting and unrealistic, and there are certainly some dense sections that could be broken up and smoothed out.

These criticisms aside, the action sequences are vivid and visceral, and well balanced with character-driven subplots and immersive technical depth. When an author creates a visionary future with this much attention to detail, readers will lose themselves and forget it’s fiction, which Jeffrey accomplishes masterfully with this new entry of his riveting and original series.