Review: Nemesis Earth (Weapons of Choice Book 8) by Nick Snape

Bringing the genre-pushing Weapons of Choice saga to a fitting and explosive end, Nemesis Earth by Nick Snape is an all-out clash of titans, large and small, which will decide if humanity survives its apocalyptic alien incursion.

As the ravenous and unforgiving Garr continue their conquest, the surviving shreds of human resistance are desperate to turn the tide of a war with only two outcomes – victory or annihilation. Delta Squad launches a last-ditch mission to find a silver bullet, backtracking through planets and systems they had previously visited, fought for, or liberated in a nostalgic search for allies to stand against the all-consuming invaders.

In a fitting twist of fate, Earth’s chance at salvation may be waiting back where humanity’s scattering across the stars began – Havenhome – but that will mean Delta Squad facing down an old enemy who has grown wiser and more dangerous, just like them. Echo Squad is keeping a dwindling hope alive in Scotland and across the UK, working as guerrilla warriors to liberate those under the domination of the Garr before they’re fully consumed.

Perpetually putting their lives on the line, and trading blood for blood, the squads are driven to the ultimate sacrifice to secure the future of a free world. Between the battle planning, life-risking rescues, and desperate struggles for one more day, Snape devotes significant time to the complex relationships and interactions of his heroes – humans, clones, cyborgs, AI avatars, and everything in between. A whole series worth of reflections and emotional plotlines collide, while the expansive list of characters reckon with the cumulative burdens of guilt, grief, loyalty, love, and perhaps most deeply, the essential nature of humanity.

After a truly epic saga of riveting sci-fi thrillers, Snape brings this series home with a dense finale that is armed with an impressive barrage of biohazard boss battles, neatly tied yet explosive loose ends, and unexpected cameos from old friends and foes alike, which is sure to satisfy loyal readers. Following two main narratives as they inevitably spiral together feels like the proper culmination for this wildly original series – the cast has expanded quite a bit since the Weapons of Choice were first unearthed, the clones have brought fascinating thematic additions to the novels, and this final chapter deserves the drama of a full-fledged reunion.

Snape also delves deeply into the high-level nuances of battle strategy, ship design, future weapons, alien tech, and other novel inventions for hardcore military sci-fi fans. After seven books, there are some conceits, details, and easter eggs that may fly over the heads of some readers, but the immersive level of detail and exposition creates a fantastic atmosphere of tension and immediacy.

There is some leading dialogue and overly convenient plot leaps, but the prose is also laced with biting exchanges, callback humor, sincere moments of sacrifice, and a deep sensitivity to the dramas of life and death that these characters have navigated in spades to this point. This last installment is a true capstone on the Weapons of Choice saga, unleashing one more salvo of epic sci-fi creativity that raises the bar for the genre as a whole.