Vorpal Blade by John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor
Published by Baen Books
Cover art by Kurt Miller
Reviewed by Leigh Kimmel
Years have passed since a laboratory accident produced the first Looking Glasses, gates to other worlds, and allowed the vicious Dreen onto Earth. Although the line of Looking Glasses that opened onto Dreen worlds have been sealed off, the possibility of a new line of attack is always hanging over humanity's collective head. Thus the United States and humanity's allies, the Adar, have decided to search for possible allies in a new way.
It's a makeshift starship, cobbled together from a US Navy ballistic missile submarine and a mysterious stardrive the Adar found on a ruined world, but it's the best hope both species have of finding a way to attack the Dreen from their weak side. So off the Vorpal Blade goes with its complement of sailors and Marines, ready to Go Where No One Has Gone Before.
And there are plenty of surprises out there, starting with the physics of the interstellar medium. After nearly having their ship torn apart by a standing wave in the very fabric of space, a planet seems to be a welcome thing indeed. But who knows what surprises planets may hold.
It's every bit as exciting as Through the Looking Glass, with a surprise around every corner. And it's written by a physicist and a US Army veteran, so there's neither rubber science nor hokey military operations here.
Review posed December 14, 2008
Buy Vorpal Blade (Looking Glass, Book 2)