Onslaught

Exile War, Book 1

By: Bowen Greenwood

Narrated by: Ian Kirkpatrick

When mutants from civilization’s end come roaring back from exile, telepath Langston Wheeler must confront assassination, interstellar intrigue, and a woman he can’t resist.

Once, telepaths almost wiped out humanity. Years later, a brotherhood called the Gentle Hand lives to keep it from happening again. But sometimes a telepath is born outside their order.

Langston Wheeler, a young Hand with a checkered past, heads to the planet Felicitas to investigate a rogue telepath. His superiors want the rogue brought in, the rules enforced, and above all else, the planetary government kept firmly in the Gentle Hand’s camp.

Tia Dynn, the youngest person ever elected to lead Felicitas, shepherds her peaceful world into the center of the interstellar stage. On the cusp of true greatness, her people are ready for a leading role in Human Space. The only thing she lacks is someone to share it all.

But the rogue Wheeler’s hunting is not what he seems. Langston and Tia face a dark threat from the age when the first telepaths tried to rule humanity. Forced together by a danger they never imagined, the two contend with assassination, intrigue, and their growing love for each other. Langston is a Gentle Hand, though. He’s expected to marry another Hand, and bring up telepathic children.

War and survival draw them closer and closer, and Wheeler must choose between his history, the rules of his order, and a woman he can’t resist. The fate of Human Space hangs in the balance.

©2021 Bowen Greenwood (P)2022 Bowen Greenwood

Critic reviews

"Greenwood keeps the story humming...prose is concise and striking.... A taut, energetic SF outing with an appealing cast." (Kirkus Reviews)

Exciting story, solid performance

Exciting noir-influenced scifi story featuring telepathy, telekinesis (and other paranormal abilities), pseudo-religious guilds of gifted people, horrific experiments that produce human-animal hybrids, forbidden romance, war, and political intrigue. Also a clever way to explain telepathy scientifically that I haven’t encountered before. Echoes of Star Wars, Blade Runner, and some of the mid-century noir films (while also adding its own ideas and themes). I’m not sure that Greenwood intended this, but at times it feels eerily topical (but it’s nowhere near heavy-handed). I’m looking forward to the sequels coming to audiobook.

The performance was solid, though the narration feels rushed at times—especially in space breaks within chapters, which are sometimes easy to miss because the narrator doesn’t pause for long enough. This confused me a few times. There are also one or a few words that get pronounced in an odd way. Still, not a bad performance, and I’m looking forward to listening to the next book when it’s available.