Resilient picks up right where the first book Fearless left off, and it's non-stop excitement from the start. It's pretty much Die Hard in space, with terrorists taking over a space station. The pacing is breathtaking and it's a lot of fun. I enjoyed the book, although there were two things that bugged me: multiple first-person POV thing put me off a little bit, and the ending is not as satisfying as I would have liked. Guess I'll have to read the next one!

I enjoyed Fearless the previous book in this sequence a lot, and found its breathless run through a space battle gone wrong to work well as an adventure but with decent commitment to its character's psychology. Resilient is much the same as a follow-up, though as a second book it relies heavily on the first, not least because it picks up exactly where the previous book left off. Infact if I have an issue with this series as its panning out, I am a little concerned about the physical pacing in its real world. All told this book takes place in about 24 hours, what's left of the crew from Fearless are limping back to port while a completely different attack on a space station is taking place. The two parts of the story inform each other but don't really cross over, and the space station plot throws in an espionage plot with a core idea akin to that in Altered Carbon. Luckily the quality is maintained in the secondary plot so there isn't a sense that something new is being bolted on.

Second book syndrome is real however and that secondary plot is important here as it has much more of a resolution that the continuation of the Fearless storyline. Whilst that has its own peril it is much more of an examination of the mindset of the crew, broken down at the end of the first novel and having also broken a number of rules, there is a power shift and an interesting examination of military rank, discipline and pragmatism. The stretch from the previous novel to start toying with more mysterious sci-fi concepts is also still just hinted at,.

Resilient is a solid continuation of Fearless, with my only real concern in trying to get a sense of how long and detailed this series is going to get. One of my favourite things about Fearless was that it felt self contained enough, the opposite is the case in Resilient. Not only does it lean heavily on the previous book, it also sets up a conflict which I can't see easily concluded in even one or two books. That's fine, I am happy to keep reading, but it is a shift from the satisfied feeling I got from the first.

There is always a niggle after a very satisfying book when you open the next one in the series - is it going to be any good? Are we going like so many Hollywood sequels to repeat themselves? I am so pleased to report that Alen Stroud’s thrilling Resilient manages to build on and I think importantly expand the original story that Fearless started. Prepare for some fast, tense and smart space opera that really shows more of this future Earth and its start to leave for the stars. It also cements this as a great science fiction series worthy of your attention

Ellisa Shan’s crew on a routine patrol mission in the solar system found a ship under attack. This revealed a strange plot involving clones, anomalies in space, unknown advanced war vessels and various betrayals by people the crew knew. The battle to survive was bloody, painful, and traumatic. Shann got her crew to take over the strange new vessel Gallowglass but the impact has left her relieved of command. The focus now is how to get to a safe port. However, a few million miles way on Mars Doctor Emerson Drake is asked to attend an urgent session on Phobos’ space station and upon arriving gets involved in a terrorist attack while an undercover operative named Holder with an ability to survive the most dangerous missions wakes up on the same station unsure as to what she must do next. These three groups are about to be pulled into the start of a new conflict that could spread across all of the solar system.

If Fearless was a tense battle in space between two starships, their captains and crews this story moves us more into true space opera territory. Stroud massively opens up the story using hints that clearly Shann’s opponents had some bigger targets in mind. What we find is a time where humanity is between systems expanding into space, developing new forms of power and technology but also tied closely to the last gasps of capitalism. On Mars you can work but not be a citizen instead you must work to earn your air and power no wonder people are considering the alternatives and there are other powers keen to see their wealth protected. It creates an interesting feeling of a story that may prove a turning point as to what happens next.

The set-pieces of Fearless were built around battles in space while here they’re focused on a game of cat and mouse on a space station where a ruthless and strangely familiar group of well-armed operatives have seized the station and taken a lot of prisoners. Here we get the combination of Drake; a nonmilitary but principled man prepared to do what it takes for the right reasons and Holder a fierce warrior who also excels at strategy both trying to make sense of the situation and both how to survive and also work out what is the real agenda at play (plus works by having her consciousness downloaded to new hosts for each mission). We get plenty of action, reveals and setbacks and in many ways, this also is a spin on the classic SF idea of when smart people have to deal with difficult life or death problems. The pace is deliciously fast and absorbing to read and both new characters are very engaging as we find more about them. With Drake its what he is capable of which surprises himself and with Holder it’s the central mystery of who are they really and why have they arrived on this station.

We do regularly return to Shann’s storyline and again we also focus on the smart, pushy and occasionally inexperienced Johannsson excellent at hacking systems and smart ideas but less so at understanding the rules of command Ensigns are expected to follow. With Shann initially out of the captaincy there is a feeling of a crew not quite with it and the group’s new power dynamics need to work themselves out but not sadly helped when you’re stranded in space; potentially still under attack and driving a completely new type of ship. We can see the two plot points are going to cross and make sense, but we also get the interesting role of Rocher the clone leader captured and not yet willing to reveal their masterplan. Again special notice that its great to have two disabled characters whose disabilities are never the core of the story (Shann has no legs while Johannsson was born without a hand) its mentioned when necessary but has no bearing on the character’s actions or made t make them feel special. The focus on the characters is always on their reactions to the strange situation they find themselves in.

Stroud is having a lot of fun as we get various interesting pieces of new technology mixed carefully into the story. Clones, consciousness, AI and ship technology are all being used, and the sense is that we are at a crossroads which future stories can build upon. We get a mix of questions answered and more now asked and the memorable very big finale hints at more players to enter the story.

Resilient is an excellent space opera story where the characters are all put through the ringer and the solar system starts to get turned on its head. Fans of the Expanse may wish to hurry and get themselves into this series as it is definitely looks like more fun is to come. Action, intrigue, and thoughts as to where humanity goes next make this a really impressive piece of science fiction. Strongly recommended!

4 Stars!

Most of my reading is in the horror genre but I like to take a stroll outside that genre from time to time when something strikes my interest. I enjoy all genres as long as the story is well written. I used to be a huge science fiction fan and have not ventured into space as often as I used to but I do enjoy a good space novel. Resilient by Allen Stroud caught my eye since it had an interesting premise and was published by Flame Tree Press so I decided to jump into this not-so-little novel and see what it was all about.



In 2118, mankind has colonized the moon and Mars as well as Ceres and Europa. It seems to be a time of great expansion and success for the species. Governments and corporations are working together to ensure the success of galactic expansion. Not everyone is happy with it, however. When terrorists strike the world’s biggest solar array, the cooperation and economic balance is put into question. Doctor Emerson Drake is dispatched from Phobos Station on Mars to assist a shuttle of miners only to find that they are insurgents looking to free Mars from Earth’s control. She must team with a woman, Natalie Holder, whose consciousness was sent to the body of one of the shuttle’s crew just before the insurgents take over to not only restore balance to the Mars settlement but to simply survive.



While this drama unfolds, Captain Ellisa Shann and the last survivors of her ship, Khidr, had to decide if they should try to escape back to home of the captures ship Gallowglass or stay and try to learn about the anomaly that destroyed their ship. The decision is not as simple as life and death as it could be life and death of the universe. And it is a universe that is always expanding as the fate of Shann, Holder, and Drake are somehow tied together in a way that is not apparent to any of them at the time.



Resilient is what a hard science fiction novel should be. Given that it is a hard science fiction novel, it will not appeal to all readers but fans of the genre are sure to enjoy it. Stroud takes a lot of time to develop the world and everything in it. It is not just about the characters but the technology and settings which are almost characters in their own right. The pace of the novel is a bit slow at times but that is also not uncommon in hard science fiction as all the details of the futuristic world are explored. It can take a little bit of work to get through at times, and it is a very long novel, but it is worth the effort in the end. Stroud also keeps enough action and tension to keep the story moving along so that it never really bogs down too much.



While it is not perfect and a little too long, Resilient is a strong work of hard science fiction. Stroud puts enough science in the book to make it believable while keeping the action moving along. There are slower passages in the novel and time when the reader has to work to put the narrative together but that is part of the story in this novel. There is enough swashbuckling action to provide excitement and more intrigue than one may expect to find in a novel of its ilk. Stroud is building a universe-spanning adventure that he keeps in sharp focus and moving forward. The second book of a series is often a slower moving story and Resilient falls into this mold at times but has enough intrigue to keep the reader engaged throughout. Stroud has proven to be a writer worth watching and I am curious to see where he will take the Fractal series next. Highly recommended for fans of hard science fiction who are not afraid to put in the effort to unravel a complex story.



I would like to thank Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for this review copy. Resilient is available now.

Resilient by Allen Stroud-Starts off with a bang, literally! Fast paced, tense space opera like the first book, but (there's always a "but"), the introduction of 1st person POVs along with the normal narrative really turned me off. Still well done, I'm sure a lot of people will find this entertaining, just not for me.

Resilient is the second novel in Stroud's new Space Opera series, after Fearless, which I liked quite a lot for its high octane action. How does this successor fare? 

It starts at an unexpected place, the Atacama desert in Chile, where the world's biggest solar array has been built. A terrorist attack destroys this central energy provider and endangers the world's subsistence. All eggs in one nest - I couldn't believe this extrapolation of our globalized energy system, because it's way too fragile, not only in destroying that central location but also the oversea energy transmission lines. Stroud would have better stayed in space with his narration. 

After this bad start, the novel heads on to well-known territory from Fearless. Captain Shann is demoted from leading the seized spaceship Gallowglass by her crew. They want to rescue one of their crew and then head for Phobos Station in Mars's orbit. 

Add a new point of view by physician Emerson Drake. He is a colonist on Mars who seeks to get full citizenship. Turns out that the Mars development corporation doesn't only rarely passes those citizenships which comes along with easy access to air, water, and food. Everyone else is kept on a a tight reign. No wonder that there are activists and terrorists around, right?

Now, Drake is called to an emergency assistance up on Phobos Station where he should help a group of injured miners. Which are actually a group of terrorists conquering the facility. Drake finds himself in the midst of that hostile undertaking. 

That terrorist from Atacama desert? That's another point of view, her name is Natalie Holder. She's a elite ninja fighter working for a mysterious force. Her masters transfer her consciousness from one clone body to the next. After the Atacama incident, she breaks free from her bonds and her consciousness is transferred somehow to Phobos Station. She meets Drake there, allies with him and fights the insurgents.

The novel is very much like the first one, and adds cloning and consciousness projections as a central topic. Both are not exactly new, but done very well. They should check off any SF nerds' needs. 

So, why only three stars? Stroud builds his novel on many different POVs, switching very often. All of them are first person present tense. In the beginning I had to struggle to recognize who's in charge and who's who anyways. Some of the protagonists kind of merged in my mind and I had to concentrate and backpaddle to keep track. That wasn't enjoyable at all. Add to that some lengths which the first novel didn't have and the bad start and you'll understand why I had to subtract one star. 

Other than that, I liked the novel well enough and think that the built up mystery is heading for a very interesting next volume. Anyone who liked the first novel should read this one!

Exciting, edge of your seat sci-fi thriller. The story picks up the story right where Fearless left off as the crew of the spaceship Khidr contine to battle for survival. We meet two new and exciting characters, Natalie Holder, an agent of the powerful, mysterious conspiracy on Earth and Dr. Emerson Drake on Mars colony. The two make an unlikely alliance when they are thrust together on space station Phobos when it comes under attack by insurgents. Once again, each chapter switches between characters so we continue to see things from different perspectives. Will the crew of the Khidr make it to safety? Just how many Rochers are there? Will we ever find out where that music is coming from? I can’t wait to find out in the next book! Highly recommend.

When I reviewed Allen Stroud’s first novel, Fearless, back in July 2020, I had no hesitation in calling it one of the best science-fiction novels I had ever read – and a recent reread of it in preparation for this review has not changed my opinion even slightly. The masterful combination of a tense, atmospheric setting onboard the Search and Rescue spaceship Khidr; superb and multi-faceted characterization for the small but potent cast of characters that populated the novel; and some first-rate worldbuilding that created a vibrant, engaging and above-all original universe that avoided many of the cliches of the increasingly stale trope of ‘corporate-dominated space travel’. I was eager to see what Stroud would do with the setting and characters in the aftermath of Fearless and was therefore incredibly excited to hear that the sequel to the novel – entitled Resilient and now part of the ‘Fractal’ series – would be released in April 2022. I was able to grab an early Advanced Review Copy from NetGalley thanks to the generosity of the publisher, Flame Tree Press, and was eager to see what Allen had in store for me as a reader. The superb cover art from the first novel returns, catching the potential reader’s eye and drawing it in effortlessly, and the back-cover blurb intrigued me with its mentions of space-based revolution and eventual civil war when a devastating terrorist attack shatters the fragile links between the corporations and governments that led to the colonization of much of the solar system by the 22nd Century.

As the novel begins, a huge explosion tears apart the Atacama Solar Array in Chile, a gigantic facility that provides power to most of the population remaining on Earth. This is bad news for the population of Earth, but potentially fatal for those people living and working in the colonies populating the outer solar system; the corporations and governments sending them supplies will now turn inwards to resolve their own problems, and likely ignore or even abandon the colonists. One such colonist is Emerson Drake, a medical doctor living on Mars and working under a corporate contract; used to living a hardscrabble life on the Red Planet, Drake is surprised to suddenly be assigned to a mission to the moon of Phobos, as part of a team tending to a mining shuttle full of injured miners. As if that wasn’t stressful enough, Drake has just been informed of the fact that his brother, Jonathan, is missing along with the rest of the crew of the Khidr. Worried but unable to find out much about the ship’s status, Drake soon finds himself heading for Phobos and a dangerous assignment he knows too little about. At the same time, the surviving crewmembers of the Khidr are recovering from the chaos and treachery that led to many of them dying, and the need to make use of a new spaceship in the process. Captain Shann has been relieved of her command for her controversial actions in space, and her crew now have to decide whether to try and return to Earth on their new ship Gallowglass or stay and observe the strange anomaly that destroyed the remains of the Khidr. And as if that wasn’t enough, corporate captive Natalie Holder finds herself the subject of mystifying and horrifying experiments involving the transfer of her consciousness between bodies; lacking free will, and even the certainty of whether her memories and her emotions are her own or implants manufactured for the benefit of her captors, Holder’s only hope is a dangerous mission to Phobos and an encounter with the insurgents that have just captured the station. Thrown together in the chaos, Drake and Holder must work together to survive, while the remaining crew of the Khidr discover more about the conspiracies that destroyed their ship and almost killed them all.

Expanding on the worldbuilding he began in Fearless, Stroud presents us with a deeply intriguing look at a solar system that is increasingly under intense social, political and cultural tension from the blended corporate-government exploration and colonization of space, the current tensions smartly expanded upon through the inclusion of regular excerpts from news reports, speeches and reports throughout the late 21st Century that provide much-needed context to just how this public-private partnership developed and began to fray at the edges. We are given a view of a future in which government entities initially cooperated with private companies to launch missions from Earth to colonize Luna, Mars and set up a number of space stations scattered throughout the solar system, only for increasingly divergent and conflicting priorities to cause different sides to form as humanity expanded its reach throughout the void. Corporations chafe at government regulation and restrictions interfering with their attempts to extract profit from their ventures at the expense of their workers and their rights; and governments begin to resort to increasingly conspiratorial and brutal tactics to maintain their control over the solar system. While this sort of thing has been done many times before – The Expanse being one such equivalent – I don’t believe that any author has given such a crystal-clear view of how corporate and government attitudes can clash and diverge, nor cemented it with a fascinating and multi-faceted plot that always comes across as mysterious and intriguing rather than confusing, no matter how many additional elements Stroud adds. It’s an incredibly difficult thing to achieve, with many authors falling at their own versions of these self-imposed hurdles, but Stroud manages it with a smoothness and gravity that belies the huge amount of skill and talent this obviously took.

The fascinating narrative strands that arc throughout the novel – deftly blending together politics, military action, espionage and even such varied topics as the nature of consciousness, the development of Artificial Intelligence, and the difficulties of space travel – would not work anywhere near as well without a compelling and cohesive cast of characters – and fortunately Stroud is once again up to the job. The tensions amongst the surviving crewmembers of the Khidr are only exacerbated by the immense pressures they find themselves under as the interplanetary conspiracy they’re enmeshed in becomes more and more unraveled, and Stroud deftly pivots between multiple viewpoints amongst the crew. Ensign April Johansson makes for a sympathetic protagonist as we see her struggle to understand both how to undertake her duties – now apparently vital to the future of humanity – and also recover from the betrayal of so many of her friends in the crew and the subsequent blurring of the nature of command, when senior crew members are either traitors or so compromised by the things they had to do to survive that it seems impossible to either trust them or follow them. The nature of the chain of command and inherent trust in your seniors in a military setting is one of the most intriguing concepts that runs throughout the narrative, explored by Stroud through the eyes of Johansson and Captain Shann, a returning character from the first novel and someone who must now decide what leadership means to her – and whether further breaking the chain of command is necessary for survival despite its long-term consequences. However, the standout character in the novel must be Natalie Holder – someone who finds themselves turned into a living weapon by mysterious captors, who constantly experiment on her mind and memories in order to shape her into the operative they require for various assassination and commando operations, transferring her consciousness into different bodies for each mission and increasingly shattering her very sense of being. What happens to Holder is genuinely unsettling, an undercurrent of horror running through the spine of the novel – a woman desperately searching for her true self while being forcibly turned into a trained killer with no compulsion around murdering those who getting her way as she tries to find a way to escape her captivity. Stroud really gets into her mindscape and deftly demonstrates the realities of experimentation by corporations without any moral or ethical limits. Holder is a mysterious and multifaceted character I found myself instinctively drawn to – and want to see much more of in the future.

Resilient is one of those incredibly rare things – a sequel that actually improves on its predecessor. Stroud presents us with a complex, multifaceted science-fiction experience that offers a deeply compelling narrative, interlaced with rich and complex worldbuilding and three-dimensional characters that help to draw us into the vast and complex conspiracy slowly unfolding across the entire solar system. Resilient avoids all of the bloated padding and pointless subplots that usually plague the middle book in a trilogy, and instead delivers a taut, streamlined and fast-paced political thriller that races across the solar system, effortlessly bouncing between colonies, space stations and the depths of space while deftly exploring some fascinating and complex issues in an engaging and thought-provoking manner. With many narrative threads tied up and many new ones introduced, and existing ones expanded upon in intriguing and fascinating ways, Resilient sets the stage for an explosive set of revelations in the next book in the series, and also demonstrates just why Stroud is such a rapidly-rising star in the science-fiction genre. I genuinely cannot wait to see how things develop in the next novel, and I will be making time for it as soon as it becomes available. I would strongly recommend that you all do the same.

There some good action here, and I stayed engaged. I also enjoyed the plot and characters. I think most space opera fans will like this one.

Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!