Forge of the Titans

by Steve White

Book Overview

Long Ago the Gods Left Earth, but Now They are Returning-and Some of Them are Not at All Friendly. Space Adventure by the Co-Author of the New York Times Bestseller The Shiva Option.

When Derek Secrest was suddenly pulled out of the Naval Academy to take part in a top secret government project involving telepathy-because tests showed that he had a strong latent talent for psi powers-he thought things couldn't get more weird...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 074349895X
• ISBN13: 9780743498951
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: Baen
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Worth reading

Not at all what I thought it would be when I started reading it. While I did skim from time to time it was never for more than half a page. I just couldn't bring myself to care at all what the bad guys did or said. I recommend this book but hope there are no sequals as I think they'd stink.

Gods meet Spacemen with unpredictable results

Steve White started his writing career with Dave Weber writing books set in the Universe of the Starfire space wargames but his writing has tremendously broadened and improved since then and this is one of his best books to date. This is one of the few books which are hard to categorise as between science fiction and fantasy. Most science fiction books and most fantasy books are so different that the tendancy of publishers and bookstores to lump them in one category is downright irritating, but this is one of those which features Gods and Spacemen and still somehow manages to hang together. The plot is quite gripping and easy to follow. As in most of White's books, some of the bad guys do truly evil things which means the tone of the book gets a bit dark in places, but there are some good flashes of humour which lighten it up a bit. Bottom line, if you liked any of Steve White's other books you will almost certainly like this one. It is also a bit like Piers Anthony's "Incarnations of Immortality" series, or like some of C.S. Lewis's more adult works such as the Ransom trilogy, although not so firmly rooted in one particular religious view. One warning to anyone tempted to buy the book on the basis of the cover art, which shows a beautiful woman fleeing from spacesuited figures through a mysterious portal onto a sea shore. This scene does actually appear in the book, but in the text the woman is wearing a checked shirt, jeans and sneakers, while in the cover illustration all her clothes have mysteriously disappeared.

The War of the Gods, Phase 2

Forge of the Titans is the seventh solo novel by the author. This novel is about a group of powerful alien entities who originated in an adjacent universe, the Void. These aliens were organized energy sources within the featureless and amorphous energies of the Void and existed in a state of perpetual sensory deprivation. Then one of them discovered a way to pass from the Void into our universe, where the entities found matter and the joys of sensory perception.The aliens who first passed through to Earth ruled the natives by might and terror as the Titans. Later, entities from the Void came in the semblance of the Olympian gods and, although still fickle and hard to please, they were more sympathetic towards mankind. Millennia ago, these gods battled the Titans and, with the help of human mages, defeated them and banished their lifeforces back into the Void. The battle caused the island home of the mages to sink into the sea, so the gods searched the galaxy for another home for them. Having discovered a planet almost identical to Earth on the far side of the galactic core, the gods named it Khron and relocated the mages there.In this novel, the US military is screening all their personnel for psionic talents. Derek Secrest has been brought up from the Naval Aviation Officer Candidate School for the last round of tests and is anxious to return for his final week prior to graduation. He notices a woman with striking features and very long hair among the testees. The tests, however, involve drugs that cause strange dreams and a sense of unreality, so he wonders if she is a figment of his imagination.After the testing is completed, Derek is told that he will not be returning to NAOCS, but is given two weeks leave, which he spends at his grandfather's home. Glenn Secrest is a former Navy Commander and pilot, so he understands Derek's disappointment at not graduating with his class. This common understanding cheers Derek somewhat, but he still takes long walks to think over his situation. On one of these rambles, he sees the mysterious woman again, this time through a hole in mid-air. She is being chased by strangers and barely escapes through the portal, closing it behind her. She is so exhausted that Derek takes her back to the house and puts her to bed. When she awakes the next day, he learns that she is called Sophia and she tells him that he should not refuse that which is going to be offered to him.Immediately thereafter, Derek has visitors who offer him an assignment with JICPO, but do not spell out the details. Since Glenn has served in the predecessor of JICPO during the Vietnam era, he forces full disclosure from the recruiters, including the name of the unit: the Joint Interservice Command for Psionic Operations. Glenn also informs Derek that he can refuse the transfer, but Derek is certain that he must take the assignment.During the initial testing, Derek had met a Navy pilot, Lieutenant SG Paul Rinnard, and the two immed

blending of mythology, horror, fantasy, and science fiction

All Derek Secrest wants is to fly, which is why he is flight training at Pensacola trying to make the grade as a Naval Aviation Officer. However, when tests prove he has strong telepathic abilities, he is yanked out of school to work for Dr. Kronenberg and a top-secret agency. Derek uses his newly discovered powers to thwart a terrorist plot.However, the terrorist leaders are not normal humans, but instead are remnants of Ancient Greece with superior technology and magic fueled by genocidal human sacrifices. Their partners are even more malevolent as the Titans want pandemic human destruction. Derek and other telepathics join with the Gods of Olympus to stop the Titans and their friends. However, their new allies are also quite wary of human psi abilities that may prove more powerful than the magic of the Gods.FORGE OF THE TITANS is an exciting binding of mythology, horror, fantasy, and science fiction into an entertaining tale. The story line makes believers of the audience that the Greek Gods and their enemies, and magic and psionic skills exist as Steve White provides powerful support to each element within the framework of the action. Derek is a delightful ?Greek? hero with a powerful support cast (friend and foe) so that the wide gamut of genre fans will fully appreciate a wonderful novel.Harriet Klausner