Forge of the Titans

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 288 pages
• Published by: Baen June 1, 2003
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0743436113
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0743436113
• Book Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Weighs: 1.1 pounds

From Publishers Weekly
In this refreshingly different science fantasy by White (Eagle Against the Stars), Naval Aviation Officer Candidate Derek Secrest is distressed to be pulled away from flight training to undergo testing by a top-secret government organization. When the testing reveals he's a natural telepath, his entire world is turned upside down. An attempt to use his powers to interdict a terrorist plot succeeds, but the plot's masterminds prove to be survivors of Greece's Heroic Age, who not only possess technology superior to our own but also wield magic derived from mass human sacrifices. In addition, they're in league with the malevolent beings known to us through myth as the Titans. Derek and his telepathic friends join the opposition, including the gods of Olympus, who are themselves shaken by the discovery that psionic humans possess abilities beyond both god and magician. The basic plot device-that of evil alien gods who once possessed our world trying to regain a foothold-suggests a Lovecraftian horror, but beyond some lip service about the intradimensional realms controlled by the Titans inducing madness, there's an optimism, if not a teleological evangelism, about humans' place in the cosmos that recalls the best of the John Campbell era of SF. White's core audience of hard SF fans will be pleased, as will fantasy readers who enjoy convincing explanations of how such things as magic and psi powers work.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
White's latest combines the War of the Gods gambit and the Gods from Outer Space conceit to produce an engaging entertainment. Said gods from out there are literally that: the old Olympians, departed from Earth but now carrying on their ancient war with their predecessors, the Titans, who are in danger of winning. Aspiring naval aviator Derek Secrest is drafted into this war because he is a telepath (it's a family trait), and human telepaths may be indispensable to the victory of the Olympians and the salvation of not only Earth but other planets, too. With other human telepaths, one human traitor, and the advice and counsel of the goddess Athena (portrayed not quite accurately on the cover), Secrest battles the Titans and their human allies. After much suspense and many well-handled action scenes, victory goes to the good guys. Erudite if whimsical about classical mythology, this is certain to be enjoyable at least once. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Reader Reviews
"Forge of the Titans" starts out promisingly. It has an interesting lead character, Derek Secrest, who is pulled out of Naval flight officer training school a week before his graduation, in order to participate in a top secret government project. Navy slang and acronyms lent verisimilitude to the book's first thirty or so pages, and Derek's disappointment in missing his graduation drew my sympathy. The top secret project involving psionic powers has been done many times, but I was willing to follow Derek on his reluctant journey to develop his telepathic talent. I liked the setting, his friends, and even some of the characters who were lifted right out of the SF bible of stock players, such as the humorless but brilliant female scientist. Derek is ordered to track down a terrorist and determine what he plans to do with a supply of deadly nerve gas. Okay. Fine. That sounds like a practical military application for telepathy. Derek reads his terrorist's mind prevents the release of the nerve gas, but then all sorts of plot devices begin hitting the fan. Goddesses, Titans, and assorted aliens from outer space show up who have nothing to do with the original terrorist plot. Derek and his friends take a space plane into orbit and are kidnapped by the aliens, who turn out to be humans who have developed a superior technology based on magic. "Forge of the Titans" then descends into techno-babble. Normally, I like a book with snappy dialogue, even when I'm being fed all sorts of pseudo-science (or maybe I should say futuristic science---Heinlein did this so very well without stalling his plot or lessening my attraction to his characters). But I really lost interest when the author began to crank out reams of sentences like: "Soon, the remaining antimatter missles were being launched at 'sprint' ranges, making interdiction difficult even for point-defense lasers." The book turned into a sort of "Psionic Hercules versus the Titans in Outer Space." Finally, my favorite character is killed off in what seems like a feeble bid for reader sympathy, but he dies so stupidly it simply ended up annoying me. I don't think I'll bother with the inevitable sequel. Comment | | (Report this)