Book review: GHOSTS OF ZENITH, by Larry Correia (Audible exclusive)

We return to a hellscape planet with one honest cop left...

The long-awaited sequel to 2021’s LOST PLANET HOMICIDE just hit, and Correia floors the gas pedal without missing a beat.

As a reminder, this takes place in the same universe as Correia and John D. Brown’s GUN RUNNER, but the characters from these books haven’t crossed paths yet.

The Story

100 years ago, a colony ship left Earth en route to a perfect planet, only to get screwed up in the jump-gate system and end up way the hell away from anything they expected. Earth doesn’t know what happened to them and they can’t contact their homeworld. It’s Star Trek: Voyager with no way back.

In LPH, our protagonist Lutero Cade is an honest cop in a dishonest world, working with a chip on his shoulder because of his family name: his great-great-grandfather was the ship’s navigator who got everyone stranded on the planet Croatoan.

The story ended with two shocking revelations: there are advanced, almost supernatural beings walking among the planet’s residents, and the Earth ship landing on Croatoan wasn’t an accident. A mysterious figure gifts Cade with an old notebook from his ancestor, filled with notes and codes about the original voyage.

Now, in GOZ, Cade does what he does best: pulls at the threads to unravel the mystery.

I really liked how this installment spent a little more time on the ground, fleshing out the world and what was important to the people in it. A lot of the plot centers on a terrorist attack at the landing site where the ships originally touched down; even the gang-bangers and pickpockets revere that place, and wouldn’t defile it. When Cade’s unit gets called in to handle the incident, we get to peel back more layers to the world as well as to the mystery he’s trying to solve. Really great storytelling in such a short space.

The Characters

Cade and Kotanga are great buddy cops. At least I think that’s the spelling—remember, these only exist in audio. You get to see how they trust each other, and how well they work together during a sting operation to lure out a bad guy.

The World

Part of me is still waiting for the connection to GUN RUNNER, but it feels like it’s coming. Cade’s notebook reveals that the original colony ship was offered as a “sacrifice,” but to whom is not clear. I got the feeling there were powerful pseudo-deities waiting in the wings, and you see them start to play their hand in the world. Cade is just playing back, and he’s messing up their game.

The Politics

Minor commentary on corrupt corporatocracies and organized crime, nothing really from our world.

Content

R-rated for language including the F-dash-dash-dash word, and violence

Who’s it for?

Obviously for readers of the first volume, people who like hard-boiled cop stories and gritty sci-fi.

Why read it?

Because it’s awesome, and I like the short format. You can jump into this cool story and you don’t waste any time getting to the entertainment. Personally I would like to see these become so successful that Correia and Brown can drum up a sequel to GUN RUNNER, but even if they don’t, this particular arc is really great.