The Hiveborn — Paul Collins

According to the Australian Book Review: “Australia is not the science fiction capital of the world; in fact we are probably not even on the map. This unfortunate fact would change if we could produce more writers like Paul Collins.”

Collins has just added another impressive work to his record. An action-packed science fiction thriller, The Hiveborn completes his highly acclaimed series The Earthborn Wars. Welkin Quinn and his small community of Earthborn and Skyborn survivors face the vastly superior technology of the Hiveborn -- an ancient race of parasitic aliens. The Hiveborn possess the humans they encounter, turning them into automata, thoughtless zombies who follow the singular will of the Hiveborn Queen: this ruler is the source of the implacable Hivemind, the consciousness that desires universal domination. To survive, the human resistance is forced to leave the bowels of the New Zealand mine they call home. Their special-ops forces take the fight to the Hiveborn base centered in post-apocalyptic Melbourne, and finally to space itself.

In The Earthborn Wars, Collins has provided readers with a gritty, lived-in world -- a believable future with believable characters. Though set centuries in the future, The Hiveborn's themes and questions of warfare and freedom, morality and responsibility are intimately familiar. This third installment of The Earthborn Wars provides a thought-provoking conclusion full of seamless action sequences and stunning plot twists.