David Weber and Linda Evans, Hell’s Gate

Hell's Gate

David Weber and Linda Evans

Baen, November 2006, $26.00

ISBN: 1416509399

In parallel universes, two humanoid cultures share in common the belief that they are alone, as neither the Sharona or the Union of Arcana have encountered any other civilization as they expand through their universe. The Sharona combine technology with some psionic abilities, while the citizens of the Union of Arcana use magic as an everyday energy source.

The Arcana have begun to enter portals that take them into the Sharona universe. When these two monolithic societies meet for the first time someone fires the shot heard around the multiverse. Arcanian expedition and military leader Hundred Jasak Olderhan is upset that his squad opened fire, and hopes to prevent a war with the survivors of this other human species, but one of his soldiers, Fifty Garlath kills an unarmed man. Soon the rest of the Sharonian party of all civilians is annihilated, except for two that are taken prisoner, Shaylar and her husband, Jathmar. Now Magic and Science has collided, with the first encounter being open hostility.

This is a terrific opening of the Multiverse series that has two competing societies colliding with distrust and an inability to communicate. The storyline is filled with action, but also provides the needed input for readers to understand and believe that Arcana and Sharona exist without choosing magic or science as being the more civilized. Fans of either author will appreciate this fine collaboration, in which fantasy and science fiction blend delightfully into a strong out of space thriller.