Saucer - The Conquest

Saucer: The Conquest (2006) – Stephen Coonts
Orion | ISBN: 9780752876917
Condition: Good | Sold by Crappy Old Books

Flying saucers. Those magnificent machines supposedly operated by mysterious extraterrestrial civilisations, whose inhabitants have mastered interstellar travel but apparently remain irresistibly fascinated by American farmland, lonely motorists and the occasional unfortunate cow. For decades, humanity has wondered whether aliens might eventually arrive on Earth, bringing enlightenment, advanced technology and perhaps a few helpful suggestions about improving public transport.

Unfortunately, the discovery of alien technology is rather more likely to attract politicians, military officers and ambitious individuals who immediately begin wondering how to turn it into a weapon.

Welcome to Saucer: The Conquest, Stephen Coonts’s rip-roaring science-fiction adventure, in which ancient extraterrestrial technology, international intrigue and the extraordinary ambitions of human beings combine to produce a thoroughly entertaining planetary headache.

Continuing the adventures introduced in Saucer and Saucer: The Conquest’s predecessor, Saucer: The Conquest returns to the world of Rip Cantrell, the resourceful young adventurer whose involvement with an astonishing flying saucer has already demonstrated that some archaeological discoveries are considerably more exciting than pottery fragments.

Rip and his companions find themselves embroiled in another dangerous struggle involving advanced alien technology and the people determined to control it.

Naturally, the existence of a working flying saucer presents certain difficulties for the established world order.

Military planners become understandably nervous when confronted with a machine capable of making their most sophisticated aircraft look like obsolete agricultural equipment. Governments develop an urgent interest in obtaining exclusive control, while less scrupulous individuals begin imagining the remarkable opportunities presented by possessing technology nobody else understands.

Coonts, best known for his military and aviation thrillers, brings his enthusiasm for aircraft, high-speed action and technological intrigue to this exuberant science-fiction adventure.

His background in naval aviation lends particular energy to the flying sequences, where extraordinary machinery and human ingenuity combine to produce situations that would undoubtedly cause considerable distress among conventional aerospace engineers.

The story combines daring exploits, dangerous adversaries and the familiar thriller ingredients of betrayal, ambition and people making spectacularly poor decisions because somebody has promised them immense power.

There is something wonderfully ironic about humanity discovering evidence of a civilisation capable of astonishing technological achievements, only to respond with the same territorial instincts that have caused trouble since somebody first invented the pointed stick.

One might hope that extraterrestrial contact would encourage mankind to recognise its shared place in the universe.

Instead, everybody wants the keys to the spaceship.

Published in 2006, Saucer: The Conquest offers a lively mixture of science fiction and action thriller, ideal for readers who prefer their alien encounters accompanied by spectacular adventures rather than lengthy philosophical discussions.

This 2006 Orion edition, offered in Good condition by Crappy Old Books, is an appealing acquisition for admirers of Stephen Coonts, aviation thrillers, extraterrestrial mysteries and fast-moving science-fiction adventures.

A gloriously entertaining tale of alien technology, human ambition and the spectacular complications that arise when the most powerful vehicle on Earth becomes the subject of a very determined ownership dispute.

Because discovering a flying saucer would undoubtedly represent one of humanity’s greatest achievements.

Learning how to operate it would be another.

But persuading the world’s governments to stop fighting over it?

Now that really would require alien intelligence.

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