Review: Return to Aldebaran
The fourth and final installment of the Aldebaran Cycle by writer/artist Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira (a.k.a Léo) takes our intrepid heroine Kim Keller back to her roots on her home world, a colony which is now the centre of humanity's first rapprochement with an advanced extraterrestrial race, the serene and technologically superior Tsalterians.
A mysterious cube has been discovered on Aldebaran 4 which appears to be a transportation device, allowing instantaneous transfer to other worlds. A team of human and Tsalterian scientists has been assembled to investigate this strange phenomenon and hopefully unlock its secrets. Kim is assigned by the UN as their official representative; a stipulation insisted upon by the Tsalterians.
Of course, things are not nearly so straightforward. A large segment of human society is untrusting of the Tsalterians, especially as the aliens appear to have no regard for human officialdom. As the mother of a hybrid daughter, Kim is also the subject of paranoid suspicions. Some people on Aldebaran are afraid that the mysterious cube could be a threat to their safety if it allows alien invaders to emerge and threaten their existence.
Kim has her work cut out for her...
As always, there are those with vested interests in stoking the flames of xenophobia in order to engineer their own rise to power, and what should have been a harmonious scientific collaboration between two species soon becomes a deadly game of political manipulation.
In Return to Aldebaran Léo once more takes us to a strange new world that is in some ways very familiar and in other ways enchantingly exotic. When it comes to creating bizarre alien animals, Léo is second to none.
Again the human dimension is key to the narrative, with characters that the reader can easily identify with. The drama/action balance is a fine one, our protagonists once again flung into dire peril and dependent upon their own resourcefulness to survive. There are many monsters to fight here; not all of them of the alien variety...
The final chapter of the saga is a satisfying conclusion in which new themes are explored, such as the origin of the human race and its place in grand galactic scheme of things. The long, rich arc of Kim's story, which took in so many captivating adventures, reaches an accomplished denouement.
Zak Webber
Twitter - @sfcomicartist Instagram - @sfcomicartist
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! - SCI-FI COMIC NEXUS
*****
***
*
Comments
Post a Comment