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When an enormous ship of unearthly origin visits Earth, the citizens and nations are extremely wary. After a brief wait to see what action these visitors might take, Russia decides to try to board the ship. Its operatives are lethally repulsed. Eventually, Russia tries again, attacking with nuclear missiles. This time, the visitors stop all the missiles and blow up the bases they originated from, along with sending two asteroids to crash into Russia’s biggest cities. This immediately lets the rest of the world know the visitors have the world entirely outmatched.
Eventually, a very tall humanoid alien with the head of a bird emerges. He lets the people of Earth know that the planet hasn’t been maintained. The people are overpopulated, over-polluting, and not finding a way to a lasting peace. He dictates that the people need to make drastic and dramatic changes, or his people will have no choice but to reset the world by crashing asteroids into it, much like they did thousands of years ago when they wiped out the dinosaurs. Shortly after, Earth’s citizens see more of the visitors and a strong connection between them and the early gods of Egypt.
Elkins has provided an interesting selection of alien beings with a comparable cast of characters. Elkins’ writing is precise, detailed, and well-paced enough to help develop this book as the setup for a longer series. Readers looking for a science fiction story to develop slowly over several books while giving insight into worldbuilding and character motivation will find all that in this series opener. Some readers may find similarities to titles like The War of the Worlds or Independence Day. Fans of such works may find this to be a thoughtful and interesting Earth-invasion series.