Apex by Aer-ki-Jyr

Science Fiction

From Goodreads:

Humanity has been eradicated from the galaxy, wiped out by an unknown foe ages ago that then mysteriously disappeared after the deed was done. Without the formerly dominant Human Empire and its network of allies, the galaxy has regressed into a technological dark age, with chaos ensuing. Races formerly suppressed have risen up, aggressors held in check are now free to prey upon the space lanes, and many of the weaker races have been subjugated and enslaved, if not outright destroyed.

Amongst this nightmare of a galaxy a few beacons of hope remain, holding the dark at bay. They vie to discover what remains of the Human Empire's almost magical technology, with every small artifact unearthed escalating into an interstellar conflict.

When a not so small artifact is discovered, races battle each other over the world of its discovery to claim the prize...but the researchers who discovered it manage to smuggle it offworld, setting up a grand chase as the artifact's guardians, the Cres, race to return it to the safety of their territory.

If you love Science Fiction that goes into a lot of technical detail you will love Apex.  I am not that into the technical so for me it made for a slow reading.  This is also book one in a series so it had a lot of ground to cover.  The goal of getting the human to Cres territory was met but that still left a lot hanging.

Apex required quite a lot of world building and back story.  Most of the time it did not slow the plot down.  There is one important part for the back story that is still unknown but it is key to the direction future books need to follow.

The characters are interesting but not as well drawn as they might have been.  All the technical detail, back story and world building interfered with character development

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I found the plot to be unique.   Humans were wiped out many years ago but now one has been found in a stasis pod.  Much of Apex revolves around how important he is and his actions after awakening.

Aer-ki-Jyr has been writing for years.  Much of that was fan fiction and self-published books.  Apex is his first main stream book.  Unlike many first published novels it does not suffer from poor writing.  The writing from those previous years is apparent as the story flows in a very organized and well written way.

I will be looking for the next book in the series.  I really want to know how much difference the last human left can make in the universe.

Harper Voyager Impulse published Apex by Aer-ki-Jyr in 2015.

I received an ARC of Apex from Edelweiss in return for an honest review.