Alien Genesis by Gary Beene is a science fiction epic and the first book in the Eden's Angels series. This is an origin story, wherein a pre-ancient history of humans is rooted in our genetic agronomics by technologically and biologically advanced aliens. In the construct of revisionist history, Beene transitions timelines between mid-century Americana and the storytelling narrative of a human male protagonist named James Cortell, and many, many millennia prior through point of view characters that are primarily alien, and all in third-person past with a nod toward omniscient. Humans are at the mercy of alien slavers who have effectively transformed them into hard-working GMOs to satiate the most humanistic of horrors we know today: wealth and power. A corporate aristocracy under the helm of alien Grandmaster Elyon is intrinsically linked to his extortion of Sapien-hybrids from his lavish seat on Torus-1, but there are facets of abolitionists trickling through the ranks and rising against forced labor, heightened when the slave trade is expanded universally, leading to brutal interstellar warfare.

In Alien Genesis, Gary Beene has crafted a well-thought-out and profoundly complex initiation into his Eden's Angels series. It is a tricky task to get a reader to connect emotionally with alien characters, regardless of how anthropomorphic they seem. Beene's ability to create revolutionary warriors who are either alien or the earliest form of modern man is a testament to his literary skill in character development. The least likable characters to me are humans, James Cortell and Carla, who somehow can suck all the excitement from the room as soon as they enter. Because of them the story is slow to kick off and requires patience and perseverance to keep reading, but I hope readers will hang in there through Carla and James' lengthy dialogue, as action and adventure await. I loved Ramuell, Kadeya, Rarus, and Azazel and the danger that is ever-present at every surprising turn. Grandmaster Elyon is a perfect model of greed, corruption, politicking, wealth, and power. It's deliciously evil and he is the alien every reader is sure to love hating. This is a well-written novel that is worth the time commitment and will tickle the fancy of modern science fiction lovers.

The formation of modern man and the history of the world is reconsidered in book one of the science fiction Eden's Angels series Alien Genesis by Gary Beene. Tens of thousands of years before we even consider the origins of humanity, there was life so advanced beyond our world that our rock-pushing prehistoric life forms were under their control. Genetically modified by an advanced alien civilization, Sapien-hybrids were subsequently enslaved into hard labor by an interstellar corporation run by one Grandmaster Elyon. James Cortell awakens from a 20th-century coma with a story to tell. He did not just see our past, he felt it. He lived it. And now he is here to tell us what we have all collectively been through, beginning with its genesis.

Gary Beene takes an old theme of human slavery and suffering under the whip of aliens, brushes it off, and rebuilds it anew in Alien Genesis. Where most would free humans through an uprising by one that is guided by the sheer spirit of man, Beene is a realist and refuses to fall into less thoughtful tropes. It is other aliens who recognize that Elyon's corporate design, propped up on the backs of enslaved humans, needs to come to an end. Of course, humans are deeply involved and Cortell is a contemporary model of this but the spark is the result of those who are able to clearly see right from wrong and defy the powerful hold of immense corruption and greed. The writing is heavy on lengthy expositions that digress into speeches and would benefit from substantial trimming but all told, the story is innovative and enjoyable.