Drifter Prime is book four in the Dark Galaxy series. It marks the end of the first trilogy of books, Galaxy Dog, Iron Dart and Sun Chaser, and the start of a new trilogy that continues the lives of the heroes of the first three books, Knave and Altia. In the fist three books we saw a rebellion get off the ground, we saw Altia and Knave come together as a couple, and we saw the empire they were fighting become even more corrupt and brutal. In this book all these themes are still in place and they are becoming ever more complex. Altia and Knave must now navigate being in a long-term relationship at the same time as being the leaders of a galactic rebellion. The empire continues to become ever more oppressive, in new and entertaining ways - entertaining that is for the reader, not the poor inhabitants of this dysfunctional superpower. Not to be left out, the rebellion also has new challenges: it is time to take their symbolic eleventh planet, a milestone that has become enshrined in the lore of the ancient Tarazet Star Empire as the point when a rebellion stops being one of many and starts to become serious. We also see new elements come into play in this book that will add new flavor to the series as it continues on into the future. The artifacts left by the long extinct Drifter culture have been a source of advanced technology for the humans of various different power blocks, and also for the alien mechanoid threat, the Buzzers. Now it becomes apparent that another power is also using the Drifter artifacts and they are using them against the entire galaxy, not just the Tarazet Star Empire, mighty though it is. Could this threat be huge enough to unite warring human factions and even the ancient enemy, the Buzzers, against an external invasion. Early indications are not good, but if anyone can lead the fight against the new invaders, it will be Altia and Knave, brains and logic combined with brawn and lateral thinking to make a team that, armed with advanced Drifter technology, can take on any threat the galaxy has to throw at them, and maybe even new threats from malevolent galaxies beyond.
