We Are the Destroyers

D. K. Lindler

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

Captain Bel’lar can’t accept that he’s lived all this before. Overconsumption is destroying his home planet, and synthetic foods are turning his people into degenerated mutants under the control of the Brotherhood of Syn. As one of the few remaining but persecuted Organs - those who still live the organic lifestyle - Bel’lar and his small crew must escape from their dying world to the semi-mythical blue-white planet.

They are to discover if it is really what the prophecies say it is: a place for humanity to make a new beginning. But the visions of his beautiful companion Ry Sing, a mystic and seer shake Bel’lar. She tells him that eons ago, Bel’lar was also faced with the burden of saving his people from their own greed. Only then he was the Great One, the sacred head of their religion. He had seen no other way to liberate them from their collision course with environmental destruction and spiritual degradation than to purify the planet in a great cataclysm…

But could the horrible vision be true? Could he really have done such a thing? And what about the scriptures that predict that a man with a mark like his would be fated to purify a corrupted planet once again and free the souls? As Bel’lar, Ry Sing and the rest of the elite team embark on their mission to save mankind, the truth of the vision begins to reveal itself, and Bel’lar’s destiny is set before him. But will he be able to avoid it this time? Or is he fated to live the vision once again?

Review by Paul Lappen (010520) Rating (8/10)

Review by Paul Lappen
Book Source: Not Known
Rating 8/10
Environmental degradation and over-consumption are destroying Bel'lar's home world. A growing movement among the people is to adopt the Syn (synthetic) lifestyle, to practically live on synthetic chemicals. The minority Organs (organic) want Bel'lar to take a ship called Light Traveller, and a small crew, to the semi-mythical planet blue-white planet, to see if it is suitable for colonisation.

Just before their hurried departure, just missing a mob of rampaging Syns, a beautiful mystic and seer named Ry Sing gives Bel'lar a horrifying vision. Long, long ago, Bel'lar was the Great One, the religious leader on a world called the Planet of Abundance. It faced a similar over-consumption crisis. His advisers convinced him the purifying the planet was the only option. It wasn't until it was too late that Bel'lar realised that ‘purifying’ the planet involved using several nuclear weapons buried around the planet to kill everyone. Even worse, scripture says that he is destined to do it again.

After visiting the blue-white planet, with an unscheduled stop at its smaller, red, dead planetary neighbour (the Planet of Abundance), Bel'lar and crew head home to tell the people what they have found. Because of time dilation, nearly 350 years have passed since they left. Their world is on the verge of environmental collapse. The air and water are full of synthetic chemicals. There are no fish or animals left. Genetic modifications from the Syn lifestyle have made the population fat, hairless and stupid. The few Organs who are left are forbidden to leave their compound on pain of immediate death by the Syns.

An entire religion grew up around Bel'lar during his absence. A competing religion has grown up around a man named Quasar, leader of the Organs, and de facto ruler of the world. Bel'lar is to be forced to publicly recant (he has no interest in being another Great One), so that the people will have no choice but to worship Quasar. A short distance away is another planetary purification device.Does Bel'lar ‘purify’ another planet? Is there anyone worth saving?

Personally, the first half of the book, when the crew visited the two planets, felt a little too new age-ish. The second half of the story, when they were back home, was much better. It will give the reader a lot to think about, and it is still worth reading.
Paul Lappen (1st May 2020)