The Neutronium Alchemist

Previously, on Night's Dawn Trilogy:

Satanists: Hail Satan!
Curious, wandering energy-matrix being: Hmmm? What's all this now? No, no, NOOO!
some continuum is ruptured, allowing for the return of tortured souls to possess the living an exhibit abilities like: causing technology to fail around them, manipulating appearances/matter, torturing the living so they can be possessed, and eventually whisking the planet they have taken over out of the universe! They are the possessed!
Galactic Confederation: Hmmm? What's all this now?
Possessed Planet: Rawr! Be gone!
Galactic Confederation: Ah! You've sunk our space battle ships!
Hard-core Space Marine: Arrrrgh!
Possessed Planet: Ah! You've, like, detonated a nuke on us! Now we have to wait a little longer to....Dysfunction...The...Reality!
Meanwhile, somewhere in Spaaaaaaace
Grand Satanist: I shall have my vengeance!

And now, our featured presentation:

The Neutronium Alchemist continues the saga of a Confederation of several human inhabited planets/asteroids/self-aware-space stations as they struggle against the dead who are returning from the beyond! These lost souls are desperate to return to life, since it appears as if even though there is an after-life (hoo-ray!) it is an existence filled with immeasurable suffering (boo!). But metaphysics must be set aside, as the living attempt to contain and halt the spread of possession throughout their interstellar kingdoms. It will be costly, but since the possessed are mostly disorganized, it should be possible.

Enter Al Capone, who returns from the dead to organize the Possessed. Meanwhile, a disgruntled scientists whose planet was destroyed decades earlier, seeks revenge by locating her hidden weapon in order to blow up a star.

As with the previous volume, The Neutronium Alchemist has quite a few story arcs and tons of characters to provide different perspective on those arcs. Also, like the previous volume, these arcs could make for their own novels. Blend them together, and you get this SUPER NOVEL of over 1200 pages of galactic horror...and planning for a military campaign...and chasing after someone...and something about driving children in a magical hippie bus to the border...and Al Capone....and stupid angsty teenagers trying to get to an asteroid full of the possessed because...erm...hormones?

As ridiculous as all of that sounds, it mostly works within the story... it even gets exciting at several parts! But a lot happens with a lot of people, which can get confusing at times (luckily, there's a list o' characters at the beginning of the book, so that helps sorts things out if you know which of the fifty thousand locations they are mostly at!)

With a cliffhanger ending and several massive battles and struggles forshadowed, I can not wait to start the sequel, The Naked God, which clocks in at....OVER 1300 PAGES! Ack! No! I'm not going to do it! You can't make me! The Confederation is doomed, mankind is possessed or kills itself or whatever...I don't care...it's too much! TOO MUCH!