Return to the Galaxy is a wild ride that blends gritty military realism with classic sci-fi adventure. At its core, it’s the story of Ewan Scott, a retired British Special Forces officer lying on his deathbed in 2038 who is offered a second chance at life by Jera, a mysterious alien AI avatar. In exchange for healing, youth, and purpose, Ewan must help prepare humanity for an interstellar future and a looming war that threatens Earth’s existence. The book weaves between Ewan’s vivid flashbacks of the Falklands War, present-day emotional reckonings, and a galactic history lesson that unfolds like a cosmic epic.

The book starts grounded, with grim and deeply human moments from Ewan’s military past, like the chaotic bayonet charge during the Battle for Mount Tumbledown. The details there felt raw and real: the terror, the gallows humor, the sheer physicality of it. Then, bam, we’re in a hospital room in 2038, talking to an avatar who injects nanites and heals cancer with a touch. It could have been too jarring, but somehow, Gillies makes it work. The emotional contrast between war and future tech gave the whole story more weight than your usual sci-fi romp.

The world-building is absolutely bananas but in the best way. We get a full-on download of galactic history, like this whole layered explanation of the Saret Federation and their colony systems: Light, Foster, and Wild Colonies. The way Gillies uses AI-driven flashbacks and Jera’s direct brain-to-brain communication with Ewan to show us these massive space empires was surprisingly effective. I was especially hit by the bittersweet moment when a pregnant colonist says goodbye to her children before leaving for a distant planet. It made this massive world feel very personal. That’s rare in sci-fi, and I loved it.

At times it feels like a mashup of a war memoir, a space opera, and a philosophical chat about humanity’s future and not all the transitions are smooth. Some exposition dumps, especially Jera’s monologues about history, dragged a bit, like the detailed timeline of colonization. But just when I felt bogged down, Gillies would toss in a zinger, like a van-driving blow-up doll named “Bouncing Betty” or a flashback to dodging landmines. Ewan’s dry humor and lived-in sarcasm saved the tone whenever it got too heady.

Return to the Galaxy is emotional, funny, high-stakes, and thought-provoking. It asks big questions: What do we owe our species? What makes a life worth living? And how far would you go to start over? I’d recommend Return to the Galaxy to fans of Old Man’s War by John Scalzi, military fiction lovers who are curious about space, and anyone who likes their sci-fi with a side of heart. It’s a bit rough around the edges, but it punches way above its weight.