3.5 out of 5 stars
The publisher provided a copy of this, free of charge, in return for an honest review.
Lieutenant Lucinda Hardy is on another commission. Her previous commission had left her with a Star of Valor award, but as it was a black op and covered under Top Secret Absolute rules. But people on her new ship knew about it, and she had no idea why it had been declassified.
Professor Frazer McLennan is investigating the inside of a Voortrekker, a ship that had crashed in the southern wastelands of Van Maartensland. He has visitors arriving soon and for someone who doesn’t like people, that is the last thing that he really wants…
Sephina L’Trel was considering her life choices. It wasn’t the most ideal moment to do so, though. She has just decapitated a mob boss, and there were lots of people trying to shoot her. On reflection, she had had better days.
A princess had been hiding in the garden playing a game with two friends. But now she has been caught and has to go and practice her scales. It was an obligation that she really didn’t want to meet, but pushing back against their will would have no effect.
A man in a cell is facing condemnation, and a priest is trying to convert him to Christianity. He doesn’t want to be converted, but relents, knowing that the outcome is, for him at least, irrelevant.
These five individuals would be there when the invasion started. They would face their greatest fears as the enemy is one that want to obliterate the human race. It is going to be messy and brutal, and their paths are inextricably linked. This story is an account of their time in the conflict.
Each of these five individuals tell the story of the invasion from their perspective, the ebb and flow as they come up against the Sturm. We learn of the alliances made between the factions, too, as the intensity of the fight back against the invaders continues after the initial surprise, but there are many losses on both sides. It builds to a high tension and fast paced ending; and that is all I will say about the plot!
It has been quite a while since I have read any military sci-fi, and I thought that this was pretty good overall. The tech feels plausible, though I can’t say I’d want to meet one of these machines that the Marines use! I thought that the plot was fairly good, thoug,h as with any series book, some of the outcomes can be guessed; it is the route there that makes the story. The characters didn’t have much depth to them, but then, this isn’t a novel for character development. I will definitely seek out the subsequent books in the series to read at some point.
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