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Title: Last Stand
Series:
Empire Rising #12
Author: David Holmes
Rating:
3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages:
364
Words: 143K
Man, I did not see the Kurullians showing up and saving the day, not at all. I was seeing humanity about to be destroyed, again, and I knew it couldn’t happen, because of the snippets from the beginnings of each chapter, which are from 500 years later. So I saw an untenable position for humanity, saw no way out and yet knew the author would pull a rabbit out of his literary hat, somehow. And yet.
And Yet.
I was as tense as anything waiting for things to work out.
That takes skill on an author’s side to be able to do such things. I realize this is book 12 but Holmes has shown a consistency in his skill level that I appreciate. Doesn’t mean he’s a wordsmith like Rex Stout or a story teller like Charles Dickens (Holmes could use a good editor to cut down on some of the expositional scenes that go on for pages) but he has not let me down yet.
If you like military science fiction, I highly recommend this series. It’s a bit more space ship oriented than I care for, but it is good nonetheless.
★★★✬☆
From the Publisher & Bookstooge.blog
The
orbital Battle of New Shanghai has been lost. What is left of the
Allied fleet under James Somerville’s command is in full retreat.
The Imperial Marines and Colonial Militia on the planet’s surface
are left alone and without support. With a Karacknid fleet in orbit
and tens of thousands of ground troops being landed, it is General
Johnston’s duty to fight Humanity’s enemy to the last man. For he
is the only thing delaying the Karacknid fleet from pushing on to
Earth and completing their conquest of the Human Empire.
Meanwhile
James must scrabble together what meagre forces he can and ready the
defenses of the homeworld. With his fleet already beaten once, hope
has all but been extinguished. Still, he will make his last stand and
fight to the death for the sake of his family and his Empire.
When
a fleet of Kurullian worldships show up to help defend Earth and the
Alliance, James realizes they have a very slim chance to strike at
the heart of the Karacknian Empire and challenge the Warlord himself,
which is the only chance the Alliance has in the long term.
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