Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road: Galaxy's Edge

Showing posts with label Galaxy's Edge. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Dark Victory (Galaxy's Edge #12) 4Stars

Title: Dark Victory
Series: Galaxy's Edge #12
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Space Opera
Pages: 294
Words: 103K

Well, until I see body parts spattered all over, or the the complete wreckage of a ship, never trust that someone is dead until then. Those are wise words to live by. And I lived by them. And the authors lived by them, because the princess was NOT dead like was implied in the previous book. Instead, she gets picked up by slavers and taken to a slaver planet to be sold. Hurray! Because you know Keel/Ford/Wraith/NeoRechs (my goodness, just how many identities are the authors going to give this guy? He needs to find himself) is going to come kicking down the door to rescue her. And he does. With the help of Blackleaf and the ultra-kajillionaire. And the Savages make a real comeback!

We’re talking Savage Wars 2.0 right around the corner. It’s going to be brutal.

Ravi, now fully revealed as an Ancient One, does what he can to oppose the Ancient Evil that is trying to destroy our galaxy. Like many of the literary Mentors of the Light, he doesn’t appear to be doing a lot. But you know he’s set stuff in motion and letting it play out. Evil Red Yoda (Urmo is his name) trains up another Champion of Evil and lets him loose. Little Girl Jedi finds her mother and it turns out she is a Savage, one who is able to manipulate the same forces as Ravi, and her daughter. Things are really starting to escalate.

I fully enjoyed this. And that is all I want from these Galaxy Edge books, just to sit down, read and have a killing blast of a time.

★★★★☆

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com

Galaxy's Edge Season Two continues as a divided galaxy is navigated by heroes forced to chart their own dangerous courses.Wraith, seeking to acquire intel on the mysterious Kill Team Ice, finds himself teamed up with an unlikely Nether Ops ally. Zora and Garret, in pursuit of a lost friend, will have their loyalty to Captain Keel tested. And the strain on Nilo and Black Leaf continues to grow, with unexpected intensity.For all of them, the path forward is a crooked one, weaving through House of Reason loyalists, Bronze Guild bounty hunters, brutal slavers, Legion operators, and the mysteries now emerging from the empty and foreboding space beyond galaxy's edge. And each step along that path only seems to reveal a new, darker truth about what's coming for them.

Sunday, March 03, 2024

Legacies (Galaxy's Edge #11) 4Stars

Title: Legacies
Series: Galaxy's Edge #11
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Space Opera
Pages: 466
Words: 155K

I enjoyed this more than the first book, even though it starts off with killing off one of the main characters we were introduced to in the previous book. I was not a huge fan of that but it help bring the focus back to Wraith/Ford and then Prisma and her warbot minder, K88 I think its name is?

There was also a lot of jumping around in both character perspective and in time. We meet Urmo again, the evil yoda of this series. If I hadn’t recently read Imperator (back in December) I doubt I would have remembered who he was and I would have been left scratching my head about his brief inclusion to the story.

The main story is that Wraith has a bounty on his head from the Assassin’s Guild and he has to track the head of the guild down to find out who put the bounty out on him. But to do this, he has to pretend to be Tyrus Rechs, who is dead (and like, dead dead. Dying in a nuclear explosion will do that to even immortals, surprise!). So Wraith is dressing up in Rechs old armor and goes to the assassins guild to get the job to hunt Wraith, ie, himself. But it all goes pearshaped when the Guild catches on and sets an ambush for Wraith. But Wraith is good enough to survive and now he has a lead.

The other storyline is about Prisma and K88 and their adventures on a Savage mini-hulk that is tractor beaming in random ships and using the passengers to run random war game scenarios. They are hooked up with some Republic fighters and one of them is from the same project that Wraith/Ford was in. Ravi shows up in the flesh and helps them out. Prisma is hearing a woman’s voice in her head, someone who can use the power who is nobody she knows. Turns out it is a Savage and she has plans for Prisma.

At the same time, Wraith, who is doing that whole Rechs/Wraith thing, finds out that his dad was not his dad but an old army buddy and that he, Wraith, is a long lived military experiment meant to be the tip of the Legionaire’s spear. To survive when the House of Reason took the project over, he had his memory suppressed and his buddy pretended to be his dad so there would be no record of him.

All of this is happening at the same time. POV’s are switching every couple of chapters and the forward momentum is absolute non-stop and relentless. By the end of the book I was begging for things to just stop and be in a bit more of an orderly fashion. I can understand why they wrote the book the way they did, but it was exhausting to deal with. As much as I complained about Takeover not seeming to advance the plot from Season One, I couldn’t complain about how the POV’s were handled. This just felt messier. Add in the deaths of Carter (the character from the previous book) and the apparent death (and if not, the complete disappearance of) Leenah and I had some real issues with how they handled secondary characters. I mean, why waste the entire first book of the series on a character who isn’t going to be around?

I know I have complained a good bit but I was happy overall with the book. It’s taking much longer for the authors to make apparent the path this second season is going to walk and I want that foresight now. I’m just thankful that author Nick Cole can’t narrate this series by some idiot who can’t tell a good story. Ohhhh, I still get angry with how they handled the Forgotten Ruins series. And look at that, I’m STILL complaining. I think somebody needs a nap.

★★★★☆

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com

With his duty to the Legion satisfied, Wraith sets out to find a lost member of his crew―the young girl, Prisma. But not only does the journey bring with it more death and destruction―and loss―than he ever imagined, it revives the shadows of a forgotten past… and the only way forward is to follow the footsteps of the legendary Tyrus Rechs.

Meanwhile, as the galaxy struggles to steady itself following the fall of a corrupt and bloated Republic, dangerous threats vie for power. These enemies include both the exceedingly modern and the impossibly ancient, awakening at long last to emerge from the darkness between the stars.

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Takeover (Galaxy's Edge #10) 4Stars

Title: Takeover
Series: Galaxy's Edge #10
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Space Opera
Pages: 348
Words: 114K

Much like Legionnaire, book one in the first season of Galaxy’s Edge, Takeover is almost straight up milsf. Because I had more experience with both authors, that didn’t surprise me like it would have a year ago. Doesn’t mean I particularly liked it though.

This was a bridge book with two brand new characters who appear to have zero relation to the characters I came to know in the previous nine books. That connection better get made in the next book or I’m afraid that season two of GE is in for a very bumpy ride. This is not the way I wanted to restart the series. I wanted pure space opera and I didn’t get that.

I enjoyed my read but at the same was disappointed that it wasn’t what I was expecting. I don’t have anything else to say right now.

★★★★☆

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com

Every disaster brings an opportunity.

Goth Sullus and his empire have fallen.

With the Legion and the rest of the galaxy watching from the still-smoldering galactic core, Carter, a former legionnaire turned private contractor, and Jack Bowie, a Navy spy with nowhere left to turn, sign up to work for an enterprising private contractor looking to make a statement on the planet Kublar.

Plans are in motion dating back to the Savage Wars, and as the galaxy rushes to fill in the vacuum created by the fall of the Imperial Republic, the bodies are hitting the floor.

But every plan has a reckoning…

Takeover is the thrilling aftermath of the final, desperate execution of Article Nineteen and the looming rebirth of the Legion and the galaxy itself as the road to Galaxy’s Edge: Season Two begins!

Saturday, December 02, 2023

Imperator (Galaxy's Edge #4.5) 4Stars

Title: Imperator
Series: Galaxy's Edge #4.5
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF/Space Opera
Pages: 323
Words: 104K

Ahhh, this was fantastic to return to the Galaxy’s Edge universe again. The Star Wars That Could Have Been. I read the final book of Galaxy’s Edge: Season One (Retribution) back in February of ‘21. I then read many of the spin off series and the final Galaxy’s Edge book I read was Angles of Attack in August of ‘22. Since then I have been patiently waiting for Anspach and Cole to finish up Season Two of the main Galaxy’s Edge series and then had to wait for an opportune time to slide it into my reading rotation.

So imagine my surprise when I came across a Galaxy’s Edge book I hadn’t read it. It was labeled #4.5 and fit between books 4 and 5 (duh, but you can’t be too careful). So I decided to kick off my reading of Season Two with this prequel. It was a good refresher course all about Goth Sullus and his history and what he was afraid of the entire time. I also felt that it introduced The Big Bogeyman so that I remember who/what that is, which is what I’m assuming S2 will be all about. If I had read this when I supposed to, I suspect I would have forgotten most of this by now.

This is the story of Goth Sullus, aka Caspar Sullivan, the Man who would be Emperor with a power no one can resist. He has sought this power for the good of the galaxy though, as it just won’t act like it should, ala how Caspar thinks it should. We go from the time his parents were killed to the attack on him as Emperor by his own Elite. His search for the power leads him to a planet where a twisted Yoda-like character named Urmo trains him in the ways of the Crux.

This was not a linear story at all but at the same time it was. We follow three different time lines of Caspar’s life and each time line is linear, but how and when we jump from one to the other is apparently random. But the authors handled it in such a way that I never felt confused about which timeline I was in nor did I get story whiplash jumping from one to the other. They handled it admirably well.

Caspar’s life is ruled by fear, even once he becomes Goth Sullus, and that fear is what drives him, motivates him, spurs him on. It’s not a good fear either and it makes him become the man that is capable of being Goth Sullus. All in all, this was a great character study of a weak man who was given much power.

On a side note, I’ll be using the Details code for the synopsis so there will be no repeats of Season One where some of those books had six page long synopses. You will not have to scroll through that this time around. On my honor!

Finally, that cover. Oh, is that total Star Wars vibes or what?!?!? Ahhhh, it is a soothing balm to my soul. Here’s the big version:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/scl/fi/h345vxf9k8kn5qr9t64qt/Imperator.jpg?rlkey=pz9ewzhlj27xnmc6r9mvhf5zo&d

★★★★☆

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com

Warrior. Slave. Survivor. Emperor.

As a crumbling Galactic Republic falls to the relentless assault of a merciless foe, so begins the rise of an enigmatic emperor intent on saving a corrupt galaxy-spanning civilization from itself… and from something much darker that lies beyond the reaches of the known.

Just as the reins of power fall into his iron-fisted grasp, an assassination attempt by a hidden cabal within his own inner circle jeopardizes every plan he has set in motion for his Dark Legion, his Imperial Navy, and his ultimate conquest of the stars. But the assassins have no idea who they are actually dealing with… or what he has become.

Imperator is a darkly heroic epic that spans the boundaries of time, space, friendship, and one man’s quest for a power that never should have been found.

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Angles of Attack (Galaxy's Edge: Dark Operator #5) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Angles of Attack
Series: Galaxy's Edge: Dark Operator #5
Author: Doc Spears
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mil-SF
Pages: 330
Words: 113K

Synopsis:

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com & Me

The galaxy follows a logical structure.

Legion Dark Operator Kel Turner believed that.

To know the order of battle and how an enemy unit was organized was to know its purpose and how to destroy it. That logic existed down to the smallest scale, down to what made up life itself. To know a molecule’s structure was to know its function—they were one and the same. It was no different for Kel. He was Dark Ops and Dark Ops was him. Down to his last cell and very soul.

But the covert action arm of the Legion is changing. And so is he. And if Dark Ops is no longer the same, how could Kel be Kel?

From fighting a gray war against a cunning adversary bent on genocide, to slogging through a jungle hell full of rabid dog-men, Kel won't stop until the mission is complete. He was his mission. But if the day comes when there would no longer be a Dark Ops for Kel, what would his mission be then?

Who would he become?

Once Dark Ops becomes public knowledge amongst the Legion, Kel realizes his time is done. He leaves the Legion and goes back to his girlfriend and her family.

My Thoughts:

This is the final Dark Operator book. It was chockfull of military adventure stuff and things were speeding along at about a million miles an hour. Then it just ends. The reader doesn't even get the ending from Kel's perspective, like the whole series has been. He leaves, leaves a letter and we get told all of it from Kel's superiors.

I seriously thought about giving this one star for that kind of ending. It was like a right hook out of no where and it was not a pleasant experience. It showed me that “Doc Spears” doesn't know how to write an ending to save his life. As such I'll probably avoid any more GE books by him (I don't think he's written anymore thankfully) and I definitely won't be checking out any non-GE books by him.

With all of that bellyaching out of the way, I can say that up until the ending, I was enjoying the ever living daylights out of this. There was boatloads of military action and Kel was kicking butt and slitting throats left and right. It was one of the best Dark Operator stories so far. And I think that is why the ending hit me so hard. It was like running at full speed and hitting a brick wall. That hurts a lot. Now if you were just walking, it would still hurt, but not nearly as bad.

This brings me face to face with the decision of where to go next with Anspach and Cole. Galaxy's Edge season two has 2 more books before it finishes up. The penultimate book doesn't come out until sometimes in September, so who knows when the final book will be published. That leaves me with A&C's other series, Forgotten Ruins. There are currently 6 books in that series and book 7 will be published in December. See, talk about being caught on the horns of a dilemma. I trust you will all commiserate with me in this most difficult of times.

* cue dramatic yet totally manly pose *

★★★☆☆

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Exigency (Galaxy's Edge: Dark Operator #4) ★★★★☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Exigency
Series: Galaxy's Edge: Dark Operator #4
Author: Doc Spears
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mil-SF
Pages: 297
Words: 104.5K

Synopsis:

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com & Me

A legionnaire’s only failure is the failure to do what’s right.

Kel Turner is a victim of his own success. His exploits and victories as part of Kill Team Three bring the attention of forces seeking hegemony over the Republic.

These shadowy power brokers know that a man like Kel represents a threat to their plans… unless he can be persuaded to join them. And if the operator declines his hidden enemy will stop at nothing to destroy him.

At a deadly crossroads, Kel is told to choose between love and duty. But his foes are ignorant that he has a third choice.

Win.

The dark operator is the master of all the tools of lethal combat. Kel will need them all to succeed.

Experience the epic fourth installment of the Dark Operator series and join Kel on a desperate, daring mission against an evil that runs deep in the heart of the Republic. Become a Dark Operator and escape the expected.

Kel tells his buddies and superiors about the blackmail and they formulate a plan to root out the mastermind behind this corruption of the Dark Ops. They succeed and the Head of the Senate appears to be behind things. They disappear him and suddenly Kel has a real chance at living the life of a civvie with a spacefaring family. The book ends with him not sure which way he'll go.

My Thoughts:

Yeah, THIS is what I expect from a Galaxy's Edge book. This showed how Nether Ops, those dastardly evil spawn of hell, got their start. And it showed them getting their butts totally kicked by the good guys! Now THAT is how a story is supposed to be told.

Near the beginning I was afraid Kel was going to try do the Lone Wolf thing and go against the Legion, but I should have known better. The author isn't an idiot and as such his characters aren't idiots just to propel the plot. Thank goodness for good story telling (again).

There is only one more Dark Operator book left and I suspect it will end with Kel either leaving the Legion for a family, or they all die and he becomes a hardened warrior out to KTF. I hope he gets his happy ending, he deserves it after what he's gone through in these 4 books so far!

★★★★☆

Friday, June 17, 2022

No Fail ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: No Fail
Series: Galaxy's Edge: Dark Operator #3
Author: Doc Spears
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mil-SF
Pages: 281
Words: 100.5K

Synopsis:

From the Publisher

Failure is a Hateful Word

For Dark Ops Sergeant Kel Turner, it’s unthinkable. Until now. Kill teams are accustomed to achieving the impossible, and Kill Team Three has done the impossible more than any other. Tasked with mission after mission, against a never-ending list of enemies, Kel and Three brace themselves to rise to the occasion yet again.

Kel lived under no doubts about his kill team’s ability to win against any odds, until an enemy thought long defeated reappears. From a dingy city locked in the center of a cold war to a nightmarish alien landscape, the one constant that defines their latest missions is that a kill team is always alone.

Living in the black world of covert operations, there are secrets, then there are secrets. The first might lead to his death. The second might lead to failure.

For this Dark Operator, in a galaxy filled with potentials, death is preferable to failure.

My Thoughts:

Decent Mil-SF but that's about it.

★★★☆☆

Friday, April 29, 2022

Rebellion ★★★✬☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Rebellion
Series: Galaxy's Edge: Dark Operator #2
Author: Doc Spears
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mil-SF
Pages: 283
Words: 104K

Synopsis:

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com & Me

For Sergeant Kel Turner and Kill Team Three, the wait is never long. Whether it’s on a core world snatching a delusional genius who knows too much, or on the edge forging allies among a complex alien culture, Dark Ops are the foot soldiers of the House of Reason’s galactic game for dominance.

Danger looms over Kel and his teammates like taxes over a Republic citizen. The promise is written in blood. Now they face a crisis that makes their worst firefight tame in comparison. Kel learns that sometimes there are no clear answers, manuals, or templates to follow. Isolated from Republic help, when the lives of thousands hang in the balance, a planet looks for a savior. Fortunately, when there’s a dark operator on hand, the odds favor the Legion.

KT3 kidnap a rich genius and disappear him. Then the entire book switches to them being on an alien planet that the Republic is woo'ing for the rare elements available. The Company has made a deal with the largest tribe, arming them with modern blasters and tanks, etc. Several Kill Teams are training this new army. The army rebels, the supposed leader declares herself the leader of the world and plans to wipe out every single human on the planet.

The Ambassador gets all the surviving humans (many were killed in outposts they were doing research at) into one city and begins evacuating them. But with a brand new army and guns and tanks, the rebel isn't going to let that happen. So she begins to march on the city, which is pretty much defenseless. Kel figures out a way to send an asteroid onto the army and destroy it without cracking the planets surface.

The book ends with an extremely powerful Senator making note that Kel is too resourceful for a Legionnaire and needs to be cut off.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed my time reading this but have realized that what I really like about the Galaxy's Edge universe is the original authors writing. Jason Anspach and Nick Cole write what I want to read, military space opera. Everybody else who is playing in this sandbox seems to be writing just military science fiction. I enjoy mil-sf, but not as much as space opera.

The beginning of the book felt like a short story inserted to pad the page/word count. I kept waiting for what happened then to have ramifications when they were on the alien world, but it never did. The beginning chapter/s (I forget if it was longer than a chapter or not) simply had zero integration with the rest of the book. It was very jarring.

Decent read but not mind blowing or anything like that at all. I'm giving this 3 ½ stars but really, I think that half star is just for the name Galaxy's Edge. If the next book is of the same quality and holds my interest the same, I'll be knocking things down to a more realistic 3star. Mind you, this isn't bad. It just isn't what I got in the original series.

★★★✬☆

Sunday, March 13, 2022

Dark Operator ★★★✬☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Dark Operator
Series: Galaxy's Edge: Dark Operator #1
Author: Doc Spears
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mil-SF
Pages: 355
Words: 130K

Synopsis:

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com & Me

Legion Dark Ops has always been a unit shrouded in secrecy.

Tasked with performing covert missions, its kill teams are filled with the best warriors from within the ranks of the Legion.

Kel Turner is one of the youngest legionnaires ever to be selected to its ranks. After many battles and trials, he is faced with the greatest challenge of his life - operating by himself on a remote planet at the galaxy's edge, a foot soldier for the policies of the duplicitous House of Reason, tasked with solving a crisis that would take ten kill teams to resolve.

Diplomats, spies, shadowy terrorist groups, and an enigmatic general work with and against Kel as he fights to save a society from itself. What can one operator do alone, separated from his kill team, fighting a war that has no name?

Once Kel has turned around the various police forces of the planet and done a lot of good work, he's asked to leave. Immediately. By the very man he thought was his friend on the planet, the titular head of security for the Families.

Once he reaches Republic Space, he finds out that that same man used the skills Kel gave him and his men to overthrow the Families and establish himself as Dictator. And all of this was known about and used by the politicians of the Republic.

My Thoughts:

This was MUCH better than the Order of the Centurion sub-series (which I dnf'd partway through). While still not engaging in a tone of space opera that the original series does, this managed to be a thoroughly enjoyable military SF romp. Part of my enjoyment, and focused me on what I didn't enjoy about Order, was that Kel is a pretty well rounded guy. I guess my problem with Order was that I was reading about guys who were breaking apart in some way or other, and the testing that Tyrus Rechs set up for even getting into the Legion should have weeded out fellows like that. Here, Kel is everything I expect to read about when reading about the Dark Operators, the top of the top of the Legion.

He's young, not stupid, but naive in terms of just how the galaxy works in certain ways. It takes him by surprise when the Security Chief takes over using a coup. He's really surprised when his best friend is killed by the Zhee and he finds out that the head of the Dark Operators helped train Zhee back in the day. He's a great mix of deadly, competent and naive.

The story was good too. Kell is on a world that is experiencing some civil unrest and is helping the security forces get a handle on things. As such there is a lot of military action but it is liberally leavened with social things like going out to eat or going to a party. For me, it was perfectly balanced between straight up Mil-SF and good old fashioned adventure.

I'm looking forward to the next one. And once I'm done with this 5book sub-series, I'll have to see what kind of back catalog Doc Spears has of his own original stuff.

★★★✬☆

Sunday, February 20, 2022

Stryker's War ★★✬☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Stryker's War
Series: Galaxy's Edge: Order of the Centurion #3
Author: Josh Hayes
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mil-SF
Pages: 197
Words: 63.5K

Synopsis:

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com

Feel the thunder!

Stryker Company always brings the fight, but when they relieve embittered and embattled Republic marines, they find an enemy unwilling to stand up and face them. Tasked with protecting the Republic's interests on a mining world, the legionnaires face roadside ambushes, double-dealing locals, and constant sabotage.

And the mission isn't as straightforward as they thought it would be.

As skirmishes escalate into coordinated ambushes and assaults, two squad leaders, Talon and Lankin, are forced to chase after the sparks threatening to ignite the entire populace into a full-blown insurgency. Denied the legionnaires and resources they need to contain the situation, a single platoon fights to complete a mission requiring all of Stryker Company. The outnumbered platoon must work their way from glittering coastal ports, through steamy jungles and dust-covered mines, to find an enemy hidden seamlessly among the indigenous populace.

The cost is high; the sacrifice great...but nothing short of death itself will stop the legionnaires of Stryker Company from completing its objective. In this stand-alone tale of combat, brotherhood, and sacrifice, these legionnaires will learn what it truly means to make the ultimate sacrifices for their friends.

My Thoughts:

This Order of the Centurion sub-series is straightup Military Science Fiction without a hint of the Space Opera that I enjoy so much from Anspach and Cole.

I had the exact same issues with this book that I did with Iron Wolves. The main character/s are a bunch of worry warts with possible mental issues all the while operating in a hostile environment with idiots for bosses. I'm sure this would appeal to military vets, as it seems to be aimed at that crowd but as someone who came in on the Star Wars'ish space opera vibe for the Galaxy's Edge, this is not for me.

As such, I'm abandoning this sub-series and will start another one. Sigh, my first letdown in this series :-/

★★✬☆☆

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Iron Wolves (Galaxy's Edge: Order of the Centurion #2) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Iron Wolves
Series: Galaxy's Edge: Order of the Centurion #2
Author: Jonathan Yanez
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mil-SF
Pages: 212
Words: 62K

Synopsis:

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com/Publisher's Summary

The Iron Wolves are a company of legionnaires whose legendary exploits date back to the Savage Wars. When they are invited to be guests of honor at a ceremony on a small, backwater planet, they look forward to some precious time away from the constant conflicts of galaxy's edge.

But when a neighboring country invades, disrupting the ceremony and killing innocents, the Wolves are forced to make an impossible decision. Aid a people pleading for their protection... or obey the cynical orders of their Senate to stand down and see how the dust settles.

Taking their careers and lives into their hands, the Iron Wolves and local militia form a brotherhood determined to fight for what they believe in. War is on the wind, the battle is at hand, and the Legion is on the move once more.

My Thoughts:

This is the first GE book truly written by another author. While Anspach and Cole's names are on the cover, this is all Yanez. As such, it is a very different book from what I've read before. In many ways, it was almost straight up Mil-SF, just like the first book that kicked this whole series off, Legionnaire (by the by, can you believe it has been over 2 years since I started in on the Galaxy's Edge series? And man, it is still going wicked strong!). There was no space opera about this novel, only the grim side of a war for a Republic that was downright dirty.

The main character, Sam, is a real basketcase. He suffers from flashbacks & nightmares and has bad enough anger issues that he's constantly being busted back in rank. His life is the Legion though and there is nothing he won't do for his brothers, including disobey direct orders from their Point Major, who is safely ensconced in a spaceship high above the world.

I understood what Yanez was writing here and why he wrote Sam as he did but I did not enjoy it nearly as much as some of the other GE books. Without that space opera element, that “fantastical other”, Mil-SF has to be really interesting to keep me engaged.

I'll definitely be adjusting my expectations for the rest of this sub-series. Hopefully that will be enough to keep me motivated.

★★★☆☆

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

The Order of the Centurion (Galaxy's Edge: Order of the Centurion #1)

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Order of the Centurion
Series: Galaxy's Edge: Order of the Centurion #1
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF/Space Opera
Pages: 218
Words: 73.5K

Synopsis:

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com

“The Order of the Centurion is the highest award that can be bestowed upon an individual serving in, or with, the Legion. When such an individual displays exceptional valor in action against an enemy force, and uncommon loyalty and devotion to the Legion and its legionnaires, refusing to abandon post, mission, or brothers, even unto death, the Legion dutifully recognizes such courage with this award.”

Tired of sitting out the war on Psydon in a mobile office hab, Legion Lieutenant Washam agrees to undertake a covert and unsanctioned mission with a band of Republic Recon Marines. Inserted deep behind enemy lines, the strike force uncovers a surprise key to ending a bitter war. Now they must navigate a hostile jungle teeming with murderous alien rebels, pushing themselves to the limits of their abilities, to get this vital intel to Legion Command--if they can survive that long.

THE ORDER OF THE CENTURION is an all-new series of stand-alone military science fiction thrillers set in the GALAXY'S EDGE universe, ranging from the Savage Wars to the arrival of the Black Fleet. Each book features the legendary heroes of the Legion who forgot nothing in their earning of the Legion's highest honor.

My Thoughts:

As the blurb above states, this series is actually a bunch of stand-alone novels dealing with various heroes of the Legion over time. I'm good with some stand-alones at the moment. A good solid Mil-SF book filled with heroics aptly fits my needs.

I was kind of expecting this book, by Anspach and Cole alone, to be about the first time the Order of the Centurion was awarded. But instead they chose a time period soon after the Savage Wars had ended and as the Republic is stretching its wings. It's also when the Republic's House of Reason began appointing Officers to the Legion in an underhanded way to bring it under their control. So not only do the authors choose that time period, they choose 2 Points (short hand for Appointed Officer) to tell the story, as one of them is the guy who gets the award, post-humuously. It also does a fantastic job of showing how much politics goes into even something that should have been sacred from the filthy hands of the politicians.

Usually I thoroughly enjoy the characters portrayed but not so much this tme. The Point who gets the award is everything that the Legion feared a Point would be. The other is his friend but actually went through Legionnaire training and successfully become a Legionnaire on his own. The problem is that the friend kept excusing the Bad Point for the whole book and even at the end thinks well of him. Thankfully all of the supporting characters were great and really pushed the story on.

One of the side characters is an actual Leej and not only that, but a Dark Operator. He's just biding his time per his commander's orders so that he can retire with full benefits and get his pension, which will allow him to live with his wife and two sons and reconnect with them. He was the character I connected with and wished that he had received the medal and recognition. He showed the spirit of the Legionnaires and that was enough to carry the story, thankfully.

Like I noted before, this was by Anspach and Cole alone. After this, other authors are going to be writing the stories under the direction of A&C. I am hesitant about that. For my own sake I hope it turns out well but I've experienced too many instances of other authors playing in someone's sandbox and, while not ruining things, just not getting it and so being out of step and awkward for established readers.

★★★★☆

Friday, November 05, 2021

The Hundred (Galaxy's Edge: Savage Wars #3) ★★★★☆

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Title: The Hundred
Series: Galaxy's Edge: Savage Wars #3
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF/Space Opera
Pages: 251
Words: 109.5K

Synopsis:

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com

THE LEGION HAS LANDED.

One hundred men met the brutal standards of General Tyrus Rechs and became legionnaires.

One hundred men embarked on a suicide mission to retake New Vega from the Savages.

One hundred men stood up... for the galaxy.

Galaxy's Edge: The Hundred is the exciting conclusion to the Savage Wars trilogy as the Legion launches a desperate, brutal assault against the overwhelming forces of the Savage Alliance.

My Thoughts:

Out of the 250 pages, the battle was about 200 of them. So if ultra-tough space marines on steriods, ie, the Legionnaires, don't get your motor running, this book definitely isn't for you. In all honesty, this sub-series of the Galaxy's Edge series isn't for you and I'd even question if the entire GE series was for you or not. This is Mil-SF with enough Space Opera to keep it from becoming Tom Clancy Presents: Jack Ryan the 15^th, In Space!

Where the previous book, Gods and Legionnaires, was divided into 2 books, one about the Savages and one about the Legionnaires, this was 90% about the 100 Legionnaires taking back the planet New Vega. The book actually starts 50-100 years after the events take place with the few surviving Legionnaires from that battle being honored. Coupled with the vague references from previous GE books, we knew that the 100 were whittled down to almost nothing before kicking the Savages off New Vega.

Even Tyrus Rechs dies. Of course, because of the magic scyenze mojo the Savages did on him when he was their prisoner, he comes back to life, but he takes a new call sign so that as far as the Legion is concerned, Rechs is dead. He set out to do what he needed to and now it is time to recover.

We're also introduced to Aeson Ford, the guy from the first season of Galaxy's Edge. Considering this took place 1500-2000 years before those books, I was wondering if it was the same guy. But right at the end of the book he gets drafted into some sort of Super Magic Scyenze Cryogenics program, so yep, it's him. That was fun to see.

This was the final book in the Savage Wars sub-series and I thought that Anspach and Cole did an admirable job of relating a story that took place 2000 years before. They didn't go overboard and try to describe every nut and bolt or color of every bird's feather but neither were they Idea Only people like some of the old masters like Asimov or even Clarke. The blood, the grit and the determination were here in spades and I loved every second of it.

Next up for me and Galaxy's Edge is the Order of the Centurion series. I'll talk about exactly what they entail when I review the first book, Order of the Centurion, but it will be something a bit different as each of the 5 books in the series is mainly written by some other author while Anspach and Cole stamp their name on the book and keep control of their universe. I hope it turns out ok. Sometimes letting other authors play in your sandbox doesn't turn out well. But for the first time in my entire life, I'm going to think positively and believe that I'm going to love Order of the Centurion as much as all the previous GE series :-D

★★★★☆