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

Showing posts with label Galaxy's Edge: Season Two. Show all posts

Thursday, October 03, 2024

KTF Part I (Galaxy's Edge #16) 3Stars

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Title: KTF Part I
Series: Galaxy's Edge #16
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Military SF
Pages: 267
Words: 87K

KTF stands for Kill Them First, which is one of the mottoes of the Legion.

It turns out that Ravi, the last Ancient in our universe, didn’t die in the previous book. He simply broke a covenant that freed Dark Forces to act as they were going to eventually anyway.

And all during this time, the original Savage has been biding his time, learning, becoming knowledgeable in the power that Goth Sullus called The Crux. The power that Prisma is trying to learn about. She is now with her mother, who is also a savage in thrall to this God of the Savages. He is the one who set the original Savage Wars in motion and now, he not only plans on starting the Second Savage War, but he also has plans to contain the Consumption, the Dark Force that has been trying to gain access to our universe. With that power under his control, he truly IS approaching godhood.

I enjoyed this much more than the previous book but not enough to redeem the path the authors are going overall.

The Consumption is the Dark Force that Tyrus Rechs was trying to warn everyone against. It is the force the Legion was created to eventually fight against and when the Legion went bad before Article 19, the force Dark Ops were created to fight against. And it turns out he was being used by the Savage King even way back then. So everything we thought we knew has been thrown into question.

This was a good, enjoyable military science fiction story and if this wasn’t book 16 in a series, I’d probably give it a much higher rating, maybe even a 4star. But the authors, Anspach and Cole, have spit on me and my Star Wars fandom and I can’t overlook that, nor will I. 3Stars is as high as my reading conscious will let me go.

★★★☆☆

From the Publisher

The Savage Wars never ended.

As Kill Team Victory and General Chhun take control of the cities on Kima, a war every bit as spiritual as it is physical rages in the deepest parts of galaxy’s edge. The Legion, and the Republic military at large, struggle to deal with a sudden multitude of planetary invasions and uprisings -- with rumors of mysterious ships breaking the peace achieved by Article Nineteen. Meanwhile Captain Aeson Keel continues his search for Prisma, aided by friends from both his past and present. But only mankind’s oldest ally can hold back the tide of ultimate destruction. For an unknown darkness is closing in, and the Republic once again stands on the threshold of galactic war.

Wednesday, August 07, 2024

Last Contact (Galaxy's Edge #15) 2.5Stars

Title: Last Contact
Series: Galaxy's Edge #15
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Military SF
Pages: 339
Words: 117K

Thankfully, we didn’t spend the entire book with the Legion this time around. But that is the only reason I bumped this up half a star from the previous book. Of course, they immediately do the following and lose that half star.

Urmo is killed by Prisma. Ravi destroys the Dark Wanderer to protect Prisma, and thus the “contract” of the higher beings comes into play and Ravi is out of the picture. Rex is dead. Goth Sullus is dead. Everything that made this Star Wars’esque has slowly been removed and this book really finishes that process. Felt very much like a Scorched Earth way to get rid of elements the authors were no longer interested in.

I am a very disappointed camper right now.

★★✬☆☆

From the Publisher

Wraith discovers crucial intel about the threat that past The Gap, beyond Galaxy's Edge. Meanwhile, Prisma undertakes and arduous journey and the legionnaires of Zombie Squad search for Masters.

Thursday, June 20, 2024

Remains (Galaxy's Edge #14) 2.5Stars

Title: Remains
Series: Galaxy's Edge #14
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Military SF
Pages: 281
Words: 123K

This was exactly the same as the previous book, in that we get one chapter with some of the space opera element and the rest of the book is a Legionnaires military science fiction novel. Not at all what I signed up for. So I’m downgrading my rating because I felt very generous last time. I’m not feeling that way at all any more.

Anspach and Cole made an unspoken compact with the readers in the first series. This was Star War’esque in both it’s tone and story line. That compact has been broken, most thoroughly now, by them in this second series. I wish they had never started this and once I’m done with this series, I’ll be done with them as authors.

Once again, Indie authors disappoint me and let me down. How typical.

★★✬☆☆

From the Publisher

The Legion has landed...

The Republic world of Kima has fallen with shocking speed to the renewed forces of the Mid-Core Rebellion, and General Chhun must lead the rebuilt and enhanced 131st Legion-along with Marines, Dark Ops, Navy, and Kimbrin Resistance-onto the planet to violently check their assault.

But timing is of the essence, and Chhun can't do it alone. Bear, working undercover, unearths the treachery of a resurgent Nether Ops still working their dark influence from the shadows. Masters has his hands full just staying alive while he evades deadly pursuers. And Keel finds himself swept up in intrigues that may make the planetary takeover of Kima all but insignificant.

The battle is fierce and hard, but VICTORY is always within reach so long as the Legion-remade to its initial purpose-remains to fight.

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Convergence (Galaxy's Edge #13) 3Stars

Title: Convergence
Series: Galaxy's Edge #13
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Military SF
Pages: 311
Words: 107K

This really felt like a straight up Military-SF story rather than a space opera. I don’t WANT to read that. I want the Star Wars that might have been, and I am not getting that. At all.

This is what happens when you place authors as people on pedestals. They without fail will let you down. I am becoming very disillusioned with this duo and I don’t know whether to continue to see if they turn things around, or if they just go down the path they’ve apparently set out on. I DO NOT WANT MILITARY SPECIAL OPS STORIES. They have enough other series to do that in. Give me that sweet, sweet space opera.

I know I will finish this series but I question if I will read anything else by them. Which is too bad, because they are talented writers and they “could” be telling some enthralling stories.

★★★☆☆

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com

ALLIES AND ENEMIES GROW THEIR FORCES…

As the galaxy marches headlong toward the greatest threat to peace since the Savage Wars, the flames are lit in the most unlikely of places.

Trapped inside a Savage mini hulk, Prisma faces a future where little is as she expected it would be, and a past that is even more troubling than she knew. Aboard a Cybar ship, Andien Broxin fights for her life with the most unlikely of allies at her side. And on the Kimbrin home world, Masters joins a Legion Special Operations Group tasked with checking a resurgent MCR… only to find himself embroiled in the flashpoint that will again plunge the galaxy into war.

Goth Sullus has fallen. Tyrus Rechs is a memory. But those who are enemies of both men are now set to step forth and reveal themselves on the galactic stage—unless the Republic, and the Legion, can answer the call to sacrifice.

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.