I read a previous book titled, “Blackhawk (Far Stars Legends)” by Jay Allan and liked what I read. He introduced the character Arkarin Blackhawk in that first book and he was a pretty tough dude with some kind of strange background. Apparently, he’s done some jobs in the past that he’s definitely not proud of and wants to forget. In the “Legends” book, I think he was kind of drifting along going no where when he befriended a guy that was trying to win a war. Anyway, Blackhawk took his side and command his army to victory. At least that’s how I remember it.
Now, we’re back with Arkarin Blackhawk and he’s immediately in big trouble. Seems like he was on a mission to rescue the daughter of a very close friend. He’s kind of accomplished that since the daughter, Astra Lucerne of Celtiboria, is aboard the Wolf’s Claw and ready to be transported back to her father, Marshal Augustin Lucerne. Marshal Lucerne was engaged in a planet-wide battle to control Celtiboria. He wanted to dispense with all the Warlords fighting over everything on Celtiboria and consolidate the planet under one government. He was just about to finish off the last Warlord when his only daughter was kidnapped. He sent his only really trusted friend, Arkarin Blackhawk, to attempt to return his daughter. He didn’t really think Blackhawk had much of a chance, but he knew that no one else stood any chance of finding and returning his daughter.
So, the Wolf’s Claw and it’s crew set out for the planet Kalishar where they believed, rightly, that Astra Lucerne was located. The only problem right now is that Blackhawk has ordered his ship and crew to immediately take Astra back to her father even though he has been captured and is now facing death in the pit. Little does he know that his crew of loyal misfits have ignored his orders and are bringing the Wolf’s Claw directly to the pit area intent on rescuing their Captain. His crew is comprised of various unordinary people that have been saved from some terrible ordeals at one time or another by Blackhawk. He’s the Captain of the Wolf’s Claw and his crew isn’t about to leave Kalishar without their Captain.
As you can see, the book starts off pretty exciting and gets better from that point on. We get to meet each one of his crew and find out the backstory on how they came to be with Blackhawk. They have multiple talents and have formed a great team aboard the Wolf’s Claw, but they have a tendency to ignore Blackhawks orders if Blackhawk is in any kind of danger. In this latest rescue of Blackhawk, the Wolf’s Claw gets damaged and they wind up stranded on a planet in the middle of a Civil War. They only need to steal a jump drive core from the only Imperial Star Ship on the planet to get back into space and back to Celtiboria. Should be a simple operation of the crew of the Wolf’s Claw!
It appears that book two, “Enemy in the Dark” and book three, “Funeral Games” are already on Amazon so I’ve got some great reading ahead of me.