Boy! These books are exciting! I can’t get enough of them. Yet, I’m reluctant to start each one because I know the story will quickly be over and I’ll have to wait for the next episode. I hate waiting!
I know writing is hard. And I also know it takes a lot of time and effort to get a good story-line developed and keep it going to satisfy the fan-base as it grows. Well, Ryk Brown has no problem doing that with his Frontiers Saga book. If you’re just starting on the Saga, you won’t understand what’s going on now so I strongly recommend you start at the beginning.
The action is extremely fast in this episode. We’re out to kick some butt; specifically, some Jung butt! Earth or the Alliance has decided to go on the offensive and start clearing out the Jung on occupied worlds within 20 lightyears of Earth. That’s just a great strategic idea, but we’ve only got one ship, the Aurora, that is combat ready plus a fews Scout ships and some Falcon fighters. We can land a boat load or two of Ghatazhak soldiers to take care of ground forces, but we still don’t have all the weapon platforms we need. The Celestia is in dry-dock getting repaired. She should be there for about two-months which is a long time for one of the only two jump capable Earth capital ships.
Still, Admiral Dumar and Capt Nathan Scott (Aurora Actual) have decided that it’s time and they can’t wait any longer. So, off they go to liberate a number of star systems. They’re not asking if anyone wants to be liberated either. Yeah, we’ve planted some spec-ops prior on some of the planets to find what the locals feel about the Jung, but one way or another, the Jung are going out.
There’s a ton of space fighting and ground fighting in this episode. Everything seems to going just great for the Alliance. but no book ends on a happy note in this series. Something always pops up and has to be dealt with, but that only guarantees a next book which is great.
Somebody important dies in this book. You need to read it to find out who. How it’s going to shape the rest of the story; I have no clue. While Earth has it’s problems with the Jung, it’s not a paradise in the Pentarus Cluster.
Great writing, pretty good editing and this isn’t a particularly short book, but you will want to read it continually so set a good day or two aside. Now, where’s the next episode?