Twenty-five books and I’ve read and reviewed every one. That’s quite an accomplishment for the authors and a lot of enjoyment for me. This series has gone from a single guy who just lost his Grandfather to finally a middle-aged man with a wife, kids and an extended family that could never have been imagined. but he is also so much more. Clive Van Able Tudor, III has far exceeded even his Grandfathers expectations. He’s had a very full life and an impact on an unknown number of people of various species. That last part tells a lot about this book and this series.
Van Tudor has been a Peacemaker for many, many years now and he’s trying his best to continue doing what he thinks is right. The Peacemaker Guild and his job as a Peacemaker is what he inherited from his Grandfather. He also inherited a whole lot of trouble by taking the job. Even the Peacemaker Guild turned out to not be doing the right things as it should have. So Van has been making changes.
He’s brought Earth into the galactic community whether it wanted to or not. But, he realized the danger of an ignorant Earth being besieged by all the various factions in the galaxy. Not all those factions were going to be honorable and treat Earth as it should so Van and his crew of the Fafnir (I still can’t stand that ship name!) have set about protecting Earth and it’s inhabitants. They have managed to root out the evil Yotov, a former Master Peacemaker, whose criminal organization attempted to exploit humanity to the very limit. And I mean exploit by taking humans from Earth, inserting computer chips in their brains thereby turning them into living slaves to whoever wanted to own another entity. But Yotov and her kind are behind them but as usual another evil villain steps up to take her place.
Calamity is an insidiously evil Artificial Intelligence that has set out to destroy all organic life. Where it came from, no one really knows. It’s been around a long time, but just now has started to become a real threat to everyday life in the galaxy. Calamity tends to act like a virus infecting anything and everything that it touches. Oh, it can’t actually infect an organic body, but it can and does infect any type of electronic device around those organics causing havoc where ever it appears.
The thing with Calamity is that it does seem to go dormant for awhile letting Van Tudor think that maybe they have defeated this enemy, but then another catastrophe takes place and the thing behind that catastrophe turns out to be Calamity once again. Even now, with Van Tudor his family, friends and their families establishing a base of operations on Earth known as the Nexus, they are not safe from Calamity attacks. They’ve had to build underground bunkers to keep their children safe and it’s terrifying to the adults when the alarm goes off and everyone scrambles for shelter. The psychology toll it is taking on the kids is something Van and his wife Tornia don’t want to dwell on nor do they want it to continue.
So the time has come for Van Tudor to do something about Calamity and that’s what this book is about. Oh, we’ll also see the rise of a new organization named the Fist of Orion and even a reformed Peacemaker Guild, but all of that is just preparation for this final battle with the greatest enemy the galaxy has ever known up to now. They have to figure out just who or what is Calamity. Then they have to figure out a way to contain it or if that’s even possible. This fight won’t be without danger, lots of danger since Calamity has and does kill without remorse. Van has seen a number of his friends brought down by other evil criminals and he knows that taking down Calamity might cause the death a more of his friends, a lot more. But, to not do something could mean the end to all organic life in the galaxy! That’s a price to great to bear without trying to stop that kind of future.
So, is the end of this series? I guess not since book 26, “Wolves Among the Stars”, will be available on Amazon as of 30 March 2025. I think we’re going to see a new generation introduced but I hope the peace that is existing now will last. I don’t think it does. So more exciting stuff is still ahead.