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“The Masters of War: Expanded Edition”

Rating:

4 Small Stars
The Masters of War

I wasn’t sure I wanted to read this book since everything that had been going on was settled in the last book.  Adam Cain has solved all the problems in the Milky Way Galaxy and now needs some time to pursue his nemesis, Nigel McCarthy.  To do this, he has to go to a new galaxy that is about 9 months distance using his eight focusing-ringed spaceship, Pegasus.  He’s doing this trip all alone since his former side-kicks all want to take some time off away from each other.

Nine months in a small spaceship is a long time alone.  A very long time.  Why anyone would want to do this is kind of ridiculous.    But, Adam Makes the trip almost all the way.  He has to stop at an isolated way-point of a planet because he needs some vital spare parts for his focusing rings.  He thought he had enough when he left, but they have been in constant use for almost 5-6 months and they are wearing out fast.

He lands on Vicor, a real nothing of a planet, and barters with a merchant, Nurick Nur, for some power modules.  He arranges for the power modules to be delivered to his ship and for the installation.  When returning to his ship, he finds a couple of Vicoreans climbing all over it and one with his head stuck in one of the focusing ring portals.  He yells at the Vicoreans to get off his ship and pulls one by his tale out of the portal and almost across the space port.

If you remember, in this series, humans are supermen compared to most aliens and these Vicoreans look like six-foot tall rats! Well, once he flung the Vicorean who was looking in the portal, the rest kind of fled.  Adam then decides to go back into town to get some more supplies but this time he sets a security charge for the hull of his ship.

Upon returning, again he finds a bunch of Vicoreans looking at his ship but now there are a couple lying on the ground near the ship.  Adam checks them out and finds them only stunned.  He tells the crowd to pick up the two stunned Vicoreans and clear out.

Well, they don’t like what Adam did and about three of the tougher Vicoreans are going to do something about it.  Of course, this doesn’t turn out very well for the Vicoreans.  After the scuffle, another three Vicoreans are laying on the ground and now the police or Enforcers are going to show up soon.

Adam quickly gets his ship ready for flight now knowing that the power modules are in his hold so he can just go somewhere quiet and make the repairs himself.  So he blasts off and starts running.  Unfortunately, the merchant who sold him the power modules, Nurick Nur, didn’t get off the ship in time.

Ok, so this is the start of the book.  The things is, why did Adam have to act like a Human with a Bad Attitude towards simple curious Vicoreans?  They had never seen an eight focus-ring starship, so they were naturally curious.  I don’t know why Adam didn’t just politely tell them to stay off his ship for their own safety?  He causes all his own trouble throughout this entire book.

He goes to another planet in this new galaxy and winds up blowing up the entire space port with a nuclear  explosion and kills about half a million aliens in the process.  Again, all he’s trying to do is get some power modules that work, but now the local authorities want his ship and it’s technology.

So, Adam is going to have a real tough time in this new galaxy trying to find Nigel McCarthy and then, killing him.  And that’s what this whole book is about.  Adam makes some really stupid mistakes that he shouldn’t have made and probably really wouldn’t.

He receives some “intel” on McCarthy’s future movements, but the details of the information and the fact that it was so readily available would make any normal person suspicious of a trap.  Adam and his friends fall right into the trap and don’t know why.  Pretty stupid move on their part and not very reasonable.

I liked the story and see how it can continue here in another galaxy.  Still, I think the author made Adam a little too stupid for the story.

There are a lot of editorial errors.  Words missing in critical sentences as though the writer was in too much of a hurry to get the book out and didn’t take the time to find these errors.  They are distracting and unexpected.  I hope the next book gets a little better editorial review.

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