The story in this book will seem very familiar to those who follow human history, especially the histories of America and Japan during the 20th Century. Yet, this story takes place in a far distant future where Earth has been lost. Apparently all the history and lessons that were once learned the hard way are now just beginning to be learned in this new future.
The Dawn Empire is out to take advantage of a war that is going on a long way from it’s borders. The young Emperor has been lead to believe that if he strikes at the Federation now, his place in history will last for ten thousand years and he will be the greatest of all Emperors of the Dawn Empire! His advisers are leading him down a dangerous path. They do not include Admiral Ikson Koto, the greatest Admiral in the Empire. Yet, it is this Admiral that will be charged with executing this war with the only outcome for him must be victory.
Admiral Koto has visited the Federation during peace time and he knows that it is a formable economical entity spanning a vast area of space. He knows that while the Federation might have a greater share of vital resources than his Empire, he does not believe that taking those resources by force is the right thing to do. But, again he was not asked for his advice; his Emperor is only asking him to do his duty! So, he gathers the Dawn Empire’s vast armada, the size of which has never been seen in space, and he heads out to do his duty. Yeah, this should all be sounding familiar about now.
This story is very, very exciting and told with a lot of action. We get to follow several main characters through the book, but one in particular is Lieutenant Shannon Reeve who just happens to get assigned to a flight squadron aboard Azure Anchorage. This is a gigantic military space station in the Aquila System. Shannon is the same person we read about in one of the earlier books when she got caught in the frantic rescue operation conducted by the Kingdom. Her private, but small, space yacht was dragged into the rescue mission whether she wanted the job or not. She survived, but now she wants more of that same excitement. At first glance, she’s not going to find it on Azure Anchorage. This place is so vast and has so much of the Federation space Navy docked and flying around it that anyone would be crazy to attack this place. It’s also called Paradise by the space fighter jocks she has to join with. Shannon’s attitude needs adjusting in the worse way!
While Shannon is getting settled, Admiral Koto is preparing to permanently disrupt that little paradise known as Azure Anchorage. His Dawn Empire armada is flying through the Great Void of space and will shortly be settling in a system not far from the Aquila System. He knows he must make a quick and deadly strike against this Federation bastion. He must destroy everyone of the spaceships that harbors at the gigantic space station and while he probably can’t out right destroy the station, he must utterly destroy the Federation’s ability to strike back at his Empire and he must leave them without the will to do so. It’s strange how war and battle comes to those who least expect nor want it.
This book is well written and tells the story through several different perspectives. It doesn’t take sides, but it does point out that the Dawn Empire clearly made a huge tactical error in striking the Federation without warning. Also, the Dawn Empire’s attempt to terrorize Federation personnel so they would not want to face them again, pretty much backfires. Now they have a wounded, but very powerful enemy with lots of vengeance on its mind.
Oh, and I have to point out that there’s one character you should pay attention to. His name might be familiar. I glad the author didn’t have this guy panic when action was required. That’s all I’ll say about that character; you can figure out who I’m talking about, ah, just look for the “hero”!
This is a great series that will continue with book 6, “A Measure of Resolve”, although its publication date has yet to be announced. I’ve read/reviewed everyone of them and I’ll be looking for this next one as soon as it’s published. I highly recommend this series and every book to anyone interested in history and a future that seems all too familiar!