I am a fan of this Star Force series. After having read every book in this series, I can say that I’ve enjoyed each one. Colonel Riggs and I have been through a lot. Most of his battles were outstanding in that they were very clearly described and he didn’t win all the time. Colonel Riggs is quite the character. He’s grown a great deal from being a farmer and a college professor to the Emperor of Earth. Along the way he’s had many adventures that defy explanation as to how he survived this long. I don’t know if his new nanotized body has given him the secret to immortality since he never discusses that in the book but it looks like he’s going to be around for a long, long time. I look forward to more stories with him involved.
What I didn’t like about this series is the gross number of stupid people he seems to have around him. There doesn’t seem to be one single person on his staff or anywhere in these books that can come up with an original idea and follow through with it without Riggs having to jump in and do the whole thing himself. And he seems to do everything regardless of how much he says he’s learned to delegate. He has not learned to trust anyone to do something dangerous nor important. And because of this, people die because he doesn’t take the kind of cautious approach to problem solving normal military people would. He got the Andoria crushed as well as two other ships going down to land on a dead star. He could survive such a trip but he didn’t even think about those around him not being up to the task so they died. Sometimes he’s as stupid as his staff and other commanders.
This book needs to come up with some civilian character that can stand toe-to-toe with Riggs and let him know that Earth will be taken care of while Riggs goes out and kills our enemies. This civilian needs to be confident and not another megalomanic like Admiral/Emperor Crow. We need someone to stand up to Riggs and think for him or herself. Jasmine was close but she eventually became as stupid as the rest of Rigg’s military. It was just irritating to read page after page of Riggs berating everyone around him and all of them just cowering back and doing nothing. Even Admiral Miklos tried to become something more than a Riggs stooge but he wasn’t strong enough to really pull it off.
And then there’s Marvin! This thing should have been destroyed a long time ago. He’s so irritating that I could barely stand reading about him. I don’t really know who’s side he’s on but apparently he has chosen to aggravate the humans until Riggs finally has him crushed. It’s about time that happened. Riggs relies far too much on Marvin to bail him out of tight situations which seems to be the solution to most of the problems in this book. I suggest getting rid of Marvin and finding a smart Earth scientist who has some how been enhanced.
Still, the books are interesting to read even if they get a little tedious after a while. Sgt Kwon was the best character in the book. I’d like to see a whole series made with him as the lead. But, hopefully, we’ll get to read more about Colonel Riggs because I know he and Jasmine are not really farmers. And there’s their baby BOY! I could have bet a million dollars that it would be a boy. I wonder how the child of two nanotized parents is going to develop! I bet he’s going to be something special!
I encourage you to read all of these books. The Star Force Series is just great military science fiction.