==[Note: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be published on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. Once the ban is lifted, assuming it does get lifted, I’ll go back and post this to Amazon.]==
So, we’re 23 books into this series and things are beginning to change just a little. I’m not sure where things are heading, but I think the author might be getting a little tired of writing about this same character, Jame McGill, all the time. Still, James is a Legion Varus Legionnaire and he’ll do what his duty calls. In this book, something comes calling on him.
Yes, he’s back in Georgia, resting in his shack out behind his parent’s house. He’s doing his usual late night drinking when he notices two figures coming out of the swamp. That’s highly irregular since no one in their right mind would be coming from the swamp. James has on occasion taken people into the swamp and, “Yes”, some of them got accidentally lost, but that’s life!
Anyway, these to humanoid things look kind of blue and have some kind of hard shell on the bodies. Anyway, James goes to investigate and finds out that these things are out to kill him. That’s not all that unusual in and of itself because a lot of people would like to kill Jame McGill. Still, James doesn’t think he’s done anything lately to offend anybody so he’s kind of put out that someone would seen alien assassins out after him in his own home.
Needless to say, James takes the time to dispatch both of these assailants. They don’t know the swamp like a McGill does so it’s not hard work getting them to step in the wrong places. So after dispatching these two monstrosities, James is surprised by a very pleasant visit by Etta, his daughter with her husband and the Grand-baby in tow. Now Etta and Derek are from Dust World which happens to now be called Rebel World since that’s what it is (read the last book). They aren’t actually supposed to be on Earth and if they do anything to upset the authorities, they’ll be sent packing pretty quick. James doesn’t initially think it’s a coincidence that his daughter just happened to show up after those blue assassins.
After asking James if he’s had anything unusual happening around the farm. James starts becoming a little bit suspicious. Still, James describes what just recently happened with the blue horrors that he had to dispose of in the swamp. Etta begins insisting that James report the incursion to the authorities at Hegemony HQ, That of itself is strange since he can’t figure out why his rebel daughter would want to have anything to do with Hegemony HQ. Jame sure doesn’t. He’s not about to report something like this and then have to go in and explain everything he reported. No sir! He’s not doing that even if he does tell Etta that he sent the report.
James starts to wonder if his daughter might have something to do with these blue assassins. She’s a smart cookie that used to work in the dungeons of HQ doing all sorts of scientific experiments. She’s also the Granddaughter of the Investigator, the mad scientist that does weird stuff back on Dust/Rebel World. The Investigator is also James’ father-in-law so James has a lot of family contacts with those rebels which has been already noted by his command. He doesn’t want to start something that has anything to do with Dust/Rebel World, Etta or the Investigator.
So as this story progresses, we find out that another world occupied by the Skrull have reported they have a rebel problem themselves. The Skrull are kind of like Earth shrimp whereas they float around in water-filled domes doing their business on Earth. These particular Skrull are red in color. They are reporting that some rebel Skrull who are blue in color are giving them a hard time and they need Earth troops to settle this rebellion before it spreads. Apparently the blue Skrull are looking to join Dust/Rebel World in breaking away from Earth.
Earth can’t have another world under their protection to breakaway. It would look very bad for them with the Galactics and cause all sorts of additional problems. So, Earth volunteers to send Legion Varus out to the Skrull planet to settle things between the red and blue Skrull. Only someone has been helping the blue Skrull by making some very large modifications to their genetics. They are producing huge Skrull that can fight and were tested right there at the McGill farms!
The changes I mentioned earlier lie in the fact that Graves, a somewhat wary previous friend of McGill, has been come a Tribune and now leads Legion Varus. The former Tribune, Winslade has been demoted to Primus over Centurion McGill and neither are very supportive of one James McGill. While McGill does all the fighting, neither of these two people recognized that fact, but if something goes wrong, they are quick to blame James. Sometimes this gets a little tiring to read about. What used to be funny with McGill getting in trouble now seems kind of unfair, but that’s the way things are going so I don’t know how much farther this storyline will continue.
As usual, the next book in this series won’t be known until it’s published. I’ll be waiting for it.