#9 in the national best selling RCN space adventure series.
Captain Daniel Leary with his friend–and spy–Officer Adele Mundy are sent to a quiet sector to carry out an easy task: helping the local admiral put down a coup before it takes place. But then the jealous admiral gets rid of them by sending them off on a wild goose chase to a sector where commerce is king and business is carried out by extortion and gunfights.
With anarchy and rebellion in the air, a rogue intelligence officer plots the war that will destroy civilization and enlists the help of a brute whom even torturers couldn't stomach.
And, of course, it’s up to Leary and Mundy to put a stop to the madness.
About David Drake’s previous RCN novel, What Distant Deeps:
“Drake deftly weaves a web of political machinations and intrigue that vividly depicts the costs of war. Fans of Patrick O'Brian's Maturin and Aubrey novels will enjoy this intricate, rousing space opera.” –Publishers Weekly
About David Drake’s RCN series:
“[R]ousing old-fashioned space opera.” –Publishers Weekly
“The fun is in the telling, and Mr. Drake has a strong voice. I want more!” –Philadelphia Weekly Press
“[S]pace opera is alive and well. This series is getting better as the author goes along…character development combined with first-rate action and memorable world designs.” –SFReader.com
About David Drake:
“[P]rose as cold and hard s the metal alloy of a tank…rivals Crane and Remarque…” –Chicago Sun-Times
“Drake couldn’t write a bad action scene at gunpoint.” –Booklist
David Drake was attending Duke University Law School when he was drafted. He served the next two years in the Army, spending 1970 as an enlisted interrogator with the 11th armored Cavalry in Viet Nam and Cambodia. Upon return he completed his law degree at Duke and was for eight years Assistant Town Attorney for Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He has been a full-time freelance writer since 1981. His books include the genre-defining and bestselling Hammer’s Slammers series, the RCN series including What Distant Deeps, In the Stormy Red Sky, The Way to Glory, and many more.
bibliophilic42
Posted July 21, 2012
I'll agree with Rob Ballister that this isn't the top of Drake's space-battle game. There is little of that here, and what there is...well, it's fairly cursory (the best of these is the a nice game of cat-and-mouse near the end). On the other hand, this is really the first opportunity to delve into more of Mundy's mission rather than Leary's. Here it's Leary's mission that, while certainly important, isn't really the driving force.
The biggest issue I see here is that because the two missions run parallel more than together, the narrative can be a bit disjointed, which certainly doesn't help.
I'd like to give this 3 and a half stars, as I enjoyed the book, but it simply wasn't up to the standards of the rest of the RCN series. I can't give it 4 stars, but I think it deserves a bit more than the 3 I'm giving it.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Nothing in this review is meant as any sort of attack against the author in particular. I'm a huge fan of David Drake, especially of his "Hammers' Slammers," and Bolo stories, which is why I jumped all over the chance to review this title. Unfortunately, because I had such high expectations, it fell pretty flat.
I think Drake is at his best describing space combat, and there just wasn't a whole lot of that in this book. There's a lot of espionage and political backdooring as the Alliance and Cinnabar might or might not go to war. Frankly, I had a hard time following all the political subplots going on, even as they seemed to mostly come to a resolution at the end. And as an annoying afterthought, I have no idea what the cover illustration has to do with the book--the story within the front and back cover bears little resemblance to the action depicted on the front of the book.
On the positive side, fans of Daniel Leary's signals officer, Adele Mundy, will find plenty to read about, as she takes up a bit more time than in some other of the RCN books. Tovera, Mundy's bodyguard, is as psychotic as ever, and of course there is Hogg, Leary's servant/bodyguard, who always seems to know exactly what (not) to say.
I think die hard fans of the RCN series will find this installment adequate, but if you haven't read much of the RCN series to date, this is probably not a book for you.
If you did not find this review helpful, please let me know how I can improve my reviews.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Jazzydes
Posted November 16, 2012
I had to re-read this book. My first time I must admit I gave it a 2 star rating, but it improve the second time I read it. It focused a lot more on Adele than David and I had to kind of "re-route" my thinking of the major character of this story. However, once I read it once, then read it twice, it greatly improved. Not the best of the series but a good story nevertherless.
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Overview
#9 in the national best selling RCN space adventure series.
Captain Daniel Leary with his friend–and spy–Officer Adele Mundy are sent to a quiet sector to carry out an easy task: helping the local admiral put down a coup before it takes place. But then the jealous admiral gets rid of them by sending them off on a wild goose chase to a sector where commerce is king and business is carried out by extortion and gunfights.
With anarchy and rebellion in the air, a rogue intelligence ...