Tiamat’s Wrath by James S. A. Corey

On November 5, 2019August 15, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction8 Comments

Publisher: Recorded Books (Audiobook – 26 May 2019)

Series: The Expanse – Book Eight

Length: 19 hours and 8 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

With 2019 coming to an end, it is about time I got around to writing a review for one of the best science fiction books of the year, Tiamat’s Wrath by James S. A. Corey, the eighth book in the extremely popular The Expanse series. James S. A. Corey is the collaborative name of co-authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, but for the purposes of this review it is simpler to treat Corey as an individual.

Tiamat’s Wrath is an outstanding piece of science fiction that I had an amazing time listening to earlier in the year. Despite being extremely keen for this book, I did not get around to reading it until a month or two after it came out, but when I did get a chance to listen to Tiamat’s Wrath, I absolutely loved it and it was one of my favourite books from earlier in the year. However, I completely failed to write a review immediately after finishing it, and it kind of got lost in the pile of books I needed to review as I read more and more stuff.

The Expanse books, which started in 2011 with Leviathan Wakes, are an extremely complex and outstandingly well-written science fiction series, which have also been turned into a very popular television show of the same name. It is important to note that while all the books in The Expanse are connected by the same universe, overarching plot and central characters, the story can be broken up into three separate trilogies of novels. After the success of the first eight books, the authors are starting to wrap up the series, with the upcoming ninth book (hopefully coming out sometime in 2020), being the last in the series. Not only is Tiamat’s Wrath the penultimate book in the series; it is also the second book in the last trilogy of the series, which started with 2017’s Persepolis Rising.

Tiamat’s Wrath is set a short time after the events of Persepolis Rising, when the Laconian Empire, under the command of High Consul Winston Duarte, successfully utilised advanced alien technology to take control of the entire gate network and destroy the navies of Earth and Mars. The Laconians now rule the entire galaxy, and the crew of the Rocinante (the central protagonists of The Expanse series), are wanted criminals as they fight a guerrilla war. This was another incredible addition to The Expanse series that not only contains a vast and captivating story in its own right but which sets up a fascinating scenario for the final book in the franchise.

Goodread’s Synopsis:

Thirteen hundred gates have opened to solar systems around the galaxy. But as humanity builds its interstellar empire in the alien ruins, the mysteries and threats grow deeper.

In the dead systems where gates lead to stranger things than alien planets, Elvi Okoye begins a desperate search to discover the nature of a genocide that happened before the first human beings existed, and to find weapons to fight a war against forces at the edge of the imaginable. But the price of that knowledge may be higher than she can pay.

At the heart of the empire, Teresa Duarte prepares to take on the burden of her father’s godlike ambition. The sociopathic scientist Paolo Cortázar and the Mephistophelian prisoner James Holden are only two of the dangers in a palace thick with intrigue, but Teresa has a mind of her own and secrets even her father the emperor doesn’t guess.

And throughout the wide human empire, the scattered crew of the Rocinante fights a brave rear-guard action against Duarte’s authoritarian regime. Memory of the old order falls away, and a future under Laconia’s eternal rule — and with it, a battle that humanity can only lose – seems more and more certain. Because against the terrors that lie between worlds, courage and ambition will not be enough…

For the plot of Tiamat’s Wrath, Corey tells the story from the perspective of several separate point-of-view characters, each of whom has a number of chapters throughout the book. This was a very interesting combination of character perspectives that helped explore various aspects of the galaxy following the rise to power of the Laconians. Three of the main point-of-view characters are former Rocinante crew members Naomi Nagata, Bobbie Draper and Alex Kamal, each of whom is involved in the war against the powerful Laconian Empire. Another point-of-view character is returning character Elvi Okoye, who, despite her loyalties to her friends upon the Rocinante, finds herself employed by High Consul Duarte as one of his primary scientists exploring the alien technology, and later finds herself drawn into the Laconian inner circle. The fifth main character is new protagonist Teresa Duarte, daughter of the High Consul, who provides insight into growing up in the Laconian Empire and the political intrigue of the capital. In addition to the five characters mentioned above, the book’s prologue, epilogue and interludes are narrated by former Rocinante captain James Holden, who is being held prisoner on Laconia and who is attempting to manipulate the system from within.

I really enjoyed the author’s use of these multiple viewpoints, especially as it allowed them to tell a complex and widespread story set across several different solar systems. Each of these various viewpoints provides the reader with different information and insight into the both the Laconian Empire and the unknown alien threat that has sprung up. While Elvi and Teresa’s story arcs are pretty fascinating and I quite enjoyed the combination of politics and alien science that filled their chapters, my favourite parts of the book are the chapters told from the perspectives of Naomi, Bobbie and Alex. This is mainly because these chapters focused on their fight against the Laconian Empire, and I really enjoyed the detailed and captivating accounts of a large-scale guerrilla conflict in a massive space location. Each of these three characters shows off a different aspect of this fight, including Naomi acting as the resistance’s master strategist while living in a supply crate, Bobbie’s work as a marine and drill sergeant on the frontline and Alex’s job piloting various combat craft into battle. Thanks to these three characters, you get an amazing idea of how this war is being fought, and the various issues involved with facing a seemingly invincible opponent. I also liked how all the various character arcs came together extremely well as the book progressed, creating a first-rate narrative that proved to be extremely addictive.

I am a man who loves his science fiction action, and I have to say that I had an absolute blast with the action sequences in this book. Corey has absolutely packed this book full of various battle sequences in space, as the protagonists go up against the various Laconian forces in both smaller skirmishes and one massive full-system assault. Not only are the battles pretty spectacular in their own right, but I love how realistic the author has tried to make them, with things like gravity, the lack of sound in space and communication delays across vast distances all taken into account. All this consideration really makes the combat in Tiamat’s Wrath stand out, and it added a lot to my overall enjoyment on this novel.

While this is an excellent piece of science fiction and an amazing read, due to its position as the eighth book in the series, and the middle book in the final trilogy, Tiamat’s Wrath is probably not the best book to start exploring The Expanse with. While Corey does a pretty good job of making this book accessible to new readers, I would strongly suggest that readers at least check out the previous book in the series, Persepolis Rising, first, as it will help readers understand more of the complex science fiction and story elements. There is no doubt in my mind that existing fans of The Expanse will love this fantastic book, especially as it takes the story in some interesting directions and sets up the series for a pretty epic conclusion. That being said, some of the developments that occur during the book are going to make dedicated The Expanse readers very sad, especially if they have grown attached to certain characters.

I ended up listening to the audiobook format of Tiamat’s Wrath, narrated by Jefferson Mays. This is a pretty substantial audiobook, running for just over 19 hours (indeed it would have just made the top 20 on my Longest Audiobook list), but I ended up getting through it rather quickly as I had a hard time turning it off. I found the audiobook to be a fantastic way to enjoy this book, and I think I absorbed a lot more of the detailed science fiction plot by listening to it. Mays has a great voice for narration, and I really enjoyed his take on the various characters in the book. All in all, listening to the audiobook version of Tiamat’s Wrath was a great experience, and I will probably end up doing the same for the final The Expanse book when it come out.

Tiamat’s Wrath is an exceptionally powerful novel that is easily one of the best books I have read so far this year. The Expanse’s authors have absolutely outdone themselves with this eighth book, which tells a complex and intriguing science fiction story. Featuring a first-rate story, a great group of core characters, some impressive action and the author’s typical attention to scientific detail, Tiamat’s Wrath comes highly recommended, and I am still kicking myself for taking so long to review this.

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Throwback Thursday – Code Zero by Jonathan Maberry

On October 31, 2019March 5, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller, Throwback Thursday29 Comments

Publisher: Macmillan Audio (Audiobook – 25 March 2014)

Series: Joe Ledger series – Book Six

Length: 16 hours and 6 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Reviewed as part of my Throwback Thursday series, where I republish old reviews, review books I have read before or review older books I have only just had a chance to read.

The ghosts of the past come back to haunt Joe Ledger and the DMS big time in this sixth book in Jonathan Maberry’s high-octane science fiction/military thriller Joe Ledger series.

For years, the Department of Military Sciences (DMS) has saved the world from some of the most deadly and insane weapons that science can create: race-specific bioweapons, genetically enhanced super soldiers, powerful plagues capable of killing people in the most horrendous way and even a pathogen that is capable of bringing its victims back to life as zombies. Each of these has been stopped by DMS agents and the legendary Joe Ledger, but these horrors are about to resurface in the most devastating of ways.

The mysterious hacker and terrorist Mother Night has been causing the DMS trouble for months, but when she broadcasts a call for anarchy, no-one is prepared for what happens next. Across America, Mother Night’s followers unleash hundreds of random acts of violence, causing horrendous amounts of terror and destruction. As Joe Ledger and the DMS attempt to counter them, a subway car full of people in New York is infected with something disturbingly familiar, the Seif-al-Din zombie pathogen that bought Ledger to the DMS in the first place.

As Ledger and Echo Team are once again forced to contend with the zombie victims of the pathogen, they find themselves targeted from several devastating angles. As the threats become more and more personal, it soon becomes apparent that they are facing someone who knows the DMS intimately and who is willing to use the most lethal tools at their disposal to win. Can Ledger and the DMS survive, or will the world burn at the hands of Mother Night?

Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger books are one of my favourite series at the moment, and I love each book’s excellent blend of compelling storytelling, complex characters, over-the-top villains, electrifying action and insane plot points, which come together into fantastic, first-rate narratives. Ever since I read and got hooked on the tenth book in this series, Deep Silence, about this time last year, I have been periodically reading and reviewing the earlier novels in sequence. So far, I have read the first six novels, Patient Zero, The Dragon Factory, The King of Plagues, Assassin’s Code, The Extinction Machine and this novel, Code Zero. I am actually reviewing this book a little out of order, as I recently powered through both The Extinction Machine and Code Zero while I was away on holidays. As Code Zero is fresher in my mind, I decided to review it first, and I will hopefully get a review for The Extinction Machine up soon as well (the plan is to get it done before the next Joe Ledger book, Rage, comes out in November, but we’ll see how we go).

Considering how much I absolutely loved the rest of the books in the series, it is going to come as no surprise to anyone that I also really enjoyed Code Zero. This sixth book was pretty spectacular, and it is easily one of my favourite books in the entire series, only just being beaten out by The Dragon Factory. In Code Zero, Maberry has made sure to utilise several of the excellent features from the previous Joe Ledger books that l really love and have commented on previously, such as a first-rate story filled with intense action, a smartassed and damaged protagonist, a great group of side characters (including one of the best dogs in all of fiction) and a clever utilisation of flashbacks and multiple perspectives. This book also features some other great story and character elements that really make it stand out from the rest of the series, and which help make it such an outstanding and epic read.

I have mentioned before that one of the best things about the Joe Ledger books is the awesome antagonists that Maberry creates for each of the novels. These have so far included genetically modified Nazis, world-event manipulating masterminds and even a group of vampires. However, the villain of Code Zero, Mother Night, is perhaps one of the most interesting and complex antagonists that Maberry has come up with. Mother Night is an outstanding character who not only has a close connection with the DMS, but whose elaborate master plan does a great deal of damage. I really liked how Maberry used a series of flashback filled interludes to explore the background of this character. These flashbacks show how Mother Night is connected to all the DMS characters and examine how her exposure to various characters and threats from the previous books slowly corrupted her, and why she was compelled to become a terrorist. Despite this being the first book that Mother Night has appeared in, Maberry did a sensational job tying the character into many of the key events from the first three novels, and showing how she was actually involved with some of the previous threats. All of these cool connections really help up the personal stakes for all of the protagonists, and it allows Mother Night to actually hit Joe Ledger and his team harder than anyone else has before, resulting in an extra dramatic and compelling story.

Maberry also uses Mother Night’s plot to examine some rather interesting elements of the modern world. For example, the anarchist movement is explored in some detail, as Mother Night uses anarchist elements in her call to arms, gathering up members of America’s disenfranchised youth to form an army. There is also a rather intriguing look at the role video games can play in violence or espionage. This is not done in an attempt to demonise video games; instead Maberry, through several of the videogame savvy characters, explores how important problem-solving is for gamers, and how the skills obtained there can have real-world applications in both the espionage and defence worlds. The subsequent study of game theory and the desire to win that some gamers feel is particularly fascinating, and it adds very some interesting layers to the story and Mother Night’s overall character.

In addition to this incredible antagonist, the other thing that I absolutely loved about Code Zero is the fact that Maberry decided to bring back some of the iconic threats and story elements from the previous books in the series. Not only did the author do an outstanding job of working these pre-existing story elements into Code Zero’s plot, but their reappearance was also an excellent homage to the earlier books and a real treat for fans of the series. I really enjoyed seeing Ledger have to go up against threats like the walkers and the berserkers again, especially as each of these threats have pretty strong emotional triggers for him due to devastating previous missions. It was also really interesting to see the new and various ways that the antagonist utilised these existing elements in her own plans, and there were some really fun combinations of the insane scientific elements, such as a couple of berserkers who have been infected with Generation 12 of the Seif-al-Din Pathogen, and it’s as awesome as you’d expect.

As this is a Joe Ledger book, Code Zero is of course filled to the brim with all the action and fire fights that you could ever need. Due to the presence of so many varied threats, including some of the monsters from the previous books, Code Zero probably has some of the most intriguing fight scenes in the entire series. This book is filled with a number of elaborate battle sequences in which the protagonists face off against a variety of different opponents at the same time. These opponents can include walkers, berserkers and gunmen disguised as zombies hiding amidst the walking dead, which is just so many layers of awesome. Maberry has an exceptional talent for writing fight sequences, and all this amazing action really helps to get the adrenaline pumping. I also have to commend all of the first-rate zombie scenes in the book, as the author crafts some truly horrifying scenes that showcase how terrifying and emotional damaging it would be to face off against these undead monsters.

As with all the previous books in the Joe Ledger series, I chose to listen to the audiobook format of Code Zero which was narrated by Ray Porter. Clocking in at just over 16 hours, I managed to get through this audiobook fairly quickly, mainly because I started listening to it while on an international flight. I think it is pretty clear at this point that I really enjoy listening to the audiobook versions of the Joe Ledger books, mainly due to the narration of the outstanding Ray Porter. I have sung Porter’s praises in all of my previous reviews, and I really cannot express what a good job he does bring the series titular protagonist to live with his voice work. Code Zero was no exception, and I would strongly recommend the audiobook format to anyone even vaguely interested in this book.

Code Zero by Jonathan Maberry is another spectacular book in the Joe Ledger series, and one that I absolutely loved. Maberry continues to utilise some of the amazing story elements that made his previous six books so darn enjoyable, and he ups the ante with another exceptional antagonist and the clever reuse of memorable story elements from previous books in the series. All of this results in another science fiction/thriller masterpiece that gets an easy five out five stars from me, and it is possibly one of the most enjoyable books I have read so far this year.

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The Queen’s Tiger by Peter Watt

On October 20, 2019August 14, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Historical Fiction14 Comments

The Queen's Tiger Cover

Publisher: Macmillan (Trade Paperback – 12 November 2019)

Series: The Colonial series – Book 2

Length: 360 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of Australia’s best historical fiction writers, Peter Watt, returns with another exciting historical adventure in The Queen’s Tiger, the outstanding sequel to his 2018 release, The Queen’s Colonial.

Following on from the events of The Queen’s Colonial, in 1857, former Australian settler Ian Steele is still living under the guise of Samuel Forbes, a rich English noble who Ian bears an uncanny resemblance to. Ian switched places with Samuel in order to help him meet the required military service he needs to receive a vast inheritance. Serving as a captain in Queen Victoria’s army, Ian has proven himself to be a natural soldier, fighting against the odds dozens of times over against the most vicious enemies of the crown. However, despite the formidable enemies he has faced on the battlefield, Ian has encountered greater dangers far closer to home, as Samuel’s father and his murderous brother Charles are determined that Samuel will never receive his inheritance.

As Ian and his men, including his old friends Sergeant Conan Curry and Corporal Owen Williams, return from fighting the Persian army in Iran, a dangerous threat to the empire is brewing in India. Indian troops under the employ of the British East India Company have begun to mutiny, and the country, caught up in a swell of anti-British nationalism, is beginning to violently rebel against British rule. Among those caught up in the chaos are Samuel’s sister Alice and her husband the surgeon Peter Campbell, whose honeymoon turns into a brutal fight for survival.

Redeployed to India, Ian is once again leading the charge in some of the campaign’s most deadly battles against a determined foe. However, the biggest threat to his survival is happening half a world away back in England, as the real Samuel Forbes returns to London for a personal meeting under the name Ian Steele. When Samuel is spotted and his true identity is suspected, he finds himself hunted throughout England by Charles’s agents, determined to prove that Ian is an imposter. Can Ian and Samuel continue their ruse amidst the tragedy, tribulations and conflicts they encounter, or will the evil forces arrayed against them finally bring them down?

This was another fantastic book from Peter Watt, who has a true knack for producing compelling historical adventures filled with action, intrigue and family drama. The Queen’s Tiger is the second book in Watt’s Colonial series, which follows its protagonists through some of the most dangerous conflicts that the British army found itself involved with during the 19^th century. I have to admit that I have been quite keen to check this book out for a little while, and not just because it quotes one of my Canberra Weekly reviews on the cover. The first book in this series, The Queen’s Colonial was an excellent read, and it did a good job following up Watt’s long-running Frontier series of which I was a big fan (make sure to check out my Canberra Weekly reviews for the last two books in this series, While the Moon Burns and From the Stars Above).

The Queen’s Tiger continues the intriguing story from the first book, which saw a simple Australian blacksmith pretend to be an English gentleman in order to serve as an officer in the Queen’s army. This was a compelling start the series, and I am glad that Watt has continued to follow through the fun blend of military action, intrigue and character interactions that have been a signature writing trend of his for some time. The Queen’s Tiger contains a wide-ranging story that covers several characters across a number of continents. This allows the author to showcase a number of different and enjoyable storylines within one book, and as such we can have one section of a book that focuses on the military action and adventure being undertaken by several of the characters in India, and the next section than looks at the sinister plotting of the book’s antagonists, or the desperate attempts of the real Samuel to keep his identity secret in England. In addition to their ongoing adventures, the author also explores the various relationships and romances that the various characters have, painting a rich tapestry of these point-of-view characters’ lives. This is a wonderful combination of storylines, all of which comes together into an excellent and highly enjoyable read.

Just like he did with the Crimean War in The Queen’s Colonial, Watt does a fantastic job bringing an intriguing historical conflict to life in this book, with his focus and examination of the Indian Mutiny of 1857. The book actually follows the entire duration of the Indian Mutiny and showcases most of the key moments of the rebellion that turned into full-scale war for independence. As a result of the way that Watt positioned his characters from the first book, the reader gets to see two separate parts of the mutiny. Alice and Peter’s storyline, which also features the new major character of Scott Campbell, focuses on how the English people who were living in India when the mutiny started would have perceived what was going on, and the desperate battle that the English forces garrisoned in India faced against a mass rebellion of their Indian soldiers. Ian’s storyline, on the other hand, shows the battles that the English relief force faced as they tried to retake the country and rescue the English citizens trapped within. This was an extremely fascinating historical event, and I think that Watt’s portrayal of this conflict was extremely intriguing and compelling. Based on the comments in the historical notes section of this book, it looks like Watt is planning to take his characters through a number of England’s various 19^th century military campaigns in the following books, and I look forward to seeing where they end up next.

Needless to say, a book that has such a strong focus on soldiers and the Indian Mutiny is going to be very heavy on the action, as the protagonists fight in several battles across Indian and Iran. There are a significant number of fast-paced sequences throughout this book, from the various battles and skirmishes that occur during the mutiny, to thrilling chase scenes in the backstreets of London. Watt’s grasp of 19^th century military combat is quite impressive, and there is a very realistic feel to the huge number of fight sequences that occur throughout the book, as he focuses on the tactics and weaponry of the British infantry man. As a result, there is rarely a dull or quiet moment in this book, and action fans will really appreciate the cool fights occurring throughout the book.

Peter Watt has once again delivered an electrifying and enthralling piece of historical fiction with The Queen’s Tiger. Featuring some amazing depictions of a deadly part of history, as well as a bunch of great characters whose various adventures, deceptions and relationships are particularly intriguing, this is a fantastic piece of Australian fiction that is really worth checking out.

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Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge – Black Spire by Delilah S. Dawson

On October 9, 2019August 17, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Star Wars, Tie-in Novel8 Comments

Publisher: Century (Trade Paperback – 3 September 2019)

Series: Star Wars

Length: 378 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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Man, it has been a good year for Star Wars tie-in fiction. So far in 2019 there have been a huge number of awesome books that cover some diverse periods of Star Wars history, from an intriguing look at a younger Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray to the electrifying third book in Timothy Zahn’s new Thrawn series, Treason. As the year draws to a close, the focus of the Star Wars extended universe starts to turn to the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. As a result, the rest of the books coming out this year will set the scene of the Star Wars universe before the events of this upcoming film. This includes the focus of this review, Black Spire by Delilah S. Dawson.

Black Spire is an interesting addition to this later year complement of Star Wars novels, and it is one that I have been looking forward to for a while. Dawson previously contributed to the Star Wars extended universe with 2017’s Phasma, and Black Spire is also part of the Galaxy’s Edge mini-series, which is connected with the Disneyland theme park area of the same name. As such, there are some intriguing elements to the book that make it worth checking out.

Following the events of The Last Jedi, the Resistance has been decimated, and only a few survivors remain. However, those survivors are still as determined as ever to fight the tyranny of the First Order, and need to find new recruits, allies and resources to continue this war. To that end, General Leia Organa has tasked her best spy, Vi Moradi, to find an isolated planet and set up a base to serve as a much-needed bolt hole for other surviving members of the Resistance. Still recovering from the trauma of her last adventure, Vi decides that the best location for this base is on the isolated planet of Batuu, which serves as the final stop between the known galaxy and the mysterious and unexplored expanses of Wild Space.

Heading out for Batuu with a ship full of supplies, materials for a base and a rather snarky droid, Vi is joined by Archex, a former captain in the First Order turned ally who is now seeking redemption. However, their mission begins poorly when they are forced to crash land on the planet and scavengers steal all their supplies. With no help coming from the rest of the Resistance, Vi is forced to make other arrangements to secure her objectives. Finding work in the Black Spire Outpost, Vi will have to make deals with local gangsters and barter with various businesses if she is wants to build up her base of operations and attract new recruits.

However, most of Batuu’s populace want nothing to do with the Resistance and are content to live their lives on the outskirts of the current conflict. But when a force of First Order stormtroopers arrive on Batuu led by a fanatical officer determined to hunt down Vi, they begin to understand the true power and terror of the group beginning to dominate the galaxy. As Vi’s small group of Resistance recruits band together to fight back against the superior force arrayed against them, will they be able to save Batuu, or will another planet fall to the destructive tyranny of the First Order?

The first thing that needs to be addressed is that Black Spire is tied into the newest themed area at Disneyland in California, Galaxy’s Edge. I have to admit, when I first heard that this book was going to be strongly associated with a theme park attraction, the rather blatant commercialism was a little off-putting, so I can totally understand why some people may be reluctant to check it out. However, those readers who give it a chance will be in a for a treat, as Black Spire is an exciting and at times emotional book that proved to be quite enjoyable.

I really liked the storylines contained within this book, as the whole concept of two opposing factions trying to win over a town for their own ends was one that I found to be pretty cool. Watching Vi and her allies attempt to gain resources and followers in the Black Spire Outpost was very entertaining, especially as the author comes up with several compelling Resistance recruits to help Vi in their fight against the First Order. The backstories of each of these followers, who include a young farm boy from an isolated anti-tech society, a flamboyant smuggler and a small alien mechanic, are explored in some detail, and each of them gets their own captivating character arcs. The author also spends some time showing the perspective of Black Spire’s sadistic villain, which makes for a great alternate viewpoint and intriguing change of pace at times. In addition to the fun characters, there is also a ton of action and adventure, as the two opposing sides face off against each other, the locals of Batuu and dangers of the surrounding wilderness. Overall, this was a really fun read, and it is worth checking out.

As I mentioned above, Black Spire is set in the immediate aftermath of The Last Jedi and helps showcase the universe and the Resistance’s struggle between this movie and The Rise of Skywalker. This book is also a sequel to Dawson’s previous book, Phasma, as Vi was the Resistance spy who was narrating Phasma’s life story, while Archex is a reborn version of one of Phasma’s antagonists, Captain Cardinal. While readers do not need to have read Phasma to enjoy this book, those who have will appreciate the continuation of several of the stories and character arcs that were started in the first book. Archex’s character arc, for example, is particularly fascinating, as he is a former First Order commander who has been deprogrammed from the organisation’s brainwashing and propaganda. His perspectives on First Order tactics and methods are really cool and help showcase the First Order as a truly evil and ruthless group. The guilt and regret that Archex experiences, combined with Vi’s mental trauma and PTSD from the events of Phasma, make for a compelling emotional heart to the whole book, especially as the author explores the extent of their new working relationship.

I think it is also important to mention that this book has some cool connections to the Galaxy’s Edge theme park area. In a mostly unplanned coincidence, I was actually halfway through Black Spire while visiting Disneyland and the Galaxy’s Edge area just over a week ago. As a result, while I was walking around through Galaxy’s Edge and enjoying the cool atmosphere, I noticed that a number of the characters and locations featured in Black Spire were inspired by the shops within the park area. In addition, some of the performances from the Disneyland cast revolved around the First Order hunting a Resistance spy hiding in the Black Spire Outpost, which is a cool reference to the events of the book. Indeed, one of the performances I saw actually kind of spoiled an event that occurred at the end of this book, although it is a rather minor reveal. I personally found that reading this book around the same time as I visited the theme park not only helped enhance my experience of Galaxy’s Edge, but it also made me appreciate a number of the elements of Black Spire at the same time. As a result, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is visiting Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland, and it is truly interesting to see how the setting of the book is brought to life.

Black Spire by Delilah S. Dawson is another excellent addition to the Star Wars expanded universe with some neat storylines and compelling characters. While its strong connections to the newest themed area of Disneyland may not be for everyone, I felt that there were a lot of cool features in this book that make it really worth checking out. I am excited to see what Star Wars stories Dawson tells in the future, as Black Spire turned out to be an incredibly enjoyable read.

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Star Trek: The Captain’s Oath by Christopher L. Bennett

On August 30, 2019July 15, 2025 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Star Trek, Tie-in Novel12 Comments

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio (Audiobook – 28 May 2019)

Series: Star Trek

Length: 11 hours and 58 minutes

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Prepare to venture boldly into a new Star Trek: The Original Series tie-in novel which not only tells a deeply compelling story but also looks at several pivotal moments of Captain Kirk’s early Starfleet career that made him the captain we all know and love.

Captain James Tiberius Kirk is known throughout the galaxy as a great warrior, diplomat, explorer and hero. His story as the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise is legendary, but how did a relatively young and inexperienced captain gain the right to take command of Starfleet’s most advanced and famous ship? What drives the young captain to be the best? And where did he get the tendency to bend Starfleet’s many rules in order to do the right thing?

Over three separate timelines set between 2261 and 2265, The Captain’s Oath follows Kirk’s early career as a captain. Looking at both his first command aboard the U.S.S. Sacagawea to his initial missions with the crew of the Enterprise, this book highlights several major conflicts and explorations that Kirk was involved in which shaped his personality and command style. From early conflicts with the Klingons, first contact missions that tested Kirk’s dedication to follow the Prime Directive to the letter, and diplomatic missions that had the potential to lead to war, these experiences will turn him into a captain worthy of the Enterprise.

I am fairly new to the world of Star Trek tie-in books, having only previously read two Star Trek novels that were released earlier this year, The Way to the Stars and Available Light. I was massively impressed by The Captain’s Oath, which was a spectacular and massively compelling read. Veteran Star Trek author Christopher L. Bennett, who has written a large number of Star Trek tie-in novels since 2004, crafted an excellent novel that not only showcases the past of an iconic character from the franchise but presents an exciting adventure at the same time.

The overarching narrative of The Captain’s Oath is told in three separate timelines. The first of these timelines starts in early 2261 and follows the early day of Kirk’s captaincy of the Sacagawea. The next timeline is set between 2262 and 2264, and also features Kirk as the Captain of the Sacagawea; however, this timeline starts after an undisclosed destructive event that crippled the ship and killed several of Kirk’s crew in the previous timeline, and follows Kirk’s adventures after this event. The final timeline is set in 2265 and starts the moment Kirk takes command of the Enterprise. It follows his first real mission as captain of his iconic ship, and ends just before the start of The Original Series television show. The book features lengthy chapters, with various adventures in different points of time spread throughout the course of the novel. These adventures are also usually shown from the perspectives of Kirk and some of the Starfleet personnel serving with him, although there are occasional scenes featuring characters aboard other Starfleet ships.

I did initially find it a little tricky to get my head around the use of multiple timelines, especially as I was listening to the audiobook format of The Captain’s Oath. However, once I got track of each of the three major timelines, I was able to appreciate what Bennett was doing with this writing style and how he wanted to tell the story. By using these multiple timelines, Bennett succeeds in telling a story that is much more complex and compelling than a linear story would have been. These multiple timelines allow the reader to get a much better sense of the main character and how he became the person he was in the first episode of The Original Series. By showing various stages of his time as a captain, Bennett is able to examine a number of key events that formed Kirk’s personality and command style. Through a series of intriguing missions and a ton of different scenarios, you get to see how Kirk reacts to both his success and his failures, and what lessons he takes with him. As the book progresses, you get to see how these earlier experiences affect his actions in the subsequent chronological missions. This was an extremely clever way to write the story, and I felt that the multiple timelines work extremely well together and helped create a powerful narrative that did a fantastic job showcasing the character of Captain Kirk.

I also really enjoyed the huge variety of Star Trek missions that Kirk and his crew went on throughout the course of the book. This book featured an amazing range of different missions that Starfleet are known for, including diplomatic undertakings, rescues, exploration, first contact and military missions in defence of the Federation. Some of these missions are quite complex in their individual content and in the way that most of them flow through and connect with later missions in the chronology. Bennett has come up with some truly unique and fantastic scenarios for this book, and through these various missions the reader is treated to some intriguing mysteries, intense battles and deep examinations of humanity and life. I really got into a number of these missions, including a fascinating mission where Kirk and his crew get trapped on a pre-spaceflight planet whose government is using propaganda to frighten the populace with non-existent invading aliens. However, the best scenario is a series of missions set during Kirk’s days as captain of the Sacagawea where he and his crew encounter an unusual group of aliens who are invading Federation space in some unique ships (the one on the cover). The various missions involving these new aliens not only result in some impressive space battles but also feature some intriguing diplomatic meetings and fascinating discussions about different forms of life, as the beings Kirk and his crew encounter are so alien that a number of key concepts such as territory and galactic borders are untranslatable to them. Each of the missions featured in this book were pretty amazing and are a testament to Bennett’s imagination and appreciation for the underlying material.

One of the things that I enjoyed about this book was the sheer amount of Star Trek references and lore that Bennett has managed to fit into this story. Fans of Kirk and The Original Series will be intrigued by this new look at Kirk’s early career as a captain and several of the pivotal adventures he undertook. The Captain’s Oath also features Kirk’s first meetings with several key characters from the series, including Spock, Sulu, Scotty and McCoy. Not only does the reader get an idea of the early relationship between Kirk and Spock, which only began when Kirk took command, but you also get to see Kirk befriend McCoy and then eventually talk him into becoming doctor for the Enterprise. In addition to the look at the major characters, there are also a number of great examinations of minor characters from the series. A great example of this is the inclusion of the Klingon character Captain Koloth, the villain of The Original Series episode The Trouble with Tribbles. While he was only in the book for a short period of time, it does answer a question about how Koloth and Kirk knew each other, as they recognise each other in the episode, and it shows why they disliked each other.

Perhaps the most interesting part of The Captain’s Oath was the inclusion of Gary Mitchell throughout the course of the book. In the show, Mitchell only appeared in one episode and was the original helmsman of the Enterprise before becoming the eventual antagonist of the episode Where No Man Has Gone Before. In this episode it is explained that Mitchell was one of Kirk’s oldest and closest friends, and Bennett spends a lot of time exploring this friendship in this book. Mitchell is shown to be a major influence on Kirk’s personality during the early days of him being a captain, helping him relax and become less beholden to Starfleet’s rules and regulations. Their friendship is an important part of the book, although it is a little tragic when you consider how it is destined to end. The book also features a few scenes with Lt. Kelso, who is killed by Mitchell in Where No Man Has Gone Before, and it is interesting to see some of his interactions with Mitchell and Kirk, considering his appearances in the show. It is curious to note that Bennett appears to have switched the roles of Mitchell and Kelso around, as Kelso is portrayed in the book as the helmsman, while Mitchell is the navigator. Nonetheless, the author uses the inclusion of Kelso to explain why Sulu was the ship’s physicist in this episode rather than helmsman, and why he was given the job in subsequent episodes.

Bennett has included some pretty deep Star Trek lore in this book, but do you need to be a major Star Trek fan to enjoy The Captain’s Oath? In my opinion, you do not. Obviously, hardcore Star Trek fans will get a lot more out of this book, no doubt appreciating all the references, minor characters and the backstory that Bennett has concocted. However, this book is easily enjoyable for people who only have a passing knowledge of the Star Trek shows or universe. Bennett makes the story extremely accessible, and many features from the franchise or history relevant to the story are explained in full detail, ensuring no one is left in the dark. Indeed, due to the awesome story, connection to The Original Series and the focus on such an iconic character, this is a great book to check out if you are curious about Star Trek books and want to see what they are like, and a lot of general science fiction readers will like some of the unique scenarios explored throughout the book. This would also be a really interesting book for those people whose only exposure to Star Trek has been the recent movies set in the alternate timeline, as this book shows a very different version of Kirk. Overall, I think that quite a wide audience can appreciate The Captain’s Oath, and it is a fantastic Star Trek tie-in book to check out.

While I did receive a physical copy of The Captain’s Oath, I decided to check out the audiobook version instead in order to fit it into my reading schedule. The audiobook format of this book is narrated by Robert Petkoff, who has a narrated a large number of previous Star Trek tie-in books, as well as several Star Trek novels coming out later this year. The Captain’s Oath audiobook runs for a pretty typical length of time for a Star Trek book, at just under 12 hours long, meaning that dedicated listeners should be able to get through this quite quickly. I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook format of this book, and I found that listening to the story helped enhance certain aspects of the plot, such as making the action sequences more exciting and providing the full impact of several of Kirks inspirational speeches. Petkoff is an excellent narrator whose work I have previously enjoyed when I listened to Available Light a couple of months ago. I noted back than that Petkoff did an amazing job imitating several key members of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast, and I was very curious to see how he would go with characters from The Original Series. Petkoff’s voice work in The Captain’s Oath was pretty impressive, as he did an exceptional job bringing characters such as Spock, Scotty, Sulu and McCoy to life and making them sound very similar to their original portrayals in the show. Petkoff also did a pretty good Kirk, and I liked how he attempted to reproduce the captain’s iconic speech patterns from the show. Petkoff also had the opportunity to bring a huge range of different nationalities and alien species to life, and these were also very impressive, as he was able to produce some distinctive voice types from the show, including the specific vocal patterns of the Vulcans as well as several distinctive human accents. All of this made for an incredible listen, and I fully intend to check out the audiobook formats of any future Star Trek books narrated by Petkoff. Indeed, the next audiobook I am planning to listen to, The Antares Maelstrom, is narrated by Petkoff, and I look forward to listening to this latest book.

Star Trek: The Captain’s Oath is an exciting and captivating novel that does an outstanding job exploring the early life of Captain Kirk and examining some formative events that made him the character we all know and love. Author Christopher Bennett has created a compelling story that utilises multiple timelines and a series of intriguing missions to tell a complex tale that I had an amazing time reading. This is an excellent piece of Star Trek extended fiction that I would whole-heartily recommend for anyone who has ever been curious about learning more about Kirk’s story and the Star Trek universe prior to The Original Series.

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Throwback Thursday – Star Trek: Boldly Go, Volume 1 by Mike Johnson and Tony Shasteen

On August 30, 2019August 23, 2022 By The Unseen LibraryIn Comics/Manga, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Star Trek, Throwback Thursday4 Comments

Publisher: IDW Publishing

Publication Date: 25 July 2017

Length: 136 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Reviewed as part of my Throwback Thursday series, where I republish old reviews, review books I have read before or review older books I have only just had a chance to read.

In this Throwback Thursday, get ready to explore the first volume of an intriguing Star Trek comic book series, Boldly Go, which presents the reader with clever new story directions spinning off from the alternate timeline Star Trek movies.

I think it is time to admit to myself that I am starting to get rather hooked on Star Trek extended universe fiction. Like my obsession with everything from the Star Wars extended universe, all it took for me to dive into this new fandom was reading a few compelling Star Trek books. Amazing titles such as Available Light and The Captain’s Oath made me realise that there are some pretty interesting Star Trek books out there. I just started listening to another Star Trek audiobook today (The Antares Maelstrom by Greg Cox, which is pretty good so far). As a result, when I recently saw some other reviewers talking about a cool-sounding Star Trek comic book series that came out a couple of years ago, I immediately went and grabbed a copy of the first volume (I am very impressionable like that). What I found was an extremely compelling Star Trek adventure that had some truly intriguing and clever elements to it.

Star Trek: Boldly Go was an ongoing canon comic book series which started in 2016 and was set in the same continuity as the 2009 Star Trek film and its sequels. This continuity is an alternate timeline to the main Star Trek universe, which is known as the Kelvin Timeline due to the deviation that started with the time traveller Nero’s destruction of the U.S.S. Kelvin (Kirk’s father’s ship). This series was written by Mike Johnson, who has a lot of experience writing Star Trek comic book series, and featured contributions from several different artists. Boldly Go was the second ongoing series set in this timeline, following the 2011 Star Trek series which ran for 60 issues and was also written by Mike Johnson (which apparently had some really interesting-sounding storylines and which I might have to check out as well).

Following the destruction of the U.S.S. Enterprise in Star Trek Beyond, the entire crew have been temporarily reassigned to new posts while they wait for their ship to be rebuilt. While Spock and Uhura are living on New Vulcan and Scotty is a lecturer at Starfleet Academy on Earth, Sulu, McCoy and Kirk are still serving out amongst the stars. Kirk has taken command of the U.S.S. Endeavour with McCoy begrudgingly at his side, and Sulu is serving a one-year exploration mission aboard the U.S.S. Concord.

Events outside of their control will soon bring the former crew of the Enterprise back together, when the Concord encounters a ship of unknown design on the edge of Federation space. The ship is extremely powerful and technologically advanced and it attacks without warning, easily carving off pieces of the Concord with its destructive weapons. As alien boarders abduct members of the crew and devastate the ship, only one thing is certain: resistance is futile!

The Borg Collective, one of the most dangerous races in the entire galaxy, have arrived in this version of Federation space nearly 100 years earlier than they were supposed to. Their motives are unclear, but as they attack several Federation vessels and settlements it is clear that they are en route to the capital of the Romulan Empire, Romulus. Answering the Concord’s distress call, Kirk and the Endeavour follow the Borg sphere after picking up Spock and Uhura. Forced to enter Romulan space, can Kirk and his crew save the abducted humans and defeat the Borg, or will actions provoke war with the Romulans? And what connection do the Borg have to the events that made this alternate timeline and formed this version of the Enterprise’s crew?

This first volume of Boldly Go is a massive ball of fun that I had a great time reading. Not only does it feature a captivating and enjoyable story with some real cool twists; it also takes this Star Trek universe in some interesting directions. Featuring issues #1-6, this first volume starts a few months after the events of Star Trek Beyond and continues several of the fun storylines explored in the movies and the 2011 ongoing comic book series.

This first volume features a bunch of interesting storylines. Issues #1-4 contain the volume’s major storyline, the invasion of the Borg into Federation and Romulan space. This is an extremely action-packed storyline, and I really enjoyed seeing the Borg, who are probably the best Star Trek antagonists ever created, go up against the classic crew of the Enterprise. The entire Borg storyline is cleverly written, with high stakes and explosive action sequences, and it has some really cool moments. If you have ever wanted to see what would happen if the Borg tried to assimilate Spock (and let’s face it, who wouldn’t find that awesome) then this is the comic for you.

Issues #5 and #6 contain two different, intriguing storylines. Issue #5 contains a rather emotional story that examines the history of the fan-favourite character from Star Trek Beyond, Jaylah. Told chronologically backwards, this issue shows Jaylah’s tragic life trapped on the planet Altamid, and then goes further back to explore how she and her family were marooned there and the events of her past that would eventually lead her to Starfleet. The sixth and final issue in the volume continues some of the storylines from the first four issues of the series, reunites the always funny Scotty with the rest of the main characters and shows a rather curious story about an extremely advanced species of aliens interfering with the Endeavour in violation of their own version of the Prime Directive.

While all of the storylines featured within this first volume are compelling and filled with emotional plot developments, it was also cool to see this version of the Enterprise crew once again. I really liked seeing how their adventures continued post-Star Trek Beyond, especially because, at the moment, it looks like Beyond is going to be the last film in this particular series of Star Trek films (which is a real shame, as some of the plans for the next instalment sounded particularly awesome). I did feel that the creative team of this comic did a fantastic job capturing the tone of the new movies and the personalities of these versions of the characters, and overall I found the story within this volume to be quite impressive.

In addition to the great story, dedicated Star Trek fans will find some of plot inclusions to be extremely interesting, as they draw on some unique pieces of Star Trek lore. This volume features alternate timeline versions of characters from the original series, such as Captain Terrell, an older version of whom previously appeared in The Wrath of Khan, and there are intriguing hints at features of the Romulan Empire, such as the feared Tal Shiar. I also cannot get past how awesome it was to see the Borg in this timeline. Jackson has previously experimented with having this version of the original Enterprise crew interact with classic villains from other Star Trek shows. For example, they encountered Q in Jackson’s previous comic book series set in the Kelvin Timeline. However, it was particularly cool having the crew fight the Borg, and it resulted in a number of amazing scenes.

I found the explanation for why the Borg were in Federation space during this time period to be extremely clever. In the main Star Trek universe, the Borg did not attack the Federation until the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation, set around 100 years after the start of The Original Series. However, in this comic, the Borg were attracted to the Federation much sooner than expected. The reason for this is eventually shown to be because Nero, the antagonist of the 2009 Star Trek film, constructed his massive ship, the Narada, out of Borg technology. This naturally drew the attention of the Borg, who travelled to Federation space at a much quicker rate than they did in their original appearance. While this explanation is pretty fascinating by itself, it actually results in some interesting connections with the main Star Trek universe. Technically, this alternate timeline is still considered to be within the canon of the main universe, as it was created when characters from this timeline, Nero and Spock from The Original Series, travelled back to the day Kirk was born. As a result, if the Narada contained Borg technology, then it is reasonable to assume that the Romulans are experimenting with captured Borg material in the main universe after The Next Generation ended. This has subsequently been somewhat confirmed, as the recent Comic Con trailer for the upcoming television series Picard showed images of Romulans dissecting Borg prisoners. As Picard is going to be set after the destruction of Romulus in the main Star Trek universe, it appears that this comic actually predicted events from the show before it was even in production (or else the creators of the show read this comic). This deep dive into Star Trek lore is really cool, and it is interesting to see ideas spawned in this comic have impacts in an upcoming show.

This volume of Star Trek Beyond features some fantastic artwork from a variety of skilled artists. The main artist for the first five issues is Tony Shasteen, with Davide Mastrolonardo serving as colourist. Their combined artwork is pretty spectacular, and I really enjoyed it. Not only did they do a fantastic job of recreating the alternate timeline versions of the Enterprise crew, but the drawings of space, battles and the destruction of the Borg are amazing. I particularly liked the character designs of the Borg drones, especially when some of the Starfleet characters are converted into drones. I was also really impressed by an extended sequence that took place in Spock’s mind, where the Borg infiltrated his memories of several events of the 2009 film, and they made for a great scene. Issue #6 was drawn by Chris Mooneyham, with J. D. Mettler doing the colours. This naturally results in a noticeably different art style for this final issue, but this team does a great job of portraying some interesting scientific anomalies in space. Overall, the artwork featured within this volume is exciting and very well-done, and I had a great time seeing how the artists rolled out this adventure.

Volume 1 of Star Trek Beyond is a fantastic comic book that is really worth checking out. The creative team have done a wonderful job portraying a new story that takes place in the aftermath of the last Star Trek movie. There are some really compelling story ideas taking place in this volume, and Johnson made sure to go big by bringing in a fantastic bunch of antagonists from The Next Generation. Best read by existing fans of the Star Trek franchise who will enjoy the creative team’s unique take on the characters and their adventures, this comic will also be appreciated by casual Star Trek fans who have only seen the more recent movies. I am extremely glad I decided to explore this Star Trek comic book series, and I will definitely be grabbing the next two volumes of this series when I next visit the comic book shop. This first volume gets four and a half stars from me and is an outstanding piece of Star Trek fiction.

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Red Metal by Mark Greaney and Lt. Col. Hunter Ripley Rawlings IV. USMC

On August 28, 2019February 2, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Thriller25 Comments

Publisher: Audible Studios (Audiobook – 16 July 2019)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 21 hours and 21 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Get ready for World War III, because bestselling author Mark Greaney has teamed up with Lt. Col. Hunter Ripley Rawlings IV. USMC to create an absolutely incredible military thriller, Red Metal, which looks at how a potential invasion from Russia would unfold.

After years of war in the Middle East, the United States and their allies are preparing themselves for the next conflict. Many believe that this war will occur in the Pacific Ocean against China, especially after the Chinese begin to interfere in Taiwanese politics in an attempt to reunify the island nation with the mainland. As Chinese troops gather just outside of Taiwan and the United States military is rocked by a debilitating scandal, hardly anyone is expecting a move from Russia.

Since the end of the Cold War, Russia has been in an economic decline, and it desperately requires access to various advanced resources to remain a world power. An ambitious Russian colonel has come up with a complex plan to secure a vital Rare Earth mine that has the potential to secure the country’s future. Launching a high-speed and ruthlessly coordinated attack as Christmas falls, Russian forces stream across the border into Europe, crippling NATO and cutting the continent off from the United States. As America and NATO attempt to work out the extent of Russia’s plans in Europe and counter them, they are left distracted from Russia’s true goal as a second Russian army is secretly heading towards the African coast in order to reach the mine in Kenya.

As Russia continues its advance, the fate of the free world lies in the hands of several different individuals. In Washington, a veteran Marine Lieutenant Colonel and his colleagues attempt to decipher the Russian strategy before it is too late, while in Africa, a wily old French Intelligence agent and his Special Forces son must uncover why undercover Russian agents are abroad in Djibouti. In Europe, a mixture of unprepared NATO soldiers, including a young member of the Polish militia, an out-of-his-depth American tank commander and a high-flying US pilot must fight against the odds to push back against the invading Russian force. As epic battles erupt across several countries, one thing is clear: the world will never be the same again.

Wow, just wow. A few months ago, I predicted that along with The Kremlin Strike, Red Metal was going to be one of the top military thrillers of 2019. I am more than happy to report that I was 100 per cent right, as this was an outstanding read that I had an absolute blast listening to. The team of experienced thriller writer Mark Greaney, who is best known for his work on Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan Universe and his own bestselling Gray Man series (make sure to check out my review for the latest book in this series, Mission Critical, here) and debuting author Lt. Col. Hunter Ripley Rawlings IV. USMC, have created a sensational book that I have no choice but to award a full five stars to.

Contemporary military thriller is a genre that I have only started getting into recently, although so far I have enjoyed some great examples, including The Moscow Offensive by Dale Brown, Treason by Rick Campbell and Red War by Kyle Mills. However, in my opinion Red Metal stands heads and shoulders above all of these books and it is probably the best pure military thriller that I have read. The authors of this book have come up with a truly fascinating military scenario that sees Russia sweep across two continents and influence conflict in a third. The Russians in this book have a really clever and effective military strategy that results in a massive, widespread conflict, and the reader gets to see every step of it unfold. This entire plan seems exceedingly realistic, and it is clear that Greaney and Rawlings have put some real thought into how war could break out and how the various participants would react. They really dive into the minutiae of the whole scenario and try to cover all the angles of an invasion of Europe and Africa, including cutting off communications, setting up an alternate navigation system, hacking the US and creating a number of plausible diversions. Never before has a discussion about the different sized rail tracks and rail switching stations in Europe been so fascinating. The scope of this conflict is really impressive, and the authors do a fantastic job showcasing the various types of battle that would occur in this sort of modern-day war between major superpowers. As a result, this book is filled with fighting on land, sea, air, underwater and even in cyber space, in an impressive thought exercise which translates into a compelling piece of fiction.

I really liked how the authors chose to tell this story from a variety of different perspectives, as Red Metal features a huge number of point-of-view characters. While the story is mostly focused on a few key characters, a number of minor characters often get one or two scenes, and the reader gets to see how the war unfolds from both sides of the conflict. As a result, the reader gets a much fuller understanding of how this potential scenario would unfold and how various countries or organisations such as NATO would react to war breaking out. The authors also make great use of the various perspectives to ratchet up tension throughout the book as the readers are privy to the full extent of the Russians plans. This results in the reader being fully aware of all the mistakes that the Americans and their allies are making in this war, and by the time they get their act together it seems like it is too little, too late.

The use of various perspectives also helps to create a number of different characters that the reader can really get invested in. While many of characters introduced only have small roles in the overall narrative, the authors do some detailed explorations of the backgrounds and story arcs of several key characters. Some of these characters have really well-written and have some enjoyable or intriguing storylines. I personally enjoyed the story of Paulina, a young recruit in Poland’s Territorial Defence Force (a volunteer military reserve) the most. Paulina finds herself thrust into the middle of the Russian invasion and is quickly transformed from an innocent girl to a hard-eyed killer in a few short days thanks to the horrors of war. Paulina’s story is extremely captivating, and it is potentially the character that most non-soldiers reading this book are going to identify with as they are left thinking how they would react in a similar situation. It was really quite interesting to see what role people in the various scenarios could potentially play, and I really liked seeing what sort of difference a small group of determined soldiers could make in a conflict such this.

One of the things that I really loved about this story was the realistic portrayal of the various armed forces involved in this book and the detailed examination of everything that needs to be considered in a war. This book is chocked full of military terminology, descriptions of various weapons and tactics, slang, military history and a variety of other complex features. You have to imagine the inclusion of all of these details is largely thanks to Rawlings and his extensive military experience, and I really enjoyed how the authors were able to seamlessly insert all of this knowledge into the story. Having all this information as the story progresses is extremely fascinating and I learnt a lot of cool facts. It also really amped up the realism of the whole story, in my opinion, and I found the story to be a whole lot more compelling as a result.

It is important to point out that Red Metal is not the male character dominated, exceedingly pro-American story that some military thrillers are; instead the writers went out of their way to produce a more balanced story. For example, the book features a number of great female characters, most of whom are involved in the war in some way or another, and it was cool to see how women are utilised in the modern military. The authors also take the time to show Russia’s side of the conflict and explain their motivations for engaging in this battle against the west. While a number or Russian characters are pretty villainous and/or murderous, they do tend to have some reasonable motivations for their actions, and indeed they see themselves as the good guys in this conflict. There are also a few more pragmatic Russian officers featured in the book who are a lot more likeable, especially as they come across as a bit more compassionate and less eager for war and destruction. The United States is also not heavily portrayed as the world’s most awesome country, as some military thrillers do. Instead the country is shown to be extremely unprepared for a Russian invasion, their military command is initially easily manipulated and a response to Russia’s actions is hampered by politics or pettiness from a superior officer. That being said, the book does feature a number of extremely pro-American scenes and sentiments, and there is even a sequence where an American pilot flies into combat shouting “die Commie die”, although to be fair, it is described as a historical military mantra developed in the Cold War to help pilots time their length of fire. The end result of the conflict between America and Russia is also what you’d pretty much expect, but it still makes for one hell of a read.

While the authors have added some interesting depth to this story, at its heart it is a military thriller, and that means that this book is chocked full of action. There are a huge number of fantastic and extended battle sequences throughout the entire book, some of which are truly epic in their size and content. Readers are really spoiled for action in Red Metal, as the authors have included all manner of different types of battles with a huge range of different vehicles and weapons. This book features battles in the air, at sea, underwater in submarines, on the ground with the grunts and in a variety of locations with Special Forces regiments. There are a number of impressive and memorable sequences, including a large amount of tank on tank combat, as two enemy armoured regiments face off against each other. I personally really enjoyed a particularly brutal ambush of Russian tanks in Poland, as Polish militia attempt to defeat a superior force in the middle of a city. The main set-piece has to be an extended battle between a variety of Russian units, and a force of United States Marines down in Africa. This battle down in Africa is particularly impressive, as the authors do an awesome job of bringing the fighting to life, and the sheer chaos of war and the ferocity of both sides as they try to win through any means necessary. All this action is pretty darn amazing, and the authors really outdid themselves with it.

I chose to listen to the audiobook format of Red Metal, which is narrated by experienced audiobook narrator Marc Vietor. I am really glad that I picked up the Red Metal audiobook as it was an amazing way to enjoy this fantastic book. Vietor did an excellent job narrating this book, and I felt that listening to the story brought all the intense action to life and helped place me in the centre of the story. Due to the book featuring a huge number of different nationalities, the story featured a range of character accents, all of which Vietor did extremely well, producing distinctive and memorable voices for each of his characters. The Red Metal audiobook runs for 21 hours and 21 minutes and it is an excellent format to consume this incredible novel.

Red Metal is a tour-de-force from Greaney and Rawlings, who have produced one hell of a military thriller. These two authors are a potent writing team, as Greaney’s experience as a thriller writer and Rawlings’s military knowledge helps create an epic read that just pumps the reader full of intense action, clever storylines and memorable characters. I really hope that these two authors continue to work together in the future, as Red Metal was a really impressive first collaboration. Five out of five stars all the way, you have to check out this book.

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Spaceside by Michael Mammay

On August 20, 2019August 16, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Thriller34 Comments

Publisher: Harper Voyager (Ebook – 27 August 2019)

Series: Planetside – Book Two

Length: 336 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Last year, Michael Mammay debuted an absolutely incredible book, Planetside, the outstanding science fiction thriller that absolutely blew me (and the planet of Cappa) away with its inventiveness, addictive story and explosive conclusion. Now Mammay attempts to follow up this amazing first novel with a second book in his Planetside series, Spaceside.

I mentioned several times already on my blog how much I loved Planetside last year. Mammay’s first book was a spectacular story that blended a science fiction story about an advanced human military occupying an alien planet with an intriguing thriller around a missing soldier. Planetside was easily one of the best books I read in 2018, and I still cannot get past that epic finale to the story. As a result, when I found out that Mammay was following it up this year with Spaceside, I knew that I would have to read it, and featured it in both a Waiting on Wednesday post and my Top Ten Most Anticipated July-December 2019 Releases list. I was lucky enough to get an advanced electronic copy of Spaceside from Mammay and the publisher, and it did not take me long to dive in and read this book. I had pretty high expectations, considering how good the first entry in the series was.

In Planetside, veteran soldier Colonel Carl Butler is sent to the planet of Cappa to find a young officer who mysteriously disappeared following a mission against an insurgent group of the local aliens, the Cappans. Butler’s mission quickly revealed a massive conspiracy where elements of the occupying human military had been working with the Cappans to genetically modify humans with Cappan DNA, creating a dangerous hybrid species. After uncovering the existence of these hybrids and the full extent of the technology that had been traded to the Cappans, Butler is forced to make the terrible decision to initiate a major missile strike against Cappa to prevent a huge number of Cappans and hybrids from escaping into the wider galaxy. His actions stop the planned exodus and devastate the planet, killing a huge number of Cappans. Butler is subsequently arrested, frozen and sent back home for court martial, with his fate unrevealed in the last book.

Spaceside begins about two years after the events of Planetside, and reveals that Butler is now the most infamous man in the galaxy. While many view him as a hero, others consider him a genocidal monster. Forced out of the army, Butler now has an easy job as Deputy VP of Corporate Security for Varitech Production Company, a high-tech military company on the planet of Talca Four. In theory he helps protect the company against corporate threats, but in reality his job is to impress clients and utilise his substantial military connections for his bosses’ benefits.

As a result, he is surprised one day when he is called into the CEO’s office and given an actual security assignment. A rival tech company, Omicron Technology, has had a breach in their supposedly unhackable computer systems, and Varitech wants to know how it happened and whether their own systems are vulnerable. With no obvious leads and no-one claiming credit for the hack, Butler reaches out to one of his contacts working at the impacted company. However, shortly after their meeting, Butler’s contact is found dead and Butler is now the police’s prime suspect.

Determined once again to find out the truth no matter what, Butler starts to dig around at Omicron and discovers that they were working on a secret project with links to his time on Cappa. When information arrives from the most unlikely of places, Butler is once again drawn into a massive conspiracy that he is not meant to survive. Can he find a way out of this, or will he be forced to redo his greatest mistake?

Wow, just wow. This was another exceptional book from Mammay, who has once again produced a fantastic science fiction thriller hybrid with some amazing moments in it. I absolutely loved this follow-up to Planetside, which not only contains another addictive story with an amazing protagonist but also serves as an excellent sequel to the first book. I powered through Spaceside extremely quickly and loved every minute I spent glued to my screen. This gets another five out of five stars from me, and I reckon that I will once again be placing Mammay’s latest book on my top reads of the year list.

Just like the previous book in the series, Spaceside, is a compelling thriller set in a great science fiction environment and with some intriguing military thriller and science fiction elements thrown into it. However, in this book, the protagonist is no longer an official investigator for the military but a civilian involved in events that appear to be corporate espionage. This results in an intriguing change of pace from the first book that I quite enjoyed. Butler is much more of an outsider in this book, and his methods of investigating the potential crime and attempting to uncover the conspiracy are a lot more clandestine than before. Mammay takes this thriller based storyline to some interesting places and forces the protagonist to make some surprising alliances in order to survive and get to the bottom of the investigation. While the story is more focused on corporations than the army, there is still a strong military element to the book, as Butler is investigating military technology companies. There is also a strong amount of military action towards the end of the book as Butler once again sees combat against an enemy. Mammay writes some strong military action based sequences in his books, and the reader can almost see the detailed and well-written fight scenes. All of this results in an extremely strong main storyline that leaves open the potential for another intriguing entry into this series.

I was really happy that Mammay continued to follow the adventure of his protagonist from Planetside, Carl Butler. Butler, who serves as the story’s narrator and point-of-view character, is a fantastic protagonist who was one of my favourite parts of the first book. Butler is a blunt and honest old character, whose craggy, veteran solider outlook on life infects his narration of events and helps the reader connect with his story. Just like in Planetside, Butler is reluctantly dragged into the events of this book and goes up against a seemingly superior opponent, who thinks that they know how to manipulate the old soldier. However, Butler is a wily operator who is able to turn the situations to his advantage through his rough charm and experience of dealing with people, especially former military personnel, who assist him with his investigation and help keep him alive. I particularly liked the clever way that he was able to manipulate the situation towards the end of the book by playing on certain character’s weaknesses, military training and humanity, and while his final plan did not have the explosiveness of his actions at the conclusion of Planetside, it was still a great scene. I look forward to seeing what sort of trouble Butler gets up to in any future instalments of this series, as he is a truly enjoyable protagonist.

I felt that Spaceside also did a great job following on from the story established in the first book of the series. I really enjoyed seeing how the author followed through with several of the storylines left open at the end of Planetside, as well as how he explored a number of the consequences of the protagonist’s actions. The main way that this was achieved was by showing the reader how Butler’s life changed following his bombing of Cappa. Because the story is told from Butler’s point of view, we get to see how the guilt from his actions and the events that led up to them has affected his psyche. Despite the tough outer shell he shows most people, Butler is struggling with whether he did the right thing and must now deal with being the most infamous person in the galaxy, receiving glares or praise wherever he goes. These events and inner thoughts impact how he reacts to certain events later in the book, and it is a clever and natural progression for the character.

In addition to the focus on Butler, Mammay makes sure to include several characters from the first book so the reader gets to see how their storylines progressed. Not only does this help bring in a previously established sidekick for Butler, as well as a sassy reporter contact who gives him intel and clues, but it also brings back Butler’s old mentor and friend, General Serata, for a tense scene. Serata was the man who sent Butler to Cappa in the previous book, and in many ways he is responsible for the destruction on Cappa as he knew how his old friend would be forced to act in response to what was going on there. It was great seeing these two characters awkwardly try to discuss the events of the previous book and come to terms with Serata’s manipulation of Butler. All of this makes for a gripping follow-up to the first book, and I really enjoyed seeing how the author addressed some of the events from Planetside.

Spaceside is an incredible second outing from Michael Mammay, who has a truly bright future in the science fiction genre. I once again found myself drawn into the excellent story and fantastic central protagonist of this book, as Mammay does an outstanding job crafting together a clever and addictive narrative that does a spectacular job following on from the author’s amazing debut, Planetside. Spaceside gets a full five stars from me, and I am already looking forward to Mammay’s next enjoyable book.

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Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio

On August 14, 2019February 13, 2024 By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction17 Comments

Publisher: Gollancz and Recorded Books (16 July 2019)

Series: Sun Eater – Book 2

Length: 679 pages or 28 hours and 3 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Outstanding new author Christopher Ruocchio, who blew me away last year with his debut novel, Empire of Silence, returns with the second book in his brilliant Sun Eater series, Howling Dark.

Empire of Silence was one of my favourite books from last year, easily making my Top Ten Reads for 2018 list, and I absolutely loved the author’s highly addictive story and its vast new science fiction universe. This was a fantastic first book from Ruocchio, and when I finished it, I really wanted to know what happened next. As a result, I have been waiting to read this sequel for a while, having done a Waiting on Wednesday article on it and including it on my Top Ten Most Anticipated July – December 2019 Releases list. I was pretty excited to receive a copy of this book a few weeks ago, especially as Ruocchio was nice enough to mention my blog in his acknowledgements (this has not affected my review or rating in any way). However, due to having a huge number of other books that were high priority reads, I ended up listening to the audiobook format of Howling Dark instead, which is narrated by Samuel Roukin. I had extremely high hopes when I started reading this book, and I was definitely not disappointed by the final result.

The Sun Eater series is set far in humanity’s future, where humans have left Earth and expanded out to thousands of worlds. While humanity, mostly in the form of the Roman-inspired Sollan Empire, has flourished, for the last four hundred years they have been fighting a brutal and destructive war with the Cielcin, a spacefaring race of aliens who have destroyed hundreds of colonies and billons of humans. Each of the books in the series is written as a part of the autobiographical chronicle of series’ protagonist, Hadrian “Halfmortal” Marlowe, otherwise knowns as the Sun Eater. Hadrian is the man who will one day destroy a sun in order to burn every Cielcin to a cinder, and in doing so become both history’s greatest hero and most infamous monster. However, these events are set to occur much further on in the future, and these earlier books focus on the events that formed Hadrian’s character, and show how he became the man to end it all.

In Howling Dark, the story is set some 50 years after the events of Empire of Silence. During this time Hadrian Marlowe has been wandering the outer fringes of the galaxy trying and failing to find a myth. Leading a band of mercenaries, former gladiators and disguised Imperial legionnaires, and carrying a cargo of frozen Cielcin prisoners, Hadrian hopes to travel the lost planet of Vorgossos. The planet’s mysterious master apparently has a way to contact the Cielcin, who Hadrian hopes to finally negotiate peace with, ending the brutal war that has ravaged both races.

However, finding Vorgossos has proven far more difficult than Hadrian initially anticipated. The legendary planet is well hidden, and the only way to uncover its location is to deal with the Extrasolarians, a group of humans who live outside of Imperial control and whose reliance on technology and enhancements borders on the heretical. As Hadrian and his companions locate a promising lead, they are suddenly ordered back to the fleet as the war against the Cielcin needs every soldier.

Determined to bring his plan for peace to fruition, Hadrian and his companions disobey these orders and go rogue. Entering the worlds of the Extrasolarians, the Exalted and other grim horrors at the edge of the known universe, they are able to obtain passage to Vorgossos. However, what they find at their destination may be even worse than the alien foes they are attempting to contact. Between facing technological monstrosities, a cruel, immortal king and the appearance of humanity’s oldest and most feared enemy, Hadrian has his work cut out for him. But the further along his path he travels, the more Hadrian begins to understand the grim destiny in front of him and the terrible cost he will have to pay.

This is another epic book from Ruocchio! Howling Dark is a dark, gothic science fiction masterpiece that was an absolute treat to read, and which really highlights the author’s creativity and ability to create a wide-ranging universe with some unique and captivating features.

This was another incredible and ambitious story from Ruocchio, who takes the reader on an extended and powerful adventure through his great universe. The Howling Dark contains a lengthy and compelling plot which goes in some very interesting directions. While this is a long book, Ruocchio does a great job of pacing the story out, and there is rarely a moment where the plot is not progressing in an intriguing way, or where the reader is left bored. I really enjoyed some of the dark places that the author took the story in this book, and there are a variety of cool new locations, antagonists and other monsters that the protagonist and his friends need to deal with in one way or another. Hadrian goes through some notable character development in this story as he takes more and more steps down the road to becoming the biggest legend in the universe. Howling Dark has a pretty epic conclusion to it, with some major plot developments occurring in the last 100 pages or so, and I really liked how Ruocchio wrapped up the storyline. Overall, this book has an intense and captivating storyline to it, and I am exceedingly glad I got a chance to read it.

I did find that the start of the book was a tad hard to get into. Due to the complex storylines (and possibly because I have read so many different books in the last year) it took me a little while to remember whom some of the characters were and where the plot was up to. It did not help that the story had jumped ahead by 50 years, and some of the events that occurred during this break are mentioned a few times at the start of the book. However, once I was able to get my bearings, it did not take me long to get hooked on the story and I had no problems following the enjoyable plot, especially as the author does a great job explaining these missing events and offering the reader several recaps of the events from the first book. Readers of the physical copy of Howling Dark will also be helped by the detailed dramatis personae, index of worlds and lexicon of terms that is included at the back of the novel, which can really help to clear up some confusion about the events that have occurred. I would say that readers would probably be best served checking out Empire of Silence first before trying to read Howling Dark, but I believe that new readers will be able to fully enjoy this story once they reach the recaps and get a sense of what happened in the previous books.

I really enjoyed how Ruocchio continued to write his story in the chronicle format that worked so well in the first book. Each of the books in the Sun Eater series are presented as part of a self-written chronicle of Hadrian’s life, penned some years in the future after he destroyed the sun. As a result, the story is told exclusively from Hadrian’s perspective and features his memories of the various events that formed his character. This is a great way to tell the story, mainly because the reader gets to see a contemplative version of the narrative. There is a real and palpable sense of regret in Hadrian’s narration, which really adds to the book’s grim tone, as the reader gets to hear the protagonist recount events that are not only traumatic for him, but which set him down the path to his defining moment. Due to Hadrian’s lifetime of self-reflection, you also get a far more in-depth examination of the character’s motivations for taking certain actions, as well as an analysis of why other characters acted the way did, which adds a great edge to the story. I also liked how the protagonist hinted at some of the key moments that occur later in the book or may occur in later books. This dramatic irony does a wonderful job of keeping a sense of tension in the air, as the reader knows that the worst is yet to come. Ruocchio’s use of the chronicle format for these novels is cleverly done, and I really enjoyed how it helped enhance the overall story.

Possibly Ruocchio’s biggest strength as a writer is his amazing ability to come up with a widespread and intriguing new universe to use as a setting for his fantastic story. This was one of my favourite things about Empire of Silence, as I loved the large, sprawling human empire that Hadrian lived in during the first book. This Sollan Empire was created after a major war with artificial intelligences thousands of years before, and therefore any technology that is too advanced or which thinks for itself is considered heretical by a controlling religious organisation. The massive empire is heavily inspired by the Roman Empire, with a similar government, military system, social castes and culture. This also affects the overall tone of the story, as the narrator, Hadrian, is a true son of this empire, and thus has a classical education that guides his overall view of life. As a result, the story is filled with the Hadrian quoting a number of historical verses and aphorisms to tell his tale, which really helps to give the overall story a more classic tone in the science fiction environment. I really liked this cool combination of science fiction elements with this antique mindset, and the general history of the Sollan Empire, with its veneration of other historical empires such as the Romans or the Victorians, is deeply interesting. This Sollan Empire actually reminded me a bit of the Imperium from Warhammer 40k, which also has a Roman inspiration and overarching gothic theme to them. As a fan of Warhammer 40k, it was cool see a universe built along similar ideas, and Ruocchio comes up with a number of clever and unique new elements to make his Sollan Empire stand out. Although most of the story in Howling Dark is spent outside of the main empire, the author still spends time expanding on elements of this massive organisation, and the reader gets more of a sense of them. I especially enjoyed seeing the Imperial legions in battle during this book, and it results in a number of incredible scenes that I really enjoyed.

Ruocchio also does an outstanding job introducing a number of intriguing new universe elements to this book in the form of the Extrasolarians. I found the dive into the world of the Extrasolarians to be extremely fascinating, especially as Ruocchio let his creativity run wild during this part of the books, coming up with all manner of technological marvels, body augmentations, genetic modifications and other science fiction wonders. However, many of these technologies have a darker side to them, which the protagonist and his friends find out the hard way. Some of these modifications are downright creepy, and this really helped the author create a dark and distinctive expansion to his universe. I was especially impressed with one of the new antagonists of this story, Kharn Sagara, a sinister, technologically enhanced ancient with hidden motivations (check out the cover below to see how cool his character design is). The reader also gets a much more in-depth look at the Cielcin in this book, as the protagonist starts to understand more about them and how they think. Ruocchio does a fantastic job exploring the mindset of these creatures and showing them as truly alien beings with very little similarities to humanity, and the reader starts to get an understanding of why Hadrian will eventually be forced to destroy them. All of this is really cool, and I could honestly go on for pages about all the cool world building that Ruocchio does in this book, it was that impressive.

As I mentioned above, I ended up listening to Howling Dark’s audiobook format. The audiobook runs for 28 hours and 3 minutes and is narrated by Samuel Roukin, who does a fantastic job bringing this story and the characters to life. This is a lengthy audiobook, and readers will need to make a bit of room in their listening schedule to get through it. It is actually the longest science fiction audiobook that I have ever listened to (so far) and would easily make my Top Ten Longest Audiobooks That I Have Listened To list. I found that Howling Dark’s audiobook format was a great way to enjoy this epic novel. I always find that listening to a complex story helps me absorb a lot more of the story and universe details, making for a much fuller read. This was definitely true for Howling Dark, as I was able to really appreciate the huge amount of gothic science fiction detail that Ruocchio installed in his work. I also found that Roukin’s narration also did a wonderful job of capturing Hadrian’s inherent regret and despair, and this really helped me appreciate the entirety of the book’s story. Roukin also creates some terrific voices for the various characters and does a fantastic job bringing them to life through the audiobook. This was a fantastic format to enjoy Howling Dark with, and I will strongly consider listening to the audiobook of the next book in this series.

Overall, I think that Christopher Ruocchio does an excellent job following up on his spectacular debut, Empire of Silence. Howling Dark is an amazing read that I absolutely loved. Ruocchio has come up with a complex story for this book, which is massively enhanced by his clever writing style and impressive imagination. Clearly, Empire of Silence was no fluke, as Howling Dark gets a full five stars from me. I am really looking forward to checking out the next book in the series, especially as Ruocchio has left a huge number of intriguing storylines open, and I fully intend to stick with this series until Hadrian destroys that sun.

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The Lost Ten by Harry Sidebottom

On August 9, 2019June 25, 2023 By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical Fiction, Thriller13 Comments

The Lost Ten Cover

Publisher: Zaffre (Hardcover – 18 April 2019)

Series: Standalone

Length: 351 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of my favourite authors, Harry Sidebottom, returns with another excellent piece of Roman historical fiction, The Lost Ten.

Sidebottom is a particularly skilled historical fiction author who has written some amazing novels in the last 10 years, all of which have focused on the Roman Empire in the turbulent 3^rd century AD. His works have included his excellent Warrior of Rome series, which features one of the first books I ever reviewed, King of Kings, and his well-researched Throne of the Caesars series. Sidebottom also wrote a fantastic historical fiction/thriller hybrid last year, The Last Hour, a truly awesome book that featured the protagonist of his Warrior of Rome series. The author has continued his intriguing experiment of combining historical fiction with other thriller sub-genres in his latest book, The Lost Ten, which I have been looking forward to for a while.

Rome, 265 AD. Junior Roman officer Marcus Aelius Valens is instructed to join a small squad of soldiers on a daring raid into Persia. Their objective is to infiltrate the country and make their way to the dreaded Castle of Silence, an impregnable prison high up in the mountains. Once there, they are to free young Prince Sasan, the King of Persia’s disgraced nephew, and bring him back to Rome.

Journeying to the Roman border, Valens joins up with an eclectic group of soldiers recruited from the frumentarii, Rome’s infamous secret agents. An outsider amongst these hard-bitten soldiers, Valens suddenly finds himself in command when an ambush kills their commanding officer. Aware of the consequences of abandoning their mission, Valens leads his troops onwards to Persia.

However, the closer they get to the Castle of Silence, the more misfortune seems to befall the small unit. As his soldiers die one at a time, Valens begins to believe that there is a traitor among them who does not wish for their mission to succeed. Can Valens unmask the saboteur before it is too late, or will the squad die trying to achieve their impossible mission?

This was another spectacular read from Sidebottom, who has once again done a fantastic job bringing modern thriller vibes to an ancient Roman historical setting. The Lost Ten is a fast-paced action adventure, with a clever plot hook and an excellent band of new characters that I had a lot of fun reading and which lived up to my high expectations for this novel.

While his Warrior of Rome books always had a bit of a thriller feel to them, as Ballista was usually hunting down some form of traitor or spy, Sidebottom has recently started to push the envelope even further by combining together Roman historical fiction with a variety of different thriller sub-genres. His previous novel, The Last Hour, was essentially 24 set in ancient Rome, and his next novel is apparently going to emulate a Scandi noir novel in the hills of Calabria. In The Lost Ten, Sidebottom utilises a special forces thriller storyline which sees Roman troops attempt an impossible infiltration deep into enemy territory. As a result, this novel reads a lot like an episode of Seal Team or The Unit if the team had to infiltrate antique Persia. In order to complete their objective, the team has to arrive at the border incognito, set up a cover story as traders, and then pass into Persian territory, fooling the locals and military as they near their goal. Once there, they have to find a way into the impenetrable fortress and then get their hostage out of Persia alive while being pursued by a massive army. This results in an extremely exciting and action-packed novel that was an absolute blast to read. I loved seeing all these classic spy scenarios play out in this classic Persian setting, and the special forces storylines work exceedingly well with the historical fiction background. Sidebottom has really hit onto a winning formula by mashing these genres together, and I am very excited to see how his next book turns out.

One of the aspects of The Lost Ten that I really enjoyed was the great characters who made up the Roman unit heading into Persia. Sidebottom has written a great group of protagonists with some rather interesting character traits and individual stories. The main character, Valens, who serves as the principle point-of-view character, has an intriguing arc that sees him go from being a naïve and disheartened young solider, to canny veteran troop leader throughout the course of the book. The rest of the Ten are a fantastic mixture of distinctive and rough killers who really don’t want to be going along on this mission. These troops help give the story a real Dirty Dozen vibe which I quite enjoyed, and it was also fantastic to see the group come together as they faced adversity.

In addition, it is revealed early on in the book that one of the squad characters is a traitor who is actively working to sabotage the mission. However, the identity of this double agent is not revealed until much later in the story. Instead, several chapters are shown from the perspective of the traitor, showing what actions he is taking to betray the team, such as killing the original commander or organising ambushes from bandits. As more and more misfortunes befall the group, Valens becomes suspicious and starts trying to identify the saboteur in the ranks, resulting in a wonderful storyline that plays into the thriller aspect of the book exceedingly well. Sidebottom does a clever job of hiding the identity of the traitor for the majority of the story, and the reader is fed a series of clues to slowly work out who it is. The reader is also shown the hidden character’s motivations for betraying the others, and the political and personal realities that are driving him. All of this comes to a fantastic conclusion, and this was an excellent part of the story that Sidebottom handles exceedingly well.

Sidebottom once again makes great use of the 3^rd century Roman setting that has been a defining feature of all his previous novels. The Lost Ten is set in the same universe as all of Sidebottom’s other books and occurs in the same year as The Last Hour. There are actually several mentions of Sidebottom’s recurring protagonist, Ballista, and it sounds like he is getting into trouble campaigning in Gaul. The author does an amazing job showcasing the rough lands that lie between the Roman Empire and Persia and all the difficulties that would have occurred travelling to the Persian Empire. As the protagonists enter Persia, the readers get an interesting look at the landscape and Persian customs, many of which seem strange to the Romans and result in much contemplation and discussion. Sidebottom shows off several interesting areas of Persia, and it is clear that he has done his research into this location. The author also heads back to the familiar setting of ancient Rome, allowing the reader to get a good sense of the political situation in 265 AD. Sidebottom also examines the role of the frumentarii, Rome’s secret police/agents, who have appeared in several of his novels before. The various actions of this organisation are really intriguing, and it was cool to see modern spy tactics at work in this historical setting. There were some absolutely fascinating historical inclusions in this book that I had a lot of fun reading, and they proved to be an excellent backdrop to The Lost Ten’s thrilling storylines.

The Lost Ten is an outstanding book from Sidebottom that shows why he is one of the most captivating authors of Roman historical fiction in the world today. The author’s decision to combine a contemporary special forces thriller storyline with a well-researched historical setting payed dividends and resulted in a compelling and exciting read. As a result, this book comes highly recommended and is a must-read for those people looking for an exciting historical thriller. I am looking forward to Sidebottom’s next book and cannot wait to see what he produces next.

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