Intriguing space opera!
Into the Maelstrom (Citizen Book 2) by David Drake and John Lambshead
War is on the horizon for the Cutter Stream colonies and Allen Allenson is the right man in the right place at the right time.
If war is going to happen it might as well be more than a debacle.
The writing contains the same wry understatement that is so indicative of Drake, filled with outrageous characters who know how to get the job done, led by a mindful yet reluctant leader. Allenson doesn't want war but if war it is then do it right! Allenson collects a colorful (in more ways than one) array of personnel, mostly misfits with some dedicated professionals, along with the not so wonderful experienced bully of a colonel, Renald Buller, who on occasions just might be right, and as one of the few who has actual combat experience, has to be 'handled'.
Another wonderful space opera exhibiting humour, sardonic comments on wars, politics and human folly, peppered with Allenson's occasional moments of reflection on the flora and fauna and the startling geographical aspects of the areas he's fighting in, (recalling RCN 's Lt. Leary's interests). Along the way we are treated to Allenson's truisms of war like, 'if the enemy has only three different choices of reaction to your plans, you may expect it to take the fourth, the one not for seen in the original orders.'
And then there's the secret discovery in the Hinterlands by a research team of the now enemy, the Brasillian Navy. The discovery of a potential new fuel compound that may revolutionize space crafts, travel and more. Hints begin to surface and interested parties come into focus.
A pleasure to read.
A NetGalley ARC
War is on the horizon for the Cutter Stream colonies and Allen Allenson is the right man in the right place at the right time. The writing contains the same wry understatement that is so indicative of Drake, filled with outrageous characters who know how to get the job done, led by a mindful yet reluctant leader. Allenson doesn't want war but if war it is then do it right! Allenson collects a colorful (in more ways than one) array of personnel, mostly misfits with some dedicated professionals, along with the not so wonderful experienced bully of a colonel, Renald Buller, who on occasions just might be right, and as one of the few who has actual combat experience, has to be 'handled'.
Another wonderful space opera exhibiting humour, sardonic comments on wars, politics and human folly, peppered with Allenson's occasional moments of reflection on the flora and fauna and the startling geographical aspects of the areas he's fighting in, (recalling RCN 's Lt. Leary's interests). Along the way we are treated to Allenson's truisms of war like, 'if the enemy has only three different choices of reaction to your plans, you may expect it to take the fourth, the one not for seen in the original orders.'
And then there's the secret discovery in the Hinterlands by a research team of the now enemy, the Brasillian Navy. The discovery of a potential new fuel compound that may revolutionize space crafts, travel and more. Hints begin to surface and interested parties come into focus.
A pleasure to read.
A NetGalley ARC
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