Molly Fyde and the Fight for Peace

The Bern Saga #4

by Hugh Howey

Reading
1. Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue
2. Molly Fyde and the Land of Light
3. Molly Fyde and the Blood of Billions
4. Molly Fyde and the Fight for Peace

In the conclusion to the Bern Saga, Molly and her friends are reunited while two wars erupt. An entire universe hangs on the actions of Parsona's crew, and not all of them will survive.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy, Space, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy

413 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 27, 2010

About the author

I'm the author of WOOL, a top 5 science fiction book on Amazon. I also wrote the Molly Fyde saga, a tale of a teenager from the 25th century who is repeatedly told that girls can't do certain things -- and then does them anyway.

A theme in my books is the celebration of overcoming odds and of not allowing the cruelty of the universe to change who you are in the process. Most of them are classified as science fiction, since they often take place in the future, but if you love great stories and memorable characters, you'll dig what you find here. I promise.

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 2 out of 5]

I made it to the end of the Molly Fyde saga, and was disappointed by the final book. Hugh Howey has produced some great works (all of Wool, the first book of this series), and I will absolutely continue to read his boks, but this was a rare miss.

After developing a really fun, ambitious, and expansive universe, set of characters, and plot Howey needed to tie it all together in this climax. Unfortunately, he spent a large chunk of the book doing flashbacks to develop the backgrounds of characters I guess he didn't think he was ever going to get to write in the first book. Almost a quarter of the book was about Walter. It was alright, but it was a huge distraction from the rest of the book.

Also, there were a couple plotlines that diverged for what felt like waaaay too long. Cole and Molly didn't reunite until the last couple pages after being separated for 2 books. You knew exactly how Walter was going to betray Molly for a book and a half and were just waiting around for it to happen, which is too long to be in that kind of suspense with the hyperdrive such a key plot device. The fact that the Drenards stopped their war so easily was never fully explained given the war mongering of Anlyn's ex.

Things just came together too darn quickly right at the end after being all over the place for a long, long time. Also the wedding was cheesy. And it sucks that Molly ended the series in such a darker mood.

I still really enjoyed the series as a whole and the universe that Howey created. This last book just didn't do it for me in tying the whole thing together. It felt a little like he bit off more than he could chew, or at least more than he could chew in one book to sum everything up all at once.

[Lianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly...better...than...Wool

Idea for the end of Wool - book crossover! Molly & crew land outside the silos, become super best friends with Juliette, then they all go out for space ice cream.

[Aleksandra Royzen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was both sad and excited when I read Fight for Peace a last book in the Molly Fyde series. I really loved this series and now very unhappy that this is the end. On the other hand my addiction to these books led me to ignoring all the other books on my "to read list", which is really no good. So that is why I'm just a bit excited that I finally free to move on to something else. But really Hugh Howey writes such an addictive prose, it's ridiculous!

Most of the action is taking place on the planet Lok and its orbit. Most of the main characters are finally united in their fight against Bern. I'm not going to go into the details as to how they were planning to destroy the evil aliens. However I must say it was quite a brilliant strategy. And to find out whether or not the plan was successful you'll just have to read the book. Trust me it's very thrilling and will keep you on the edge of your seat.

However, to tell you the truth even my love for Hugh Howey is not going to stop me from lowering my rate to 4 stars. Just to be clear, I was in no way disappointed with the book, it's just was not as perfect as it could have been. I really didn't want to start the review with the bad but here it is.

Main reason why the rating is not 5 stars is because concluding several chapters of the book really confused the hell out of me. Perhaps I'm simply not smart enough to get it, but the explanations of who is the Bern Seer and what her real role was, were really not clear to me. Overall her purpose in the book is a mystery to me. I think the reason why I didn't get it is because the ending was sort of rushed and a lot of things should have been clarified more, especially the aftermath of the main conflict. Just a bit more details and explanations in couple of more chapters would definitely make a difference for me.

Another reason why this book wasn't as satisfying is because a lot of the plot is taking place in the past. There are 3 main flashbacks, well I guess 4 if we count Wadi's. Reasons for these I assume was to give more color and background to the main characters. However in my opinion this should have been done as characters are introduced to the plot in the previous 3 books, as oppose to in the conclusion, almost as an afterthought. By this point I've already established attitude towards the characters and it was too late at least for me to form any other opinion.

I believe out of the 4 flashbacks the only one I enjoyed was Walter's. I mean as it is, I disliked Walter immensely. However the flashback really revealed the true nature of this Palan kid as someone who is absolutely without conscience and immensely greedy. He had no regard what so ever for human life. This really did reinforce my already very low opinion of him.

Other than negative points above I must really say that I loved the book, even if I misunderstand few things. It was as action packed as the other books in the series. But I found that this particular book is really about many things, but most importantly it's about sacrifices that people make for others. It's truly been a very emotional read and the very first and last book in the series where I actually shed a tear. I will truly miss Molly Fyde and her friends. Thanks Hugh Howey for introducing such a wonderful universe to your readers.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the perfect ending to the perfect series. There were a lot of extremely complicated, multi-layered things going on in this universe, and somehow all the threads got tied up in a satisfactory way. All the mystic time-travel-y underpinnings of the series became a perfect closed loop that actually made sense. Aside from an exciting plot, the prose really sings.

_Molly Fyde and The Fight For Peace_ also successfully dealt with the thorny problem of what to do with your young characters who have an epic love but are still teenagers yet have been through so many hair-raising adventures that they are almost like world-weary old people. If you found the ending of the Harry Potter series a tiny bit cloying in terms of the way it displayed the characters living happily ever after, you will find the approach Hugh Howey takes here a welcome antidote.

If this series is new to you, you better not jump in with this book because it wouldn't make any sense. Start with the first one, _Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue_, which is a fairly straightforward space opera. But as the series goes along, it becomes deeper and bloodier and picks up more characters. My favorite character in the whole series was Edison, who is this big creature who looks kind of like a panda bear and speaks in a ridiculously stilted and technical way (like, "My exuberance overcame my ability to forgo immediate gratification," when he hugs his friend too hard.) His dialogue usually made me laugh. It was over a year since I read the previous book in the series, and I was worried that I wouldn't remember what the hell was going on. But everything came back to me vividly as I read.

Now, about some things that a lot of people don't care about but I do. The book was attractively packaged and nicely laid out. I came across maybe two misspelled words, no big deal. I liked the cover a lot, but my girlfriend thought it was really strange. "Why is a baby playing with a wrench set? That makes no sense." You actually don't find out what the cover means until almost the end of the book.

I would recommend this series to people who like Scott Westerfeld's "The Risen Empire" books or pretty much any kind of thought-provoking science fiction. I was a little bummed when I finished this book because it was all over, but at some point I will go back to the first book and start again. For some reason it's more satisfying to be a fan of a great series that no one you know has ever heard of than it is to be the ten millionth person to like "The Hunger Games." But it is a little unfair that the rest of the world has been living in ignorance about Molly Fyde, so let's not keep this series a secret.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Molly Fyde books suffer... or make you suffer a little. Conceptually, these should be YA books. Howey is a master at creating a universe and wrapping a plot and multiple story lines into a clever arc. His writing, however is messy and confusing. I found myself irritated at the array of flashbacks throughout the last book.

I get the impression that at the end Howey is patting himself on the back and saying "look how clever I am, how I tied up all the ends", and yet instead I sit here and think "wait... what just happened?"

Howey really has a habit of not describing the action well enough, and I feel like especially in this book he made some jumps of logic that I couldn't follow. Events happen that make me sit wondering if I missed something earlier in the books.

I'm glad I finished the series of books, but I can't recommend them to others.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a little bit better than the 3rd book. It seems that the scenes and character of Cole are shallow and purposeless which might explain why all the battles with him are mind numbingly boring. It still didn't do a good job at plot advancement. If the wasted story was replaced with more on character development, it would have been a more interesting read. The ending was good so it that's why I gave it 2 stars.

[Kageashi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The penultimate novel in the saga of Molly Fyde and the Bern, this book not only finalizes the Bern Saga but also provides perspective on several key players' pasts. This gives a greater understanding to why the characters react the way in which they do, and plays a role in how the final push against the Bern threat is handled.

Perhaps the weakest part of the story are some of the flashback chapters - while the background provided by the first two sets is intriguing and engaging, the third set is less engaging but no less important to the story.

Key plot points that are hinted at throughout the earlier books are fleshed out in the final book, and while the book contains few true surprises for those who could read the foreshadowing in the earlier books, the flow to the finale is well executed and the final scenes I found to be oddly touching.

While part of me would like to see more of Molly Fyde's action through space and some of the events hinted at in this book (but which do not occur within the context of the Bern Saga), the finale of the quartet closes the saga appropriately. The reader is left wondering what will become of the cherished survivors as they explore their new lives, keeping a small flame for each of them alive.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very satisfying ending to this series. All the characters and plotlines come together as Humans and Drenards join forces to stop the Bern. Not all of the characters survive which was sad but gave the story a much deeper feel.

I would have given this final book 5 stars except for one aspect that has been noted by other reviewers. Interspersed in the book are four long flashbacks giving us revealing looks at the back stories of several main characters. I thought the sections were excellent--the problem was their placement. Each time one of them began it brought the exciting action to a screeching halt. They would have been much better placed as prologues to each book in the series.

Still, that's really a small complaint in a consistently entertaining space opera. I'm very glad I discovered this series and it was a great ending to my reading year.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what the plan here was... All the flashbacks are something I would have expected from the first book or two, not the final in a series. That said, the feeling of general completeness that the flashbacks deliver (versus shuddering cut frames of different plot lines, as seen in book 3) made this book marginally more readable than the previous installment.
The ending was a solid--if cliché--wrap up to the series.

The names, though. The names were never explained, and that still annoys me.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed how the series wrapped up. I have to admit I was confused quite a bit throughout this book but I think my sleep deprivation caused that. I'm actually looking forward to rereading the entire series.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Combined review for books 1-4. Would rate 3.5 if I could.
Reads almost exactly like a Heinlein juvenile, except a female lead and a much nastier body count. With all the characterization problems of a Heinlein juvenile, and iffier science.

[J.L. Dobias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Molly Fyde and the Fight for Peace (The Bern Saga Book 4) by Hugh Howey

I've said it before and I'll say it again I love the Molly Fyde series. The books just keep getting better. They also keep demanding more attention to the details. We've been watching Molly Fyde grow throughout the series. We're learning more about her family-some we seem to be left to guess at, If I have one complaint about this the fourth book, it would be that there were a lot of things I'd have liked to know that there just wasn't time for

This time the format is done somewhat differently- we have the story developing with interspersed backstory. I think that some people found this to be a difficult book because of that. There have been some suggestions that they were unnecessary. I didn't feel that way and I'll tell you why.

The first three novels contain a lot of very good world building. Up to this point the worlds have been used as the means to establish part of each character's motivations. This time we dig deeper into the lives of some of these characters so that we can better decide if we should empathize with them or be happy to leave them to their fate. This results in making this a long novel and where some might suggest it should be shorter with less backstory I beg to differ because I can think of at least one more backstory I'd love to have heard and I can't think of any that I'd give up to hear it.

I have to say that I was disappointed that there was no backstory for Cat. Cat is such a complex multifaceted character that I would have loved to see deeper into her inner motivation to understand what makes her work and made her decide the path she took. As I've mentioned I wouldn't give up any of the space used for the other characters so I'll have to be happy with what we have.

When we left the characters in book three Cole was trying to save Molly's father, Molly was planning a multilayer invasion plan to steal ships for her small mixed force. Anlyn and Edison have inadvertently joined the Hyperspace team that are overtaking the Bern ships one by one. Walter is making secret deals for untold fortune not realizing that he's jeopardizing everyone and the entire combat plan.

Anlyn is going to have to spearhead the space conflict. Walter is going to have to make several critical decisions that are going to be fatal for someone. Cat is going to come through in heroic fashion despite herself.

Nothing goes quite as planned. Dr Ryke and Molly's mother-the ship- must attempt to return to the rift inside of Hyperspace and try to undo what was done so long ago. The Wadi once again plays a major part. Most importantly there's a lot of previously unknown threads and revelations that come out of the backstory that explain much of what has happened that its vitally important to read it all carefully, No scanning allowed.

We even get to find out who the Bern Seer is but you are going to have to read this to find this all out.

Once again I recommend this to all those people who love Military SF Tense Thrillers Sci-Fi Fantasy Speculative Science notions.

Thank Hugh Howey for a world full of entertainment and a job well done.

J.L. Dobia

[charles driver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing Compared to First Two

The first two books of this series were masterfully written, and memories of them kept me going through the last two.

The character arcs did all come to (mostly) satisfying conclusions, and were very well done. They felt coherent and realistic.

The most glaring problem with this book was the one other reviewers have commented on: the backstory. It felt out-of-place, and seriously derived from the tension and pacing of the book. I was full of excitement to see how the grand threat that had been built up for three books was going to be resolved. And then impatient and disappointed when the story kept slamming on the brakes and wasting half of the book's precious pages that should have been taken up with the climax. And most frustrating of all was the way you'd get a few chapters of current action, and just when you were getting back into the flow of things, you'd slam into another section of backstory.

So the pacing and backstory were far from flawless, but overall, this is still a decent book. If you brace yourself for the backstory and don't set your expectations too high, you can still enjoy a satisfying end to the series. Had I not spent so much of the book being frustrated, I would have given it four stars.

[Phaedon · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a slightly wobbly start, I wound up devouring all 4 of the instalments of Hugh Howey's Bern Saga. I came to these books because I happened to read the Silo series after hearing an interview of Howey by James Altucher. The Bern series isn't quite as sophisticated or well-written as the Silo series, Howey was a less experienced writer at that point after all, but it is still thoroughly entertaining.

In reality, this series is probably better classified as fantasy than as science fiction. There isn't much science in it, but there's a heck of a lot of imagination. I guess you could say it's more Star Wars than Star Trek. It's the fantastical nature of it the whole plot that really makes this long story entertaining though. Howey has quite the imagination.

Still, I must admit, I was left with just a tiny bit of a sense of an anti-climax. Somehow, despite 400 pages in length, it felt as if things came together a bit too quickly in terms of the plot line. On the other hand, I also felt that too many things were left unexplained and unresolved. It almost seemed to beg for a sequel, or perhaps even a prequel. I'm nitpicking here though. It's a great series, and a great instalment. I just found myself a little more captivated in the middle two books.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

After breezing through the first 3 books, I really bogged down on this one. The story was interrupted by multiple obscenely long flashbacks that did nothing to advance the plot or add sufficient depth to the characters to be worthwhile. As a result, the actual "present day" story seemed almost like an afterthought, and I kept forgetting what was going on when I finally got back to it.
Thankfully, it does finally gel towards the end, with a bittersweet yet satisfying conclusion to the series.

3.5 stars rounded up

[Bryan Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wrapping up the series.

Howey is one of the best. With just a little editing he could have wrapped up this incredible storyline in three volumes. Book four has some long back stories about Miller'wadi and Walter's life experience that were probably cut out of books 1 through 3. The author seemed desperate to extend book 4 by tacking this content in the middle of an otherwise smooth flowing plot and story.

[Beverly Fuqua · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to skip book 3, as it wasn't available anywhere, so I was missing some context as to what was going on, yet still there was just too much happening, and skipping around timelines, from character to character, I've grown really tired of that. But still it was good, and had a good ending, so the fact that the next book isn't even available, and likely never will be, wasn't a problem that I was afraid it would be.

[Carly Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I put off finishing this last book in the series because I didn't want it to end and I knew that some of the characters I loved might not make it and that some might disappoint me... But don't get me wrong, it's definitely a great read just like the previous books... be prepared for some sorrow though...

[Christie Fontaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully Written

I read Howey's first solo series and was hooked. Many writers seem to follow a certain algorithm of story and plot...This series was just as addicting as the solo series, yet the stories and fictional worlds completely alien towards the other. Howey created a magical world for me to fly into, and I loved the ride.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice end for the series, but not quite up to par with the previous volumes. Enjoyable, but the anti-climactic ending drags on, marring this installment. In addition, I hate Jennifer O'Donnell narration of the series. She simply cannot perform male voices - every character of the male persuasion sounds like a snot-nosed 11 year old! Still, I love Howey's writing and recommend the series.

[Chris McArdle · Rating 4 out of 5]

(same review for all 4 books in series) This is sci fi adventure that doesn't require serious concentration in order to enjoy. The characters are interesting, if mostly one dimensional. Some of the themes are derivative and I found myself thinking "This sounds like Terminator, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars, etc." Beach read, suitable for teens as well.

[Sharon E. Hart · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good I bought it.

Lost sleep reading though this series. Still left the future to the imagination, with some suggestions. Definitely very imaginative books to get caught up in and carried away. With some deep thoughts and insights thrown in for good measure.

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful fourth book in tge series!

Book was a little long, but well worth the read. Lots of character development and interesting twists. If you've read the first three you need to read this one
!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite book of the series. These books are great if you are just looking for a good adventure story. Not a lot of cursing or things that make you cringe. Traits that seems hard for a lot of authors.

[Laura Dailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hugh Howey knows how to weave a yarn! The Bern Saga was a great series & the stories of Molly Fyde, a great ride. I could barely put the books down. That said, I think the last book could have been about 200 pages shorter, and not lost a bit of its intrigue.

[Lloyd J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweeping and imaginative saga of heroism and adventure

I fell in love with Molly Fyde, a true heroine and all the array of memorable and imaginative characters, planets, politics and bravery. I have read the entire cycle twice and may do it again!

[Avi Nahir · Rating 2 out of 5]

So boring. Such an overuse of flashbacks. Characters so one dimensional. I continuously skimmed through this book just to get to the end.

Edit: Reading the other reviews I understand this author has already written "Wool". I'm not surprised. I bought and did not like that book either!

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting end..or is it?

I enjoyed how the stories of the characters was put into this book. Knowing the background of the other characters made it feel as it came full circle. Enjoyed this series very much.

[Barry Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was well written but all over the place. Jumping forward and backwards. Small stories within the larger story. And the ending had so many twists and turns it lost me. And the final pages were a let down. Was it left open for another book?

[Bob Stegner · Rating 1 out of 5]

The series started well with books 1 & 2, but book 4, especially, lost the narrative, jumping forward and backward in time and engaging in long and deep character meanderings so often that it leaves the reader's head spinning, wondering 'what's this all about and why is the author doing this'...