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Kris Longknife #9
Daring
Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife leads a reconnaissance mission of the vast uncharted regions of space. No one, least of all Kris, expects to find a hostile alien starship. Now, she must determine the extent of the alien threat-and whether to start an interstellar war...
368 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 25, 2011
72 people are currently reading
586 people want to read
About the author
Mike Shepherd
78 books563 followersA pseudonym used by Mike Moscoe.
Mike was born in the Philadelphia Navy Yard Hospital -- and left that town at the age of three days for reasons he does not presently recall. But they had to draft him to get him back there. He missed very little of the rest of the country. Growing up Navy, he lived about everywhere you could park an aircraft carrier.
Mike was one of those college students who didn't have to worry about finding a job after graduation. In 1968, his Uncle Sam made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Two days into boot camp, the Army was wondering if they might not have been a bit hasty. Mike ended the day in the Intensive Care Unit of the local Army hospital. Despite most of Mike’s personal war stories being limited to "How I flunked boot camp," he can still write a rollicking good military SF yarns.
Mike didn’t survive all that long as a cab driver (he got lost) or bartender (he made the drinks too strong) but he figured he could at least work for the Navy Department as a budget analyst. Until he spent the whole day trying to balance the barracks accounts for paint. Finally, about quitting time, a grinning senior analyst took him aside and let him in on the secret. They'd hidden the money for refitting a battleship in that little account. Slowly it dawned on Mike that there were a few things about the Navy that even a kid who grew up in it would never understand.
Over the next twenty years, Mike branched out into other genres, including instruction memos, policies, performance standards and even a few labor contracts. All of those, you may notice, lack a certain something. Dialogue ... those things in quotes. In `87, Mike’s big break came. He landed on a two year special project to build a digital map showing where the trees, rivers, roads, Spotted Owls and other critters were in western Oregon. The list went on and on with no end in sight and two years became ten.
Since there was no writing involved in his new day job, Mike had to do something to get the words out. He signed up for a writing class at Clark Community College and proudly turned in a story ... Star Wars shoots down the second coming of Christ.
Two years later, Analog bought "Summer Hopes, Winter Dreams" for the March, 1991 issue. Four years later he sold his first novel. In the ten years since then, Mike’s turned in twelve novels and is researching the next three.
Mike's love for Science Fiction started when he picked up "Rocket Ship Galileo" in the fifth grade, and then proceeded to read every book in the library with a rocket sticker on its spine.
Mike digs for his stories among people and change. Through his interest in history, he has traces the transformations that make us what we are today. Science launches us forward into an ever changing universe. Once upon a time, the only changes in peoples lives came with the turning of the seasons and the growing wrinkles on their brows. Today, science drives most of the changes in our daily lives. Still, we can't avoid the pressure of our own awakening hormones or hardening arteries. Mike is happiest when his stories are speeding across thin ice, balanced on the edge of two sharp blades, one anciently human, the other as new as tomorrow's research.
Trained in International Relations and history, salary administration and bargaining, theology and counseling, Mike is having a ball writing about Kris Longknife ... coming of age while the world her grand parents built threatens to crash down around her ears. These are books I think you’ll love ... and my granddaughter and grandsons too!
Mike lives in Vancouver, Washington, with his wife Ellen, his mother-in-law and any visiting grandkids. He enjoys reading, writing, watching grand-children for story ideas and upgrading his computer -- all are never ending.
Mike was born in the Philadelphia Navy Yard Hospital -- and left that town at the age of three days for reasons he does not presently recall. But they had to draft him to get him back there. He missed very little of the rest of the country. Growing up Navy, he lived about everywhere you could park an aircraft carrier.
Mike was one of those college students who didn't have to worry about finding a job after graduation. In 1968, his Uncle Sam made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Two days into boot camp, the Army was wondering if they might not have been a bit hasty. Mike ended the day in the Intensive Care Unit of the local Army hospital. Despite most of Mike’s personal war stories being limited to "How I flunked boot camp," he can still write a rollicking good military SF yarns.
Mike didn’t survive all that long as a cab driver (he got lost) or bartender (he made the drinks too strong) but he figured he could at least work for the Navy Department as a budget analyst. Until he spent the whole day trying to balance the barracks accounts for paint. Finally, about quitting time, a grinning senior analyst took him aside and let him in on the secret. They'd hidden the money for refitting a battleship in that little account. Slowly it dawned on Mike that there were a few things about the Navy that even a kid who grew up in it would never understand.
Over the next twenty years, Mike branched out into other genres, including instruction memos, policies, performance standards and even a few labor contracts. All of those, you may notice, lack a certain something. Dialogue ... those things in quotes. In `87, Mike’s big break came. He landed on a two year special project to build a digital map showing where the trees, rivers, roads, Spotted Owls and other critters were in western Oregon. The list went on and on with no end in sight and two years became ten.
Since there was no writing involved in his new day job, Mike had to do something to get the words out. He signed up for a writing class at Clark Community College and proudly turned in a story ... Star Wars shoots down the second coming of Christ.
Two years later, Analog bought "Summer Hopes, Winter Dreams" for the March, 1991 issue. Four years later he sold his first novel. In the ten years since then, Mike’s turned in twelve novels and is researching the next three.
Mike's love for Science Fiction started when he picked up "Rocket Ship Galileo" in the fifth grade, and then proceeded to read every book in the library with a rocket sticker on its spine.
Mike digs for his stories among people and change. Through his interest in history, he has traces the transformations that make us what we are today. Science launches us forward into an ever changing universe. Once upon a time, the only changes in peoples lives came with the turning of the seasons and the growing wrinkles on their brows. Today, science drives most of the changes in our daily lives. Still, we can't avoid the pressure of our own awakening hormones or hardening arteries. Mike is happiest when his stories are speeding across thin ice, balanced on the edge of two sharp blades, one anciently human, the other as new as tomorrow's research.
Trained in International Relations and history, salary administration and bargaining, theology and counseling, Mike is having a ball writing about Kris Longknife ... coming of age while the world her grand parents built threatens to crash down around her ears. These are books I think you’ll love ... and my granddaughter and grandsons too!
Mike lives in Vancouver, Washington, with his wife Ellen, his mother-in-law and any visiting grandkids. He enjoys reading, writing, watching grand-children for story ideas and upgrading his computer -- all are never ending.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
January 18, 2016
This was good, some of it very good, but with some elements that bothered me enough to keep it just out of reach of five stars.
And yes, things finally move on the relationship front. And yes, I'm going to leave it at that other than to say I'm very happy with how it developed. A romance writer in a romance story would have done it better, obviously, but it was exactly perfect for what it is.
Everything else was very good. A single storyline with decent pacing and good character moments. The action piece climaxed a bit early, but that gave the book time to deal with an aftermath that needed the weight given to it by .
Okay, the caveat. I didn't like the eventual bad guys for two reasons, both of which feel like they have the same cause. The suspected cause is unearned authorial fiat. And yes, this is all spoiler.
So yeah, not a fan of developments in the universe building. I doubt it'll be a factor in future books. At least, I hope it won't be. Shepherd has done a pretty good job maintaining internal consistency until now so I hope this isn't a new vein of sloppiness cropping up. We'll see, though, I suppose.
And yes, things finally move on the relationship front. And yes, I'm going to leave it at that other than to say I'm very happy with how it developed. A romance writer in a romance story would have done it better, obviously, but it was exactly perfect for what it is.
Everything else was very good. A single storyline with decent pacing and good character moments. The action piece climaxed a bit early, but that gave the book time to deal with an aftermath that needed the weight given to it by .
Okay, the caveat. I didn't like the eventual bad guys for two reasons, both of which feel like they have the same cause. The suspected cause is unearned authorial fiat. And yes, this is all spoiler.
So yeah, not a fan of developments in the universe building. I doubt it'll be a factor in future books. At least, I hope it won't be. Shepherd has done a pretty good job maintaining internal consistency until now so I hope this isn't a new vein of sloppiness cropping up. We'll see, though, I suppose.
September 13, 2016
**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS**
FINALLY!! This series started off rather lukewarm, but with a teasing sparkle that persuaded me to carry on. Once I hit Books 6-8, though, I was seriously getting ready to pack it in and give up on the promise of that little something special that seemed to be peeking out at me from the pages every now and then. That promise is finally fulfilled here in Daring.
For all that many of Shepherd's chronic writing and style issues still make appearances - if one more person let's out a "good old Irish sigh," I swear... - Kris finally comes into her own as a character. Until now she has been an upright and courageous warrior, a beloved princess, and savvy diplomat, but there has been something she hadn't quite grown into yet. When humanity faces it's greatest peril and Kris Longknife is the one left to make the sacrifice she steps up and proves she has matured enough to bring all of those facets together into a single noble personality. One which is utterly selfless, commanding and brave -- and capable of making the hard decisions that no soul should ever have to carry the burden of.
The Story
Kris has gotten her way and is off on her Voyage of Discovery. Commander of her patrol of corvettes, she also has battleships representing the Greenfeld Empire, the Helvetican Confederacy, and Musashi along for the ride - oh, and our good friend Ron the Iteeche shows up to hop aboard as well! Good thing she's the daughter of the leading political family on Wardhaven. Kris's diplomatic skills, combined with her natural gift for commanding the respect of allies and enemies alike, are tested again and again by the mixed and conflicting agendas of the various factions. Her troubles have only just begun, though...
When her scouting expedition trips over an alien ship that comes out with guns blazing and no call for quarter, Kris finds herself in an unenviable position: the discoverer of a race of humanoid cutthroats bent on ripping apart anyone who crosses their path. What would happen if these "bad actors" found their way to human space? It's not something this Longknife is prepared to risk, and so she leads her task force against the first new alien contact since the blood-soaked battles of the Iteeche War. Her mission: Destroy them before they can annihilate us!
The Battle
Something you can count on in every Kris Longknife flick is a big battle scene. It's typically the best-written chapter(s) in the book. While Daring is a gigantic step up from what came before it as a whole, the ultimate battle still stands out.
Everything Kris knew about the massive mother ship the new aliens were headed her way in told her that her force was outgunned. Nevertheless, there is still an optimism that you go into the battle with, knowing that it's Kris and she can pull off just about anything. That makes it all the more devastating when we are forced to bear witness as the battleships in her command are blown away one after the other. Characters who we had come to know and like were gone in a sentence, and Shepherd didn't allow any time for mourning as he moved from one tragedy to the next. It was absolutely impersonal the way the death toll was accounted for, and that is what made it so brutally effective. I wanted to bow my head and Taps was sounding in the back of my mind, but the end of the engagement only led directly into a desperate run from jump point to jump point as furious aliens gave chase. Escape came at an unbelievable cost.
Kris's Reaction
No less disturbing than the slaughter itself was the aftermath and the emotions Kris and her friends had to deal with as a result. We watch as survivor guild grips them -- a virulent trap for the mind. Shepherd forces Kris to deal with it, though, and she manages to pull Vicky out of her funk and rationalize the situation. No, they will never go to sleep without seeing all those good men die, but bearing the two-edged fortune of surviving doesn't mean they should lie down and give up on living. They have a job to do, a duty to the greater good of humanity, and Kris is going to see it through one way or another.
I was so so SO proud of Kris! If the version of her character from the earliest books had faced this situation she would have curled up in Vicky's bottle and the series would have ended pathetically. This Kris, however, has learned to shoulder the burdens she deserves and not let anyone shove guilt she hasn't earned her way. She knows herself now, and while she doesn't like some of the things she is now capable of doing and thinking, she knows that someone has to make the tough calls. That's the essence of a true leader.
The Kiss
Yes, it happened! It finally actually happened! If you didn't pick up on the chemistry between Kris and Jack by now, then you need to give up on this series. Matters reached a boiling point between them and the wall came down. Shepherd constructed it well. He didn't rush it, allowing the first revelation to come out without a melodramatic lip lock with soaring music and fireworks in the background. I was so afraid he might take the easy out there, but he proved that I should have had more faith in him.
The parting where Kris is arrested and led away for a quick ride back to Wardhaven and a confrontation with Great-Grampa Ray, played out just like a good movie. An embrace, a desperate kiss, and then a forced separation with the soulful promise that stirs every girly girl's hearstrings: "I will find you." (Ah, Jack, I want one just like you.) It was well-handled and tastefully composed. Mush-factor was nada, and the raw emotion that has gripped the two of them for so long is laid bare. The fact that it is cut short so abruptly makes it all the more poignant.
Okay, okay! The gush is over. Carry on...
Family Matters
That last scene. That. Last. Scene. Woah! Kris vs. The Trio of Terror, and guess who got the last word? It wasn't King Ray this time.
Kris sticks to her guns here and defends her actions, and those of all who served with her in the battle against the aliens. Never will she allow what those men and women died for to be taken lightly. This is what ultimately wins it for this character: no matter what the cost to her personally, no one who serves under her command is allowed to be undervalued or forgotten - the sin of those who sit safely at home while their lives are being defended. She sticks it to her grandfather and takes the fall with both eyes wide open. That, my friends, is nobility.
~~~
If you're slogging your way through those early books, keep going and get to Daring. It is the very best of Kris and her creator. Bravo!
FINALLY!! This series started off rather lukewarm, but with a teasing sparkle that persuaded me to carry on. Once I hit Books 6-8, though, I was seriously getting ready to pack it in and give up on the promise of that little something special that seemed to be peeking out at me from the pages every now and then. That promise is finally fulfilled here in Daring.
For all that many of Shepherd's chronic writing and style issues still make appearances - if one more person let's out a "good old Irish sigh," I swear... - Kris finally comes into her own as a character. Until now she has been an upright and courageous warrior, a beloved princess, and savvy diplomat, but there has been something she hadn't quite grown into yet. When humanity faces it's greatest peril and Kris Longknife is the one left to make the sacrifice she steps up and proves she has matured enough to bring all of those facets together into a single noble personality. One which is utterly selfless, commanding and brave -- and capable of making the hard decisions that no soul should ever have to carry the burden of.
The Story
Kris has gotten her way and is off on her Voyage of Discovery. Commander of her patrol of corvettes, she also has battleships representing the Greenfeld Empire, the Helvetican Confederacy, and Musashi along for the ride - oh, and our good friend Ron the Iteeche shows up to hop aboard as well! Good thing she's the daughter of the leading political family on Wardhaven. Kris's diplomatic skills, combined with her natural gift for commanding the respect of allies and enemies alike, are tested again and again by the mixed and conflicting agendas of the various factions. Her troubles have only just begun, though...
When her scouting expedition trips over an alien ship that comes out with guns blazing and no call for quarter, Kris finds herself in an unenviable position: the discoverer of a race of humanoid cutthroats bent on ripping apart anyone who crosses their path. What would happen if these "bad actors" found their way to human space? It's not something this Longknife is prepared to risk, and so she leads her task force against the first new alien contact since the blood-soaked battles of the Iteeche War. Her mission: Destroy them before they can annihilate us!
The Battle
Something you can count on in every Kris Longknife flick is a big battle scene. It's typically the best-written chapter(s) in the book. While Daring is a gigantic step up from what came before it as a whole, the ultimate battle still stands out.
Everything Kris knew about the massive mother ship the new aliens were headed her way in told her that her force was outgunned. Nevertheless, there is still an optimism that you go into the battle with, knowing that it's Kris and she can pull off just about anything. That makes it all the more devastating when we are forced to bear witness as the battleships in her command are blown away one after the other. Characters who we had come to know and like were gone in a sentence, and Shepherd didn't allow any time for mourning as he moved from one tragedy to the next. It was absolutely impersonal the way the death toll was accounted for, and that is what made it so brutally effective. I wanted to bow my head and Taps was sounding in the back of my mind, but the end of the engagement only led directly into a desperate run from jump point to jump point as furious aliens gave chase. Escape came at an unbelievable cost.
Kris's Reaction
No less disturbing than the slaughter itself was the aftermath and the emotions Kris and her friends had to deal with as a result. We watch as survivor guild grips them -- a virulent trap for the mind. Shepherd forces Kris to deal with it, though, and she manages to pull Vicky out of her funk and rationalize the situation. No, they will never go to sleep without seeing all those good men die, but bearing the two-edged fortune of surviving doesn't mean they should lie down and give up on living. They have a job to do, a duty to the greater good of humanity, and Kris is going to see it through one way or another.
I was so so SO proud of Kris! If the version of her character from the earliest books had faced this situation she would have curled up in Vicky's bottle and the series would have ended pathetically. This Kris, however, has learned to shoulder the burdens she deserves and not let anyone shove guilt she hasn't earned her way. She knows herself now, and while she doesn't like some of the things she is now capable of doing and thinking, she knows that someone has to make the tough calls. That's the essence of a true leader.
The Kiss
Yes, it happened! It finally actually happened! If you didn't pick up on the chemistry between Kris and Jack by now, then you need to give up on this series. Matters reached a boiling point between them and the wall came down. Shepherd constructed it well. He didn't rush it, allowing the first revelation to come out without a melodramatic lip lock with soaring music and fireworks in the background. I was so afraid he might take the easy out there, but he proved that I should have had more faith in him.
The parting where Kris is arrested and led away for a quick ride back to Wardhaven and a confrontation with Great-Grampa Ray, played out just like a good movie. An embrace, a desperate kiss, and then a forced separation with the soulful promise that stirs every girly girl's hearstrings: "I will find you." (Ah, Jack, I want one just like you.) It was well-handled and tastefully composed. Mush-factor was nada, and the raw emotion that has gripped the two of them for so long is laid bare. The fact that it is cut short so abruptly makes it all the more poignant.
Okay, okay! The gush is over. Carry on...
Family Matters
That last scene. That. Last. Scene. Woah! Kris vs. The Trio of Terror, and guess who got the last word? It wasn't King Ray this time.
Kris sticks to her guns here and defends her actions, and those of all who served with her in the battle against the aliens. Never will she allow what those men and women died for to be taken lightly. This is what ultimately wins it for this character: no matter what the cost to her personally, no one who serves under her command is allowed to be undervalued or forgotten - the sin of those who sit safely at home while their lives are being defended. She sticks it to her grandfather and takes the fall with both eyes wide open. That, my friends, is nobility.
~~~
If you're slogging your way through those early books, keep going and get to Daring. It is the very best of Kris and her creator. Bravo!
January 19, 2012
Oh. My. Gods. It's all your favorite characters back again...this time with brain transplants. Several people behaved in ways that were inexplicable (), annoying-Cara is still there (yes, all the reasons make sense, fine, put her in an aside, stop focusing on her. I want quasi-military SF, not angsty early teenager whininess).
The copyediting was as craptacular as they've been - he is entirely too fond of "juggling elbows". Someone needs to tell the man that it's joggle. With an O, as in OMG, you can't juggle elbows. (It was faintly funny once, but stab-inducing by the third time. And I'm pretty sure he wrote it more than three times.)
This might be the book that finally makes me give up the series - it's not like even my library carries it, and I'm pretty sure I don't want to spend money on another piece of crap. (There was an ambitious new direction here, but I'm not sure I care enough to follow it.)
The copyediting was as craptacular as they've been - he is entirely too fond of "juggling elbows". Someone needs to tell the man that it's joggle. With an O, as in OMG, you can't juggle elbows. (It was faintly funny once, but stab-inducing by the third time. And I'm pretty sure he wrote it more than three times.)
This might be the book that finally makes me give up the series - it's not like even my library carries it, and I'm pretty sure I don't want to spend money on another piece of crap. (There was an ambitious new direction here, but I'm not sure I care enough to follow it.)
November 29, 2019
*****Spoiler Alert*******Unfortunately I had to many issues with certain characters. Admiral Krätz was my biggest issue prior to this book he has been a fairly but distant supportive character of Kris. Yet in this one after the initial meeting of the BEMs his entire personality does a 180, where he becomes more of a wrench in the system type of character. Then all of a sudden he is killed in an almost back handed sort of way as if the author didnt know where he wanted to go with a character he changed so suddenly. I feel as if Shepard is not completely certain where he wants to go with his characters as he is writing and sort of just draws from a hat on what he is going to do next. I'm not upset of the death of certain characters in this one I'm more upset that certain character traits change rapidly and the author just does away with it as if it's too cumbersome.
December 24, 2011
I've enjoyed the previous nine books in the series and have enjoyed watching Kris Longknife grow as a person and the plot and universe grow alongside her. This book transitions from the direct political intrigue of previous books and makes a dip back into high adventure while still maintaining the complex multi-book metaplot that causes me to enjoy the series in the first place.
Humanity is in danger and it's going to take one of THOSE Longknifes to do what needs to be done.
Worth a read, but you really want to read this in sequence for greatest effect.
Humanity is in danger and it's going to take one of THOSE Longknifes to do what needs to be done.
Worth a read, but you really want to read this in sequence for greatest effect.
December 29, 2013
This has all the elements of a classic Longknife spare-opera - on steroids. The bad-guys are worse, the politics more convoluted, and our heroine survives with her skin intact, though at great cost.
This is the start of a new story arc, so there is a "To be continued..." at the end. But that's OK, I'll read it soon.
This is the start of a new story arc, so there is a "To be continued..." at the end. But that's OK, I'll read it soon.
May 10, 2022
More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/
With this 9th book, Shepherd manages to keep the plot interesting and moving forward. There are some big issues with characters behaving inexplicably (e.g., Admiral Kratz goes from loving father of two girls/thoughtful man to impulsive, intractable, and a bad role model for Vicky) that frustrated but the space battles were quite entertainment enough to make up for it. I listened to the Audible narration and the narrator (who does the entire series) is consistent and makes it easy to distinguish characters.Story: Kris wants to get as far away from the politics as possible - and ends up going into uncharted space to try to find what is killing Iteechee ships. What she finds is unimaginable: a moving alien civilization whose mission appears to be to destroy and then devour all life and resources on planets they encounter. Worse, the aliens shoot first, won't communicate, and are on a trajectory to destroy a world bearing bird-like sapiens. Can Kris turn away and let the world be destroyed or does she start a war with a civilization that produces world-sized battle ships?
The book had an interesting trajectory of Kris finding a world that had been obliterated fairly recently and then the alien ship that did the destroying. Although she has the Peterwald destroyers as well as some battle ships from her grandfather, they are tiny compared to the behemoth they would have to fight if they want to save that world. She also has civilians on board in the form of Cara and the boffins who make the decision even harder.
The running joke is, of course, that Kris is constantly being told not to start a war but always seems to be doing so. The battles this time were quite exciting and there was also the thrill of the unknown alien prowess (rather than the usual villain just being stupid and full of hubris (read: Peterwald)).
There is more character development, especially on the relationship between Kris and Jack. But also Vicky learning from Kris (for good or bad) and how each character reacts to the threat/how they should deal with it.
In all, I am still enjoying the series. It's not high literature or even high science fiction. But it is a nice diversion, especially in audiobook format.
May 6, 2013
A disappointing addition to a series that built it's reputation as lighter-than-air pulp space opera. Kris Longknife is a fun protagonist, headstrong scion to the richest and most powerful family in the galaxy, a wise-ass who never read a rule--or got an order--she couldn't help but break. There is more at stake in this book than in any of the others, yet Kris and her sycophantic band of underlings have inexplicably developed a severe case of "the Next Generation Blues." Remember how in the original Star Trek Kirk would semmingly impulsively choose a course of action, but in ST:TNG Captain Picard and his crew were forever retreating to the the big glassy lounge to talk things over. That's what has suddenly happened here--Kris and her 2 dimensional lackeys talk and agonize, reconsider and agonize before ultimately doing the most shocking and extreme thing possible. It happens again and again--all this worrying.
I don't buy these books because I want half-baked discussions between cardboard characters--some of whom seem to have changed so radically from one book to the next that I half suspect they've been replaced by robots. Or clones. I hang out with Kris Longknife because she's as deep at the Platte River in August, and I can completely turn off my brain when I read of her adventures. Don't start the series with this book, if you can help it. Swallow them in order.
The next one is rumored to be a step back in the right direction. We'll see,
I don't buy these books because I want half-baked discussions between cardboard characters--some of whom seem to have changed so radically from one book to the next that I half suspect they've been replaced by robots. Or clones. I hang out with Kris Longknife because she's as deep at the Platte River in August, and I can completely turn off my brain when I read of her adventures. Don't start the series with this book, if you can help it. Swallow them in order.
The next one is rumored to be a step back in the right direction. We'll see,
April 4, 2015
This is book nine in the Kris Longknife series. The book opens with King Ray and Princes Kris in disagreement over her next assignment. Kris wants to explore beyond the rim of space. The problem is disrupted because the Admiral in charge of Intelligence invited seven planets to join with Wardhaven to find out what is happening to the Iteechee ships that are disappearing. Needless to say Kris it put in command of this mixed fleet to explore the problem.
Kris and the small fleet discover entire worlds have been slaughtered and razed, stripped of their resources. The perpetrators travel in heavily armed, moon sized world ships, and tend to shoot first and never ask questions.
They discover another Alien world (the bird people) directly in the path as are the Iteechee and Kris’s world of United Societies. Kris decides to stand and fight with the new Aliens, but not all of the fleet agrees. So the story get interesting, the battles are vicious and people die. Everything in Kris’s world changes; what will this do to future episodes of the story?
Shepherd takes a risk of upsetting the status quo to make big changes to the story line. Shepherd provides a risk taking plot, lots of actions, space battles, and a thought-provoking moral question into a great story. Nellie and her children of super computers play an even bigger role in this episode. I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. Dina Pearlman narrated the story. I enjoyed this story.
Kris and the small fleet discover entire worlds have been slaughtered and razed, stripped of their resources. The perpetrators travel in heavily armed, moon sized world ships, and tend to shoot first and never ask questions.
They discover another Alien world (the bird people) directly in the path as are the Iteechee and Kris’s world of United Societies. Kris decides to stand and fight with the new Aliens, but not all of the fleet agrees. So the story get interesting, the battles are vicious and people die. Everything in Kris’s world changes; what will this do to future episodes of the story?
Shepherd takes a risk of upsetting the status quo to make big changes to the story line. Shepherd provides a risk taking plot, lots of actions, space battles, and a thought-provoking moral question into a great story. Nellie and her children of super computers play an even bigger role in this episode. I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. Dina Pearlman narrated the story. I enjoyed this story.
May 16, 2014
She did use the gun. Again, more of a coherent novel than most of the entries in the series. Moscoe is accomplishing his purpose: he's extracted more money from me and will likely continue to do so. You can see what could be the series limned in books we have: solid exploration of the mystery of the three and the search for intelligent life in the universe. But much of what actually happened within the novel could have been accomplished without dragging in the large ships or some of the other melodramatic deaths. There's little emotional impact in killing off several space battleships if they've served no real purpose in the book. And the deaths during refueling were just cheap.
February 24, 2023
4 stars.
Feb 2023 - re-listened. The body count is massive in this one. I always hate it when we lose favourite characters. :(
______________
April 2021
Kris and Co. are finally facing some hostile aliens and the results are pretty bad. And we're finally seeing some progress on her relationship with Jack. It's going to be interesting to see where things go from here as it looks like her grandfather King Ray is not ready to commit to a new war.
Feb 2023 - re-listened. The body count is massive in this one. I always hate it when we lose favourite characters. :(
______________
April 2021
Kris and Co. are finally facing some hostile aliens and the results are pretty bad. And we're finally seeing some progress on her relationship with Jack. It's going to be interesting to see where things go from here as it looks like her grandfather King Ray is not ready to commit to a new war.
January 2, 2014
Nope. You are not allowed to just randomly change your character's nature which you've established over the past few books. Not sure of why all this was or what the point of the slaughter of some of some of the second tier chars was all about. All in all about the worst of the series for me so far.
July 22, 2023
Normally I love this series, but I am just not sure I loved this book...
This one has Admiral Kratz flip-flopping even more between a caricature and the officer we briefly glimpsed earlier, and also introduces a new alien species. Where they're going to go with this is unsure.
This one has Admiral Kratz flip-flopping even more between a caricature and the officer we briefly glimpsed earlier, and also introduces a new alien species. Where they're going to go with this is unsure.
October 16, 2022
This time Kris might have bitten off more than she can chew. Her plan to take a group of scouts into the unknown to look for the aliens who are eating Iteeche ships, is "improved' by the addition of battleships from Greenfeld, Musashi, and Helvetica - all commanded by Admirals. And Wardhaven has sent a new secret weapon of immense power with her too.
They discover a planetary system where the unknown invaders have killed the population and strip mined the planet of everything including the air. That made them all a bit more cautious, but when they sent survey ships through one jump, they found a mothership the size of a rather large moon and thousands of ships attached bigger than even their battleships.
When they try to get around them to work their way home, they discover another settled alien planet that is in the path of the invaders. Kris proposes reversing by one jump and trying to ambush the invaders as they jump through. This plan has quite a bit of opposition from the Greenfeld delegation who favor running for home and letting the innocent alien planet fend for itself. Kris convinces them that they shouldn't do that, but the battle causes very large losses among the human fleet, and leaves Kris and just a few of her ships running for home chased by invaders.
When Kris does make it home after a harrowing voyage and with many more losses, she finds that she has been convicted in absentia of crimes against humanity. But King Ray and his advisors want to put off any thoughts of a new war until they have more time to win over the people and build up resources.
When the story ends, Kris is being sent off planet again to get her out of the way.
They discover a planetary system where the unknown invaders have killed the population and strip mined the planet of everything including the air. That made them all a bit more cautious, but when they sent survey ships through one jump, they found a mothership the size of a rather large moon and thousands of ships attached bigger than even their battleships.
When they try to get around them to work their way home, they discover another settled alien planet that is in the path of the invaders. Kris proposes reversing by one jump and trying to ambush the invaders as they jump through. This plan has quite a bit of opposition from the Greenfeld delegation who favor running for home and letting the innocent alien planet fend for itself. Kris convinces them that they shouldn't do that, but the battle causes very large losses among the human fleet, and leaves Kris and just a few of her ships running for home chased by invaders.
When Kris does make it home after a harrowing voyage and with many more losses, she finds that she has been convicted in absentia of crimes against humanity. But King Ray and his advisors want to put off any thoughts of a new war until they have more time to win over the people and build up resources.
When the story ends, Kris is being sent off planet again to get her out of the way.
September 20, 2017
This was another decent book in the long-running Kris Longknife space opera series. Beginning of this book is a little dry, and the action does not pick up until the middle of the book when things finally start to blow up.
It's nice to see Jack take Kris to task for always risking her neck when she does not have to, but I also understand her desire to lead from the front and not go anywhere she would not order one of her crew to go.
Interesting that none of the electronics in the fleet are hardened against EMP. They come across a slightly less-advanced race who did not get the memo that those nasty fusion and fission bombs were outlawed after the Iteeche War ended.
About the only thing I did not like about this book was the fact that is was so difficult to replenish the Wasp. I know it was a great plot device, but you would think that these space ships would have some way of emergency (like from battle damage, accident, etc.) refilling the mass tanks.
I would imagine some form of hardened drone or a scoop of some sort for collecting reaction mass would work. But then again it would not be the first time that the engineers who build ships did not see a problem until it was literally biting the crew's ass.
This is not the first time that Kris has lost friends or members of her staff, but no one that was particularly close to her this time. I felt more empathy for Nelly who lost three of her children than I did for Kris losing more sailors.
It's nice to see Jack take Kris to task for always risking her neck when she does not have to, but I also understand her desire to lead from the front and not go anywhere she would not order one of her crew to go.
Interesting that none of the electronics in the fleet are hardened against EMP. They come across a slightly less-advanced race who did not get the memo that those nasty fusion and fission bombs were outlawed after the Iteeche War ended.
About the only thing I did not like about this book was the fact that is was so difficult to replenish the Wasp. I know it was a great plot device, but you would think that these space ships would have some way of emergency (like from battle damage, accident, etc.) refilling the mass tanks.
I would imagine some form of hardened drone or a scoop of some sort for collecting reaction mass would work. But then again it would not be the first time that the engineers who build ships did not see a problem until it was literally biting the crew's ass.
This is not the first time that Kris has lost friends or members of her staff, but no one that was particularly close to her this time. I felt more empathy for Nelly who lost three of her children than I did for Kris losing more sailors.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 14, 2023
While the story was good, as always, and action-packed, I was put off by the overuse of certain statements regarding Irish sighs and remarks that brought all conversations to a grinding halt...
I also kind of expected Vicky to be more involved than she was. I wasn't really clear about Ron's role in all of this, either.
Maybe my head just wasn't in this one, like it usually is. Oh well. I think I will have to take a break before picking up the next one (if I can find it). For the record, I do intend to complete this series, as I like the characters and author, and the continuing story line :o)
I also kind of expected Vicky to be more involved than she was. I wasn't really clear about Ron's role in all of this, either.
Maybe my head just wasn't in this one, like it usually is. Oh well. I think I will have to take a break before picking up the next one (if I can find it). For the record, I do intend to complete this series, as I like the characters and author, and the continuing story line :o)
March 15, 2025
A major crescendo yet unfinished
It’s extremely difficult to tell you much about what happens in this book because nearly every possible aspect would either lead to spoilers or flat out BE a spoiler.
As the bibliography shows, Kris, the Wasp and multiple others have found an alien species that may be in opposition to the human species. The story ends with several important points that remain unanswered or unresolved. I hope that a forthcoming book will arrive soon to resolve this!
It’s extremely difficult to tell you much about what happens in this book because nearly every possible aspect would either lead to spoilers or flat out BE a spoiler.
As the bibliography shows, Kris, the Wasp and multiple others have found an alien species that may be in opposition to the human species. The story ends with several important points that remain unanswered or unresolved. I hope that a forthcoming book will arrive soon to resolve this!
March 10, 2025
Not going to lie, this one made me mad. Not at anything the main character did, but at her great great grandpa. Especially since I know what's going to happen, and what they'd find out if they just let her go back! Good writing, great characters. When you are mad at a character, I feel that the authour did a great job.
January 18, 2019
Recent Reads: Kris Longknife Daring. Mike Shepherd's milSF space opera heroine gets her wish: a voyage outside human space. But things out there aren't safe, and hard choices need to be made. Will anyone get home? Another readable yarn in a long series.
May 26, 2020
Action packed
In this fast moving version of Kris Longknife, we go from exploring new areas to finding new aliens. Then becoming BFF with an old enemy. I would say losing your fleet would and nearly not making it home makes for great reading.
In this fast moving version of Kris Longknife, we go from exploring new areas to finding new aliens. Then becoming BFF with an old enemy. I would say losing your fleet would and nearly not making it home makes for great reading.
July 16, 2020
It was great. New and terrifying encounter. The portrait of the battle losses was realistic, some minor issues, the 1 character 180 still happened. The politics are less clean or funny. The battles were aptly described.
January 29, 2021
Nellie the anthropomorphic computer and her brood are sometimes tiresomely cute, but the soaring space opera, with a brooding romance/bromance between Kris and Jack and awesome space battles, make this one of the best in the series.
May 21, 2024
Sweet read
Still rereading. Love these books. Awesome. Big bad aliens Time to roll out the bigger toys. Unfortunately a lot of people get close to that long knife It's gonna be a while before she can build up more support. I have to get the next book so I can read about it again.
Still rereading. Love these books. Awesome. Big bad aliens Time to roll out the bigger toys. Unfortunately a lot of people get close to that long knife It's gonna be a while before she can build up more support. I have to get the next book so I can read about it again.
January 8, 2025
This one would have benefitted from more editing. We had two characters meet each other for the first time in two completely different chapters. That kind of thing totally pulls me out of the story.
September 19, 2017
I'm thoroughly enjoying this series. I like Mike's style.
October 28, 2017
Yet another high action novel!
December 27, 2018
Excellent
I've read almost all books published in the longknife universe and there uniiformly a good and engaging read.
Keep them coming.
I've read almost all books published in the longknife universe and there uniiformly a good and engaging read.
Keep them coming.
January 26, 2019
The Longknife legend grows.
April 15, 2019
Space Opera at its very best. Kris and company are involved in one major battle after another.
February 4, 2022
Agree with the comments earlier, having a kid onboard, going on a combat mission and having an AI getting corrupted by a child's lingo.
Its a silly twist to the story, and not of need for this novel
Its a silly twist to the story, and not of need for this novel
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