Virtues of War

Virtues of War #1

by Bennett R. Coles

Lieutenant Katja Emmes is assigned to the fast-attack craft Rapier, joining a mission to investigate weapons smuggling activity between the Terran colonies of Sirius and Centauria. If true, this act of rebellion could escalate rapidly, and lead to all-out war.
 
When combat does erupt, its ferocity stuns the Terran forces, and pushes them to their limits. It tests the abilities of Lieutenant Emmes, as well, along with Sublieutenant Jack Mallory and Lieutenant Commander Thomas Kane, commanding officer of the Rapier. But failure is not acceptable.
 
They must defeat the enemy... by whatever means necessary.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, War, Military Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Military Science Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published February 17, 2011

Reviews

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oddly compelling. Military sf isn’t something I read a lot of. This wasn’t particularly brilliantly written, the characters were pretty one dimensional and there were too many loving descriptions of war ships but it was so action packed it just kind of zipped along. As I was reading it I wasn’t really sure why the Terrans were on Sirius in the first place,inadvertently starting a war, murdering civilians, leading to the creation of terrorist organizations in their wake. It is never really explained very well, although I did realize that this situation has it’s analogies with the Afghan and Iraq wars (the author is a veteran). I’m thinking that doesn’t bode well for us here on earth. It felt like the main reason to start a war is to create a way for everyone to advance their careers. Too much peace is bad for the business of war.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audience: Those who love both military tactics/content and heavy science-fiction

Summed up in one word: Multiplex

Author Bio: Bennett R. Coles is a Canadian author who spent 15 years in the Royal Canadian Navy. After obtaining a wealth of experience in the Navy, he retired in 2005 and established the publishing company Promontory Press, which is dedicated to helping talented new authors get an audience.

First Impression: Virtues Of War is an intense, war ridden, political blast through deep space and beyond. Having crafted a massive setting for this story and created quite a few characters to populate it, BRC had his work cut out for him. Across almost 500 pages, BRC has managed to combine realistic military politics, language and behaviour with deep space physics and theories. I am going to be completely honest and say that this is a rather heavy read, but by the end I was ultimately impressed with the story and what the trilogy might have in store.

Summary of the Story:

Deep space gun smuggling between two hostile nations is unacceptable. Lieutenant Commander Thomas Kane, Lieutenant Katja Emmes and the other crew of the fast attack craft Rapier are on a mission to smoke out the leader of this gun smuggling operation and stop the terrorists getting their weapons. Upon arrival on their planet, Katja makes some difficult on-the-spot decisions that end up initiating a wide scale war. Upon returning home, events escalate all around them and the politics/bureaucratic pressure threatens to ruin them. Sublieutenant Jack Mallory is a young up and coming pilot, he manages to make a few discoveries that may change the tide of this interplanetary war.

The Virtues Of War is an action packed, detailed and science filled jaunt through deep space and beyond. Can the squad keep the peace, save their own and keep earth from certain oblivion? Does everyone's self interests and politics come before the welfare of nations? Come to the front line of one of the most extraordinary wars set in the distant future and experience it for yourself.

Review

Plot: I was dumbfounded when I eventually realised the scale of this story. BRC has a lot to say here and I was, by the end, impressed with the first instalment of his military space epic. In terms of overall plot, TVOW is pretty weak, there seems to be less of an outlined arcing story and more of a stumbling development of events. What I mean by this is that though the EF (expeditionary force) are out to end the gun smuggling operation, once that element of the story comes into play, everything after seems like a tumbling decline instead of a play by play story. I was very glad to have stuck with it as by the last 100 pages, I felt that this story blossomed into something awesome. Once the characters were established and started complimenting/aggravating each other and the science behind the story became clearer, the plot came into its own. Despite the lack of clear motives for some of the events, the reader is treated to a plot filled with great science, interesting military tactics and great set pieces.

Writing Style: BRC went for a more science/military heavy tone to the first instalment of this trilogy. There is dense and technical language for both physics and Navy style military procedure. I found it difficult to appreciate this type of writing and language for the first half of this book. In the second act though, I felt that as BRC had got into a decent rhythm with his characters and the events surround them so the language eased up and became more informal and relaxed. This allowed me to understand events clearer and focus on story easier. Also, BRC added a glossary at the beginning to assist in the reader's understanding of the tough parts of the text/dialogue.

Setting: The reader is cast into deep space in TVOW. There are many different locations due to the large quantity of both planets and ships. Luckily the story is mostly set on several different space ships so it is not overly confusing. The space settings in this story are very impressive and add tone to events, but don't outright define them. I felt this was more of a character driven story, the setting seemed to just amaze and excite the science fiction nerd that is myself. Big planets. complex space ships and hostile planets. Everything you could want in a space war book. I loved the anti-gravity aspect, it brought a little additional feeling of amusement.

Characters: Wow...where to begin. A lot of these characters are intense, morally ambiguous, self righteous, unbearable and just down right evil. There are no wholly good or evil people in this book. Every character has both a pleasant/upstanding side and a backstabbing, nasty side. with 2 exceptions...Breeze is all evil (not really a spoiler) and Jack is all good, doing the right thing and serving others over himself. The two characters in the 50/50 zone are Katja and Thomas. Both act honourably and also manage to be disgusting human beings at times as well. I do feel that even though these characters are unbearable at times, they are a bunch of solid, well written characters that make this story worth reading.

Themes: One main theme that appears in this book is the difference between living the war and examining it from a distance. Katja is down in the trenches and living the horror every second and all her bosses are miles away judging her for her every action. Another potent theme is moral ambiguity, a lot of the characters push the boundaries of acceptable behaviour to either feed their ego or progress their career. In reality this book does not really have much emotional depth, it is more cold, calculated and brutal.

Likes: Big set pieces. Decent character development. Anti-gravity fun. Potential of the trilogy. Good & Evil.

Cover Art: Nothing special, does the job of letting the reader know that this will be a epic/hardcore military/space experience. 5/10

Dislikes: Nasty people at times. Length of the book. Choppy plot structure.

Rating: Overall, this book serves it purpose as a big, bold military/space experience. There is not much depth in terms of humanity or emotions, but there are badass space battles, big, exciting set pieces and plenty of action and science to enjoy here.

7/10

[Nick Frost · Rating 4 out of 5]

The action starts with no buildup. A small team on a secret mission to a foreign world to apprehend criminals. Like Delta Force invading Iran to capture a terrorist leader... with predictable results.

Overall, I liked it. I rate it a 3.5. The plot moves along at a good pace, and there's barely enough downtime between battles to catch one's breath and allow for interplay between the characters. The interplay also drives the plot, but doesn't deliver exposition. I'm no expert on extra-dimensional physics, and none of the jargon is dumbed down or explained. It isn't until very late in the story that most of the science is given any explanation.

The characters are well-rounded. And it's written by an author who is an actual military veteran, and he uses that to his advantage. He focuses on details one would only notice if one was in actual combat, and leaves world-building and descriptions by the wayside. I read the pre-published book proof, taken from a "Free Books" stand at my local library, so there was quite a few mechanical errors in it and the pacing was uneven and jarring.

Normally, I read historical fiction and fantasy. Books like that have lots of world-building, lots of detail and character building so when the action starts you're not confused by anything. This book has none of that. You're dropped right into the middle of it and forced to sort it out yourself. As a result, I have to go back and read the first ~30% of the book because I got the characters all mixed up.

Still, it was a good read. And I'm hungry for more.

[Jonathon Green · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mechanically this was a well written book, unfortunately the characters were all unsympathetic and objectionable. The first character we meet is a war criminal, the "intelligence" officer is a conniving self centered rank climbing sociopath. The ship's captain is a weak willed man who sleeps with two of his subordinates while engaged to his commanding officer's daughter.

The plot is one of the trope plots of military sci-fi, the colonys are rebelling against earth rule. This tale is from the earth perspective, and shows the excesses of the imperial against the colonial.

I give this one star, as I can not give less.

[Bennett Coles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I'm the author, so obviously I love the book. But I thought I'd take this opportunity to share a couple of early reviews that Virtues of War received.


From The Times, 26 November 2010, by David Kyle:

This first book is a promising beginning to a new military SF series. Set several centuries into the future, it pits Earth-based troops against the largest colony. The roots of the conflict are murky and may well be explained more satisfactorily in future books but the small cast of fleet officers and fast-attack soldiers who dominate this story are well-crafted and quickly hold the reader's interest.

This story is far more character driven than most of its ilk. Mr. Coles lengthy naval service reveals itself both in the realistic portrayal of the crews and their competing interests in a military command structure as well as the splendid detail of his futuristic space warfare. The fight scenes are realistic and action-packed but never gratuitous or predictable. A 50 per cent casualty rate in one fight gives the reader the uncomfortable feeling that no character is safe from being swept away.

Coles creates a technically advanced new generation of weaponry without burying the casual reader in too much science. There is also a realistic ebb and flow to the conflict that captures the "fog of war" at a frantic pace that is appropriate to this hi-tech future.

Military Sci-fi readers should welcome this new author, while the strong characters and complex human stories will appeal to the general reader.


From the "Vancouver Writes" festival, March 2011, by Sean Conley

Virtues of War is a stunning, action-packed Sci Fi adventure. It’s classified as military Sci Fi, which can be quite the deterrent for some, but I implore all readers to put aside your preconceived notions and I guarantee that by page fifty, those notions about military Sci Fi will be thrown out the window. And you will be enveloped with characters and adventure richer than anything you’ve read in the past ten years.

Starting off with an action sequence, the writing will hook most readers right off the bat. But if action is not your thing, just keep reading and you’ll quickly realize that this book isn’t about the action, but the toll that it takes on a soldier doing what she’s told to do.

Virtues is set in the Sirius “Dog Star” system, where war is brewing between the human colonies and Earth. It follows four main characters - complex characters that are all very realistic - as the conflict evolves. The realism of the writing makes this Sci Fi adventure feel as if it’s right at your doorstep, with you and your friends fighting the war.

Morally wise, and delightfully aware of how space war would be fought, Virtues of War is a must read. The dynamics of war are brought vividly to life and through the characters its true costs are revealed. Virtues of War is a gripping novel about the strength of will that ordinary people can find within, and is quite possibly the best action Sci Fi novel since Starship Troopers.

[PrintOrRiot · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disclaimer : unfair Review due to overdose of mil-sf

This said I just lost any interest early on when the usual unibrow crap was stapled on top of each other.
The heroine with doubts, the evil intelligence officer who only thinks of her own career.
What´s next - the evil politician? the obnoxius evil stupid journalist? justice done by automatic rifles?

[Gregoire · Rating 2 out of 5]

l'univers du livre n'est pas très explicité ce qui n'offre pas la possibilité d'être immergé
Les scènes d'action sont certes bien rendues vues de l'extérieur mais j'ai eu beaucoup de mal à comprendre le pourquoi du comment
L'auteur (amha) s'attarde un peu trop sur les fantasmes et les relations (peu crédibles) des divers membres
L'équipage est assez cliché à part peut être Katja (entière, efficace, etc etc) et le jeune pilote Jack (courageux intelligent mais encore naïf etc etc)
Je dirais que c'est une bonne série B (j'ai lu pire !) vite lue vite oubliée
Pas certain de lire les suites ...

[Oliver Kitchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

when you find yourself becoming genuinely annoyed at a characters actions and decisions, that's a well written story

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Virtues of War series by Bennett R. Coles. The cover says "Top-Notch Military Science Fiction" and it is true! This is one of the best Military Science Fiction books I have read in a while. In this one Lieutenant Katji Emmes is assigned to the fast-attack spacecraft Rapier. She along with Commander Thomas Kane, the ships Captain, and Intelligence/Navigation Officer Lieutenant Charity "Breeze" Brisebois are sent on a mission to one of Terra's colonies to investigate the possibility of rebel instigators. What happens there will be the beginning of a war between Terra and her colonies. The Terran forces are soon ambushed and they find themselves cut off from home and at a distinct disadvantage in ships and weapons. It will take the determination, the heroism and the sacrifice of many people, such as a young pilot named Sublieutenant Jack Mallory if they are to win the day. This book has a great cast of characters and much space war as well as ground war action. It is told from several viewpoints including some of the not so noble characters. I recommend this book to all fans of Military Science Fiction.

[Chloe Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though I am a big fan of science-fiction, I have never found myself coming across what this book is deemed – military sci-fi. It’s a concept I found intriguing. With so many of us having watched TV series or movies that have incorporated the language, virtues, and actions of either the army, navy, marines etc – we are more aware of how this styling should sound. And Bennett Coles really hits the nail on the head.

I found it really refreshing to read this style of science-fiction. It read like a movie, with all of the scenes a key part within the novel that helped to push the narrative forward and to provide information as and when needed. Coles balances the novel with the right amount of pacing. A variety of action scenes are dotted throughout the novel to speed up the pace when necessary and to keep you entertained and wanting to find out the consequences of these scenes. I must admit that I was slightly worried that many of these scenes would become repetitive as many do within movies – that they would just be added in for a bit of action with no originality to the scenario. However, each action scene was entirely different and affected our characters in different ways.

The characters themselves were brilliant, each in their own way. We are given a variety of perspectives which helped with the movie-like feel throughout the novel as we are given alternative views on multiple topics, understanding how varying ranks within the military are affected by the actions of those higher up, or of a lower rank. The character, who I would call our main protagonist, is Katja Emmes. At first I found her to be entirely unsure of herself within her position. It is clear that it is her first time seeing real action and the way she handles things causes her to question herself. She develops very well throughout the novel, understanding that she must be doing something right and beginning to appreciate the skills that she possesses. She’s tough and, generally, level-headed about everything with a knack for authority and leading others. But she also knows when to step down from that position of authority and let someone else take control.

The only other character I am going to mention is Jack Mallory. Though there are a few more “main” characters, both Katja and Jack were by far the most interesting for me and fast became my firm favourites. In comparison to Katja, Jack holds a position lower down in the ranks piloting hawks and other aircraft through space. He is the one that searches open space for any potential threats and reports them back to the main ship. It is clear that Jack is far smarter than the Astral Force believes him to be and that he holds a lot of skill when piloting. Jack maneuvers the ships like a pro, understanding the terrain around him. Furthermore, though his position is further down the chain, he becomes a key player in turning the tides within the novel and I loved the way that he was finally acknowledged by those higher up and able to make vast amounts of difference. Jack is the character that brings sharp comments and witticisms to the narrative to bring a more light-hearted feel to the battle scenes whilst the rest of the characters are more stern and in-control. It becomes evident that he is almost nervous in these scenarios at first, but he does become more adaptable.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this novel. As with most science-fiction novels, the first 100 or so pages were a bit slow as the situation and setting (even though it’s space!) were set up for me along with all of the terminology and language for various aspects of the novel. However, it was gripping and had me on the edge of my seat during the more intense action scenes and I am looking forward to the next in the series!

[Gabrielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going to start by saying that I didn't buy this book myself, but was instead gifted it by a friend who wasn't too impressed with it to begin with. I decided to go into it with an open mind and make my own observations while working my way through it.

In terms of casual reading and taking up time spent on buses/etc. the book serves its purpose. it's somewhat engaging, the military tactics are as sound as they could be within the plots standards and it does have a small political aspect (which I personally find makes any good military based sci-fi/action book).

I only have 3 major issues with the book.


1. The Characters.
Honestly, the only one I was bothered to be interested in was Katja and this was only because she was the most fleshed out of the lot. Which is saying something because just about the only thing we learn about her is the vague outline of her relationship with her father. the other characters were shallow, Breeze is your typical conniving sociopathic intelligence officer. Mallory is the cliche greenhorn and Thomas is the definition of pathetic and weak-willed. Not capable socially and honestly, even professionally. One thing that bothered me specifically was how much his character was played up, which brings me to my next point.

2. The Romance.
Thomas was up-played the entire time, even going so far as to have affairs with 2 of his subordinates. the romance was shallow. As I mentioned before, with the level of craftsmanship that went into Katja's character (and a bit of queer-baiting courtesy of breeze) seeing the relationship that developed between her and Thomas was almost a step down from what it could have been if she'd actually been queer as the emotional aspects were quite lackluster. The hypersexualization of the female characters in the novel was boring and frankly took away from the plot, which tactically, was enjoyable otherwise.

3. Politics
The book opens with a strike scene that barely covers the backstory essentials, it is therefore not easy to follow without reading between the lines almost constantly. To be quite frank, reading through the first couple of chapters the first time, it almost felt like i should be taking notes with how 'thrown in' the world building aspects seemed to be. Overall you can easily understand the whole imperial vibe the novel gives off, but there is not much explanation otherwise, which i feel takes away from the enjoyment i could see people finding in this book.



Overall: I think I would have given this book 1.5 stars for the great military tactics which were outlined with a degree of skill. Sadly for me, this was the books only redeeming quality.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well choreographed battle scenes (though the business with "branes" and "peets" left me befuddled), but the stuff between is pretty dull. Moreover, the story's rampant sexism spoiled it for me. Sure, the author pays lip service by placing men and women both in combat and officer roles, but of the four central characters the two men are basically faking it until they make it, which is OK, one of the women is a Murderous Bitch (who, to be fair, does moderate her bloodthirstiness as time goes on) and the other is a Ruthlessly Ambitious Bitch who sleeps around, does no visible work in the story except suck up to superiors and sabotage the careers of rivals, and freezes up in battle. In classic fashion the women's bodies get descriptive notes (Katja (the murderous one) is introduced on page 1 with a reference to "her petite frame,") but those of the men do not. I did not track it carefully, but am pretty sure this fails, or at least scores low on, the Bechdel Test too.

Since, from their descriptions on GoodReads, the first sequel doesn't look promising, I'll be holding off to see where the story goes.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like a good adventure sci-fi story with action now and then, and Coles pretty much delivers that with Virtues of War, the first in a planned trilogy. For being a dense book, though, I would have expected a bit more character development than what is present. After a while, the battle sequences sort of start to bleed into one another and there is not always a clear sense of difference between planets and ships other than names being mentioned. The story is much more about the action than world or character building. Coles writes like he understands the technical aspects and those parts are much better fleshed out and expanded on than the characters who feel sort of vaguely familiar and flawed but never do anything truly surprising. The series has great potential for sci-fi action fans, particularly if it gets bigger on the science fiction aspects as it goes along. Virtues itself feels as much military thriller as sci-fi.

Note: ARC received via Amazon Vine in exchange for review.

[Val Walton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t often read science fiction but I enjoyed this book a lot. It was very fast paced and the action flowed into more action so quickly it was hard to find a time to put it down. I kept thinking I’ll stop at the next chapter.

Although it happened somewhere in deep space Katja reminded me of Hornblower in the way she learned to grow as a leader and fight battles in ways that were totally unexpected both to their enemies and her own side. Only in deep space the maneuvers were easier to understand that in Hornblower’s navy.

I’m looking forward to starting the sequel Casualties of War

[Aidan-Paul Canavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Action packed military SF novel that is smart, well paced, and a blast to read. Coles’ characters are fascinating flawed heroes who are balancing their personal lives and ambitions with their duties as serving officers. Given the plentiful action, it is surprisingly insightful and joins the ranks of great military SF like Haldeman’s Forever War and Heinlein’s Starship Troopers.

Forthcoming full review at www.thecriticaldragon.com

[Marty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't find anyone I wanted to spend time with in this book.

[Volpot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very well done book of military science fiction. It features an interesting plot, a well told story line, and well developed characters. Lastly, important for a military science fiction novel, both the science and the military action are believable.

The plot is basically a "coming of age" type of plot where a relatively young female officer in her empire's space navy begins her rise to greater skill and recognition. The story is well told and the officer's increased prominence is not exaggerated. The main character is no super-hero and her development is within the bounds of reality.

The space battles are interesting and suspenseful and the characters involved in the actions are believable and engaging. The author has military experience and it shows. One slight aspect of the book that I found a little off-putting, however, is the complete self-centeredness of most of the professional officers in this military. Almost to a man/woman they are focused more on their own personal advancement and personal interests than the success of their nation, service, ship/unit, or crewmates. Frequently throughout the book this misplaced loyalty results in severely adverse results. Perhaps that's the author's intention: to show the negative consequences of such behavior. But such widespread counter-productive behaviors do not correspond to anything that I'm familiar with in modern militaries for precisely that reason.

But overall the book was well-written and very interesting. I'll definitely buy a sequel.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coles, Bennett R. Virtues of War. Virtues of War No. 1. Promontory Press, 2011.
If a Navy vet like Coles is going to write science fiction, it will most likely be military science fiction in which the tactics of naval warfare are adapted to an interstellar environment. That said, this is a good example of the form. It avoids the very common mistake of assuming that a large-scale space war can be won by one hot pilot or one stalwart lieutenant. Coles has several different ranks and job specialties represented with fully drawn characters. The character conflicts, with one or two exceptions, avoid most of the soapy banalities so common in the genre. The technology is also more plausible than we usually see; Coles has given some thought to quantum uncertainty in planning FTL tactics. So far, this series is a trilogy, the third volume of which was published in 2017. The battlefield is large enough that I would not be surprised if the series continues. Good indie military science fiction is rare enough that this one is worth a read. 3.5 stars.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this book on a recommendation from Steven Erikson as being a military sci-fi story with an actually believable respect for the chain of command. And in that regards I have to say this was a welcome story. The characters in this story do their jobs, follow orders, and don't stand around arguing with their superiors all the time as they do in Star Wars or Star Trek style books or Hollywood films. It feels much more realistic in that respect. On the other hand, the overall story is fairly typical, that of Earth (Terra) getting into a war with its colonies (this time on Alpha Centauri and others). The battle scenes are well done, and there are quite a few of them, with just enough respite in between to get to know the characters a bit better. And there's quite a lot of politics going on behind the scenes. The action is bloody and quick, and doesn't hold back any punches. The ending does have quite a bit of deus ex machina in it, and seems very inspired by events in WWII. A good read that I'd give 3.5 stars.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does what it means to do very well, but it's not really my cup of tea. Very military SF, with four points of view among the space service who all get brought together by the fortunes of war. Very gritty, with discussions of the physics of the weapons and the blood from the guns. There's some scenes of rather explicit sexual violence that through me out a bit and I'm not sure why they were there. It's interesting because it's not at all clear that our guys are in the right but they try not to concern themselves with the ethics of what they are doing and just follow orders. And advance their careers with varied degrees of skill.

[Karl Schaeffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another dollar store find. I figured, what's not to like; space opera, military SF, a Canadian author. I struggled early with this book. None of the main characters were likable. As the book went along, some of the characters became less unlikeable. And, who says the colony planets are bad guys for wanting independence from earth? Lots of nuanced looks at modern military culture, no doubt influenced by the author's experiences. I give this book 3-1/2 stars. I'm interested enough to read the rest of the books in this trilogy.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an uninspiring selection of Mil-SF. While the mechanical bits are interesting (especially the anti-stealth aspect) the characters kill it.
The only character that makes the story worth reading is the ASW pilot. The main lead jumps to extreme overreaction and over the tops threats immediately. Other characters come across as swarmy and just unlikable.
I will not be reading the rest of the series.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok. Good story. Good writing. Good action. Holy cow though, I couldn’t bring myself to really like any of the main characters. I could tolerate Katja and Jack but all of the characters just seemed so flawed. Probably more realistic but I like heroes that have good morals. It was a little disturbing how quick the Terrans were to execute civilians. It was honestly hard to think of them as the good guys at times.

[Jayne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many tropes. Young female lieutenant full of self-doubt and a major crush on the Captain. (gag).

Predictable and boring. Predictable and fun I can handle.

These kinds of stories don't make any sense to me. I'm sure that these situations are true somewhere but I still don't get it. Which is why I prefer the Star Trek Way - Everyone is working together for a common purpose.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recent Reads: Virtues Of War. Bennett R Coles' milSF takes a different approach from most; junior officers on a peace-keeping mission struggle to keep alive as it escalates to interstellar war. Moral dilemmas and intriguing physics, ahoy!

[Yasu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Enjoyed the military sci fi aspect of it but hated how manipulative and back stabbing the characters were. I suppose it’s a refreshing take in the genre, but it reminded me of why I don’t like to watch reality tv shows.

[Stavros Saristavros · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fast-paced action-packed Military Sci-Fi.

Bennet Coles' experience as a naval officer served him well, as life on the "Rapier" is portrayed with an authenticity that can't be replicated by just anyone.
I particularly loved his portrayal of stealth warfare in the void of space and its parallels with submarine warfare.
Very clever.

[Michel Sizaire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this just story, as much as I enjoyed reading the Kris Longknife series by Mike Shepherd.

I am looking forward to reading more of this Virtues of War series

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very easy to read, has you rooting for the underdogs. Some interesting character studies.

[Michael Rutkowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced with plenty of Military Sci Fi action ! A thoroughly entertaining read for those who enjoy this genre of Science Fiction !