Conquest

Star Force #4

by B.V. Larson

To Be Released: Christmas, 2011 at Amazon and BN

CONQUEST is the next chapter in the great interstellar war between all living creatures and the machines. Star Force must stop the machine invaders once again--but how?

In the fourth book of the Star Force series, Kyle Riggs has freed Earth from the chains of the Macros--but at what cost? The Macros no longer trust him. He is a mad dog that must be put down--and all Star Force must be stamped out with him. The war expands in this story, and mankind is once again faced with annhilation.

Genres: Science Fiction, Audiobook, Space Opera, Military Fiction, Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Space

ebook

First published December 13, 2011

About the author

Brian Larson is an American science fiction and fantasy author

Reviews

[Metodi Markov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Тук вече нещата съвсем загрубяват!

Земята е вкопчена в смъртоносна схватка с извънземните нашественици и не е ясно, ще оцелее ли дори част от човечеството след края ѝ.

Всички погледи са вперени в полковник Ригс и неговите космически пехотинци, подпомагани от флотата на адмирал Кроу.

Екшън до дупка!

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

At one point in this book a saboteur/assassin confronts commander Kyle Riggs and accuses him of being thoroughly unqualified for his job, and noting that everything bad that has happened to Earth and Star Force is basically his fault. He's then dealth with swiftly and without much mercy.

But he was right.

The fourth volume in Larson's Star Force series has the odd effect of making me wish for bad things to happen to the protagonist, mostly because he's a douchebag.

While literally thousands of more qualified people exist throughout the scattered militaries of the world, Reservist 1LT Kyle Riggs is the One Man That Knows All (TM). Yet as our wannabe-assassin points out, Riggs keeps f'ing it up and getting Earth into more trouble.

I'm rooting for people to kill Riggs now.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good.

[Borka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this series

bit like the Skylark series , man finds item and boot straps his way to god hood.

Would love to know if Marvin is the paranoid android as he seems to be written that way. i just hope he does not become a "baddy" as he is at the moment he is riggs "loyal" but nieve "puppy" , let hope he becomes an attack dog.

The hero seems a bit dim .. but i suppose hes busy.. Hidden bases on the island ,...... when he has a whole solar system to hide in.... has he not heard of von newman ... send out one replicator to the asteroid belt , and tell it to make more ... and more , eventualy the entire astoride belt would be an armed camp all for the cost of one replicator.

He even had the clue the macros were mining the solar system ,, yet he has not even put a "hidden" base of the moon,. just a james bond style hidden base a few miles away.

enjoyable books though looking forward to more of this slow witted defender of earth

[Nigel · Rating 3 out of 5]

In many ways this is a frustrating series. One the one hand I do enjoy the fast paced almost constant battle scenes that make up most of the books. On the other there are significant downsides that for me stop this from being a 4 or 5 star series. I appreciate the Sci-Fi nature of the books, but the idea of the nanite factories that seem to need nothing other than an idea in order to produce vast swathes of new technology seem to be pushing the boundaries a bit too far. Then we have the inter character relationships which not to put to finer point on it feel like I'm back in my teenage years. Kyle and Crow are supposed to leading Star Force (Kyle the army and Crow the navy) but simply can't communicate as adults. Crow has built a large number of ships but won't commit them to Earth's defence because he's afraid they'll be destroyed and if he loses too many ships he won't have all the power. Crow has also spent vast sums on what can only be described as 'pimped up offices'. This leaves Kyle trying to trick Crow at every turn in order to get his help in battles. On the other hand Kyle simply acts with very little planning, no cooperation with other people and just does what he thinks is right at the time and dam the consequences. In this story we see Florida eradicated by Nukes as the direct result of his actions. The rest of earth who have very little say in the running of Star Force naturally are displeased by this and constantly try and get some level of control back.
For all it's faults however it's still a series I want to continue with just to see how it ends, even though I'm not yet half way through.

[Ken Finlay · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Conquest”, fourth in the 'Star Force' series, sees the Space Marines in servitude to the Macros.
He's been tasked with genocide - wiping out the Centaurs who, after a treaty with the Macros, are confined to giant satellites.
And he does just what he's asked to do, though failing to inform the Macros that the genocide element has been largely avoided.
I quite like the Centaurs, honourable and deadly fighters whose only real drawback is their inability to fight outside the herd. As Riggs quickly finds out they, of their own accord, are willing cannon fodder.
There's not much character development in the series but two characters are worthy of mention:- the creepy girlfriend, Sandra, who has become his shadow and protector (often from other women!), and the scary AI Marvin who, while a scientific genius, has absolutely no boundaries (moral or otherwise).
There's pretty constant action, most of it against overwhelming odds, and time after time Riggs emerges victorious.
It's Space Opera.
3 Stars.

[Rich Maloy · Rating 1 out of 5]

At this point in the series, the pattern to the plots become all too obvious. The travel between the worlds was interesting, as was the continual struggle for survival by the protagonist. But when the actions of the two main characters becomes completely predictable, it's too much to bear. I didn't finish the book, nor the series. It's astounding to me that the series has twelve books in it—TWELVE! When three books in a row have zero character growth and nearly identical plot structures, it's time to move on.

[Shhhhh Ahhhhh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I expected a tripart coalition to chase them back to the blues homeworld and get some resolutions. Instead I get this sucker shit. I mean, good change of pace from the other 3 books which consisted of round after round of humans getting their asses handed to them, but nevertheless, I wanted more closure. I know there are more books but it feels out of character for Riggs to fall back when he has the upper hand, especially this far into his command career. Ugh.

[John Merrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing sophisticated, just an interesting, imaginative space adventure with intriguing characters. Escapist Sci-fi that doesn't strain the brain but also doesn't insult your intelligence. I'm reading all of his series of books.

[Thomas James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vivid Battle Descriptions

Once again a great story. This one has more battle imagery than some others. The imagery of battle is very good, while being not so descriptive to gross you out. Great fun and a good cliffhanger foreshadowing the next adventure.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

2-3/5. Do odsłuchiwania w tle przy robieniu np. porządków domowych może być, ale nie wyobrażam sobie usiąść przy tej książce i całym cyklu w wersjach papierowych, wydaje mi się, że nie dałabym rady przez to przebrnąć 🤷‍♀️

[Arthur Davida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second reading was better than my first

I had missed a lot of detail in my first reading. Destroying 100 ft macros seemed a stretch. Sandra and Marvin were the stars of the show in my opinion. Action was rapid fire, and creative. Crowe was a funny and easy to hate Aussie.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when you think this series can't get any better, they do.

[Christopher Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am still waiting for a big wedding scene here. Could the Macros screw off long enough to allow that to happen?

[Taukyrion · Rating 3 out of 5]

5/10

[Bryan457 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Riggs always seems to be a day late & a dollar short.
BUT!
He also seems to always have a plan.
A desperate, long-shot, hail-mary . . .

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Take a breather, will ya! Good night! Colonel Riggs and his Star Force Marines are fighting almost every hour of every day. They go from one place to another carried by the MACROS and they have to fight whomever they meet. This time they're fighting the "goat people" or aliens that look like Centaurs. These Centaurs are highly intelligent and territorial. They don't want their space invaded and they aren't willing to die just because the Earth Marines are having a bad time.

Colonel Riggs finally decides it's time to quit working for the MACROS and start getting back at them. He convinces the Centaurs to pull a little trick that makes it appear Rigg's Marines have completed this mission and will allow them back on their transport ships. Except, Rigg's Marines will be coming back to attack the remaining MACRO cruiser. Unfortunately, the MACROS were waiting for him and his men! But, Rigg's Pigs are experienced space fighters and they manage to get back to the cruiser and take it over.

Well, now Riggs and his Marines start a fight to get back to the Solar System and Earth. His tasks isn't easy since the MACROS send a squad of MACRO cruisers after him. But, he does make it back home and then the real fighting gets started.

Colonel Riggs must be close to Superman. The way he gets blown up and shot at all the time yet comes back for more. Of course he's full of nanites but man! And doesn't he have anyone around him that can do anything. He's always doing everything himself. Of course, all his Marines just die around him but he seems to have plenty more. Then there's his girl, Sandra. I think she's gone completely psycho! Once a normal if not aggressive young female, she's been enhanced by nanites and some other alien biotics to where she is supergirl. But she has this complex about protecting Riggs. If there was anyone ever that could be considered "clingy", this girl is it. She things everyone and everything is out to get Riggs and it's her job to stop them. She doesn't do this particularly well, but she sure scares the hell out of everyone that around her.

Then there's this nanite brainbox partially given to Riggs by the Centaurs. Riggs calls him Marvin. He's a very intelligent robot construct in that he builds himself into whatever he has lying around. He's supposed to provide Riggs with information about the MACROS and other friendly civilizations but that doesn't happen. Riggs and Marvin's relationship starts out to one of caution. Riggs doesn't trust Marvin and Marvin doesn't trust humans. In the 3rd book, their conversations are almost robotic. Riggs asks questions and Marvin grudgingly answers if he feels like it. Now in this book, Riggs and Marvin act like they're best buddies and have had a long-term relationship. The relationship doesn't track from one book to another!

Great reading. There's supposed to be a fifth book but I can't find out when. I'll be waiting for it because this last one certainly didn't end the series or the story.

[Marianne Barron · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Norwegian only, sorry..
Fjerde boka i Star Force serien er nå lest. Et lite steg ned fra bok nr. tre, så det passer at forfatteren ikke har ferdigstilt bok fem. Tror jeg trenger en liten pause og avveksling fra serien...


Litt om boka

"Conquest" er neste kapittel i stjernekrigen mellom Jorden og andre levende vesener i universet mot Makroene, maskinene. I denne fjerde boka har Riggs frigjort Jorden fra Makroenes klør, men til hvilken pris? Makroene stoler ikke lenger på ham og har bestemt seg for å gjøre ende på både ham og hele Star Force en gang for alle. Krigen kommer tilbake til Jorden, og i all hovedsak til Star Force sin base på Andros, Bahamas.

Samtidig som Makroene returnerer får Riggs også bryne seg på kjæresten Sandra, som er overbevist om at Riggs har noe gående med kommunikasjons-sjefen i styrkene. I tillegg blir Riggs forsøkt snikmyrdet. Av sine egne? Mens kampene om menneskeheten utkjempes på en liten øy i Karibien har Marvin, den egenrådige roboten, blitt utstyrt med et romskip og skaper tumulter i og utenfor galaksen. Jorden får uventet hjelp, og Riggs tar store sjanser. Vil menneske- heten omsider seire over maskinene?


Min evaluering

Dette er første gang en bok i serien har skuffet meg. Kanskje fordi jeg hadde store forventninger til denne fjerde boka i serien? Jeg liker veldig godt konseptet som serien er bygget opp rundt, og humoren som Larson opptil nå har klart å bevare. Men - denne boka var den første som fikk meg til å betvile om jeg kommer til å lese videre. Det blir trøttende å lese om hvordan Star Force igjen og igjen på forskjellige måter tar livet av mechanoids som dukker opp med små variasjoner. Krigstaktikk overtar der humoren tidligere holdt gnisten i historien, og eventyret overtar det Sci-Fi tidligere var et ledende element.

Marvin, som tidligere var like uberegnelig som en tenåring i full blomst, blir forutsigbar. Forholdet mellom Riggs og de to "leading ladies" blir tåpelig etterhvert og veldig lite troverdig. I tillegg er boka spekket med skrivefeil, som om den er gitt ut før de siste editeringene er tatt med. Dette tar ofte fokuset mitt vekk fra hele avsnitt, og jeg får følelsen av at jeg sitter med et noe uferdig produkt. Jeg får se om jeg forsøker meg på neste bok, "Battlestation", når den engang kommer ut. Jeg kan sterkt anbefale de tre første bøkene, men denne fjerde... får kun en svak tre'er fra meg...

[C G Bronson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read the previous 3 books in this series as well. Let me say they are very entertaining and hard to put down. But the problem with them is two-fold:

1. No character development

The books move way too fast, you are left wishing they would slow down a little bit and Larson would more fully develop the background story as to the other aliens, the mysteries of the universe he setup, the military strategy, the political issues, etc. That being said, this is a minor problem compared to the love story.

2. The girlfriend damn near makes the books unreadable

Without the underlying love story between Kyle Riggs and Sandra, the books are already stretching (but not quite reaching) semi-ridiculous. Thanks to the action and plot weaves and the uniqueness of the universe that Larson creates, he makes up for these surface-level deficits in a big way.

That being said, Sandra nearly ruins the books completely. In the first place, she is way too involved in every aspect of the story. No one would buy a military commander bringing his girlfriend everywhere with him in the middle of a war. Even worse, the unprofessionalism of it all is just snickered and waved off by all of the characters around them, even the inner circle (even though Larson makes them out to be strict no non-sense pros in every other way). Worse than that, Riggs even comments that he shouldn't keep bringing her everywhere, but that is followed by another adventure in which she is literally on his tail and inserting herself into everything he does with his approval.

Though I could give many examples from the first four books, reading chapter 22 of this particular book was the absolute height of folly. I don't want to give away too much of what happens, but lets just say that when computer aliens attack your planet and your headquarters, sending hundreds of ground troops to surround you (after just destroying most of your headquarters), the general on-scene wouldn't decide to go off to the half-destroyed mess hall for a gourmet dinner and get drunk all night. Then, with enemy ships still visible in the sky, proceed to go on a 36 hour vacation to have sex with his girlfriend off on the beach in some far corner of the island (with enemy ships visible in the sky overhead, no less). This is an example of where this series goes from truly entertaining sci-fi (if not B level) into a cartoon.

[Shaft · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of disappointing, this book is the fall of Kyle Riggs even if things sort of work out because it shows off how arrogant and completely incapable of change he is. Despite having this structured military force with advisers and dealing with nations at the highest level Riggs has never heard a plan other than his own that makes enough sense to try. It feels like a big change actually because in earlier books he was a solid planner it was one of the things to look forward to in the books but in this one he keeps making idiotic decisions and seems to be constantly worried about unimportant issues. I don't know what happened between the previous book and this but the change is jarring if I hadn't checked I would have assumed I missed a book where something happened to change him so much.

[Jeff Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I thought this series was going to be entertaining, but not much else. Plenty of books in the series with not very professional covers. Still I have been learning to overcome my prejudices against those who self-publish, especially as the market and path to self-publishing has changed.

Still the free story from the series they had on Audible intrigued me and so I read the first book and now am on my forth. As military SF it is pretty good and the background and constant difficult decisions leads to the right amount of tensions. The first book is rather gruesome in what happens to the family of Kyle Riggs the hero of the story when aliens arrive.

It takes the trope of intelligent machines deciding to wipe out all other sentients and makes it work. The cold-bloodiness or no-bloodiness of the machines as they attack Earth make them thought to defeat. Maybe one reason I like this series is that there is a Lensman-like quality to this space opera as they use the machines own factories to turn out their own weapons and armor. Plus it is the decisions military decisions that Kyle Riggs makes that keeps you intrigued. There are often way out there in their application and he of course drives everybody around him crazy even as they have learned to trust him. Plus the novels have a touch of humor to make them also fun to read.

When Amazon launched KindleUnlimited I found that this whole series was part of it and that you could get the audiobook versions for $1.99.

[Mike Nemeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Col. Kyle Riggs has returned to Earth with his super-enhanced girlfriend. They got some beach time. But this is a B.V. Larson novel. "Conquest" doesn't waste time getting to the action. As is expected, Riggs is faced with overwhelming odds. He's constantly at a disadvantage. Larson does this to enhance the excitement. How in the heck can Riggs pull it off? In this case, the Macros return with overwhelming force. No surprise there. They want to win. And they're getting smarter. Riggs speculates that they operate as a collective, constantly calculating the angles. There is no super Macro. Good to know, but it doesn't help much in the long run. Riggs has to try and build something to eradicate the threat. Something new. The Macros have his number. They have answers to his past attacks. But Riggs is inventive. He's tricky. That confounds the logic of the machines. While Riggs has help, he's also got detractors. He's a target. And the power struggle for Star Force continues. The truce he establishes with his partner is fraught with cracks. And Riggs knows it. Sandra becomes his chief bodyguard. And she's awesome. Fast and strong and hard to kill. His best soldier Kwon somehow has survived and continues to blast machines. The story continues to entertain and go into interesting directions. Riggs has to make choices. And those choices make him a hero to some and a villain to others.

[Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, but some problems are creeping in.

On the up side: it was good to see the Macros changing up tactics and and behave in a vaguely rational way. The scale of the story is impressive. The narration continues to be excellent. The nature of the conflict shifts enough to be interesting throughout. There are explosions and weirdness.

But: there is a lot of weird redundancy in the writing. A detail gets mentioned in one sentence, then again in the next. There are recaps of things that happened only a few chapters ago. There is some extreme stupidity from various characters, including Kyle Riggs, the All Father. Why would you ever stop building self-replicating factories? Why would you keep all those critical-to-human-survival factories in the same place? Why give flying space marines nuclear hand-grenades instead of building smaller, faster, more expendable missiles for space fights? Why ignore the lesson "they can't shoot down a shell" for ground fights?

The main character's problem-solving is the main novelty of these, er, novels. It's frustrating to see him dumbing down.

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, I have to confess there are things that could be faulted about this series. In this particular book, I noticed typos and sentences with the wrong words. Not much, but it altered the flow of my reading when hitting something that didn't make sense until I reread the sentence trying to figure out what the correct word was.

Having said that, I love, and I mean LOVE this series. To me, it's highly addictive and a fun read. I don't want to put the books down. It's a very enjoyable series that takes some predictable turns as well as some unpredictable ones as well.

Definitely give it a try!

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good addition to the series. There seemed to be more errors in this one than the others causing me to drop out of the story at times but overall it wasn't bad enough to make me stop reading. The story itself is very good, I'm getting tired of the love interest stuff and tend to skim it when it comes up. Some sections seem to be wordy and could do with a little cutting back. I don't need to know every detail of every situation.

Given the few problems this book does have I would recommend it to anyone who has read the previous books in the series. I would also recommend the series itself to anyone who enjoys a good action adventure story.

[Jonathan Pettit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continue to enjoy the series. I sure wish Kyle Riggs could learn to delegate more. He reminds me of a battalion commander I once knew where he was the best platoon leader the battalion had (more story there). Again, the Macros come after Earth and Star Force and Riggs saves the world from destruction. Marvin plays a role in the story, along with visits from the Worms and the Centaurs. Series stays on my "to read" list. Mark Boyett continues to do a great job on the narration. Audible version.

[unknown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hooked by another series from Larson !

When I started the series I knew I like Larson wondered if you could keep it up . I shouldn't have doubted him . Larson's secret is his ability to craft great main characters for the plotline he writes . I want to read more because I like the character development these are people I like and admire and therefore become involved with . What I'm saying is he makes the characters live and his storylines or interesting . I can't read them quick enough . I highly recommend this series but started the beginning .

[BobA707 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Quite enjoyed this, the premise just doesn't work, the characters are all pretty unpleasant, but the plot moves along briskly and plenty of action. Some interesting aliens and a robot called Marvin.

Plotline: Not well thought out but moves along very nicely, plenty of action. Some huge weaknesses so best to not think too hard about this plot.

Premise: No, just doesn't make sense, well may be a bit more than it did

Writing: The characters are all too one dimensional

Ending: Plenty of action

Pace: Never a dull moment!

[Zhifei Ge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting and thrilling, this is absolutely the best among the first four books of this series. The fight b/w the Star Force and the Macro is full of tricks and strategies. I'm fully appreciative of the author's imagination and creativeness. In this book, politics slips into the Star Force. I sense it's going to lead to something, something that's horrible. Is Kyle a hero or an authoritarian? I can't wait to see it myself.

[Javida · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is now one of my favorites. It Is exciting and the writing is very powerful. This book reminds me of Star Wars. It is about fighting other species like star wars. The writing really makes you feel like the main character. You feel when he is happy and you feel upset when he is. This writing is probably some of the best that I have ever seen. I am continuing to read the rest of the series and I will strongly recommend it.