Admiral Jack Romanoff and his people have seized control of Faust and now have a base of operations, though the people of that world aren't completely pleased by his presence or actions. That's okay because he doesn't have time to worry about them. He needs to strike the Locusts before they spread even more than they already have in the wreck everything humanity has built.
If you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough.
With everything on the line, he can't afford to leave anything on the table. All his weapons and tricks have to be brought to bear now if they intend to save the Confederation. If they fail, humanity will be enslaved or worse. The time for victory is now.
AS THE STORY CONTINUES, IT JUST GETS BETTER WITH EACH PAGE IN EACH ADDITIONAL BOOK
LIGHTNING STRIKE (THE LAST HUNTER BOOK 14) by J.N. Chaney and Terry Mixon is one of those books in a series that just leaves you wanting more. If you are into science fiction, action-packed books that not only holds your interest with the action but with the determination of a group of people that are out to save mankind from the destruction from an alien species. It's also packed with a lot of different elements such as espionage, military tactics, as well as wins, and losses. You will also find yourself glued to the interactions and relationships between the characters as well. This book and series is well written, to say the least.
I have really enjoyed reading this latest adventures of the crew of the Hunter and can't wait until the next book (The Shell Game - book 15) is released. I hope you will enjoy reading this book and the previous books in this series.
Lisa played biggest role in this one, doing some undercover work and doing her hacking magic, although there are some unexpected consequences, which could prove very interesting in the future. Otherwise, storyline continues: no really huge surprises, a lot of movements, a lot of discussions of tactics but there wasn’t a lot of action packed fighting in this one. Of all 14 books this one was the most non-eventful, I’d say. Yes, there were moving parts and movement of the storyline, but idk, in other books this would have been get in, get the information, do what needs to be done and keep it moving. They did this but it seemed to be exceptionally slow and painstakingly discussed while still in one spot preparing for DuPont. Don’t get me wrong, there was drama and some intrigue, but for those expecting to read a lot of the normal fighting sequences that these writers and this series are known for then they’ll have to wait for the next installment. The DuPont system, (book 15) apparently is going to be “a hard nut to crack,” one their ships are not meant to survive but they have a plan. (Remember, they had all those strategy sessions😉) And then there’s Earth, who’s at even more risk. Will they make it to Earth before the Locusts or will they be too late? So…hurry up July because I’m already giddy for the next one.
**Possible Spoiler questions** Just a note and question to authors about the fight against the Locusts in particular— It seems some of them can be easily mopped up, while others fight back with immense intensity. I found one fight situation questionable because why would a large group of Locusts move to a different location without a mothership or at least someone in control which seems to be the key to their level of danger? They seem to be easy to destroy without oversight. Would this really be a logical decision by their caretakers? Also, codes prove to be a different obstacle. So again, a question— Why wouldn’t the human crew try to capture one of the last groups coming from a different locale in order to get their authority codes? Or do I not understand correctly and the only way to access these codes is to find the one ship generating the authority code? I think that might be the case, however, it would seem logical that somewhere in the generic locust ship is the trip switch that will recognize the correct code. Is there no way to get to that information? Does it not have to be digitally programmed to recognize the correct code in order to accept it? **End Spoiler Alert**
The fight against the Tardans and Locusts continues...
There is an added wrinkle to the latest excursion since The Kingdom appear to be in league with the Tardans. Their connection is explored as events transpire and we learn that Du Pont and Earth are the next targets of the Tardans. A Posideon leader who may not be all bad is revealed as well as new quantum gates.... Patrick also reappears with news and there is a development with Lisa... During Pont will be a tricky place to launch an attack against the Tardans as it is a star system with a highly active star meaning that background radiation and fractional effects are high, but some theoretical plotting occurs before the big push (or covert insertion?) occurs in the next novel... An entertaining tale with several battles and much political intrigue as Lisa tries to discover what the Kingdom are up to. There is also a marriage and honeymoon, and another relationship proceeds to the next level... Much suspense, intrigue and surprises ensue leaving us eager for the next installment.
I like this series! Good, well developed characters that really seem alive in the story. Enjoy the light touches..and the tender moments. Looking forward to the next one!!
The saga continues although we’re back in the Commonwealth proper, not by choice, but by accident. How we got here is all covered in Book 13. Admiral Jack Romanoff and his old battleship, the *Delta Orionis*. a.k.a. *Hunter* have to fight the battle before them and it’s going to be a challenge. But first, Jack has something personal he has to attend and that is his wedding to Vice Admiral Sara Nastasi.
Admiral Romanoff and Vice Admiral Amanda Harris’ staffs have been planning the next step in their effort to eradicated the Poseidon Group and now the Tardans from the Commonwealth. The Poseidon Group have had sufficient time to take over most of the planets with their minions, but now they have been attacked by this rogue group of militant Tardans who bring their numerous and dangerous Locusts. These Locusts are vicious fighting machines that attack without concern for their wellbeing attempting to destroy targets by overwhelming them. The Hunter can fight medium sized groups of Locusts without getting much damage, but if the group is large enough and accompanied by Tardan military vessels, the fighting could be very dangerous. That was proven when the *Scorpius*, the other battleship that came with the *Hunter*, found itself in an ambush.
While it wasn’t necessarily Vice Admiral India MacKinnon’s fault that her ship got caught in the ambush, she did fail to realize that such an event could happen. If not for the timely arrival of the *Hunter*, the Scorpius might have been lost! Even now, India is recuperating from the loss of one of her legs. She will be bed ridden for some time, so Admiral Romanoff had appointed Rear Admiral Ann Walker as the new Captain of the ship. He had other plans for India which she could well perform even in her recuperating capacity. She might not like this new job, but she could do it and Jack needed to be elsewhere. They had captured the planet Faust and had corralled the Poseidon Group leadership in a secret compound which they thought was secure. It was not, especially for Lisa Gain.
So Lisa, Tina and David Chen had lead the assault upon the secret compound that housed the Poseidon Group leaders that had taken over Faust. Their capture was fairly easy since Lisa had gained access to their security system and had opened just about everything, even their super secret underground compound. Lisa also managed for find their subbasement which contained all the computers that held the data bases for the entire Poseidon Group operations. To say this was a coup of unexpected treasure would be an understatement. While Lisa was going through file after file, she had an unexpected visitor. Patrick has shown up unexpectedly deep in the subbasement while Lisa was working. She wasn’t startled to see him since she knew he had been operating in the Commonwealth proper but she wasn’t sure what he was up to right now. She was soon to find out.
Meanwhile, Professor Prescott, the same guy that brought then Captain Jack Romanoff to the *Hunter*, was working on a new weapon and he needed Vice Admiral Harris to see his work. She was busy planning for the *Hunter* and other ships in their small fleet to go to New Paris for their next challenge. Still, she made time to go see the Professor since he usually had some very useful ideas. This time was no exception. He had developed a method to send a missile through hyperspace loaded with an anti-matter warhead. This missile could be fired from hundreds of thousand kilometers away and would be virtually undetectable until it dropped back into normal space right in front of its target! Needless to say, this would be a very deadly weapon and Admiral Romanoff would want a lot of them. So, she delayed their departure for another day which gave Jack and Sara more time to enjoy their honeymoon.
Everything seems to be going in their favor. They arrive at New Paris and are surveying the system to see where their biggest threats lie. Lisa uses her stealth spy ship to approach a communications satellite which she boards and prepares to download all of its information. Tina Chen has taken the spy ship away so as not to be detected, when Lisa is suddenly captured by not the Tardans, but by Navy personnel of the Kingdom of Kastelara! They apparently were working with the Tardans in the New Paris system. So, what are they going to do with Lisa, how is she going to escape and how much more trouble will the Tardans be with their allies in several Kingdom ships? Answers will be forthcoming so read quickly.
Of course, Admiral Romanoff has lots more work to do than just capture New Paris. He now knows that the Tardans are headed for Earth and might be there quicker than he’d like. How will he stop them if the information he received from his Intel people lets him know that his might be the largest fleet of Tardans and Locusts he and his fleets have ever faced. That story will be told in book 15, “Shell Game” available for pre-order now and in print on 21 July 2024.
In book 14 of the Last Hunter series, the Confederation advances. At the end of book 13, our heroes were trapped on the Confederation side of the boundary with the Cluster, and discovered that there were Locusts already there. The Tardan Military was there also, controlling the Locusts.
Admiral Jack Romanoff took his crew from the Faust system to the New Paris system. He's got to overcome the Tardans, the Locusts, the Posiedon Group, and maybe others. Plus, they might even have to deal with another gate network. The future includes trips to the Dupont system, and then presumably to Earth.
Everyone you liked from the previous books is here, except for the people back in the cluster. And who knows? We might even get some help from there.
Very good continuation of the series. Many parts of the team have active roles. The plot evolves through planning, intelligence gathering, and action. This makes sense even though some might want all action all the time. Admiral Jack Romanoff continues to exhibit all the most desirable traits when each is required: wisdom, strong moral compass, determination, and man of action. The rest of the team continues to learn from him. Lisa, the computer expert and budding spy extraordinaire, admires Jack like all the rest, but often takes the risky path. This often is essential to the success of Jack and the hammer that is represented by the battleships. Looking forward to the next book in the series!
After 14 books, there is only so much that can be done and most of them already have been, so the surprises become less so and the narrative more predictable Lisa's surprise? No not really, it's been telegraphed for a few books and it eventually happened The Kingdom getting involved, nope too obvious The saving grace of the whole series, are the characters, they really are very good. The bridge crew are well thought out and the intelligence team brilliantly entertaining. The professor is a book in himself I'm hoping it doesn't go the way a lot of series do when they get in to high numbers of books, just trying to find the next issue to overcome
The story is intriguing and I keep reading in spite of the clumsy and often redundant exposition. I wonder if the authors are being paid by the word. A good editor of this series could cut it down by nearly half just by eliminating unnecessary and uninteresting details. For example, Who cares why or even what they are eating? So many irrelevant details that don't move the story along gets to be annoying and you learn that you miss nothing by doing some skimming and yet I remain invested in the narrative. You also have to roll with all of the fortuitous coincidences and discoveries that lead to success of the protagonists.
This is another great entry in the Hunter saga. Stung in a region of the Confederation and cut off from the rest of his help Jack and Hunter must make a plan to take out the Tardens and the Poseidon group with just the Hunter. Plus there is the Kingdom ship that are there. Why and what are they doing there.
Thus was a much anticipated book. I have really enjoyed this series. This was an excellent installment in the series. Looking forward to the next book. Can't wait to see how things turn out.
Really? The end of July?! You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. What am I supposed to do until then? I'm old. I barely remember all the nuances day to day. By the time the next book comes out, I'll be lucky if I remember anyone or anything from the story.
The war against the invaders wages on. Again a new twist is added. How can human space be so popular? Our heroes continue fighting. Developing new weapons and techniques to stay ahead of overwhelming odds.
Yes the tension is getting intense Can't wait until book 15. As always the amount of detail almost makes one feel like you are standing right in the middle of it all
This was a quite good instalment in the series. This series has been a little bit uneven but has managed to stay between three and four stars for the duration of the series.
I’m not sure I can say much more than I have already said in previous books. This one is the continuation of the story and has pretty much the same good things in it as previous books had.
Now Jack & Co is on the offensive which is a really good thing for me. The authors really dragged out the on the run, underdog and the mighty battleship needs repairs shite for way too long in earlier books.
This also means that there is a higher percentage of action, especially fleet action, in this book which is really good as far as I am concerned.
There is one thing I did not like at all though. One of the characters that I really liked started spewing shit like “It’s okay to steal from the rich…”.
The rest of the series has not really had much wokeness and certainly not such communist drivel in it so I’m hoping it is just a lapse of judgement.
Guess we will se when I read the next installment.
The storyline is engaging. This story is coming along at a decent pace. Every now and then it seems to get a little sluggish. But all in all easy to read.
The final confrontation between all of the various factions start to take shape. I'm still enjoying the series and hope to see how it all shakes out. Lots of intrigue, counter moves, and space battles. Still, I think we could see a resolution to the Poseidon Group. I am iffy about the "human feudal empire" outside of Earth space and think they're not as as good a set of villains.
The Confederation Battleship crews are working diligently against the threat from three sides that seem to be expanding despite their defeating huge numbers of Locusts with their Tardan controllers with a growing number of ships from the Kingdom showing up to concern them regarding the threat posed by their potentially deciding to attempt a conquest of their own.