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Monster Girls In Space #4
Defiant Foes
Promoted early, Desmond McLaughlin and his mates are now full members of the Hegemony military, with all the rights and duties that rank includes.
Given the benefits of achieving the rank of full adept early, Desmond and company elected to be deployed aboard the battlecruiser Fist of Defiance, a ship that just happened to be part of the Seventh Border Fleet. The same fleet headed by a certain admiral whose daughter was saved by Desmond and his girls.
Now, though, away from the oversight of the academy ships, the reality of his place in the greater galaxy is even closer to home. With his girls at his back, Desmond must do his best to show his capability not only as an adept but also as the clan-male to the newly formed Clan McLaughlin.
Things are never as simple as they seem though, and events march ever forward throughout the greater galaxy. While Desmond’s team might be something special, they are only a very small piece on the very large board of Hegemony of Velvet Stars.
What fresh trouble will Desmond uncover? What new foes will rise up to face Clan McLaughlin? And will Desmond and his family be ready to face them?
*** Monster Girls In Space is a Sci-Fi, fantasy, semi-military, men’s romance, progression fantasy about a man becoming a space-wizard amongst a universe full of monster girls (it’s in the title, you should have expected that part). Expect adventure, mischief, magic, fighting, and unconventional relationships in a galaxy that is curious what sort of mischief Humanity will get up to.
Given the benefits of achieving the rank of full adept early, Desmond and company elected to be deployed aboard the battlecruiser Fist of Defiance, a ship that just happened to be part of the Seventh Border Fleet. The same fleet headed by a certain admiral whose daughter was saved by Desmond and his girls.
Now, though, away from the oversight of the academy ships, the reality of his place in the greater galaxy is even closer to home. With his girls at his back, Desmond must do his best to show his capability not only as an adept but also as the clan-male to the newly formed Clan McLaughlin.
Things are never as simple as they seem though, and events march ever forward throughout the greater galaxy. While Desmond’s team might be something special, they are only a very small piece on the very large board of Hegemony of Velvet Stars.
What fresh trouble will Desmond uncover? What new foes will rise up to face Clan McLaughlin? And will Desmond and his family be ready to face them?
*** Monster Girls In Space is a Sci-Fi, fantasy, semi-military, men’s romance, progression fantasy about a man becoming a space-wizard amongst a universe full of monster girls (it’s in the title, you should have expected that part). Expect adventure, mischief, magic, fighting, and unconventional relationships in a galaxy that is curious what sort of mischief Humanity will get up to.
449 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 19, 2024
144 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
November 25, 2024
Interesting plot, needs an editor
Defiant Foes is the fourth book in this series (there’ll be at least one more, given that it ends with a cliffhanger); a mix of science fiction with mystery and harem fantasy, the series follows the adventures and misadventures of Desmond, a young American drafted into a galactic-level military when Earth is first contacted by an alien civilization. As such, he’s trained as an adept, a mana-using magician, and has four women of varying species as his bodyguards and lovers. While the women are certainly different from humans, none is at all monstrous.
While the plot is interesting, particularly the clearing of “rifts”, the author would benefit from a good editor. The problem isn’t typos (as is often the case with indie writers) but rather grammar and syntax. The book, and its three predecessors, is rife with sentence fragments and run on sentences. The errors are jarring each time, so that if it wasn’t an interesting story I would have given up halfway through the first book.
As the next volume isn’t due out for a number of months, I strongly recommend that Mr. Tress pay a local college English major to do a run through to catch the errors. [College students are always poor, and English majors are particularly desperate…]
Defiant Foes is the fourth book in this series (there’ll be at least one more, given that it ends with a cliffhanger); a mix of science fiction with mystery and harem fantasy, the series follows the adventures and misadventures of Desmond, a young American drafted into a galactic-level military when Earth is first contacted by an alien civilization. As such, he’s trained as an adept, a mana-using magician, and has four women of varying species as his bodyguards and lovers. While the women are certainly different from humans, none is at all monstrous.
While the plot is interesting, particularly the clearing of “rifts”, the author would benefit from a good editor. The problem isn’t typos (as is often the case with indie writers) but rather grammar and syntax. The book, and its three predecessors, is rife with sentence fragments and run on sentences. The errors are jarring each time, so that if it wasn’t an interesting story I would have given up halfway through the first book.
As the next volume isn’t due out for a number of months, I strongly recommend that Mr. Tress pay a local college English major to do a run through to catch the errors. [College students are always poor, and English majors are particularly desperate…]
January 12, 2025
A perfectly serviceable sequel. Recommended if you want more of the same.
March 6, 2025
Author phoned it in
This is nowhere near as good as the previous books in the series. There were a lot of errors as well... such as continuity and such.
This is nowhere near as good as the previous books in the series. There were a lot of errors as well... such as continuity and such.
March 15, 2025
Good but the weakest so far. With every new idea to progress the story is either a semi forced pop-culture reference or wondering how earth (Terra sol 3) will handle things. Very little plot has moved forward in this book too. I understand on one hand as it's a new permanent setting (from school to first posting) but this felt phoned in. The author was more focused on pushing pop-culture like a cheap web series. The author is rapidly needing an editor, he is not planning fully out what will happen and it shows. Some things make sense but others feel like he is trying to plan as he was typing.
By the time something interesting happens with the plot it's the last hour of the book. The author tried to do a sudden cliffhanger but it felt so forced and weak. Like he could hear the stinging music for a characters delivery (example, "he's been murdered!" loud music score sudden cut to black screen then credits).
He needs to really have a strong plot set up in book five or people will start leaving. Set up space magic and monster girls across the galaxy but focus on earth pop culture and d&d, yea that will keep the people coming back for more.....
I'm not reading this book to be reminded of my own government and their corrupt practices either.
By the time something interesting happens with the plot it's the last hour of the book. The author tried to do a sudden cliffhanger but it felt so forced and weak. Like he could hear the stinging music for a characters delivery (example, "he's been murdered!" loud music score sudden cut to black screen then credits).
He needs to really have a strong plot set up in book five or people will start leaving. Set up space magic and monster girls across the galaxy but focus on earth pop culture and d&d, yea that will keep the people coming back for more.....
I'm not reading this book to be reminded of my own government and their corrupt practices either.
December 30, 2024
Great series, but this volume doesn’t advance the plot.
November 29, 2024
With out hero having graduated from the academy at the end of book 3 this story was always going to head out to into space in a battle cruiser as that crew's newest adept. We knew his team of four fun loving and caring women who were a solid battle team and at the same time a wonderful mismatched family.
That is what we've seen through 3 books. It set a really high bar and expectation for me.
And I'll admit that the expectation I had is what makes me only give this 4 stars now. The story here only covers a couple of extremely limited delves of rifts and one main investigation. Its a great story, but after the depth of story in the first 3 books, this one felt short. I ended up wanting far more than we received.
Its a good thing to feel at the end, but at the same time I have to admit to minor disappointment due to the short length or at least the feeling that the story was short this time.
Don't take this as too negative. I really do like M. Tress' work. I just wanted more.
That is what we've seen through 3 books. It set a really high bar and expectation for me.
And I'll admit that the expectation I had is what makes me only give this 4 stars now. The story here only covers a couple of extremely limited delves of rifts and one main investigation. Its a great story, but after the depth of story in the first 3 books, this one felt short. I ended up wanting far more than we received.
Its a good thing to feel at the end, but at the same time I have to admit to minor disappointment due to the short length or at least the feeling that the story was short this time.
Don't take this as too negative. I really do like M. Tress' work. I just wanted more.
November 20, 2024
Love this series
I'm usually more of a fantasy then a scifi type of reader but lol monster girls always quip my interest so I decided to give this series a shot. So far I have loved every bit of it. The MC is great although I have to say it don't get the reason behind making him so short. I mean I get not making him the typical alpha 6'4 blonde haired blue eyed narcissistic asshat but why go for below average? Anyway sorry for the side track. Just my only pet peeve with the story. I love that the women are all strong characters with a real purpose and not just fluff. I love the story itself. I just started reading the series after book three came out and I have already read it through twice and listened to the audible for book one and am anxiously awaiting both more audible releases and hopefully a very fast release of book five.
Bottom line is i can't recommend this series enough. Hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did.
I'm usually more of a fantasy then a scifi type of reader but lol monster girls always quip my interest so I decided to give this series a shot. So far I have loved every bit of it. The MC is great although I have to say it don't get the reason behind making him so short. I mean I get not making him the typical alpha 6'4 blonde haired blue eyed narcissistic asshat but why go for below average? Anyway sorry for the side track. Just my only pet peeve with the story. I love that the women are all strong characters with a real purpose and not just fluff. I love the story itself. I just started reading the series after book three came out and I have already read it through twice and listened to the audible for book one and am anxiously awaiting both more audible releases and hopefully a very fast release of book five.
Bottom line is i can't recommend this series enough. Hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did.
November 25, 2024
The plot thickens in this excellent series!
The MC is starting to find evidence that things are not what they should be when it comes to some of the Rifts his team is dispatched to shut down. Evidence that implies that someone may be helping these Rifts along.
To go along with that, he and his squad are now on their new ship. This of course causes them to have to deal with at least one group of people that want to be racist/sexist about him or his squad. Jerks are going to jerk, etc.
No new members to the harem are added, though the groundwork is being set up for one. I am not that interested in the person the groundwork is being set up for, but that's less about personality and more about her physical description that doesn't appeal to me.
I'm really looking forward to book 5.
The MC is starting to find evidence that things are not what they should be when it comes to some of the Rifts his team is dispatched to shut down. Evidence that implies that someone may be helping these Rifts along.
To go along with that, he and his squad are now on their new ship. This of course causes them to have to deal with at least one group of people that want to be racist/sexist about him or his squad. Jerks are going to jerk, etc.
No new members to the harem are added, though the groundwork is being set up for one. I am not that interested in the person the groundwork is being set up for, but that's less about personality and more about her physical description that doesn't appeal to me.
I'm really looking forward to book 5.
November 19, 2024
Another Grand Slam!
M. Tress pulls off another great book. A start of a new story arc for Des and his ladies. With more character and world building with more in-depth lore for some of the galaxies species. This book has great slice of life moments with action pack rifts and normal Des shenanigans mixed it. This book does a great job of keeping you entertained and reading all while setting up the story for the next come of books to come. Absolutely cannot wait patiently for book 5! Highly recommend!
M. Tress pulls off another great book. A start of a new story arc for Des and his ladies. With more character and world building with more in-depth lore for some of the galaxies species. This book has great slice of life moments with action pack rifts and normal Des shenanigans mixed it. This book does a great job of keeping you entertained and reading all while setting up the story for the next come of books to come. Absolutely cannot wait patiently for book 5! Highly recommend!
August 16, 2025
The struggles this time stem from the opposition Desmond faces as a pioneer of masculinism. He is out there trying to prove to the ladies of the galaxy that he can do more than stay barefoot in the kitchen. He's setting an example for all the little boys to aim higher in life. Well, at least it was something like that.
Seriously anyway, how can you have all this magic power and be unable to stop one muggle from running away from you. Also, this conspiracy or whatever staying unexplained is not making it more intriguing. Can we get some demands or something?
Seriously anyway, how can you have all this magic power and be unable to stop one muggle from running away from you. Also, this conspiracy or whatever staying unexplained is not making it more intriguing. Can we get some demands or something?
November 20, 2024
Worth the wait!
I’m always concerned that sequels are not going to live up to their predecessors. Not so with book four here. Des and company take a big step into life as a full fledged Adept and guard and do so with gusto. This book has less Rift suppression and more world building now that they’re out in the wider universe. Throughly enjoyed this one and can’t wait for the next installment!
I’m always concerned that sequels are not going to live up to their predecessors. Not so with book four here. Des and company take a big step into life as a full fledged Adept and guard and do so with gusto. This book has less Rift suppression and more world building now that they’re out in the wider universe. Throughly enjoyed this one and can’t wait for the next installment!
November 22, 2024
And the plots thicken.
This has been a right fun ride from the beginning. M. Tress has roped in a fine group of characters with an intriguing story. I find myself unable to put it down until the end. The interplay of science, politics, slice of life are so well woven together. I find myself laughing at the characters antics, the MC's trend to use movies and their quotes is enjoyable. Lead us on M. Tress I await the next episode of this space opera.
This has been a right fun ride from the beginning. M. Tress has roped in a fine group of characters with an intriguing story. I find myself unable to put it down until the end. The interplay of science, politics, slice of life are so well woven together. I find myself laughing at the characters antics, the MC's trend to use movies and their quotes is enjoyable. Lead us on M. Tress I await the next episode of this space opera.
February 9, 2025
Cliffhanger!
Alternate universe, magic, LitRPG light, aliens, SF high technology, harem adult situations
Desmond solidifies his relationships with his guards, and chooses to remain where the action is. Saying much more leads to spoilers. Engaging. Excellent editing. Sadly, have to wait until the next book in the series is released. Rich environment, so plenty of additional adventures are possible. Hint, hint.
Alternate universe, magic, LitRPG light, aliens, SF high technology, harem adult situations
Desmond solidifies his relationships with his guards, and chooses to remain where the action is. Saying much more leads to spoilers. Engaging. Excellent editing. Sadly, have to wait until the next book in the series is released. Rich environment, so plenty of additional adventures are possible. Hint, hint.
November 20, 2024
im hooked
This book was another treat by the author, it’s rare that I’m heavily invested in each page of a book, even during the “down time” parts where the characters are doing just regular normal stuff. Genuinely one of my favorite series in the genre of sci fi and harem both. Definitely my number one favorite for sci fi for sure
This book was another treat by the author, it’s rare that I’m heavily invested in each page of a book, even during the “down time” parts where the characters are doing just regular normal stuff. Genuinely one of my favorite series in the genre of sci fi and harem both. Definitely my number one favorite for sci fi for sure
November 21, 2024
Glad to see this series continue. Des and his clan start their first deployment. Some rifts are suppressed with some more hints at people doing experiments in them. Some inter-personal strife on ship - this time note from Taari. The book does end on a note just begging for another entry. Not a huge cliffhanger. More like a little ledge.
December 2, 2024
More please
Just getting really good and the book ends. but then again, that's what we expect out of a good series. Hopefully, the next book won't be much of a wait as the plot is sticking in. Really can't say much more about this book. Except moving on out into the big world and big problems. Looking forward to the next book soonest
Just getting really good and the book ends. but then again, that's what we expect out of a good series. Hopefully, the next book won't be much of a wait as the plot is sticking in. Really can't say much more about this book. Except moving on out into the big world and big problems. Looking forward to the next book soonest
December 4, 2024
Bless, Monika is no longer in the story. Found that character so annoying... Not much "meat" to this entry of the series. Little development happens, either plot-wise or character-wise. Desmond doesn't gain any new capabilities, there is zero relationship development, and not much development in the overall plot of the series. Still enjoyed it though, but... yeah.
December 6, 2024
Quite a bit shorter than previous books and worse for it. This one feels incomplete. Writing is still good and crisp, but the author seems to be beginning to fall into the same annoying habit that Schinhofen has where the protagonist and love interests spend page upon page spewing "affirming" drivel at each other all the time. I'll read the next book but might quit if this issue gets any worse.
January 18, 2025
So good I had to finish it in one day...
So the first book was slow at first and picked up, from there each book started with a bang. Finished all 4 books in a week, even while working a 60 hour week... I could not put this series down.
I am excited about the next book. I ran across this series by accident and so glad I did...
So the first book was slow at first and picked up, from there each book started with a bang. Finished all 4 books in a week, even while working a 60 hour week... I could not put this series down.
I am excited about the next book. I ran across this series by accident and so glad I did...
February 7, 2025
What a set of novels
I very rarely give reviews of novels but this series. A well worth read from the very first novel, it was like a future James Bond. Yes there is sex but action, fun and deadly gadgets . The hero has to deal with bigotry as well as other stuff.
I'm not saying to much so not to give away too much of the story.
I very rarely give reviews of novels but this series. A well worth read from the very first novel, it was like a future James Bond. Yes there is sex but action, fun and deadly gadgets . The hero has to deal with bigotry as well as other stuff.
I'm not saying to much so not to give away too much of the story.
March 21, 2025
couldn’t put it down it was amazing!
I couldn’t put it down it was amazing as all the rest I hated the cliff hanger because well I want to know what happens and it is frustrating to wait! Whoever said good things come to those who wait obviously is not an avid book reader!!! Can’t wait for the next book!!!
I couldn’t put it down it was amazing as all the rest I hated the cliff hanger because well I want to know what happens and it is frustrating to wait! Whoever said good things come to those who wait obviously is not an avid book reader!!! Can’t wait for the next book!!!
November 21, 2024
the cover looks sloppy
Earth madness and pop culture for money has are young hero begins incorporating primitive human ideas into weapons only time will tell if Earth Gov try’s to sue him.
Earth madness and pop culture for money has are young hero begins incorporating primitive human ideas into weapons only time will tell if Earth Gov try’s to sue him.
November 21, 2024
Hell yes, MORE
I've been hankering for this book since I finished the previous one on it's release day. This series has characters that aren't ridiculous, powerful without been overpowered.
Now I just have to wait for next one, impatiently, as it's that damn good.
I've been hankering for this book since I finished the previous one on it's release day. This series has characters that aren't ridiculous, powerful without been overpowered.
Now I just have to wait for next one, impatiently, as it's that damn good.
November 28, 2024
Can't wait for the next one!
What a cliffhanger, what a way to end it with anything be Ling cheapened! Can't wait to see where Des"s voyage brings him next! All hail Clan McLaughlin!
What a cliffhanger, what a way to end it with anything be Ling cheapened! Can't wait to see where Des"s voyage brings him next! All hail Clan McLaughlin!
December 10, 2024
Des finds a conspiracy
Des having completed his training and graduates to full Adept status. Only to have trouble continue to find him including a conspiracy that could endanger the Hegemony.
Des having completed his training and graduates to full Adept status. Only to have trouble continue to find him including a conspiracy that could endanger the Hegemony.
December 24, 2024
I can’t get enough of this series.
I can’t get enough of this series. It’s so fun and well written. I love the characters and the story and the romance aspects. One of the best in this genre. Too bad I need to wait 4 months until the next one.
I can’t get enough of this series. It’s so fun and well written. I love the characters and the story and the romance aspects. One of the best in this genre. Too bad I need to wait 4 months until the next one.
January 23, 2025
Another good book in the series
This book continues the story of the Adept Desmond and his Adept Guards as they proceed with their military service. Pacing was good, several action sequences, all in all a very good read.
This book continues the story of the Adept Desmond and his Adept Guards as they proceed with their military service. Pacing was good, several action sequences, all in all a very good read.
April 5, 2025
I an absolute joy to read!!!
The author has created an absolute must read series with wonderful characters!!! Both this to cheer for and those to curse !!!! I can't wait to see what's they take this universe they have created!!!!
The author has created an absolute must read series with wonderful characters!!! Both this to cheer for and those to curse !!!! I can't wait to see what's they take this universe they have created!!!!
November 20, 2024
Very good book
This is a fine sci-fi harem adventure novel. It is well written and edited. I especially like Chloe. I anxiously await the sequel.
This is a fine sci-fi harem adventure novel. It is well written and edited. I especially like Chloe. I anxiously await the sequel.
November 21, 2024
Great book
Great book I can't wait to read the next book in the series I would recommend this author to anyone
Great book I can't wait to read the next book in the series I would recommend this author to anyone
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews