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Orion Spur #2
Scourge of the Scyllans
The winds of Fortune continue to try to drive Archer Devereaux onto the rocks of fate.
Enemies abroad and incompetent leadership at home combine to make his life dangerously difficult. Luckily, when he’s able to put his hand on the tiller, he somehow manages to steer clear of total disaster.
Having demonstrated a knack for achieving results no matter how long the odds, the navy calls on Archer for its most dangerous assignments as the war heats up. Even "tame" assignments turn deadly, as Archer's presence at diplomatic functions seems to guarantee disaster.
His resilience and ability to overcome adversity are called upon repeatedly. He and his crew wreak havoc in enemy shipping lanes. Yet, despite his talent and ingenuity, he finds himself boxed in. The only way out is to take a gamble that, if they survive, it will expand the limit of scientific knowledge. And even if they manage to get through that, who knows what sort of trouble waits on the other side?
The war has heated up. One man seems to be dragged into the center of the whirlwind time and again. It's a good thing for the Phlegraean Alliance that this man is Archer Devereaux.
Book 2 in this new military sci-fi thrill ride from #1 Amazon bestselling author John J. Spearman. It's perfect for fans of Rick Partlow, David Weber, and Jeffery H. Haskell!
Enemies abroad and incompetent leadership at home combine to make his life dangerously difficult. Luckily, when he’s able to put his hand on the tiller, he somehow manages to steer clear of total disaster.
Having demonstrated a knack for achieving results no matter how long the odds, the navy calls on Archer for its most dangerous assignments as the war heats up. Even "tame" assignments turn deadly, as Archer's presence at diplomatic functions seems to guarantee disaster.
His resilience and ability to overcome adversity are called upon repeatedly. He and his crew wreak havoc in enemy shipping lanes. Yet, despite his talent and ingenuity, he finds himself boxed in. The only way out is to take a gamble that, if they survive, it will expand the limit of scientific knowledge. And even if they manage to get through that, who knows what sort of trouble waits on the other side?
The war has heated up. One man seems to be dragged into the center of the whirlwind time and again. It's a good thing for the Phlegraean Alliance that this man is Archer Devereaux.
Book 2 in this new military sci-fi thrill ride from #1 Amazon bestselling author John J. Spearman. It's perfect for fans of Rick Partlow, David Weber, and Jeffery H. Haskell!
- GenresScience Fiction
344 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 19, 2025
490 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
John Spearman
48 books45 followersJohn Spearman is an award-winning author. In the past, he served a Latin teacher and coach at a prestigious New England boarding school. Before joining the world of academia, Spearman had been a sales and marketing executive for 25 years.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 19, 2026
this series goodreads rating is a joke.
The even sadder thing about this is that this series had the potential to be so good. the plot points/ideas themselves are very interesting. where this book fails is that the author doesn't flesh out anything and goes into almost no detail about literally everything. the MC is a hunk of a guy who has almost every supporting female character falling all over him.
this book/series is a travesty and an insult to the entire genre.
if it wasn't free on Kindle, I would never have made it past the first book. I've never hate read a series before, it looks like this is my first
The even sadder thing about this is that this series had the potential to be so good. the plot points/ideas themselves are very interesting. where this book fails is that the author doesn't flesh out anything and goes into almost no detail about literally everything. the MC is a hunk of a guy who has almost every supporting female character falling all over him.
this book/series is a travesty and an insult to the entire genre.
if it wasn't free on Kindle, I would never have made it past the first book. I've never hate read a series before, it looks like this is my first
September 7, 2025
Space Navy Stories
When I was growing up, back in the.1960s, I used to love the novels of the Horatio Hornblower saga. They felt so authentic. The Orion Spur novels by John Spear man have the same degree of detail and the same feeling of authenticity. Space navies, instead of the Atlantic Ocean.
When I was growing up, back in the.1960s, I used to love the novels of the Horatio Hornblower saga. They felt so authentic. The Orion Spur novels by John Spear man have the same degree of detail and the same feeling of authenticity. Space navies, instead of the Atlantic Ocean.
August 26, 2025
Quite enthralling!!
It kept my interest from start to finish. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series in October.
It kept my interest from start to finish. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series in October.
August 25, 2025
The second picaresque style with high death count (mis) adventures of Archer Deveraux, commander in the Phlegraean Navy, one of the five main human powers of the Orion Spur; after the turning of the alliances from the first book and the Scyllan decapitation attack, of which Archer is one of only two survivors due to his quick wits - the new alliance has to strike back and who better to send on a super dangerous raid behind enemy lines, than their one and only one bloodied ship commander, nicknamed Scourge by Joanna Halverson his occasional girlfriend and rival captain from the Union Navy (the other survivor of the attack as she followed Archer mad suggestion to bury herself deep in the mud and evade the sensors of the attacking commandos)
Energetic and readable but a bit too much the same - there was some cool new stuff that ultimately kept my interest but the style of the first novel gets repeated a bit too much - still in for the new book in the fall and hopefully the universe of the series (and the cool stuff in this one) will get explored more, while the escape from impossible situations (though at quite a cost in lives of his crew) stuff appears much less
Energetic and readable but a bit too much the same - there was some cool new stuff that ultimately kept my interest but the style of the first novel gets repeated a bit too much - still in for the new book in the fall and hopefully the universe of the series (and the cool stuff in this one) will get explored more, while the escape from impossible situations (though at quite a cost in lives of his crew) stuff appears much less
August 19, 2025
Unfulfilled potential
It's not a bad plot if overused.
I forced my way through the first book in the series, But if you write a military type space opera, you should have some semblance of military discipline.
That's almost completely lacking in this storyline.
A hacked together Militia would have more discipline. It totally threw me off.
With just a little bit more effort in that area, this would have been a great book.
Maybe it was meant for a YA audience who wouldn't know better?
It's not a bad plot if overused.
I forced my way through the first book in the series, But if you write a military type space opera, you should have some semblance of military discipline.
That's almost completely lacking in this storyline.
A hacked together Militia would have more discipline. It totally threw me off.
With just a little bit more effort in that area, this would have been a great book.
Maybe it was meant for a YA audience who wouldn't know better?
August 31, 2025
Excellent
And even though at times it was a little booring, and the amount of death and destruction was huge... I'll be continuing with the next book. What I appreciate about how this author presents all the death and destruction is that he leaves the blood and guts out. Still, it stuns me to think that all the destruction can be absorbed and paid for by the civilizations. Oh well, it's just a book... 🙂
And even though at times it was a little booring, and the amount of death and destruction was huge... I'll be continuing with the next book. What I appreciate about how this author presents all the death and destruction is that he leaves the blood and guts out. Still, it stuns me to think that all the destruction can be absorbed and paid for by the civilizations. Oh well, it's just a book... 🙂
November 10, 2025
brilliant book
Never have I been so captivated since I discovered Asimov in my 20’s.
Absolutely loved all aspects of this book and the leading character, who is so endearing. From my own lifetimes experience, the situations described of a navy at war are so very real, so well done.
Cannot wait for the following editions of this adventure.
Never have I been so captivated since I discovered Asimov in my 20’s.
Absolutely loved all aspects of this book and the leading character, who is so endearing. From my own lifetimes experience, the situations described of a navy at war are so very real, so well done.
Cannot wait for the following editions of this adventure.
January 10, 2026
Like hugs. Good every time.
This series gets better with every new book. Action,surprises,unique relationships and more twists than a licorice stick! A Must read for true Sci-fi nuts.
This series gets better with every new book. Action,surprises,unique relationships and more twists than a licorice stick! A Must read for true Sci-fi nuts.
October 3, 2025
A good SF military tale
Same issues. Typos. And confused piloting of a Star ship.
Still interesting story, world building and character.
Enjoy the story
Same issues. Typos. And confused piloting of a Star ship.
Still interesting story, world building and character.
Enjoy the story
January 26, 2026
Oh He'll Now Where
I have found that our author is a great man for disguising situations he shows many aspects of what can happen but he lets the character decide
I have found that our author is a great man for disguising situations he shows many aspects of what can happen but he lets the character decide
February 24, 2026
Another enjoyable book
Once again john has produced another very enjoyable read ,plenty of great characters and plot to keep us glued to it
Once again john has produced another very enjoyable read ,plenty of great characters and plot to keep us glued to it
April 2, 2026
Recommended
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews