Battle Lines

The Federation Reborn #1

by Chris Hechtl

Fleet Admiral John Henry Irons mission to the secret Lemnos facility that changed his life was what some would call, a success. But he returned changed, he had lost one of his AI to rampancy after fighting an Xeno AI Wraith, and his greatest AI, his confidant Commander Sprite had chosen to leave him. He didn't return to civilization alone however. He brought with him over a hundred precious sleepers, officers and enlisted personnel ready to help rebuild the Federation once more, along with petabytes of precious blueprints and data, designed by some of the greatest minds of the Federation. But before they can begin to forge a new fleet they have to stop the rampaging Horathian Empire in it's tracks. Rear Admiral Amadeus White has been assigned to push the enemy back and keep them back while Admiral Irons and Subert work on building new ships. Admiral Subert has his own problems to deal with in Pyrax. He needs time, time to adjust, time to clean up the mess. Time to build more ships. But the enemy within and without won't wait. Napoleon said it best, "You can ask me for anything but not time!" The Battle Lines have been drawn!

Genres: Science Fiction

376 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 11, 2015

Reviews

[Robert masso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Need a better clue to sides.

A good story, but I found the sides a bit confusing. Both most character names and ship names are both from Euro-centric Earth, and there are so many main characters that when you start a new chapter you're confused, is the current defender the Federation and the attacker the Empire, or the reverse?

I wish the author had chapter headings to indicate which side is in play to start, and the ship names included the national prefix when they're mentioned, personally I sometimes had to stop and figure out which side was which. Breaks the reading flow. So I had to only give it three stars I'm afraid. If you can juggle half a hundred simulate sounding character and ship names easily in your head, your mileage may vary.

[Stefanos Kouzof · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice battles, but too much character interludes. 90% of the series is talking among characters adding nothing to the plot but much to the number of pages. Probably a collateral damage from watching too much TV series..
Space action is nice, but so little. Just hop to the 75% of the book and read from there. And the writer falls for the cheap trick of inconsistency: other times one party has ships with great shields and endures, the other the same party with the same (or better ) ships crumbles to dust with a few hits. Tsk tsk. You are warned.

[caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grammatical errors abound

Please please please stop making the same grammar mistakes every book. Hire a proofreader!! "Losing" is not "loosing" and "scarred" is not "scared". These are just two examples that are driving me crazy. Story is decent.

[x x x · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short with large emphasis on logistical efforts

Good fast read although I wished for a longer action sequence especially the marine effort & the other systems complexities