Lt. Commander Heskan and Komandor Lombardi have only one thing in common - the will to survive.
Bitter rivals for over a century, the Brevic Republic and the Hollaran Commonwealth are at war. Cultures that shared a common Terran ancestry have been isolated for decades. Now, Heskan's escort ships must protect Lombardi's heavy cruisers as they are forced to run together into unexplored space from a devastating threat. Each commander faces dissension in the ranks, even as they try to unite their fleets and find some way to escape the fate of so many of their fallen comrades. For the duration of the tenuous truce, there is a singular objective... make it home.
Yet there can be only one destination at the end of their journey, and only half of the fleet will be safe, if they reach the Republic or Commonwealth at all. If the warring governments cannot be trusted to secure safe passage of the allied crews, how can the two commanders trust each other?
This is Book 3 in the This Corner of the Universe series, continuing the story of the original crew of BRS Anelace and her captain.
Britt Ringel has been a windsurfing instructor, Air Force captain, attorney, and teacher, but his passion is building galaxies and the characters who inhabit them. When not writing, or reading, he enjoys military documentaries, building model ships, and spoiling his golden retriever, Jengo.
I was wondering if we'd ever find out about what happened with Heskan's first command and in this instalment's prologue, we do. This makes so much sense now and definitely is the driving factor of him doing the right thing now.
This instalment felt a bit like Remeber the Titans movie where they're learning to get along together, rather wholesome!
Far better than the second book, I would say, with more focus on the character’s feelings, though retaining the focus on technical realism. Heskan, Vernay, Lombardi, Brown, Selvaggio, Truesworth... We get attached to all of them.
What an interesting twist! I won't go into more detail to prevent spoilers. All the characters in this installment develop with a great deal of color and depth. The universe Ringel has created also takes on a very interesting shape (both physically and metaphorically). I am eagerly awaiting the next installment.
The writing style displayed here has developed along with the characters; it is clean and well paced. It also has a good balance between description and action that flow smoothly together. This is a long way from where the series began. I feel that Ringel still has some issues with physics; especially in regards to inertia. I both like and hate how Ringel measures distance in light-seconds (ls), light-minutes (lm), and light-hours (lh). Across a vast stellar space, seeing things minutes or hours after they have already happened can make choices of action very difficult especially in a military scenario. At closer (more actionable) distances, however, using these unfamiliar units created more confusion then they eliminated. I think using the metric Giga-meters (Gm) or Terra-meters (Tm) or even the old standby Astronomical Unit (AU) would have kept things more clear. 4lm = ~72Gm = ~1/2AU
OK... This book was not what i expected, i was expecting the hero to rank up and save the universe using his out of the box tactics that he has displayed in the other 2 books, that's not the case in this book, i think this was more of a Turning point for the story that will open a path to at least 2 more books. I REALLY liked the book, but the final chapters trow me off, i might change the rating to 4 stars later but right now i give it a solid 3 stars
3.6 stars. Another excellent volume in the series. The action is fast pace but does not prevent some excellent character development. The book takes an interesting turn which makes me look forward to starting the next book.
I am sorry to say that after trying this series of books I have found my interest dwindling due to certain factors. The story direction, the protagonists, both domestic and foreign. And the need for second by second blow by blow accounts of the combats between ships.