Stellar Fox

Castle Federation #2

by Glynn Stewart

LEGENDARY … AND UNTESTED

Captain Kyle Roberts delivered one of the Castle Federation’s few victories in the early days of the war. Even losing his ship in the process didn’t prevent him being elevated as the hero – the “Stellar Fox” – his country desperately needed.

His status with the public demands a worthy command, and he finds himself on the bridge of the Federation’s latest supercarrier and headed to the front lines of the war.

But the Navy sees his promotion as a public relations stunt. His subordinates and superiors alike question his lack of experience – and enemies at the highest level of his own government manoeuvre to destroy him.

As the war heats up around him, the Commonwealth may not be the greatest threat to Kyle Roberts or Avalon.

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Military Fiction, Audiobook, Military Science Fiction, Fiction, Action

338 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 20, 2015

About the author

Glynn Stewart is the author of over 60 books, including Starship’s Mage, a bestselling science fiction and fantasy series where faster-than-light travel is possible–but only because of magic.

Writing managed to liberate Glynn from a bleak future as an accountant. With his personality and hope for a high-tech future intact, he lives in Southern Ontario with his partner, their cats, and an unstoppable writing habit.

Reviews

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

And the story continues. With a rather satisfying opening we move back into the life Captain Kyle Roberts....THE STELLAR FOX!. Yep after delivering one of the few victories humanity has had in it's new war he got a nick name.

Then of course he's going to have to deal with the personal baggage we heard so much about in Vol.1.

So, be ready for more daring do on the part of Captain Fox...err...I mean Captain Kyle Roberts and his intrepid crew!

Of course the fact that he's a media celebrity now isn't really a great thing in some ways as his promotion and public notice makes it imperative that he get a new command. AND just any command won't do. No te gets command of the newest biggest Star Carrier in the fleet.

A marvelous opportunity to screw up and ruin his carrier and maybe even give the people who want to get rid of him somewhat completely their excuse.

I never get people who play politics during a war...and in this case a war that can wipe out the species.

Recommended, enjoy.

[Åshild · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one as well, looking forward to the next installment in the series- and to the next Starship's mage book coming out in the spring! I like the writing and pace, and the author somehow creates main characters that I find likeable and interesting to follow.

[Damaged142 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good continuation of the story.

Again, nothing that hasn't already been the topic of 1000 other sci-fi books. But done in a way to make stale topics fresh.

There were still parts that felt clunky, they didn't exactly "flow" neatly. But they are of little consequence.

Glynn has delivered an acceptable novel and I look forward to reading the next.

[Gyula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of action, very similar to the 1st book. Although, this time the crew of Avalon does have a seemingly undefeatable foe, which felt too artificial.
Still a very good book. I had an avg. of 2 weeks/book before. This one lasted 2 days. Tells a lot.

[simon mall gift card customer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't put these books down

[Stephen Levesque · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally enjoyed it! This is a well written and has well developed characters. The story is catching and with the strong characters makes for a very enjoyable read. Great Reading Everyone!

[Renée Gendron]

This is a great sequel that advances both personal character arcs, the war, and the world.

The author expertly weaves together different crew members as they continue with their careers and romantic lives. There's plenty of intrigue on a ship with a mutiny and a spy as well as noble characters.

I enjoyed this book because it's not bogged down in the technical details of how things work, but provides enough high-level context as to how spaceships function. The cast is diverse and each character stands on their own with their own goals, motivations, and conflicts.

Looking forward to the next book.

[Andrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read

Not much to say about this one. It delivers what Glynn Stewart is good at and is a good scratch for a military space opera itch. It's not anything more than that but it doesn't try to be so that's hardly a fault.

[David P. Duffy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly Executed Followup In Castle Federation Series

Book 2, "Stellar Fox" is an unfortunately poorly executed followup in the "Castle Federation" series. The storyline is has some merit: stellar warfare between existing human alliances, federations, coalitions centuries in the future. It's a simplistic "space opera shoot 'em up," with star fleets, political intrigues, and assassinations.

The operative word concerning "Stellar Fox," is simplistic. The eBook author's lack of mature writing talent, inane projected science, obsessive fetishes and one dimensional characters, make the book both juvenile and nearly unreadable.

Every SciFi reader accepts that "leaps of faith" must be made in reading SciFi for entertainment, with regards to known science. Too many "leaps" and an author becomes annoyingly ludicrous. The author is teetering on that ledge. Further, he has an adolescent obsession with sexuality and a fetish for characters' hair. There are straight, bi, gay, lesbians, hermaphrodites and undecided characters, not for plot, storyline purposes or character development, but as shallow description. The hair thing struck me in Book 1 and now is endemic to Book 2. Character after character is described by their hair-length, style, color (writer favors redheads). Perhaps appropriate for a hair fetish convention, but not for this book.

The book is readable with severe caveats. The eBook author should consider honing his lacking writing skill set, before continuing further. The editing/proofreading of the book is below acceptable. The absence of "pride of workmanship" in published commercial eBook products is indicative of author self aggrandizement and failure of quality control by Amazon. Kindle Unlimited is not a free service, all users pay a monthly fee.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, not a bad story, but the grammar would have some of my grade school teachers turning over in their graves no doubt. I listened to the audible version, and I have to assume some of the typos were reading errors, but there's no way for me to be sure of that of course.
In any case, the story was a little weak, but otherwise, a rather enjoyable read. The first 4 chapters spent time describing various pieces of tech, instead of telling a story, and I'd wager that will turn some folks off, but personally, I enjoyed that, but then again, I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to technical things, so
Near the end of the book, there were some battle scenes that didn't make sense in the grand scheme of things, like after they had just finished killing one of the two ships that were attacking them, then taking out the second one with no fan fare whatsoever. Then, the third ship that had sat back and just watched told them that if they didn't leave now, he would blow them out of the sky. Umm, how does he figure he's going to do that when this ship just killed not 1 but 2 of their capitol ships with nearly no damage to themselves? It was ok, because the captain had no intention of engaging this third ship anyway, but it just didn't seem very plausible to me. However, if you can overlook the weak plotting, and you enjoy a good story, then you might want to give this one a try, just don't expect too much in the way of consistency, because it's a bit lacking here. Good enough to hold the attention though, and I suppose I'll go ahead and read the next one when I get around to it, but this isn't going onto my must read now pile.

[Franziska Tinner · Rating 4 out of 5]

It does not disappoint!

Although this, the second book in its series, is yet a continuation of one exemplary! story, I'm somewhat disappointed because of what seems a rushed editing job. The writing continues to astound though, and after all the quality of a book depends on its content so much more than the correct spelling of every word. This story continues to make space faring believable. With all the many unbelievable facts and details, when it is written by Glynn Stewart, they almost become fact, utterly believable. It is definitely imaginable and that counts as a success to me.
P.S. Re: Glenn Stewart, this series is actually some of his earliest writing! No wonder we love to read everything written by this obviously talented writer.

Time to start reading book 3. I can't wait to get started with book 3 and, the suspense is killing me, to find out how Keith will handle the insane senator/s who out of sheer hate for him as the the captain, encouraged one of its worst person to instigate a mutiny on his ship. With so many of their own now dead and the destruction of parts of their, his, most expensive ship, most advanced build.
Though, I'm not one that enjoys reading about the often unbelievable dirt, selfishness, and outright illegal actions taking place in politics, I understand that this despicable action which happened on his ship and behind his back needs dealing with. Politics, it's history, learned through recorded truth and "dirt", with all the conflicts that happens when run by self inflamed and ego driven individuals, and them taking their personal conflicts into the business of running countries! that's the worst of politics! yet all too common, so reminds me of past and present events we all have witnessed or read about in history books. Having to experience such in real life is bad enough, I really don't like reading about it in a science fiction story, in a fantasy. It makes me feel vulnerable and defenseless. Just yuck 😝! But this story is actually about Keith, the remarkable captain of Avalon, and his story I do want to read! Politics and all 🤓 aside. So off I go opening book 3, and I'll be back to let you know whether it was as great as the previous two, yes, politics aside.

[Smoke · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars
This book delivers on everything I wanted from book 1. There is space combat yes, but there's also a heavy amount of character interactions and development with most of the main players of book 1. We learn more, and everyone grows more. I came to Glynn Stewart after reading a horrible excuse of a book by an author that rhymes with buck bendig, so at the time I was fed up with shitty character internal conflict and bad plot. The first two series by Stewart I read were the Vigilante and Starship's mage series, they are quite lacking in character internal conflict and relationships. This series does it right however and it adds to the books making them better instead of worse like mister Buck Bendig.

The only thing that caught me off guard in the book was when someone breaks and decides to not follow orders. I feel like it was set up about half way, but the break happened to fast without proper set-up. That being said the reasons for ignoring the orders actually made sense and I could see both sides of the coin. That isn't done well all that often, but it is here.

The best thing about the book is how the author lets bad things happen to his characters, but he doesn't use that to torture us the readers. This is a common practice and it really annoys me. We have bad things happen, but those bad things are always resolved sooner than later. We aren't left to slog on through chapters and chapters until the resolution is given to us. This is nice and makes the book all the more enjoyable.


Another thing in this series which isn't in many of the other Glynn Stewart books I've read is some touches of comedy. It is good to have a character or two that can make the reader chuckle. That is here and I appreciate that in any book I read no matter the genre.

My final` rating is difficult, I want to go with 5 stars, but that does depend on the hanger we are left with at the end of the book with the Captain. I don't know what comes of that, if it is a one time thing then it ruins one of the major through lines in this book. I'm going to assume it is not a one time thing however, and that it will continue into book three which I'm off to start now.

[Daniel Millard · Rating 3 out of 5]

In most ways, this was a short, punchy follow-up to Space Carrier Avalon, and it downplayed a few of the things and characters I found most bothersome about that book. However, we've still got a bizarre preoccupation of the author's - he MUST insert same sex attraction and an absurd degree of racial diversity (if either thing is even biologically possible this far in the proposed future) into every situation imaginable - presumably as hooks to his audience. What a bemusing and colossal waste of word count.

Stewart is capable of writing fairly decent action and some decent subterfuge. You see treachery coming a mile away in this book, but you're rather meant to, and the journey is worthwhile. In a way, it's even more enjoyable knowing where the story is going to arrive. His explanations of astrophysics don't make a lot of sense to me, and I'm not sure I really buy his particular flavor of warfare in space, but I'm a Star Wars fan, so who am I to get hung up on such things?

I can safely say I won't re-read these, and will sell them off my shelf whenever I'm done, but I think I'll give one more book a go before I make up my mind.

[Becky ♡The Bookworm♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hubster and I are having a blast (pun intended) reading this series! The pacing in this second book was much better than the first. Since we were already familiar with the technology and other world building issues, it allowed the author to jump right into the story. We really enjoyed that the plot carried an edge of mystery and political upheaval.

These books are filled with action packed, well written battle scenes and creative science fiction technology. The book could easily be given a five star rating had the author focused a little more on character development. With the exception of Kyle Roberts, we are told (not shown) very little about the other characters. Most of the Avalon crew are simply given a name and then assigned a job, hair color, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. That's it. Nothing more. There are a couple of exceptions, but even the issues in the lives of these characters are mentioned only in passing. We think the author has the talent and ability to do so much better in this regard.

We still believe that this series is one of the better examples of Space Opera available today. The Hubster and I give it four thumbs up!

[Scott Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm quite happy with this series. It's not necessarily deep, but it's enjoyable. Sort of like the big summer super hero movies: you don't go watch them looking for nuanced drama, you just want to enjoy the sometimes slight absurd story.

Obviously all fantasy / sci-fi requires some suspension of disbelief and violates real-world rules for more interesting scenarios that follow the fictional world's rules. But the fictional world should have some explanation for why things are the way they are.

In this story, my pet peeve is that if you start off going a certain direction in FTL, then (according to the story) there's only one place you can be going. The plot revolves significantly around this point, and does mention at some point that you can't change your trajectory while in FTL. But it never explains why the pursued might not just travel some distance away at FTL velocity, drop out of FTL, and then jump again in a different direction. Seems semi-obvious and something that those trying to avoid pursuit might very well do. If there was a reason given for that not being possible, I completely missed it.

But as I said, overall, this is fun series.

[Dean Ezra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another entry in the series that follows the traditional Sci fi space opera genre. Lots of space action and fighting, as teh war against the commonwealth continues. The enemies are still a bit flat and not evil enough for me. Even when one of them commits genecide on a planet, I just didn't feel the guy was nasty enough (there is just too little backstory put into the enemies for my liking).

But this time there is also the added threat of a spy within his own ship and an admiral coming along for the ride to interfere (seems the admiral doesn't quite trust captain Kyle Roberts). The spy sub plot starts off well setting up what seems like the traditional red herring... slowly building up as the main space chase fighting moves along in parallel. Making me think there is going to be a clever twist as to who the spy is... However that never happens and I find myself thinking 'Did Glynn just not have anyone else to make the spy? Bit of a let down really. Still he does do a good job of again describing the military procedural sides of the fights atleast.

If you've read my review of the first book, you will see the comment about repeated use of phrases. Unfortunately they are back here (dare I say cheerfully again!)

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kyle Roberts is the most battle-tested captain in the Castle Federation space navy. He is also the youngest captain with the least time in service. He lost his last ship diving into the wreckage of an enemy battleship. What is the navy to do with such a hero? They meet public demand and give him a new ship with the same name. Once again, he will be overmatched; this time, his crew will include an admiral and a few dangerous enemy spies.
Robert’s nickname, the Stellar Fox, is an unlikely and unwanted homage to Gen. Rommel. The plot is in the C. S. Forester to David Weber tradition. The tactics owe more to World War II’s Pacific campaign than to either the African campaign or the Napoleonic wars.
Glynn Stewart provides just what we expect from him—old-school space opera.

[Bryce · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging tale, though at times blatant and heavy-handed (especially in its foreshadowing). But, I must admit that I find it riveting to have a tale where major characters represent a wide variety of backgrounds. Yes, the Captain and CAG are white guys, but from the imposing dark-skinned XO to the honorable Amerindian enemy and the Asian chief engineer to the non-trivial representation of gay, transgender, and bisexual characters, the author shows that multi-faceted characters can be represented by all different types of people. I appreciate his approach.

[Erica Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid military SF from Stewart. Don't try to jump into the series without reading the first book. You wouldn't be completely lost, but part of the plot in Book 2 proceeds from the rapid promotion of Captain Roberts in Book 1.

Personal note to Mr. Stewart: As a professional proofreader, I offer to proofread your next book in this or the Changeling series for free. I really enjoy your books, and would enjoy them even more if those occasional errors were eliminated.

[Eddie Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Alliance is fighting Earth (the bad guys) in space.

Captain Kyle Roberts is taking command of the newest and most formidable supper carrier of the Alliance. The first mission is a warm up one: escort duty. But while on it, the battle group sees half a planet destroyed by a Terran ship, whose captain is assumed gone rogue.

I was not able to find many qualities to this book, but I did find it entertaining enough to consider reading the next in the series.

[Jed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, but too much repetition

I enjoyed the book, by this time there was less about the characters which I thought was disappointing. There was also a lot of repetition about how the weapon me and ships work. It was all explained in the first book, repeating it now is just filler.

[John E. McCague Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable, well written book.

This book and series thus far are well written and very enjoyable to read. The story presents senereos that are believable and for the most part make what appears would be good military actions. The ommissions present make the story flow better and keeps the action fresh. This is a good book to read and enjoy.

[Harvey Dick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Series again by Glynn Stewart

I am a fan of Science Fiction and Glynn Stewart. His book was exciting to read. Full action and intrigue. Looking forward to jumping into the next installment of the series. If you like interstellar travel and space battles from a well written author, you will enjoy reading this series.

[Salvatore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great second installment for the series.
Only reason i post 4/5 stars is the reader not only knows who the traitor is early on but almost every character present in the first book should be able to as well. For crying out loud we already know who gave the order to kill them and defame them.

Despite that "Stellar Fox" is a great addition to a series i will surely keep reading. ;)

[Travis Kraemer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better

This second book is definitely better than the first, the author's got a better feel for the characters. My only issue is the the 'bad guy' is a bit obvious very early on. But we're not provided a reason for not suspecting them until almost two-thirds of the way through. But I've enjoyed this book enough to go on to the next one.

[Edwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Glynn is obsessed with describing race but only if it's non-white. The stories are fun though sometimes the battle scenes can be tedious. Characters are interesting but there are few if any gay male characters but Stewart does like to spice it up with the occasional lesbian warrior. The gaze in the stories can be obnoxiously white cis- gendered heterosexual but still tells and engaging story.

[Adam Windsor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun second entry in this SF series, as the Federation continues to defend itself from the expansionist Terran Commonwealth, and also faces conflict within its own ranks. The final act of the book felt a bit rushed to me, but other than that this is a pretty solid adventure story. If star fleet battles are you thing, the series seems worth a look.

[Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story and evolution from 1st book

This book carried the team forward in a very good way. The challenges included military battles plus spies and political intrigue. Very well written, good pacing of the story, and expansion of the characters. Thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to the next book in the series!

[Barbara Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting second in the series. Looking forward to reading the next...

The quality of this story is consistent with the high standards set in the first story in the series. Anxious to get on to reading the next one.

[Barry Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well worth a read

In my review of the first book I felt the pacing of the second half of the novel was excellent and hoped it would continue in book 2 and it did. Lots of action and enjoyable character interactions. Recommended.