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Duchy of Terra #1
The Terran Privateer
Earth is conquered.
Sol is lost.
One ship is tasked to free them.
One Captain to save them all.
When an alien armada destroys the United Earth Space Force and takes control of the human homeworld, newly reinstated Captain Annette Bond must take her experimental hyperspace cruiser Tornado into exile as Terra's only interstellar privateer.
She has inferior technology, crude maps and no concept of her enemy, but the seedy underbelly of galactic society welcomes her so long as she has prizes to sell and money to spend.
But when your only allies are pirates and slavers, things are never as they seem and if you become all that you were sworn to destroy, what are you fighting for?
Sol is lost.
One ship is tasked to free them.
One Captain to save them all.
When an alien armada destroys the United Earth Space Force and takes control of the human homeworld, newly reinstated Captain Annette Bond must take her experimental hyperspace cruiser Tornado into exile as Terra's only interstellar privateer.
She has inferior technology, crude maps and no concept of her enemy, but the seedy underbelly of galactic society welcomes her so long as she has prizes to sell and money to spend.
But when your only allies are pirates and slavers, things are never as they seem and if you become all that you were sworn to destroy, what are you fighting for?
509 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2016
1509 people are currently reading
2270 people want to read
About the author
Glynn Stewart
111 books1,748 followersGlynn 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 244 reviews
September 9, 2016
LGBTQ Space Pirates SciFi Without Any Parrots or Peglegs
"The Terran Privateer," is a hamfisted, pedestrian, banal, preachy eBook, that gratuitously makes many one dimensional characters gay or sexually deviant, in order to promote a PC agenda.
Storyline: Earth in the near future has explored the solar system and nearby star systems. A benevolent, though condescending alien race, conquers Earth. A prototype warship, captained by a determined mistress (she prefers bondage), manned by a heavily gay crew, accompanied by two (2) deep space scout ships, are dispatched to the fringes of the invaders' empire, to act as a privateer force, and win back Earth's freedom. There's mundane space battles, boarding actions, rescuing human slaves, interspecies rape, numerous aliens, and, no joking, lead character ends up needing an eyepatch. No parrots nor peglegs make an appearance.
The writing is bland, almost by rote. The author has limited imagination or basic skills. His favorite words, phrasing, repeat over and over (i.e. "...prosaic..."). Mr. Stewart was apparently an accountant prior to his writing career, and it shows. The only passion shown in the text is when describing numbers: distances, sizes, costs, etc. It's all pretty low brow.
The eBook was fully read via Kindle Unlimited and is not recommended.
"The Terran Privateer," is a hamfisted, pedestrian, banal, preachy eBook, that gratuitously makes many one dimensional characters gay or sexually deviant, in order to promote a PC agenda.
Storyline: Earth in the near future has explored the solar system and nearby star systems. A benevolent, though condescending alien race, conquers Earth. A prototype warship, captained by a determined mistress (she prefers bondage), manned by a heavily gay crew, accompanied by two (2) deep space scout ships, are dispatched to the fringes of the invaders' empire, to act as a privateer force, and win back Earth's freedom. There's mundane space battles, boarding actions, rescuing human slaves, interspecies rape, numerous aliens, and, no joking, lead character ends up needing an eyepatch. No parrots nor peglegs make an appearance.
The writing is bland, almost by rote. The author has limited imagination or basic skills. His favorite words, phrasing, repeat over and over (i.e. "...prosaic..."). Mr. Stewart was apparently an accountant prior to his writing career, and it shows. The only passion shown in the text is when describing numbers: distances, sizes, costs, etc. It's all pretty low brow.
The eBook was fully read via Kindle Unlimited and is not recommended.
November 13, 2016
Good space opera. It kept me turning the pages. Good characters, a good plot, and a satisfying ending.
The pacing is good. One thing that helps the story move along: the drives for the spaceships are inertialess, so they accelerate, decelerate, and maneuver on a dime.
Typos, however, especially missing words and some added words, diminish the total enjoyment a little. Between the typos and some pronoun-fuzzy sentences, I had to read more than one sentence several times to make sure I had grokked the meaning.
The book includes some totally egregious bombing, but it tends to occur in clusters rather than being spread evenly throughout the book.
Still, worth reading.
I shall keep my eye open for the next book in the series, and hope that it is a little less typo beset.
The pacing is good. One thing that helps the story move along: the drives for the spaceships are inertialess, so they accelerate, decelerate, and maneuver on a dime.
Typos, however, especially missing words and some added words, diminish the total enjoyment a little. Between the typos and some pronoun-fuzzy sentences, I had to read more than one sentence several times to make sure I had grokked the meaning.
The book includes some totally egregious bombing, but it tends to occur in clusters rather than being spread evenly throughout the book.
Still, worth reading.
I shall keep my eye open for the next book in the series, and hope that it is a little less typo beset.
June 28, 2022
THE TERRAN PRIVATEER is the first novel of the DUCHY OF TERRA series by Glynn Stewart. I am already familiar with Glynn Stewart due to the fantastic STARSHIP'S MAGE series. That series was about magicians able to move starships through hyperspace. This is a more grounded series about the idea of Earth making First Contact with an expanionist alien race, only to be swiftly conquered. Which is quite the hook.
The premise is an interesting one. Annette Bond was kicked out of the Earth's Space Navy due to the fact she testified against a highly respected captain who had been implicated in numerous sexual assaults. Entering the private sector under trillionaire Elon Casmir, who I hope is a bit nicer than Elon Musk, she is a test pilot for all of his fantastic new creations. These revolutionize the Earth space navy but not in time to keep Earth from its conquest.
Annette finds herself with an impossible task: raid the shipping of the A!Tol Empire. She is to acquire enough wealth, weapons, and advanced technology while hitting the invaders to eventually be able to liberate Earth. It is an impossible task made harder by the fact the A!Tol are a relatively benign empire doing its best to make sure that Earth assimilates into being part of their society quickly. They make a game effort to avoid antagonizing the public and any collateral damage while Earth's "resistance" vilifies itself by making numerous terrorist attacks.
I really like the moral ambiguity of this book as Glynn Stewart nicely makes an interesting question of what exactly are the compromises you should make in order to live a good life. Earth is prepared to wage a long and difficult resistance against the A!Tol in order to regain its freedom but there's a very good question that it might be pointless as well as counterproductive. However, Annette also finds herself questioning just how many civilian casualties "she" is comfortable with if it means "liberating" her world.
Part of what makes the book effective is that all of these strange moral questions are just background to the fun pirate adventure being told. Annette is either the best or worst pirate in history because her first targets are other pirates and she soon finds herself lucking into numerous quality prizes but that ends in her having deal with the galaxy's underworld. From there, we learn just how bad it can get and what the A!Tol are afraid of.
The pirate sections are really the best part of the book as well as our heroes adapting to "Tortuga." Glynn Stewart is great at world-building since he explains how the economy works, what the most technologically advanced races are, and how the various political factions clash without getting bogged down in exposition. We even understand how pirates launder their cargoes in this setting. It's all fascinating stuff.
It's a very fun and action-filled space opera story that I enjoyed from beginning to end. I think fans of Starship's Mage will enjoy this but so will most fans of science fiction in general. I'm surprised the central premise gets "resolved" so quickly by the end but I won't go into details about that. Suffice to say, I picked up the sequel immediately after.
The premise is an interesting one. Annette Bond was kicked out of the Earth's Space Navy due to the fact she testified against a highly respected captain who had been implicated in numerous sexual assaults. Entering the private sector under trillionaire Elon Casmir, who I hope is a bit nicer than Elon Musk, she is a test pilot for all of his fantastic new creations. These revolutionize the Earth space navy but not in time to keep Earth from its conquest.
Annette finds herself with an impossible task: raid the shipping of the A!Tol Empire. She is to acquire enough wealth, weapons, and advanced technology while hitting the invaders to eventually be able to liberate Earth. It is an impossible task made harder by the fact the A!Tol are a relatively benign empire doing its best to make sure that Earth assimilates into being part of their society quickly. They make a game effort to avoid antagonizing the public and any collateral damage while Earth's "resistance" vilifies itself by making numerous terrorist attacks.
I really like the moral ambiguity of this book as Glynn Stewart nicely makes an interesting question of what exactly are the compromises you should make in order to live a good life. Earth is prepared to wage a long and difficult resistance against the A!Tol in order to regain its freedom but there's a very good question that it might be pointless as well as counterproductive. However, Annette also finds herself questioning just how many civilian casualties "she" is comfortable with if it means "liberating" her world.
Part of what makes the book effective is that all of these strange moral questions are just background to the fun pirate adventure being told. Annette is either the best or worst pirate in history because her first targets are other pirates and she soon finds herself lucking into numerous quality prizes but that ends in her having deal with the galaxy's underworld. From there, we learn just how bad it can get and what the A!Tol are afraid of.
The pirate sections are really the best part of the book as well as our heroes adapting to "Tortuga." Glynn Stewart is great at world-building since he explains how the economy works, what the most technologically advanced races are, and how the various political factions clash without getting bogged down in exposition. We even understand how pirates launder their cargoes in this setting. It's all fascinating stuff.
It's a very fun and action-filled space opera story that I enjoyed from beginning to end. I think fans of Starship's Mage will enjoy this but so will most fans of science fiction in general. I'm surprised the central premise gets "resolved" so quickly by the end but I won't go into details about that. Suffice to say, I picked up the sequel immediately after.
November 25, 2016
3.5 Starts
The staging and characters are interesting but the author was unable to give a sense of true suspense. With a few exceptions, the turns in the plot were quite predictable (even the end) and some of the conveniences of their circumstances had me roll my eyes. Still, I enjoyed most of it as I liked the characters and setting well enough.
***More detailed Spoilers below***
The setup is good. It isn't the most original (Earth is overtaken by an invading force with a lone ship being mankind's last hope) but there are enough alterations to make it interesting. It felt kind of like Battlestar Galactica meets Ender's Game, but that's a bit oversimplified. I always enjoy nuance, and the (sort of) twist that the invading force of aliens truly were benevolent was welcome. One of the few twists was that they were actually what they seemed to be.
The characters are also fairly interesting, though lacking in overall depth. I will give it something of a pass on this since this is the first book in a series. The best thing about this book is actually the tech. It wasn't overly inventive but was written in a way that was simultaneously easy to understand and interesting.
I just wish it had more of a sense of danger. Not once in any of the space battles did it seem like the crew of the Tornado wasn't going to make it. There just wasn't that sense of danger that comes with the classic science fiction and fantasy stories I'm used to. Every scenario the characters are put into has a fairly clear solution that the characters obviously take. I'm left feeling a lack of imagination on the author's part when I am so consistently NOT surprised. I'm not saying I could do better, but I'm not writing fiction either. I read these kind of stories to be taken on a ride with twists and turns where I don't see what's around the corner. When characters consistently don't die or make (almost) any false moves then it's hard to feel any sense of wonderment.
I guess my final take on this book is that I would love for this story to be essentially the same with some twists and tugs of heartstrings. It began and ended well, but the darkness that makes the light shine so bright was missing.
The staging and characters are interesting but the author was unable to give a sense of true suspense. With a few exceptions, the turns in the plot were quite predictable (even the end) and some of the conveniences of their circumstances had me roll my eyes. Still, I enjoyed most of it as I liked the characters and setting well enough.
***More detailed Spoilers below***
The setup is good. It isn't the most original (Earth is overtaken by an invading force with a lone ship being mankind's last hope) but there are enough alterations to make it interesting. It felt kind of like Battlestar Galactica meets Ender's Game, but that's a bit oversimplified. I always enjoy nuance, and the (sort of) twist that the invading force of aliens truly were benevolent was welcome. One of the few twists was that they were actually what they seemed to be.
The characters are also fairly interesting, though lacking in overall depth. I will give it something of a pass on this since this is the first book in a series. The best thing about this book is actually the tech. It wasn't overly inventive but was written in a way that was simultaneously easy to understand and interesting.
I just wish it had more of a sense of danger. Not once in any of the space battles did it seem like the crew of the Tornado wasn't going to make it. There just wasn't that sense of danger that comes with the classic science fiction and fantasy stories I'm used to. Every scenario the characters are put into has a fairly clear solution that the characters obviously take. I'm left feeling a lack of imagination on the author's part when I am so consistently NOT surprised. I'm not saying I could do better, but I'm not writing fiction either. I read these kind of stories to be taken on a ride with twists and turns where I don't see what's around the corner. When characters consistently don't die or make (almost) any false moves then it's hard to feel any sense of wonderment.
I guess my final take on this book is that I would love for this story to be essentially the same with some twists and tugs of heartstrings. It began and ended well, but the darkness that makes the light shine so bright was missing.
November 15, 2020
So, I've got such mixed feelings about this whole thing. I'd like to know more about the aliens. We only really learn about two. One the squid guys we learn tons about. The bug doods we learn somethings. But the marine lizard doods. We don't learn that much bout which is sad because they seem cool. The author has a habit of building character by focusing on the "love interest" of the officers instead of just building the total story about the officers. For example, do some have a poker habit, do some like fencing, anything. We don't get much information about alien worlds. Which sucks because this a dang space opera. I'm left in this place with this series. It's well written in places it's good storytelling. In other places such as fight scenes and battles it sorta sux. The in-between stuff that happens sorta isn't fun. I'm willing to give the series a chance but god I hope more from this series. this hardflip back and forth between space opera and a weak romance plot isn't sitting well with me.
3.0 (a weak 3.0) but not enough to quit series. Something is good in the box it's just not flushed out with potatoes.
3.0 (a weak 3.0) but not enough to quit series. Something is good in the box it's just not flushed out with potatoes.
January 17, 2017
This is a good and entertaining story. I wasn't expecting less from Glynn. However, problems are often solved by favorable miraculous circumstances and not by the efforts of the protagonist and crew. While this lets the story progress more smoothly, it somewhat diminishes their efforts and makes you roll your eyes. Furthermore, when neutral parties are confronted with the right thing to do, they just magically side with our heroes. These patterns could be found in the Starship's Mage series too, although not so articulately.
That said, I still enjoyed this book. I'd recommend this to people who are looking for a good, fast paced, enjoyable story in a sci-fi setting.
That said, I still enjoyed this book. I'd recommend this to people who are looking for a good, fast paced, enjoyable story in a sci-fi setting.
September 15, 2018
This is an unabashedly fun read of the Hornblower-in-Space sub-sub-genre of the space-opera sub-genre.
I can probably stop here; if you're into this sort of thing, you know it, and this one's a fun read of this sort. But for those of you still reading...
Yes, it's easy to compare this to Weber's work, and no, it's not as gripping. The ship-to-ship action's not nearly as solid; the humans have superior defensive tech to nearly every ship they meet, and they largely just bull their way through every encounter with a very "damn the torpedoes" attitude. That said, when the action turns to the marines (Earth's Special Space Services, descendants of Her Majesty's SAS), the action gets a lot better. It's easier to tell what's happening and why, though there are more than a few challenges solved by saturating the problem with grenades.
But this isn't just a Honor Harrington knock-off. The political situation is a lot more interesting and nuanced; Earth's been conquered by tentacle aliens, but they're not twirling their mustaches and cackling maniacally. Instead, the feline neighbors of the tentacle aliens are twirling their, uh, whiskers, I guess, and cackling maniacally.
Our heroine, Annette Bond, is in command of the closest thing Earth has to a modern warship when the Solar System is invaded. Recognizing that defeat is inevitable, her superiors issue her a letter of marque and send her off into the galaxy to buy, borrow, or steal tech and make allies in order to aid a rebellion on Earth.
What Captain Bond finds is a more complex political situation than just conquered and conquerors. She has to associate with the scum of the galaxy, pirates and slavers, to even begin her mission, which looks more and more impossible by the day. And then she gets a break that might just allow her to win Earth's independence... if she's willing to sacrifice her self-respect and soul for it.
The melodrama is high on this one. Our heroes are stalwart professionals with a strict code of honor, and when they overcome the (frequent) temptations to sacrifice honor for expediency, they're frequently rewarded by those who recognize their superior moral character. However, this isn't a jerks-from-Earth-show-up-and-rescue-the-galaxy-by-being-ultra-decent-people sort of thing. It's more along the lines of all-competent-militaries-share-a-core-code-of-ethics-and-recognize-and-respect-it-in-others sort of thing.
The result is much less David Weber and more Alan Dean Foster's Commonwealth or Glenn Cook's The Dragon Never Sleeps. The ending of the book implies we'll be diving deeper into the political and anthropological in the sequel, and I'm very much looking forward to reading it.
I can probably stop here; if you're into this sort of thing, you know it, and this one's a fun read of this sort. But for those of you still reading...
Yes, it's easy to compare this to Weber's work, and no, it's not as gripping. The ship-to-ship action's not nearly as solid; the humans have superior defensive tech to nearly every ship they meet, and they largely just bull their way through every encounter with a very "damn the torpedoes" attitude. That said, when the action turns to the marines (Earth's Special Space Services, descendants of Her Majesty's SAS), the action gets a lot better. It's easier to tell what's happening and why, though there are more than a few challenges solved by saturating the problem with grenades.
But this isn't just a Honor Harrington knock-off. The political situation is a lot more interesting and nuanced; Earth's been conquered by tentacle aliens, but they're not twirling their mustaches and cackling maniacally. Instead, the feline neighbors of the tentacle aliens are twirling their, uh, whiskers, I guess, and cackling maniacally.
Our heroine, Annette Bond, is in command of the closest thing Earth has to a modern warship when the Solar System is invaded. Recognizing that defeat is inevitable, her superiors issue her a letter of marque and send her off into the galaxy to buy, borrow, or steal tech and make allies in order to aid a rebellion on Earth.
What Captain Bond finds is a more complex political situation than just conquered and conquerors. She has to associate with the scum of the galaxy, pirates and slavers, to even begin her mission, which looks more and more impossible by the day. And then she gets a break that might just allow her to win Earth's independence... if she's willing to sacrifice her self-respect and soul for it.
The melodrama is high on this one. Our heroes are stalwart professionals with a strict code of honor, and when they overcome the (frequent) temptations to sacrifice honor for expediency, they're frequently rewarded by those who recognize their superior moral character. However, this isn't a jerks-from-Earth-show-up-and-rescue-the-galaxy-by-being-ultra-decent-people sort of thing. It's more along the lines of all-competent-militaries-share-a-core-code-of-ethics-and-recognize-and-respect-it-in-others sort of thing.
The result is much less David Weber and more Alan Dean Foster's Commonwealth or Glenn Cook's The Dragon Never Sleeps. The ending of the book implies we'll be diving deeper into the political and anthropological in the sequel, and I'm very much looking forward to reading it.
July 4, 2023
Thematic Dissonance
The Terran Privateer is Star Wars-esque journey whose focus is on the antics of the Captain and her marines. Though entertaining, it takes itself too seriously while displaying a lack of depth more in common with lighthearted adventures. Events are too convienent, battles rarely bloody, and most of the cast is some variation of a thief with a heart of gold.
Biases up front: this novel shares enough DNA with Craig Alanson’s Columbus Day that it read like a remake. As well, Glynn Stewart’s previous works such as Starship’s Mage and Castle Federation are much more vivid, realistic, and bloody science-fiction stories. I had high expectations and feel let down.
To start, despite a great deal of the novel discussing fleet actions, logistics, and relativistic number crunching, The Terran Privateer at its heart is more Star Wars than military science-fiction. While there’s definitely someone doing math in the background, there’s little focus on the crew or the operations of the Tornado. There’s lots of infantry combat, but no strategic planning and little in the way of tactics. This split-personality results in a thematically disconnected novel — simultaneously taking itself very seriously with massed 0.6c missiles and then sending Luke Skywalker and his friends to explore the Death Star.
The cast also suffers little in the way of setbacks. While they face challenges over and over, I struggle to recall an instance where they failed. This is in stark contrast with the background of human civilization’s fall to an alien empire. The setup is so grim, but the plot never stuck to the theme. The universe just feels… sterile; clean. There’s literally pirates, slavers, and slaver pirates! And yet moral lines were clear, motivations obvious, and everyone wants to do the right thing.
I picked up The Terran Privateer with high expectations; emotionally prepared by a very serious marketing blurb about the fall of Earth and her last hope. Instead, I got a lighthearted adventure mixed with serious themes that covered a wide swath of everything, but ultimately did nothing well. While entertaining, I know Glynn Stewart can do better.
Recommended with Reservations.
The Terran Privateer is Star Wars-esque journey whose focus is on the antics of the Captain and her marines. Though entertaining, it takes itself too seriously while displaying a lack of depth more in common with lighthearted adventures. Events are too convienent, battles rarely bloody, and most of the cast is some variation of a thief with a heart of gold.
Biases up front: this novel shares enough DNA with Craig Alanson’s Columbus Day that it read like a remake. As well, Glynn Stewart’s previous works such as Starship’s Mage and Castle Federation are much more vivid, realistic, and bloody science-fiction stories. I had high expectations and feel let down.
To start, despite a great deal of the novel discussing fleet actions, logistics, and relativistic number crunching, The Terran Privateer at its heart is more Star Wars than military science-fiction. While there’s definitely someone doing math in the background, there’s little focus on the crew or the operations of the Tornado. There’s lots of infantry combat, but no strategic planning and little in the way of tactics. This split-personality results in a thematically disconnected novel — simultaneously taking itself very seriously with massed 0.6c missiles and then sending Luke Skywalker and his friends to explore the Death Star.
The cast also suffers little in the way of setbacks. While they face challenges over and over, I struggle to recall an instance where they failed. This is in stark contrast with the background of human civilization’s fall to an alien empire. The setup is so grim, but the plot never stuck to the theme. The universe just feels… sterile; clean. There’s literally pirates, slavers, and slaver pirates! And yet moral lines were clear, motivations obvious, and everyone wants to do the right thing.
I picked up The Terran Privateer with high expectations; emotionally prepared by a very serious marketing blurb about the fall of Earth and her last hope. Instead, I got a lighthearted adventure mixed with serious themes that covered a wide swath of everything, but ultimately did nothing well. While entertaining, I know Glynn Stewart can do better.
Recommended with Reservations.
November 24, 2019
3.5
Il manque un petit quelque chose pour moi dans cette histoire d'envahisseurs pour atteindre le 4 étoiles... Peut-être plus de profondeur, de détails sur les principaux protagonistes humains qui entourent l'héroïne (les ET étant bien dépeints) L'auteur se concentre sur l'action générale et moins sur les détails qui la rendent plus "réelle" à mes yeux de lecteur.
Beaucoup de batailles spatiales (miam miam) ; une galaxie prête à exploser, des pirates, des envahisseurs plutôt sympathiques, des ennemis plutôt méchants, et surtout, à part quelques allusions : pas de scènes de sexe (ouf, merci l'auteur C'est assez rare pour être souligner) bref de quoi passer un agréable moment
Je lirai les suites
Il manque un petit quelque chose pour moi dans cette histoire d'envahisseurs pour atteindre le 4 étoiles... Peut-être plus de profondeur, de détails sur les principaux protagonistes humains qui entourent l'héroïne (les ET étant bien dépeints) L'auteur se concentre sur l'action générale et moins sur les détails qui la rendent plus "réelle" à mes yeux de lecteur.
Beaucoup de batailles spatiales (miam miam) ; une galaxie prête à exploser, des pirates, des envahisseurs plutôt sympathiques, des ennemis plutôt méchants, et surtout, à part quelques allusions : pas de scènes de sexe (ouf, merci l'auteur C'est assez rare pour être souligner) bref de quoi passer un agréable moment
Je lirai les suites
May 2, 2021
An enjoyable read.
September 15, 2018
I have to say that I was a bit hesitant about this book. I’ve had it on my reading list for a while but I am always a bit hesitant about books that start with Earth being conquered, overrun or downright destroyed. However, after having read the Vigilante series by the same author, although co-authored by Terry Mixon, I decided to have a go at it.
Well, I was pleasantly surprised. Not that I really expected the book to be bad or anything but, as it turned out, I ended up liking it…a lot.
Yes there is the thing about Earth being conquered and there is the stuff about our hero being screwed over by her fellow officers (male of course just to be politically correct…sigh) when trying to bring a rapist to justice. But it gets better from there.
The story really starts when Captain Bond takes of into space after having delivered perhaps not a blow but certainly a sting to the invading forces. Her secret mission to become a privateer, obtain knowledge and technology, and give Earth a chance to repel the invaders.
Naturally she embarks on quite an adventure. This another one of those books that, although being military science fiction, is more of an space adventure story. Bond will meet aliens, buy technology, steal technology, kill pirates, become a pirate and generally kick ass. Bond herself is a quite capable, honorable and very likable hero. So is a lot of her shipmates. The latter group expands considerable during the journey. Obviously these new additions are not human.
As I write this more of an adventure story than true military science fiction so there are perhaps some elements which are a bit off the realism scale. Like giant pirate space stations hidden around and being able to just buy anything from handguns to battleships. Not to mention how quickly advanced technology can be retrofitted onto a strange ship from the backwater planet of Earth.
Speaking of backwater planet. Although it is true that Earth generally lags far behind on the technology scale they actually do have a technological edge in a few areas. An edge which gives them a surprising, for their opponents at least, advantage when it’s ass kicking time.
As with any good adventure story there are a few twists and turns along the ride but I have to say that the surprise at the end was…well…surprising. I did like it though.
I noticed that some reviewers wrote down the book a lot for some perceived LGBTQ preaching. I cannot say that I found much preaching in the book. A few cases of must-get-something-PC-in-there perhaps but nothing really preaching. Yes there are homosexual characters in the book. So what? I do not like heavy handed politically correct preaching in books I read so I think I would have noticed if there were much of it going around.
Bottom line, another series that I will continue. Sigh I have too many of those for my own good right now.
Well, I was pleasantly surprised. Not that I really expected the book to be bad or anything but, as it turned out, I ended up liking it…a lot.
Yes there is the thing about Earth being conquered and there is the stuff about our hero being screwed over by her fellow officers (male of course just to be politically correct…sigh) when trying to bring a rapist to justice. But it gets better from there.
The story really starts when Captain Bond takes of into space after having delivered perhaps not a blow but certainly a sting to the invading forces. Her secret mission to become a privateer, obtain knowledge and technology, and give Earth a chance to repel the invaders.
Naturally she embarks on quite an adventure. This another one of those books that, although being military science fiction, is more of an space adventure story. Bond will meet aliens, buy technology, steal technology, kill pirates, become a pirate and generally kick ass. Bond herself is a quite capable, honorable and very likable hero. So is a lot of her shipmates. The latter group expands considerable during the journey. Obviously these new additions are not human.
As I write this more of an adventure story than true military science fiction so there are perhaps some elements which are a bit off the realism scale. Like giant pirate space stations hidden around and being able to just buy anything from handguns to battleships. Not to mention how quickly advanced technology can be retrofitted onto a strange ship from the backwater planet of Earth.
Speaking of backwater planet. Although it is true that Earth generally lags far behind on the technology scale they actually do have a technological edge in a few areas. An edge which gives them a surprising, for their opponents at least, advantage when it’s ass kicking time.
As with any good adventure story there are a few twists and turns along the ride but I have to say that the surprise at the end was…well…surprising. I did like it though.
I noticed that some reviewers wrote down the book a lot for some perceived LGBTQ preaching. I cannot say that I found much preaching in the book. A few cases of must-get-something-PC-in-there perhaps but nothing really preaching. Yes there are homosexual characters in the book. So what? I do not like heavy handed politically correct preaching in books I read so I think I would have noticed if there were much of it going around.
Bottom line, another series that I will continue. Sigh I have too many of those for my own good right now.
March 28, 2021
NOTE: I think I would be doing you a favor by spoiling this book so I'm not going to worry about calling out any spoilers as I go.
Tough book to rate because it tells a terrible story well. For me the terrible story part trumps everything and I really wanted to give this book 1 star, but, hey, I finished the book and it was fairly well written on a page by page basis, so two stars.
Earth is attacked by aliens who first kill thousands of humans because they dared to defend themselves. The aliens then treat humans like favorite pets, indulging them and providing treats, which works. So, if you want to respect humanity, don't read this book.
The MC is the captain of Earth's most advance space ship. MC escapes with orders to become a privateer and gather the resources necessary to free earth. MC accomplishes this task only to then surrender to the aliens.
What is absolutely horrible about this book is the aliens make no sense- they can understand how to work with humans after they kill thousands so why couldn't they have figured that out before? The author doesn't explain this and, frankly, the resolution doesn't make sense either. The MC has star-killer weapons so she can make the aliens go away but doesn't. The author puts a lot of effort into selling the star-killer story line and does a good job, but at the end of the day it just doesn't make sense. The aliens know the MC has the weapons but they are going to force her to use them??? How does that make sense and how do these aliens have more resolve than the humans in this story???
In the end the aliens reward the MC with a duchy for surrendering. So this whole book appears to be contrived just to get to this end so book 2 is set up the way the author desires.
Bottom line: Not a book for people who want to think better of humanity or read a story that makes actual sense.
Tough book to rate because it tells a terrible story well. For me the terrible story part trumps everything and I really wanted to give this book 1 star, but, hey, I finished the book and it was fairly well written on a page by page basis, so two stars.
Earth is attacked by aliens who first kill thousands of humans because they dared to defend themselves. The aliens then treat humans like favorite pets, indulging them and providing treats, which works. So, if you want to respect humanity, don't read this book.
The MC is the captain of Earth's most advance space ship. MC escapes with orders to become a privateer and gather the resources necessary to free earth. MC accomplishes this task only to then surrender to the aliens.
What is absolutely horrible about this book is the aliens make no sense- they can understand how to work with humans after they kill thousands so why couldn't they have figured that out before? The author doesn't explain this and, frankly, the resolution doesn't make sense either. The MC has star-killer weapons so she can make the aliens go away but doesn't. The author puts a lot of effort into selling the star-killer story line and does a good job, but at the end of the day it just doesn't make sense. The aliens know the MC has the weapons but they are going to force her to use them??? How does that make sense and how do these aliens have more resolve than the humans in this story???
In the end the aliens reward the MC with a duchy for surrendering. So this whole book appears to be contrived just to get to this end so book 2 is set up the way the author desires.
Bottom line: Not a book for people who want to think better of humanity or read a story that makes actual sense.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 20, 2022
Earth has been conquered by an alien race with overwhelming military superiority. (They claim to be benevolent and protecting Earth from their enemies, a slaveholding empire.) The last hope for an independent Earth is Captain Annette Bond, whose ship is at the far cutting edge of Earth technology. Bond runs up a privateer's flag as she zips around the galaxy trying to steal technology, gather information, and come up with a plan to free her world. Her chances of success seem slim, but hope springs eternal...
This is a fun book that basically does exactly what it says on the tin: Pirates in Space. Are there a helluva lot of coincidences? Yes. Does Bond get far luckier at every turn than is remotely plausible? Yes. Is character development skimped on in favor of flashy battles? Also yes. Buuuut it's a rollicking adventure with cool aliens, and I really enjoyed it. :)
Also, to all the reviews that are like "OMG, a couple of the characters are gay! And the Captain is a woman! So preachy and annoying!!!" --- go step on a Lego.
I will admit that the young space genius billionaire being named Elon was a little on the nose though, lol.
This is a fun book that basically does exactly what it says on the tin: Pirates in Space. Are there a helluva lot of coincidences? Yes. Does Bond get far luckier at every turn than is remotely plausible? Yes. Is character development skimped on in favor of flashy battles? Also yes. Buuuut it's a rollicking adventure with cool aliens, and I really enjoyed it. :)
Also, to all the reviews that are like "OMG, a couple of the characters are gay! And the Captain is a woman! So preachy and annoying!!!" --- go step on a Lego.
I will admit that the young space genius billionaire being named Elon was a little on the nose though, lol.
February 16, 2017
What a great read
Another great start to what I am sure will be a interesting series of books. Recommend if you are looking for a interesting series.
Another great start to what I am sure will be a interesting series of books. Recommend if you are looking for a interesting series.
February 19, 2017
Awesome story!
October 12, 2024
When someone complained that this was LGBTQ Space Pirates, I knew I had to read it immediately. Gays in space? Beam me up Scotty.
However, I am sad to report that any rumours of lecherous gays in space were highly overrated. Yes, there are two gays, in space, and they even (gasp) kiss, but their alleged homosexual agenda was hardly central to the plot.
Instead, we have lots of aliens, detailed space battles, some moral ambiguity, and a cishet captain who's decidedly uninterested in romance.
Despite these setbacks, I really enjoyed this.
What it is about: after Earth is captured by aliens, Annette Bond and her crew are given a letter of marque. Her new task (as the sole remaining Captain of the Earth fleet) is to hound the invaders in their supply lines, and steal as much tech as she can. What ensues is a fast-paced, cosy blend of Star Trek and classic military SciFi.
What I thought: this book took a while to hit its stride. The first quarter felt dry and boring, and it wasn't until Annette captures her first ship that things got truly interesting. The human-alien relations were really well done, and I was left wanting to learn more. The ending of the book was also satisfying, albeit a little 'neat', and I'll definitely continue the series.
However, I am sad to report that any rumours of lecherous gays in space were highly overrated. Yes, there are two gays, in space, and they even (gasp) kiss, but their alleged homosexual agenda was hardly central to the plot.
Instead, we have lots of aliens, detailed space battles, some moral ambiguity, and a cishet captain who's decidedly uninterested in romance.
Despite these setbacks, I really enjoyed this.
What it is about: after Earth is captured by aliens, Annette Bond and her crew are given a letter of marque. Her new task (as the sole remaining Captain of the Earth fleet) is to hound the invaders in their supply lines, and steal as much tech as she can. What ensues is a fast-paced, cosy blend of Star Trek and classic military SciFi.
What I thought: this book took a while to hit its stride. The first quarter felt dry and boring, and it wasn't until Annette captures her first ship that things got truly interesting. The human-alien relations were really well done, and I was left wanting to learn more. The ending of the book was also satisfying, albeit a little 'neat', and I'll definitely continue the series.
January 25, 2018
I'm just enjoying the heck out of this new series by an author I already like. Addictive. Aliens! Empires in conflict! SPACE PIRACY! Liberating slaves! Women in milSF! What's not to like here?
Edited to add: I would describe the quality of the writing here as action-adventure, there's a lot of action and a little more concentration on military hardware and mass deaths than I really like but it's really exciting. Another reviewer mentions that there are gay characters and rape in the book -- this is true, *as in real life* -- but Stewart doesn't really write sex scenes (honestly I'd like a little more romance written for all the romantic pairings presented, but his strength is the adventure storyline).
Edited to add: I would describe the quality of the writing here as action-adventure, there's a lot of action and a little more concentration on military hardware and mass deaths than I really like but it's really exciting. Another reviewer mentions that there are gay characters and rape in the book -- this is true, *as in real life* -- but Stewart doesn't really write sex scenes (honestly I'd like a little more romance written for all the romantic pairings presented, but his strength is the adventure storyline).
April 14, 2020
Good SciFi!
I loved every minute. Characterization could be a bit more robust but I did enjoy what was there.
I will happily read more of this series as long as the complexity and integrity remain engaging
I loved every minute. Characterization could be a bit more robust but I did enjoy what was there.
I will happily read more of this series as long as the complexity and integrity remain engaging
September 22, 2022
3.5 rounded up
I haven’t read a military scifi book in a bit and really enjoyed this one. It had some Honor Harrington vibes, but a bit funnier and fluffier with less info dump and with more interesting aliens and cultures adding to the mix.
My biggest problems with this book was the poor visualization and very muted feelings of importance while reading. For example: the characters walked into this absolutely ginormous space pirate marketplace and the sight stopped them dead it was so magnificent, but it was described to us as 2x6 km and lots and lots of shops and aliens. That means nothing to me, neither would the equivalent in miles for my poor American brain. What i want to know and internalize is what the typical size for these things and how many times bigger or more impossible did it look? How many football fields (haha) or starships or small towns could fit inside? Where were the smells and sounds and colors describing how hectic (or not) the place was? Anyways, I had a hard time visualizing what made the place so special and amazing. It just… existed.
In terms of importance, there were moments sprinkled across the book that felt like they should have felt scary or anxiety producing or some other strong feeling and I got the weak version of that from reading whatever scene that was. Things rarely went wrong, and even when they did and people actually died, I almost missed it because it felt like is was added in as an afterthought. Essentially, there were quite a few points where I could put the book down in the middle of an ‘intense’ action or political scene and pick it up later without problem or change in perspective.
Regardless, it was a solid and very entertaining book with a nicely dramatic finish:) and I probably ended up highlighting half the book for funny one-liners and characters reactions to all the weird stuff that happens in space, and we’ll as some surprisingly meaningful and deep sentiments that I ended up reading multiple times. I particularly enjoyed the language clashes, the sheer variety of Earth cultures represented, and poking fun at the Americans in the book.
- “Facing an enemy with possession of the orbitals, the official policy of the British military is to surrender immediately,” Major Wellesley told them in his irritatingly precise accent. “I believe that is also the Franco-German plan.” “The Americans won’t,” Annette said with a sigh. “They’ll fight. They can’t win, but they’ll fight.
- “No offense, ma’am, but they were Americans. Their response was…pithy.
- “Fortunately, it turns out the prisoners whose cells we picked a fight on top of were a couple of companies of the US and Chinese Armies. They have no training on plasma weapons, but damn, are they enthusiastic students.
- “Don’t rush on our account,” Wellesley replied. “I think the Americans might get cranky if I don’t let them kill something. Your countrymen are angry.”
Other gems:
-“The good news, such as it is, is that we appear to be on the ass end of nowhere,” he noted.
-He’d been trained at rapidly assessing the numbers of a crowd of humans, but those skills were only so applicable to a distressed mob of tentacled aliens ranging from one and a half meters to well over two meters tall.
-Once they started to close in, though, James intentionally fell against Sherman, engaging in a level of physical contact that would probably have got him punched out in any other circumstances. Drawing each other’s weapons, they shoved themselves apart, clearing lines of fire and opening up on several very surprised-looking little blue aliens.
- “Get us down,” he snapped. “I don’t care where; just put us on the ground!” … the landing craft was still traveling at over a kilometer a second when they hit the armored roof of the base and crashed clean through the roof, the next two floors, and came to halt thirty meters into the base. The shuttle was silent for a long moment. “We’re in the ground,” McPhail finally noted. “Close enough?”
- “Now, I’m not going to pretend we’re here to rescue you. We came with these idiots, but as you can tell, we had a slight difference of opinion with them.
:)
I haven’t read a military scifi book in a bit and really enjoyed this one. It had some Honor Harrington vibes, but a bit funnier and fluffier with less info dump and with more interesting aliens and cultures adding to the mix.
My biggest problems with this book was the poor visualization and very muted feelings of importance while reading. For example: the characters walked into this absolutely ginormous space pirate marketplace and the sight stopped them dead it was so magnificent, but it was described to us as 2x6 km and lots and lots of shops and aliens. That means nothing to me, neither would the equivalent in miles for my poor American brain. What i want to know and internalize is what the typical size for these things and how many times bigger or more impossible did it look? How many football fields (haha) or starships or small towns could fit inside? Where were the smells and sounds and colors describing how hectic (or not) the place was? Anyways, I had a hard time visualizing what made the place so special and amazing. It just… existed.
In terms of importance, there were moments sprinkled across the book that felt like they should have felt scary or anxiety producing or some other strong feeling and I got the weak version of that from reading whatever scene that was. Things rarely went wrong, and even when they did and people actually died, I almost missed it because it felt like is was added in as an afterthought. Essentially, there were quite a few points where I could put the book down in the middle of an ‘intense’ action or political scene and pick it up later without problem or change in perspective.
Regardless, it was a solid and very entertaining book with a nicely dramatic finish:) and I probably ended up highlighting half the book for funny one-liners and characters reactions to all the weird stuff that happens in space, and we’ll as some surprisingly meaningful and deep sentiments that I ended up reading multiple times. I particularly enjoyed the language clashes, the sheer variety of Earth cultures represented, and poking fun at the Americans in the book.
- “Facing an enemy with possession of the orbitals, the official policy of the British military is to surrender immediately,” Major Wellesley told them in his irritatingly precise accent. “I believe that is also the Franco-German plan.” “The Americans won’t,” Annette said with a sigh. “They’ll fight. They can’t win, but they’ll fight.
- “No offense, ma’am, but they were Americans. Their response was…pithy.
- “Fortunately, it turns out the prisoners whose cells we picked a fight on top of were a couple of companies of the US and Chinese Armies. They have no training on plasma weapons, but damn, are they enthusiastic students.
- “Don’t rush on our account,” Wellesley replied. “I think the Americans might get cranky if I don’t let them kill something. Your countrymen are angry.”
Other gems:
-“The good news, such as it is, is that we appear to be on the ass end of nowhere,” he noted.
-He’d been trained at rapidly assessing the numbers of a crowd of humans, but those skills were only so applicable to a distressed mob of tentacled aliens ranging from one and a half meters to well over two meters tall.
-Once they started to close in, though, James intentionally fell against Sherman, engaging in a level of physical contact that would probably have got him punched out in any other circumstances. Drawing each other’s weapons, they shoved themselves apart, clearing lines of fire and opening up on several very surprised-looking little blue aliens.
- “Get us down,” he snapped. “I don’t care where; just put us on the ground!” … the landing craft was still traveling at over a kilometer a second when they hit the armored roof of the base and crashed clean through the roof, the next two floors, and came to halt thirty meters into the base. The shuttle was silent for a long moment. “We’re in the ground,” McPhail finally noted. “Close enough?”
- “Now, I’m not going to pretend we’re here to rescue you. We came with these idiots, but as you can tell, we had a slight difference of opinion with them.
:)
December 20, 2020
Average space opera. Could have been a lot better, but there isn't anything really bad about it either. There are many far worse books out there with this premise and to be honest I have yet to read a truly great one. The characters are interesting enough, but nobody really stands out. And given that the book is composed of many short chapters (which I'm generally not a huge fan of) there isn't much room for anything to be developed in depth. The universe has potential, with Earth being the underdog caught inbetween two much larger empires. I liked that the invaders aren't stereotypical bad guys. They don't seek to oppress their subjects, but treat them very well all things considered.
Unfortunately there isn't much adversity for the characters. Despite being massively outnumbered and mostly technologically inferior there is never a true challenge for them. All technology is compatible and interchangeable with each other, so the ship can easily be upgraded. Battles are easily won despite trying to present them as challenging. Also don't expect any elaborate tactics from the battles. With very fast intertialess drives maneuvering doesn't matter.
It seems rather than truly being intended as a campaign for the freedom of Earth that the book is mostly a setup for the rest of the series.
Unfortunately there isn't much adversity for the characters. Despite being massively outnumbered and mostly technologically inferior there is never a true challenge for them. All technology is compatible and interchangeable with each other, so the ship can easily be upgraded. Battles are easily won despite trying to present them as challenging. Also don't expect any elaborate tactics from the battles. With very fast intertialess drives maneuvering doesn't matter.
It seems rather than truly being intended as a campaign for the freedom of Earth that the book is mostly a setup for the rest of the series.
July 14, 2022
4.5 stars!
I found this book in my endless search for milSF that is not only smart but also action-packed and with an emotional core. This one surprisingly succeeds in having all of these, but it's not the perfect book I wish it was. But the potential is definitely there.
The story is the shining jewel of this book, even when it will sound familiar even to light sci-fi fans. Simply put, it's the now-classic "single ship stranded and fighting alone against the rest of the galaxy" trope in milSF space opera (which I believe was jumpstarted by the Battlestar Galactica revival TV show, and can be seen in series like The Lost Fleet and my personal favorite, Spiral Wars). However, it quickly differentiates itself from any other similar books in two major ways.
First, Earth is not only conquered by aliens... it had already been claimed by them since long ago, and humanity just wasn't informed! Their technology is so superior that they have no issues officially taking over Earth, and they're even benevolent about it! This is a major strength of this story: the A!Tol, the "alien bad guys" of the story, are not "bad" at all! Or rather, they're not one-dimensional war-like aliens that just serve as the antagonist force for the humans, like aliens usually are in this kind of story. Instead, we get a complex and culturally interesting race of squid-like beings that despite their uncanny appearance, have a very human range of emotions and empathy. This alone makes for a very interesting tale, since the humans who will always rebel against their oppressors like they usually would, in this case have very little reason to actually do so! Say what?? (More on this in a bit.)
The second major way this book makes the trope its own: the captain of the sole free ship of the human fleet, Annette Bond, quickly realizes that in order to put up a fight against the A!Tol in order to free Earth, she can't just zip around the galaxy in her lone ship poking at them and running away to fight another day, which is the norm for a lone fighter in these stories. Instead, she has to BUILD a new fleet from scratch. And she manages to do so by discovering how the galaxy beyond works, and that humanity had no idea of. This galaxy thus flourishes with many shades of life, countless alien species (the main ones being a bit confusing since there is little description at too few points in the story), and a variety of cultures thriving within a cold war between multiple alien empires trying to become the dominant galactic force. This is definitely a far cry from the initial "evil aliens take over Earth" premise, and it's such a pleasant surprise finding such elaborate nuance that blasts away at light speed from what could have been a plain execution such trope.
Thus the remaining fleet of Earth become privateers, space pirates raiding ships and stations to gain resources and build a proper large fleet (though they still do it in a very military manner, since that's what they are). They soon find other pirate-minded individuals like them (well, aliens anyways), and a fascinating power struggle of bargains and sometimes brute force takes shape. Allies and enemies are made, crosses and double crosses occur, and it's all a joy to behold. The contrast between the military life of the captain's crew and the more carefree or gruff attitudes of the pirate exiles is fascinating.
Though there's plenty of focus on the human crew of the Earth cruiser, they soon intermingle with alien allies and foes, soon becoming part of their extended crew, and they are all treated like proper characters. Again, there's no typical demonizing of aliens just because they're aliens, and though there would be good reason for humans to outright despise the A!Tol, they end up discovering their culture and their "humanity", including the extremes they go through to make their takeover as harmless and deathless as possible. Thus, some of the humans go through some proper character development where hate evolves into more nuanced feelings over the race as complex, sentient people. This leads to the surprising but very logical conclusion to this book, a fascinating twist that cues the continuation of the story into what I can already tell is an interesting road.
So all top marks in terms of story. And now, to the part where I think the book falters: the combat.
Combat is always going to be a big part in a milSF space opera. And here, we have the problematic relativistic space combat rearing its ugly head once again. By its very nature (and the reason I'm not a big fan), it involves ships being millions of kilometers away from each other (making it hard for the mind to comprehend), missiles and other weapons moving at ridiculous near-light speeds and reducing attacks to mere seconds, and other frankly silly things like waiting for real positions of ships because of relativistic visual delays.
However, the blow is softened here by well written tension in fights, and added elements like defensive beams (that forces ships to actually get close to each other!), energy shields, and even warp portals (instead of just lightspeed travel that would have its own set of problems). There's even an "interface drive" that allow ships to maneuver uncannily fast. All of this tips the scale into more exciting battles... for relativistic space combat anyways. The ridiculous scales and speeds are still here, but they are more "visually" pleasant than in other stories with this type of combat. Battles are hard to comprehend sometimes (because that's relativistic combat baby!), but the author tries his best to make it understandable, though the end result is rather dry. I feel that if it was more conventional combat, battle scenes would have been much more enjoyable.
So combat being such a big part of the package, it does take from the enjoyment somewhat. But the rest is quite enjoyable. Compelling characters, unique setting, and a riveting story that subverts the sub-genre's tropes to carve its own fascinating niche. I am willing to overlook its often clunky combat in order to find out what happens next in this riveting tale of the Duchy of Terra.
I found this book in my endless search for milSF that is not only smart but also action-packed and with an emotional core. This one surprisingly succeeds in having all of these, but it's not the perfect book I wish it was. But the potential is definitely there.
The story is the shining jewel of this book, even when it will sound familiar even to light sci-fi fans. Simply put, it's the now-classic "single ship stranded and fighting alone against the rest of the galaxy" trope in milSF space opera (which I believe was jumpstarted by the Battlestar Galactica revival TV show, and can be seen in series like The Lost Fleet and my personal favorite, Spiral Wars). However, it quickly differentiates itself from any other similar books in two major ways.
First, Earth is not only conquered by aliens... it had already been claimed by them since long ago, and humanity just wasn't informed! Their technology is so superior that they have no issues officially taking over Earth, and they're even benevolent about it! This is a major strength of this story: the A!Tol, the "alien bad guys" of the story, are not "bad" at all! Or rather, they're not one-dimensional war-like aliens that just serve as the antagonist force for the humans, like aliens usually are in this kind of story. Instead, we get a complex and culturally interesting race of squid-like beings that despite their uncanny appearance, have a very human range of emotions and empathy. This alone makes for a very interesting tale, since the humans who will always rebel against their oppressors like they usually would, in this case have very little reason to actually do so! Say what?? (More on this in a bit.)
The second major way this book makes the trope its own: the captain of the sole free ship of the human fleet, Annette Bond, quickly realizes that in order to put up a fight against the A!Tol in order to free Earth, she can't just zip around the galaxy in her lone ship poking at them and running away to fight another day, which is the norm for a lone fighter in these stories. Instead, she has to BUILD a new fleet from scratch. And she manages to do so by discovering how the galaxy beyond works, and that humanity had no idea of. This galaxy thus flourishes with many shades of life, countless alien species (the main ones being a bit confusing since there is little description at too few points in the story), and a variety of cultures thriving within a cold war between multiple alien empires trying to become the dominant galactic force. This is definitely a far cry from the initial "evil aliens take over Earth" premise, and it's such a pleasant surprise finding such elaborate nuance that blasts away at light speed from what could have been a plain execution such trope.
Thus the remaining fleet of Earth become privateers, space pirates raiding ships and stations to gain resources and build a proper large fleet (though they still do it in a very military manner, since that's what they are). They soon find other pirate-minded individuals like them (well, aliens anyways), and a fascinating power struggle of bargains and sometimes brute force takes shape. Allies and enemies are made, crosses and double crosses occur, and it's all a joy to behold. The contrast between the military life of the captain's crew and the more carefree or gruff attitudes of the pirate exiles is fascinating.
Though there's plenty of focus on the human crew of the Earth cruiser, they soon intermingle with alien allies and foes, soon becoming part of their extended crew, and they are all treated like proper characters. Again, there's no typical demonizing of aliens just because they're aliens, and though there would be good reason for humans to outright despise the A!Tol, they end up discovering their culture and their "humanity", including the extremes they go through to make their takeover as harmless and deathless as possible. Thus, some of the humans go through some proper character development where hate evolves into more nuanced feelings over the race as complex, sentient people. This leads to the surprising but very logical conclusion to this book, a fascinating twist that cues the continuation of the story into what I can already tell is an interesting road.
So all top marks in terms of story. And now, to the part where I think the book falters: the combat.
Combat is always going to be a big part in a milSF space opera. And here, we have the problematic relativistic space combat rearing its ugly head once again. By its very nature (and the reason I'm not a big fan), it involves ships being millions of kilometers away from each other (making it hard for the mind to comprehend), missiles and other weapons moving at ridiculous near-light speeds and reducing attacks to mere seconds, and other frankly silly things like waiting for real positions of ships because of relativistic visual delays.
However, the blow is softened here by well written tension in fights, and added elements like defensive beams (that forces ships to actually get close to each other!), energy shields, and even warp portals (instead of just lightspeed travel that would have its own set of problems). There's even an "interface drive" that allow ships to maneuver uncannily fast. All of this tips the scale into more exciting battles... for relativistic space combat anyways. The ridiculous scales and speeds are still here, but they are more "visually" pleasant than in other stories with this type of combat. Battles are hard to comprehend sometimes (because that's relativistic combat baby!), but the author tries his best to make it understandable, though the end result is rather dry. I feel that if it was more conventional combat, battle scenes would have been much more enjoyable.
So combat being such a big part of the package, it does take from the enjoyment somewhat. But the rest is quite enjoyable. Compelling characters, unique setting, and a riveting story that subverts the sub-genre's tropes to carve its own fascinating niche. I am willing to overlook its often clunky combat in order to find out what happens next in this riveting tale of the Duchy of Terra.
January 14, 2021
With this book and many others like it, the only thing that makes in science fiction is that instead of seas and oceans there is space, instead of ships there are space ships, instead of nation states, some large some small, there are planetary systems and instead of different nationalities, there are aliens.
Wars are still fought the same way as on 20th century Earth and the same socioeconomic conditions that give rise to the wars, exist not only on 20th century Earth but throughout the galaxy....... Nothing quite like alien empires of the future running around the galaxy in search of private profit, creating spheres of influence, trying to stamp out financial criminality and etc.
But credit to the author for ticking many identity politics boxes. The number of times he wanted readers to know this or that character was black or "half-Chinese" and etc, how he wanted readers to know, a physically very tough and strong character was a homosexual for no reason at all other than letting us know he was a homosexual or he was black and etc. All this was just great. And the cherry on top was (I think that very homosexual) was a direct descendant of a British, not Russian, general who had "defeated Napoleon many times".
Wars are still fought the same way as on 20th century Earth and the same socioeconomic conditions that give rise to the wars, exist not only on 20th century Earth but throughout the galaxy....... Nothing quite like alien empires of the future running around the galaxy in search of private profit, creating spheres of influence, trying to stamp out financial criminality and etc.
But credit to the author for ticking many identity politics boxes. The number of times he wanted readers to know this or that character was black or "half-Chinese" and etc, how he wanted readers to know, a physically very tough and strong character was a homosexual for no reason at all other than letting us know he was a homosexual or he was black and etc. All this was just great. And the cherry on top was (I think that very homosexual) was a direct descendant of a British, not Russian, general who had "defeated Napoleon many times".
October 20, 2021
There's a lot to say about this book but I'll keep it vague. Firstly the reviews commenting on the 'agenda' don't seem particularly favourable or factual. There were several gay characters - perhaps a little overrepresented - but it wasn't thrown in your face. There was also a single reference to what some reviews pointed out as deviant which was basically tame AF and mentioned in passing. I can understand that it does feel as though a stance was taken on these issues, but it didn't detract from the story.
Overall, my problems with the book instead came down to the simple fact that everything goes the way of the main character. Constant lucky breaks and coincidence throughout, and while the lead wasn't incompetent, it was the situation rather than her skills that saved the day over and over and over.
I'll probably read the next one for some light non-stop action, but yea, there's not much to recommend or insult this book, it was mostly just bland.
Overall, my problems with the book instead came down to the simple fact that everything goes the way of the main character. Constant lucky breaks and coincidence throughout, and while the lead wasn't incompetent, it was the situation rather than her skills that saved the day over and over and over.
I'll probably read the next one for some light non-stop action, but yea, there's not much to recommend or insult this book, it was mostly just bland.
August 22, 2019
For some reason, this book dragged for me. I had to re-start it a bunch of times, and it just didn't hold my interest. I think it's the pacing, which is geared to set up the series. I've definitely enjoyed other books by Stewart in the past; the Changeling series is a favorite re-read for me. (Start with Changeling's Fealty.)
I do have to comment on other reviews that complain about the gay characters--Stewart is just describing a gay relationship in the same terms as any other romantic relationship, so get over it.
I do have to comment on other reviews that complain about the gay characters--Stewart is just describing a gay relationship in the same terms as any other romantic relationship, so get over it.
March 13, 2017
Read This Series!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.!..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you Love Good Space Opera, then this is a MUST Read. I'm Hooked, I've been reading Sci-fi, Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery for over Forty Years, yes I'm an Old Man lol. But Few Authors made me want to continue reading more of their work, as those I've found on Amazon for my Kindle. It's Great to have something Capture and Keep my Attention for more than a half hour. I'm a Multiple Stroke survivor and also have PTSD which makes it very hard for me to Concentrate on anything for long periods of time usually. But I've found Numerous Authors and Series that I'm following with a Passion.
If you Love Good Space Opera, then this is a MUST Read. I'm Hooked, I've been reading Sci-fi, Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery for over Forty Years, yes I'm an Old Man lol. But Few Authors made me want to continue reading more of their work, as those I've found on Amazon for my Kindle. It's Great to have something Capture and Keep my Attention for more than a half hour. I'm a Multiple Stroke survivor and also have PTSD which makes it very hard for me to Concentrate on anything for long periods of time usually. But I've found Numerous Authors and Series that I'm following with a Passion.
June 11, 2017
This was one of those books that I thought I should be really enjoying as I read it, but I didn’t. It was OK but something never felt right about the story.
First I didn’t like the way the author seemed to want the reader to like and respect the A!Tol, it almost felt like he wanted us to believe they were doing Earth a favour, this really annoyed me.
I also disliked the ending, it felt so contrived, almost as though the author hadn’t really planned it and had to come up with something to justify the series title ‘Duchy of Terra’.
First I didn’t like the way the author seemed to want the reader to like and respect the A!Tol, it almost felt like he wanted us to believe they were doing Earth a favour, this really annoyed me.
I also disliked the ending, it felt so contrived, almost as though the author hadn’t really planned it and had to come up with something to justify the series title ‘Duchy of Terra’.
January 24, 2017
I'm not much of a reader. Came across this book in audible and truly enjoyed it. Did get annoying with all the clicking noises and repeatedly saying the same things to get their point across. But would definitely recommend.
I'm not much of a reader. Came across this book in audible and truly enjoyed it. Did get annoying with all the clicking noises and repeatedly saying the same things to get their point across. But would definitely recommend.
I'm not much of a reader. Came across this book in audible and truly enjoyed it. Did get annoying with all the clicking noises and repeatedly saying the same things to get their point across. But would definitely recommend.
July 23, 2016
I would have given it another star, but I didn't care for the profanity. Story line is very interesting! A sort of combo of Firefly and Star Trek, it is unique and very much it's own thing. Awesome space opera!
January 15, 2017
Great novel. Good characters. Good plot. Read it and enjoy.
Great novel. Good characters. Good plot. Read it and enjoy.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, and found it engrossing as well as entertaining.
Great novel. Good characters. Good plot. Read it and enjoy.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, and found it engrossing as well as entertaining.
October 30, 2016
A good read
I enjoyed this book it was a good read. I hope the rest are as good in the series. I enjoyed it
I enjoyed this book it was a good read. I hope the rest are as good in the series. I enjoyed it
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