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Decker's War #2
Cold Comfort
Some people never learn that it’s a really bad idea to mess with a Marine Pathfinder, even one who’s been involuntarily retired. Zack Decker just wanted to be left alone so he could live a quiet life with the woman he loved and make up for lost time, but his enemies simply couldn’t resist the temptation to pursue their vendetta. One moment, he was hauling cargo across the depths of interstellar space, the next he was in the hands of pirates and headed for the barbaric worlds beyond the Coalsack nebula, to be sold into captivity. Marines don’t make good slaves and Zack was more than happy to show everyone why he should have been killed straight away, because he was coming back, looking for blood. Revenge might be cold comfort, but he would remind them once again that he was still one of the Few…
- GenresScience Fiction
Unknown Binding
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About the author
Eric Thomson
39 books129 followersEric Thomson is my pen name. I'm a former Canadian soldier who spent more years in uniform than he expected, serving in both the Regular Army (Infantry) and the Army Reserve (Armoured Corps). I spent several years as an Information Technology executive for the Canadian government before leaving the bowels of the demented bureaucracy to become a full-time author.
I've been a voracious reader of science-fiction, military fiction and history all my life, assiduously devouring the recommended Army reading list in my younger days and still occasionally returning to the classics for inspiration. Several years ago, I put my fingers to the keyboard and started writing my own military sci-fi, with a definite space opera slant, using many of my own experiences as a soldier as an inspiration for my stories and characters. When I'm not writing fiction, I indulge in my other passions: photography, hiking and scuba diving, all of which I've shared with my wife, who likes to call herself my #1 fan, for more than thirty years.
I've been a voracious reader of science-fiction, military fiction and history all my life, assiduously devouring the recommended Army reading list in my younger days and still occasionally returning to the classics for inspiration. Several years ago, I put my fingers to the keyboard and started writing my own military sci-fi, with a definite space opera slant, using many of my own experiences as a soldier as an inspiration for my stories and characters. When I'm not writing fiction, I indulge in my other passions: photography, hiking and scuba diving, all of which I've shared with my wife, who likes to call herself my #1 fan, for more than thirty years.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 29, 2024
What a letdown
*spoilers included*
So...what is this book?
I've struggled to answer that question while reading it, and i'm no closer to an answer now that I've finished it.
To start off, there should definitely have been trigger warnings for slavery and torture.
We immediately start off with Zack getting captured by pirates. His new wife gets killed in the crossfire, and he gets sold to a slave trader.
First off, immediately starting off the book with your main character as a slave so abruptly was very off-putting.
Second off, he watched his wife die and immediately started making eyes at the VERY FIRST attractive woman he saw. I shouldn't be surprised, though. In the last book, he immediately forgot about Raisa the moment he met his now dead wife. So, I guess the pattern continues.
About 50% or more of the book is spent detailing his time (about a year) as a slave soldier until he eventually escapes along with 200 other now former slave soldiers. We've seen him go through insane trials and tribulations in the previous book, and unless there is a plan for those 200 characters later on in the series I don't understand why this whole arc was a thing. The moment he gets back on a military base, he's whisked away, and we don't hear about those 200 for the rest of the book, including the new "love interest."
From there, the rest of the book is like a mix of a cringy spy novel and a half-baked romcom. Where they basically repeat the events in the first book verbatim, minus the bugs. You know how the force awakens was basically a reskin of a new hope? Think something similar to that.
And the biggest issue in the book and this entire series is the cringy, bad, and unnecessary sex jokes and innuendos. It felt like Eric couldn't go 2 pages (more so in the last 50% of the book) without some sort of joke or innuendos. If Eric had spent more time writing an actual engaging and interesting story than trying to find more "creative" ways to "apply the patented Decker charm," we might of had a good series on our hands.
I hate not finishing a series, and I was looking forward to reading this one and the 2 or 3 other series set in this universe but if this is the quality of writing we get after getting suckered in by the Siobhan Dunmoore series then I'm done. I'm cutting my losses on this universe and will find another series by a different author to read.
*spoilers included*
So...what is this book?
I've struggled to answer that question while reading it, and i'm no closer to an answer now that I've finished it.
To start off, there should definitely have been trigger warnings for slavery and torture.
We immediately start off with Zack getting captured by pirates. His new wife gets killed in the crossfire, and he gets sold to a slave trader.
First off, immediately starting off the book with your main character as a slave so abruptly was very off-putting.
Second off, he watched his wife die and immediately started making eyes at the VERY FIRST attractive woman he saw. I shouldn't be surprised, though. In the last book, he immediately forgot about Raisa the moment he met his now dead wife. So, I guess the pattern continues.
About 50% or more of the book is spent detailing his time (about a year) as a slave soldier until he eventually escapes along with 200 other now former slave soldiers. We've seen him go through insane trials and tribulations in the previous book, and unless there is a plan for those 200 characters later on in the series I don't understand why this whole arc was a thing. The moment he gets back on a military base, he's whisked away, and we don't hear about those 200 for the rest of the book, including the new "love interest."
From there, the rest of the book is like a mix of a cringy spy novel and a half-baked romcom. Where they basically repeat the events in the first book verbatim, minus the bugs. You know how the force awakens was basically a reskin of a new hope? Think something similar to that.
And the biggest issue in the book and this entire series is the cringy, bad, and unnecessary sex jokes and innuendos. It felt like Eric couldn't go 2 pages (more so in the last 50% of the book) without some sort of joke or innuendos. If Eric had spent more time writing an actual engaging and interesting story than trying to find more "creative" ways to "apply the patented Decker charm," we might of had a good series on our hands.
I hate not finishing a series, and I was looking forward to reading this one and the 2 or 3 other series set in this universe but if this is the quality of writing we get after getting suckered in by the Siobhan Dunmoore series then I'm done. I'm cutting my losses on this universe and will find another series by a different author to read.
September 28, 2016
Interstellar "Spartacus" Marine Pathfinder Secret Agent
"Decker's War," a run-of-the-mill space saga, continues in "Cold Comfort," Book 2. The writing is adequate, with multiple flaws that don't fully derail the low-brow ride.
Storyline: A veteran, retired Marine Pathfinder noncom, centuries in the future, separated from the service over a difference of opinion, found himself the unwitting pawn of Fleet Intelligence, in a clandestine battle between the Commonwealth Government and a cabal of wealth and power, the Coalition.
Victorious in exposing and destroying the sociopathic scorn of a cabal family, the hero and his wife are attacked by pirates, sent in revenge. The wife is killed, the hero sold into far flung alien slavery. The saga continues, more intrigue, espionage, treachery, betrayal-you get the gist.
The author has used "Spartacus," "Beau Geste," and more than a few other works to graft his weak, super hero Marine Pathfinder storyline onto. The author frames the hero as a honorable and moral man, conflicting with so much espoused in the story progression. The women in the lead character's life, have an alarming fatality rate. The hero has a daughter, abandoned years ago, when he was divorced by his first wife. An easy killer of pirates and slavers, the hero equivocates at killing the person responsible for the deadly chain of events. Repetition abounds throughout the eBook, plot devices the directly contradict Book 1 are multiple, and the adolescent nature of the eBook in general is distracting. The editing is lazy, since many of the faults are easily caught and corrected. The proofreading is much the same, with systemic issues.
Overall, the eBook is a "qualified" recommendation, as the story does move quickly and is marginally entertaining. The eBook was fully read via Kindle Unlimited.
"Decker's War," a run-of-the-mill space saga, continues in "Cold Comfort," Book 2. The writing is adequate, with multiple flaws that don't fully derail the low-brow ride.
Storyline: A veteran, retired Marine Pathfinder noncom, centuries in the future, separated from the service over a difference of opinion, found himself the unwitting pawn of Fleet Intelligence, in a clandestine battle between the Commonwealth Government and a cabal of wealth and power, the Coalition.
Victorious in exposing and destroying the sociopathic scorn of a cabal family, the hero and his wife are attacked by pirates, sent in revenge. The wife is killed, the hero sold into far flung alien slavery. The saga continues, more intrigue, espionage, treachery, betrayal-you get the gist.
The author has used "Spartacus," "Beau Geste," and more than a few other works to graft his weak, super hero Marine Pathfinder storyline onto. The author frames the hero as a honorable and moral man, conflicting with so much espoused in the story progression. The women in the lead character's life, have an alarming fatality rate. The hero has a daughter, abandoned years ago, when he was divorced by his first wife. An easy killer of pirates and slavers, the hero equivocates at killing the person responsible for the deadly chain of events. Repetition abounds throughout the eBook, plot devices the directly contradict Book 1 are multiple, and the adolescent nature of the eBook in general is distracting. The editing is lazy, since many of the faults are easily caught and corrected. The proofreading is much the same, with systemic issues.
Overall, the eBook is a "qualified" recommendation, as the story does move quickly and is marginally entertaining. The eBook was fully read via Kindle Unlimited.
March 16, 2019
A good second book for the series
Plenty of action and adventure in a sci fi shootum up. Follow Decker into slavery and out for revenge. Simply good.
Plenty of action and adventure in a sci fi shootum up. Follow Decker into slavery and out for revenge. Simply good.
February 27, 2020
Great read!
I'm enjoying the story lines so far. The author writes in a way that makes you think that your there.
I'm enjoying the story lines so far. The author writes in a way that makes you think that your there.
March 24, 2024
Can't say the main character hasn't had trials and tribulations, but starting the book with him being enslaved is kinda crazy
August 19, 2021
3.5 stars. Good sequel if you liked the first in the series.
August 17, 2016
The second book in this series. I enjoyed it a lot. Thomson has a smooth and unobtrusive writing style that make these stories easy to read. If you like military Sci-fi this is a good series.
January 6, 2016
A well written story with heroes the reader can cheer for. Good humor as well.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews