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Lucky's Marines #7
Lucky Justice
A simple mission gone impossibly wrong. Ambushed by an enemy that shouldn't exist, Lucky and his Marines must overcome powerful forces with limitless resources – and a princess with limitless ego. But Sergeant Lucky Savage has a powerful weapon of his own. Whether he can manage to control it is an open question. As time runs out, and the stakes rise to inconceivable levels, Lucky realizes that even if he wins, humanity stands to lose everything. Don't ask Lucky. Just give him a weapon and get out of the way. Gritty. Fast-Paced. Addictive. You'll love this high-octane military sci-fi because it's the love child of "Starship Troopers" and "Jason Bourne."
- GenresScience Fiction
272 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 3, 2019
145 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 28, 2025
This is book #7 in the series so it should not be where you begin. That would be Lucky Universe https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This book starts with the author revealing his “working plan” for this series. "I originally envisioned the Lucky series much like my beloved Star Wars: A trilogy of trilogies. (Stop me if I’ve told you this five times!) The initial trilogy was the most important because it set everything in motion. The Da’hune. The Corridor. The Hate. The next trilogy was fun because we got to explore a little bit of the NewVerse, make new allies and enemies, and then see the Emperor spin it all to land a devastating blow to that old nemesis, the Cardinal Order. As we start this new trilogy, the battle for Old Earth is looming."
"The only thing you really need to know to enjoy Lucky Justice is that it takes place some three months after the events of Lucky Revenge in a remote part of the galaxy." Of course, if you haven’t read Lucky Revenge, what are you doing opening this book!!
"Lucky shook his head. “We rendezvous, gather what we can, and go find Crad. We get the Queen back. We put an end to the operation here.” He gestured around the Smoke room. “And we bring Crad to justice.” “Justice?” Dulles sputtered. “Are you insane? He’s a monster who just blew the hell out of your little strike force. Are you listening to anything I’m telling you? He took down an Empire carrier group that came at him armed to the teeth.” “I heard,” Lucky said. “So now you can hear me. We don’t pick the missions. We just get ‘em done.”"
The usual gang is with Lucky and that makes for dialogue that you either enjoy or are offended by (or both?).
"Lucky hung back to look at the carnage one last time. “Look on the bright side,” Malby said, surprising Lucky. He’d thought everyone was inside. Malby slapped Lucky on the shoulder entirely too hard. “You did the dirty work for this Crad guy, so maybe he’ll be cool about it.” Lucky sighed. “Thanks, Malby.” “You got it, hoss,” he said with a smile, then turned into the pod. “That’s what I’m here for. Moral support!” “I’ve got something he could support,” Rocky said. Lucky cringed. “Don’t I have enough disturbing voices in my head to deal with?”"
Lucky is a unique marine in several ways and Rocky is the A.I. embedded in his brain. Rocky is another voice with answers that Lucky would not be able to get otherwise. Rocky is designated female (much like Siri in its original manufacturer’s issue) and Rocky can link with other A.I. and do deep research. But Lucky also has another voice in his head call “the Hate” which complicates his life. Lucky’s day-to-day life is not fortunate. Something is always going wrong.
"“Follow the cables,” Lucky screamed. “Move! And keep low and quiet.” He turned without watching the two go. Considering they were the assets, the rules of the situation dictated that he should stay with them. But he wasn’t following the rules right now. “Let’s go,” Lucky shouted back out the open paneling into the main corridor, or tried to."
Some of what goes wrong is his fault but a lot of it is being dropped into the “big concept” plans of The Empire. Here he is the security on a diplomatic mission that goes wrong from the beginning and is complicated by a big pirate gang and some high value contraband.
"Anna looked at Lucky, and he could see genuine fear there. This little girl was in so far over her head she couldn’t see the top."
Anna is “Princess.” April is “Emperor.” “Smoke” is drugs. Dabs is part of Lucky’s world. And James keeps giving us complications.
"But if they were lucky and the bastards that were responsible for this were stupid, she had a chance of picking up the Marines and getting them back here before anyone was the wiser. Hopefully they were off on a wild goose chase to the other side of the crust. Not that Dabs actually trusted their luck to work that way. It never did when she was working with Lucky. What had April said? She had a feeling there might be trouble? How much did she really know? Did she know it all? Did she know about the Smoke operation? Did she know about the pirates? Or did she just know about the Queen down there trying to make a point to Daddy and walking into a trap? Dabs was willing to bet it was the latter. April was a bitch of a boss to work for, but even an Emperor with her head up her ass wouldn’t send her people down here into this shitshow without warning if she knew the true extent of the clusterfuckedness of it all."
At the end of this book, we are just at the beginning of the biggest threat to the Empire and the known universe.
This book starts with the author revealing his “working plan” for this series. "I originally envisioned the Lucky series much like my beloved Star Wars: A trilogy of trilogies. (Stop me if I’ve told you this five times!) The initial trilogy was the most important because it set everything in motion. The Da’hune. The Corridor. The Hate. The next trilogy was fun because we got to explore a little bit of the NewVerse, make new allies and enemies, and then see the Emperor spin it all to land a devastating blow to that old nemesis, the Cardinal Order. As we start this new trilogy, the battle for Old Earth is looming."
"The only thing you really need to know to enjoy Lucky Justice is that it takes place some three months after the events of Lucky Revenge in a remote part of the galaxy." Of course, if you haven’t read Lucky Revenge, what are you doing opening this book!!
"Lucky shook his head. “We rendezvous, gather what we can, and go find Crad. We get the Queen back. We put an end to the operation here.” He gestured around the Smoke room. “And we bring Crad to justice.” “Justice?” Dulles sputtered. “Are you insane? He’s a monster who just blew the hell out of your little strike force. Are you listening to anything I’m telling you? He took down an Empire carrier group that came at him armed to the teeth.” “I heard,” Lucky said. “So now you can hear me. We don’t pick the missions. We just get ‘em done.”"
The usual gang is with Lucky and that makes for dialogue that you either enjoy or are offended by (or both?).
"Lucky hung back to look at the carnage one last time. “Look on the bright side,” Malby said, surprising Lucky. He’d thought everyone was inside. Malby slapped Lucky on the shoulder entirely too hard. “You did the dirty work for this Crad guy, so maybe he’ll be cool about it.” Lucky sighed. “Thanks, Malby.” “You got it, hoss,” he said with a smile, then turned into the pod. “That’s what I’m here for. Moral support!” “I’ve got something he could support,” Rocky said. Lucky cringed. “Don’t I have enough disturbing voices in my head to deal with?”"
Lucky is a unique marine in several ways and Rocky is the A.I. embedded in his brain. Rocky is another voice with answers that Lucky would not be able to get otherwise. Rocky is designated female (much like Siri in its original manufacturer’s issue) and Rocky can link with other A.I. and do deep research. But Lucky also has another voice in his head call “the Hate” which complicates his life. Lucky’s day-to-day life is not fortunate. Something is always going wrong.
"“Follow the cables,” Lucky screamed. “Move! And keep low and quiet.” He turned without watching the two go. Considering they were the assets, the rules of the situation dictated that he should stay with them. But he wasn’t following the rules right now. “Let’s go,” Lucky shouted back out the open paneling into the main corridor, or tried to."
Some of what goes wrong is his fault but a lot of it is being dropped into the “big concept” plans of The Empire. Here he is the security on a diplomatic mission that goes wrong from the beginning and is complicated by a big pirate gang and some high value contraband.
"Anna looked at Lucky, and he could see genuine fear there. This little girl was in so far over her head she couldn’t see the top."
Anna is “Princess.” April is “Emperor.” “Smoke” is drugs. Dabs is part of Lucky’s world. And James keeps giving us complications.
"But if they were lucky and the bastards that were responsible for this were stupid, she had a chance of picking up the Marines and getting them back here before anyone was the wiser. Hopefully they were off on a wild goose chase to the other side of the crust. Not that Dabs actually trusted their luck to work that way. It never did when she was working with Lucky. What had April said? She had a feeling there might be trouble? How much did she really know? Did she know it all? Did she know about the Smoke operation? Did she know about the pirates? Or did she just know about the Queen down there trying to make a point to Daddy and walking into a trap? Dabs was willing to bet it was the latter. April was a bitch of a boss to work for, but even an Emperor with her head up her ass wouldn’t send her people down here into this shitshow without warning if she knew the true extent of the clusterfuckedness of it all."
At the end of this book, we are just at the beginning of the biggest threat to the Empire and the known universe.
May 20, 2019
Another superb and fun read installment. Lucky and his team once again get into mayhem and hard situations difficult to come out. This is a fast moving, multiple turn, sideways drifting, humorous, multi-level adventure. I enjoyed the journey with all the twist and turns. Looking forward to book 8 in the series!
May 12, 2019
Joshua James' Lucky series Great as ever!
I'm a fan of Marine squad level science fiction. This is great Mariene level snark blood and guts fighting! It as some fleet level battles. However J.J. ( Joshua James ) even manages to get this type fighting on a more personal level. Only con about this?
8 is not availible yet!
I'm a fan of Marine squad level science fiction. This is great Mariene level snark blood and guts fighting! It as some fleet level battles. However J.J. ( Joshua James ) even manages to get this type fighting on a more personal level. Only con about this?
8 is not availible yet!
May 11, 2019
This is another great story in Lucky's world! As always, it is full of action and the characters feel so real that you feel part of the crew. I became totally immersed in this novel and escaped with Lucky for a few hours. Get this series and enjoy the read, hopefully as much as I did.
July 22, 2019
Emperor April is at a bit of a remove this time, so I didn’t have to try to wrap my brain around her shenanigans. Which, honestly, was kind of good. She was hurting my head, and half the time I couldn’t figure out why she needlessly complicated everything. I mean, besides the fact that she’s certifiably crazy. I was able to keep up with the twists and turns of the plot this time (don’t worry, there still are twists and turns), which was a nice change of pace. Most of our other old friends are here though: Lucky, Malby, Jiang, and Dabs, along with a new Marine named Crusher and the Princess Elspeth. On the one hand, the princess starts out being a stereotype. But on the other hand she does grow as a character, which is nice. We also spend some time with the planetary governor and the head of security, both of whom have plenty of personality.
The real draw of these books is Lucky’s particular brand of crazy, the excellent world-building, and plenty of excellent and inventive action scenes. There’s space battles, hand-to-hand combat, gun combat… pretty much anything you can think of. Because the Marines are augmented with nanobots and AIs, they can take an extreme amount of damage and keep regenerating.
Content note: hyper-violence, racism (speciesism?), and a touch of misogyny. (On the part of characters. I didn’t feel as though the characters were mouthpieces for the author when expressing these things.)
Time to dive into book number eight! So far seven is my favorite volume in the series.
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/07/r...
The real draw of these books is Lucky’s particular brand of crazy, the excellent world-building, and plenty of excellent and inventive action scenes. There’s space battles, hand-to-hand combat, gun combat… pretty much anything you can think of. Because the Marines are augmented with nanobots and AIs, they can take an extreme amount of damage and keep regenerating.
Content note: hyper-violence, racism (speciesism?), and a touch of misogyny. (On the part of characters. I didn’t feel as though the characters were mouthpieces for the author when expressing these things.)
Time to dive into book number eight! So far seven is my favorite volume in the series.
Original review posted on my blog: http://www.errantdreams.com/2019/07/r...
August 18, 2019
Lucky I found this series!
I always hate to come to the end of a good series. I always want more. Hopefully Mr. James will decide Lucky's adventures should continue, and I'll get my wish.
This story puts an interesting twist to the story I was totally not expecting.
No spoilers, so I will just say, the twist was brilliant!
You get two almost impossible crisis for the price of one in this thriller; one in space, and one on a planet the author did a good job building, without boring us with too much detail.
Like most series, these stories need to be read in order. So grab the first one, and jump into an excellent space opera.
I can't wait to see what disaster Lucky gets thrust into next!
I always hate to come to the end of a good series. I always want more. Hopefully Mr. James will decide Lucky's adventures should continue, and I'll get my wish.
This story puts an interesting twist to the story I was totally not expecting.
No spoilers, so I will just say, the twist was brilliant!
You get two almost impossible crisis for the price of one in this thriller; one in space, and one on a planet the author did a good job building, without boring us with too much detail.
Like most series, these stories need to be read in order. So grab the first one, and jump into an excellent space opera.
I can't wait to see what disaster Lucky gets thrust into next!
December 19, 2019
Fast-paced, full of action, Snark, fun.
I don’t read the series continuously because there was an aspect of it I did not like. That aspect was that lucky could not control the most potent weapon he had at his disposal. In fact he could not use it around his friends because there was a possibility of him killing them as well. This was a better book and if the situation continues as it did in this book I may go back and read more it was fun fast and gory, if you like that kind of stuff in a book you will enjoy this one.
I don’t read the series continuously because there was an aspect of it I did not like. That aspect was that lucky could not control the most potent weapon he had at his disposal. In fact he could not use it around his friends because there was a possibility of him killing them as well. This was a better book and if the situation continues as it did in this book I may go back and read more it was fun fast and gory, if you like that kind of stuff in a book you will enjoy this one.
May 31, 2019
How much luck can a meat head chuck?
Interesting installment of the lucky story. It’s always something with this guy and that something is usually going wrong for him. Very suspenseful even though you’re sure the crap is about to hit the fan again and again until Lucky is broken and bloody. Honestly, he may live forever if his bots and stems last. Enjoy the ride to planet troll. ;)
Interesting installment of the lucky story. It’s always something with this guy and that something is usually going wrong for him. Very suspenseful even though you’re sure the crap is about to hit the fan again and again until Lucky is broken and bloody. Honestly, he may live forever if his bots and stems last. Enjoy the ride to planet troll. ;)
May 14, 2019
Reads like an amazing action movie but needs a longer "run time" lol.
Reads like an amazing action movie but needs a longer "run time". Great characters, witty and of course, all out breaking loose of the hell!
Reads like an amazing action movie but needs a longer "run time". Great characters, witty and of course, all out breaking loose of the hell!
May 31, 2019
Captivating series
Just read all the available releases in this series to date.
I normally don't do reviews, however I am hooked on Lucky.
Love the reads. Please hurry on the next release. Two thumbs up.
Just read all the available releases in this series to date.
I normally don't do reviews, however I am hooked on Lucky.
Love the reads. Please hurry on the next release. Two thumbs up.
June 13, 2019
One dimensional violence
Action continues at warp speed. Powered by Lucky’s talent.
Is he psychotically warlike, or just a MARINE?
(PS the few Marines I have met have been perfectly reasonable, but then I was NOT ARGUING with them)
Action continues at warp speed. Powered by Lucky’s talent.
Is he psychotically warlike, or just a MARINE?
(PS the few Marines I have met have been perfectly reasonable, but then I was NOT ARGUING with them)
May 15, 2019
Great book in the lucky saga!
As always, great next story about lucky and his Marines! Fast funny and great action highly recommend the whole series.
As always, great next story about lucky and his Marines! Fast funny and great action highly recommend the whole series.
June 1, 2019
Fantastic
Well fancy leaving it like that LOL but I will forgive you hehe well now you have me really looking forward to the next book. 😂😈😀
Well fancy leaving it like that LOL but I will forgive you hehe well now you have me really looking forward to the next book. 😂😈😀
July 4, 2019
Another good book in this great series👍👍
Once you start reading you don't want to stop. I suggest that you start on a Friday so you can read all weekend.
Once you start reading you don't want to stop. I suggest that you start on a Friday so you can read all weekend.
July 4, 2019
Just a fun story
No unnecessary minutia. A good take that keeps moving forward. Writing in an active voice, Mr James must keep a copy of Shrunk & White in hand.
No unnecessary minutia. A good take that keeps moving forward. Writing in an active voice, Mr James must keep a copy of Shrunk & White in hand.
October 12, 2019
Lucky’ Marines-book 7
Great read. Hard to put down as the action never stops and one never knows how it will unfold . The author’s imagination is extraordinary!
Great read. Hard to put down as the action never stops and one never knows how it will unfold . The author’s imagination is extraordinary!
June 12, 2020
Full of action and adventure - An excellent read.
March 9, 2022
Another formulaic tome. Reasonably inventive, but I was confused as to how it fit into the universe established in the preceding novels.
February 10, 2023
Comes thru again
Lucky just isn't A marine he is accident waiting to happen this book like the others proves the point and it's a well done point
Lucky just isn't A marine he is accident waiting to happen this book like the others proves the point and it's a well done point
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews