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Baldwin's Legacy #3
Culmination
A new Concord leader. A return to the War. A new legacy.
Captain Thomas Baldwin and the crew of Constantine have saved the Concord from the Assembly, and are tasked with bringing them to prison.
With a stop at Earon, the human home planet, everyone gets a few days of well needed rest.
When communication comes that the wormhole generator is ready, Constantine must return to the Statu system with a new fleet, alongside a brand-new flagship with a familiar AI.
Constantine Baldwin was rumored to have ended the War fifty years ago, but its up to Thomas Baldwin to really finish the job.
Join the ensemble crew of the Concord’s leading cruise ship as they encounter danger after danger, in hopes for a peaceful ending.
Culmination is the third book in the epic Baldwin’s Legacy series.
Captain Thomas Baldwin and the crew of Constantine have saved the Concord from the Assembly, and are tasked with bringing them to prison.
With a stop at Earon, the human home planet, everyone gets a few days of well needed rest.
When communication comes that the wormhole generator is ready, Constantine must return to the Statu system with a new fleet, alongside a brand-new flagship with a familiar AI.
Constantine Baldwin was rumored to have ended the War fifty years ago, but its up to Thomas Baldwin to really finish the job.
Join the ensemble crew of the Concord’s leading cruise ship as they encounter danger after danger, in hopes for a peaceful ending.
Culmination is the third book in the epic Baldwin’s Legacy series.
- GenresScience Fiction
319 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 25, 2020
266 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
September 12, 2021
Culmination is the 3rd in the Baldwin Legacy Series, and by now, we have grown very comfortable with the main crew of this series, led by the charismatic Thomas ‘Tom’ Baldwin, who started out trying to live up to the legacy of his Grandfather Constantine Baldwin, but in a very short time, has managed to carve out his own legacy, stopping an enemy long thought dead, ousting an alien from their new Prime, bringing down a terrorist organisation, and getting the mysterious Ugna to not only come out of hiding a bit, but actually join the Concord as a full fledged member and with a formidable fleet of ships as well, and that is not all. Baldwin and his crew, originally put together as nothing more than a bit of a show-pony crew, have proven themselves to be one of the crews of Legends.
At the start of this book, the crew of the Constantine are still coming to terms with the events of Unification, the loss of so many lives, how some crew that they thought were close ended up being traitors, and they now are faced with taking those traitors to a prison planet, to make sure that the rest of the Assembly cannot get at them.
As well as this, Ven, and his friends, are still coming to terms with how he managed to basically survive ‘death’, and is back with them, after believing for several days that they had lost their friend. Ven himself is also coming to terms with the changes this has had to his “Ugna” abilities.
However, the events of Unification have left questions, how did this happen? How was the assembly able to get their hands on the ships they did, and do what they did?
In Culmination, the Crew of Constantine go looking for answers as well.
Whilst looking into this, news comes through that the wormhole generator has been completed, with the ore from Greblok, allowing for them to generate their own wormhole to the Statu system, after Baldwin collapsed the other wormhole there in book 1.
No one knows what they are going to meet on the other side, as it has been sometime, and the Statu can be dangerous enemies.
This is a really thrilling book, and I don’t want to give anything away, as there is just so much that happens.
Treena Starling has a new body again in this book, making her more mobile again, but it is fascinating how she is a lot more cautious in this book with her new body, whilst she realises that she is still in a robot body, and therefore can’t die as such, she has a new lease on life, and does not want to be trapped in her broken shell, especially for months on end, waiting for a replacement, and she is terrified that one day they might say no, and not give her one. (Although you get the impression Reeve would just make her one then!)
All of the crew are a little more cautious in this book. Brax, having been so badly injured in Unification is a bit more wary of things in this book, but as always, is ready to leap into things – however, it is Reeve who is telling him to be more careful as she is worried about him.
And it is not just the physical aspects either, but the psychological aspect of things as well. The command crew are all hit hard by the betrayal of Zare, feeling an array of emotional responses to her deceptions, and that none of them saw it coming, especially Brax.
It is this incredible Character work, with such in-depth, intelligent, powerful and gritty portrayal of his characters, that makes Hystad’s writing just so good. Hystad is easily one of the best character driven story tellers on the Sci-Fi circuit today, continuously producing these brilliant, high quality stories with exceptional characters.
On top of that, the world building (or Galaxy Building), is just phenomenal, with these outstanding descriptions of different aliens, planets and ships. Each of them is described with such meticulous detail, providing you with this wonderful image for you to picture as you read, portrayed with so much detail, that you really feel like you are sitting on the bridge of the Constantine, or in the Jungles of the Ugna homeworld, the hot gritty desert of the Statu homeworld, or even the desolate camps they kept the prisoners in, making you really despise them.
This is a wonderful story, full of mystery, political intrigue, dangerous enemies, different twists and turns, fascinating technology, and amazing starships, with exceptional Characters, some that are new, some Legends, that have been captured as A.I.’s to allow for access to their strategy and tactics (and maybe more!),
This is a book that is full of extraordinary places and people, and one that you will just not be able to put down once you start reading (in fact, once you start reading the series you won’t be able to put it down!!)
If you love a good Mil Sci-FI, or Space Opera, then this is an absolute MUST READ – as it is one of the best out there, don’t miss it!!
At the start of this book, the crew of the Constantine are still coming to terms with the events of Unification, the loss of so many lives, how some crew that they thought were close ended up being traitors, and they now are faced with taking those traitors to a prison planet, to make sure that the rest of the Assembly cannot get at them.
As well as this, Ven, and his friends, are still coming to terms with how he managed to basically survive ‘death’, and is back with them, after believing for several days that they had lost their friend. Ven himself is also coming to terms with the changes this has had to his “Ugna” abilities.
However, the events of Unification have left questions, how did this happen? How was the assembly able to get their hands on the ships they did, and do what they did?
In Culmination, the Crew of Constantine go looking for answers as well.
Whilst looking into this, news comes through that the wormhole generator has been completed, with the ore from Greblok, allowing for them to generate their own wormhole to the Statu system, after Baldwin collapsed the other wormhole there in book 1.
No one knows what they are going to meet on the other side, as it has been sometime, and the Statu can be dangerous enemies.
This is a really thrilling book, and I don’t want to give anything away, as there is just so much that happens.
Treena Starling has a new body again in this book, making her more mobile again, but it is fascinating how she is a lot more cautious in this book with her new body, whilst she realises that she is still in a robot body, and therefore can’t die as such, she has a new lease on life, and does not want to be trapped in her broken shell, especially for months on end, waiting for a replacement, and she is terrified that one day they might say no, and not give her one. (Although you get the impression Reeve would just make her one then!)
All of the crew are a little more cautious in this book. Brax, having been so badly injured in Unification is a bit more wary of things in this book, but as always, is ready to leap into things – however, it is Reeve who is telling him to be more careful as she is worried about him.
And it is not just the physical aspects either, but the psychological aspect of things as well. The command crew are all hit hard by the betrayal of Zare, feeling an array of emotional responses to her deceptions, and that none of them saw it coming, especially Brax.
It is this incredible Character work, with such in-depth, intelligent, powerful and gritty portrayal of his characters, that makes Hystad’s writing just so good. Hystad is easily one of the best character driven story tellers on the Sci-Fi circuit today, continuously producing these brilliant, high quality stories with exceptional characters.
On top of that, the world building (or Galaxy Building), is just phenomenal, with these outstanding descriptions of different aliens, planets and ships. Each of them is described with such meticulous detail, providing you with this wonderful image for you to picture as you read, portrayed with so much detail, that you really feel like you are sitting on the bridge of the Constantine, or in the Jungles of the Ugna homeworld, the hot gritty desert of the Statu homeworld, or even the desolate camps they kept the prisoners in, making you really despise them.
This is a wonderful story, full of mystery, political intrigue, dangerous enemies, different twists and turns, fascinating technology, and amazing starships, with exceptional Characters, some that are new, some Legends, that have been captured as A.I.’s to allow for access to their strategy and tactics (and maybe more!),
This is a book that is full of extraordinary places and people, and one that you will just not be able to put down once you start reading (in fact, once you start reading the series you won’t be able to put it down!!)
If you love a good Mil Sci-FI, or Space Opera, then this is an absolute MUST READ – as it is one of the best out there, don’t miss it!!
March 19, 2020
The Concord has just captured the leader of the Assembly with three Concord legacy fleet starships. How they got those legacy starships is under investigation now. Captain Thomas Baldwin of the Concord starship, Constantine, along with his crew, were responsible for the capture of the Assembly force including those ships. He has delivered everything back to Nolix, capital of the Concord.
Now he’s told that he and his starship are going back out again to deliver their prisoners to some very remote prisons. They are also going to stop at Earon, there to investigate how the legendary ships had been removed from the archives. To get three of those older, but still powerful ships out of what was essentially the Concord museum, was no easy task. That the Assembly had done so and then was able to somewhat update those ships armament was extremely unexpected. Someone at the museum had to be working for the Assembly.
The prisoner return and the investigation were only minor missions to the real one that the Concord and the Constantine was preparing for. When everything was ready, the Constantine would form up with a small flotilla and head back through a wormhole to find and kill the Statu! They knew there were more captured Bacal’s from the Statu’s most recent excursion into Concord territory. While the Constantine had managed to free a great many, it was thought that more were still in captivity and that the Statu were using these humans to fight for them.
While the prisoner delivery wasn’t all that exciting, one complication did come up. Seda, the wife of the Assembly leader, was also a former crush for Captain Baldwin. While he didn’t have current feeling for her she was an extremely attractive woman who was going to spend the rest of her life on a desolate planet in as secure box; a prison for two, except the other person to be incarcerated with her was a her four-year old daughter, Luci. Tom just couldn’t leave her there to die. So, what’s he going to do with a small child?
They finally get on with their main mission and go through the wormhole. It was thought that the Statu forces were almost gone since they couldn’t fight their own wars. By using mind-wiped humans, the Statu could man a larger number of ships than otherwise, but the humans of the Concord didn’t know how many ships the Statu could field. Upon encountering the Statu over their homeworld, the Concord fleet finds out there are many more combat capable starships than they anticipated. They need reinforcements now!
Good story and seems kind of logical, but I don’t understand why the Concord is always short-handed in every battle. I guess that makes it more interesting, but you’d thing that with a galaxy-wide organization, they would build more ships than anyone else. And, a fighting starship is NOT a “cruise” ship. That is something the author just did wrong. Still, while this book ended well, I think there’s at least one more missions for the Constantine and Captain Thomas Baldwin.
Now he’s told that he and his starship are going back out again to deliver their prisoners to some very remote prisons. They are also going to stop at Earon, there to investigate how the legendary ships had been removed from the archives. To get three of those older, but still powerful ships out of what was essentially the Concord museum, was no easy task. That the Assembly had done so and then was able to somewhat update those ships armament was extremely unexpected. Someone at the museum had to be working for the Assembly.
The prisoner return and the investigation were only minor missions to the real one that the Concord and the Constantine was preparing for. When everything was ready, the Constantine would form up with a small flotilla and head back through a wormhole to find and kill the Statu! They knew there were more captured Bacal’s from the Statu’s most recent excursion into Concord territory. While the Constantine had managed to free a great many, it was thought that more were still in captivity and that the Statu were using these humans to fight for them.
While the prisoner delivery wasn’t all that exciting, one complication did come up. Seda, the wife of the Assembly leader, was also a former crush for Captain Baldwin. While he didn’t have current feeling for her she was an extremely attractive woman who was going to spend the rest of her life on a desolate planet in as secure box; a prison for two, except the other person to be incarcerated with her was a her four-year old daughter, Luci. Tom just couldn’t leave her there to die. So, what’s he going to do with a small child?
They finally get on with their main mission and go through the wormhole. It was thought that the Statu forces were almost gone since they couldn’t fight their own wars. By using mind-wiped humans, the Statu could man a larger number of ships than otherwise, but the humans of the Concord didn’t know how many ships the Statu could field. Upon encountering the Statu over their homeworld, the Concord fleet finds out there are many more combat capable starships than they anticipated. They need reinforcements now!
Good story and seems kind of logical, but I don’t understand why the Concord is always short-handed in every battle. I guess that makes it more interesting, but you’d thing that with a galaxy-wide organization, they would build more ships than anyone else. And, a fighting starship is NOT a “cruise” ship. That is something the author just did wrong. Still, while this book ended well, I think there’s at least one more missions for the Constantine and Captain Thomas Baldwin.
March 3, 2025
The military was so incredibly inept in this book, I find it hard to believe. Instead of planning for a worse case scenario, they assume their old enemy, the statu, have inferior numbers despite new evidence to the contrary. Then when they get to their planet and see wreckage, they automatically believe their enemy has been destroyed, without considering the statu did it themselves. They have evidence that they use slaves to build ships, that they've had the slaves breed for six decades and they've never even seen their home planet. Only the planet of the peaceful statu they wiped out. I also find it hard to believe that they only sent Two cruise ships, one Captained by an inexperienced, brash and cowardly person. They had retired ships that fought in the war, and the Assembly proved they can be improved and updated. While building the new cruise ship, they should've also updated as many retired operational ships as they could. And what of the updates Andron and other ships they confiscated? Also, they automatically believe Ina that a bunch of slaves that lived underground almost their entire life, somehow revolted, stole warships they've never flown or operated before and destroyed the entire Statu? Seriously? They immediately brought the slaves aboard, not even considering they could be sleeper agents, or have explosives inside them or that the whole thing is a trap. I just find it hard to believe any military force could be that incompetent.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2021
This story continues the adventures of Captain Thomas Baldwin, grandson of a legendary Admiral, and his now-seasoned crew. Having captured the enemy Assembly leader and recovered the three stolen Concord ships, they are now commissioned to escort the prisoners to their prison planets and to investigate how the Assembly force was able to steal the ships. Then, their major mission is to enter Statu territory, eliminate the enemy and free the prisoners, consisting of humans and several other races, they had taken over the course of many decades.
Mr, Hystad’s books contain strong characters that are deeply developed and have a lot of interaction, both serious and humorous. As usual, captain and crew face overwhelming odds and their share of bad luck, but they display a lot of courage and resolve to stay the course. I thoroughly enjoy the escape and entertainment these books provide – this is make-believe, after all! I have purchased the next book and look forward to reading it soon.
Mr, Hystad’s books contain strong characters that are deeply developed and have a lot of interaction, both serious and humorous. As usual, captain and crew face overwhelming odds and their share of bad luck, but they display a lot of courage and resolve to stay the course. I thoroughly enjoy the escape and entertainment these books provide – this is make-believe, after all! I have purchased the next book and look forward to reading it soon.
May 4, 2020
Good book but I think the captain should be quicker on the uptake
Good book, good character development and a great bunch of characters. I just shake my head sometimes because I think the captains a bit slow on the uptake, I think there are things he should realize early on before things happen to him and crew on his ship. This book has some similarities to Star Trek without the transporters, I miss the transporters considering how long this particular group has supposedly been in space, thousands of years? I would think the technology should be more advanced than it is. That’s why I gave this book only a four star rating. I am going to read the next book to see how it continues because there are a lot of Makaveli and developments and plot twists a good read.
Good book, good character development and a great bunch of characters. I just shake my head sometimes because I think the captains a bit slow on the uptake, I think there are things he should realize early on before things happen to him and crew on his ship. This book has some similarities to Star Trek without the transporters, I miss the transporters considering how long this particular group has supposedly been in space, thousands of years? I would think the technology should be more advanced than it is. That’s why I gave this book only a four star rating. I am going to read the next book to see how it continues because there are a lot of Makaveli and developments and plot twists a good read.
October 10, 2024
I have submitted this review after listening to the audio book of this title from within the series set box. (Audible Membership)
The culmination of new fleet vessels and alliances, dissecting the captured enemy vessels to find their weaknesses, the ore to create wormholes, together with the technology to do so. It all adds up to taking the battle to the enemies' home planets.
How they did all this is the crux of the story
The culmination of new fleet vessels and alliances, dissecting the captured enemy vessels to find their weaknesses, the ore to create wormholes, together with the technology to do so. It all adds up to taking the battle to the enemies' home planets.
How they did all this is the crux of the story
January 7, 2025
This was a good wrap up to the war with the Statu but sets up more things to come. I feel this one was centered more on Baldwin’s personality as a commander and I liked learning about that. I’m interested to see where the story goes, although it does seem to be getting repetitive. I hope the next book proves me wrong.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 6, 2020
Good story
It started off really slow, almost boring ., but then the action began in true nathan hystad style. Look forward to the next book and hope that tom can stop the statu evil people
It started off really slow, almost boring ., but then the action began in true nathan hystad style. Look forward to the next book and hope that tom can stop the statu evil people
July 4, 2021
The end of one catastrophe and the beginning of another.
The Statu have been defeated and it looks like a time of peace.But, peace is hard to achieve and maintain.There are always someone reaching for something that is not theirs.
The Statu have been defeated and it looks like a time of peace.But, peace is hard to achieve and maintain.There are always someone reaching for something that is not theirs.
October 26, 2024
Culmination sticks to the same formula as the previous books, but that’s not a bad thing. The characters remain enjoyable, and while the underlying mystery of the series is pretty obvious at this point, I’m still looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds. Overall, it’s an enjoyable, light sci-fi spaceship book that keeps the fun going.
March 3, 2020
Good read long but still recommend reading the book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 28, 2020
Good stuff right here...
I appreciate Natans books for a couple reasons but one is that he doesn't have to use piles of profanity to keep his audience glued to the story!
I appreciate Natans books for a couple reasons but one is that he doesn't have to use piles of profanity to keep his audience glued to the story!
August 28, 2020
Nice simple read. Helps to read the previous books. Good character builds. A good mix from other more popular sci-fi stories. Good concept of good vs evil. Just a fun read.
January 9, 2021
Very interesting reading in this book. I hope the rest this good.
January 14, 2021
Better and better
I find each book in this series harder and harder to put down. Old and new characters just get better with each book and so do all the intertwined story lines.
I find each book in this series harder and harder to put down. Old and new characters just get better with each book and so do all the intertwined story lines.
April 6, 2023
Didn't enjoy this one as much but it definitely has its moments with a great ending for the next in the series.
October 9, 2023
Well worth continuing the series - quite enjoying all the books
March 13, 2024
Great book loved the story and the book narration can’t wait to listen to the next book great book series I highly recommend this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👍😀
September 22, 2024
Consistent series. Trek like but missing a few key elements.
February 10, 2025
It's kind of like watching/reading/listening to a Star Trek style series.
February 26, 2025
The end of one story and the beginning of another
Loved this one. With the creation of the wormhole generator Captain Thomas Baldwin can finally engage the Statu in the past great battle. Action packed and well paced leading to an epic final section this is a great read and the epilogue really throws the cat among the . For the rest of the series. Great stuff and I had to start the next one straight away.
Loved this one. With the creation of the wormhole generator Captain Thomas Baldwin can finally engage the Statu in the past great battle. Action packed and well paced leading to an epic final section this is a great read and the epilogue really throws the cat among the . For the rest of the series. Great stuff and I had to start the next one straight away.
May 15, 2025
Cool story, terrible writing. Basic plot errors, poor grammar and imagery.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews