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Nemesis
In the aftermath of disaster, China and America vie for control over North Africa and the world, while a band of engineers and mercenaries risk everything to save millions from starvation and forge a better future for all mankind.
322 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 28, 2022
7 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Robert Kroese
71 books632 followersRobert Kroese's sense of irony was honed growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan - home of the Amway Corporation and the Gerald R. Ford Museum, and the first city in the United States to fluoridate its water supply. In second grade, he wrote his first novel, the saga of Captain Bill and his spaceship Thee Eagle. This turned out to be the high point of his academic career. After barely graduating from Calvin College in 1992 with a philosophy degree, he was fired from a variety of jobs before moving to California, where he stumbled into software development. As this job required neither punctuality nor a sense of direction, he excelled at it. In 2009, he called upon his extensive knowledge of useless information and love of explosions to write his first novel, Mercury Falls. Since then, he has written 18 more books.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 14, 2023
I very much enjoyed this series, however I was torn between 3 or 4 stars. I settled on 3 as I feel like the Science Fiction part of me was left a bit wanting, even if the rest of the book was well done. On to the next series!
April 17, 2023
A beleaguered launch site in the North African desert tries to get one last mission into orbit to save humanity before the alliance of warlords sack the site. The series has been a very good topical read in a current world where many see no reason to "waste" another dollar in space.
June 14, 2023
A little further into the weeds as the world disintegrates, which means it's not as cohesive as the first two, but if you gotta pick a stopping place for a situation that's going to have ramifications for decaes, this is a good spot.
August 29, 2022
The presence of puppies has parlously pulped putative perusal plans, but I managed to stay awake to finish out Kroese's latest trilogy.
Which he makes pretty easy as the story winds up threads from the previous two books with cliffhanger after cliffhanger and (much like The Dream of the Iron Dragon) has a satisfying and unexpected denouement.
Also much like The Iron Dragon series, the characters at the end of the book are not necessarily the ones you thought you were going to be reading about at the beginning. The series' putative hero, Kade Kapur, while he does save the day here is basically out of commission (in terms of affecting the plot) up to the very end. Valerie Munoz, his would-be girlfriend from childhood, has a much bigger role throughout the trilogy.
It feels kind of like life, really, because characters enter and leave and anyone can die at any time. (This is what all great horror stories have in common with real life.) Unlike some hackier authors , those deaths tend to have meaning beyond just providing a cheap shock.
The descriptions throughout the trilogy of a USA in decline are disturbingly real, from how the economy collapses to how the government responds to various events, and this is no different here. In fact, my greatest worry here was that the obvious motivation of all the action was nonsense. (One of my pet peeves is when writers have a cataclysmic event that everyone reacts to by behaving absolutely the same.)
But this is not an oversight, as is well covered by the end of the book, so all I have to accept, really, is that the governments and people caught up in the action missed the forest for the trees. To accept that I just have to look around.
So, well done. Looking forward to the next series!
Which he makes pretty easy as the story winds up threads from the previous two books with cliffhanger after cliffhanger and (much like The Dream of the Iron Dragon) has a satisfying and unexpected denouement.
Also much like The Iron Dragon series, the characters at the end of the book are not necessarily the ones you thought you were going to be reading about at the beginning. The series' putative hero, Kade Kapur, while he does save the day here is basically out of commission (in terms of affecting the plot) up to the very end. Valerie Munoz, his would-be girlfriend from childhood, has a much bigger role throughout the trilogy.
It feels kind of like life, really, because characters enter and leave and anyone can die at any time. (This is what all great horror stories have in common with real life.) Unlike some hackier authors , those deaths tend to have meaning beyond just providing a cheap shock.
The descriptions throughout the trilogy of a USA in decline are disturbingly real, from how the economy collapses to how the government responds to various events, and this is no different here. In fact, my greatest worry here was that the obvious motivation of all the action was nonsense. (One of my pet peeves is when writers have a cataclysmic event that everyone reacts to by behaving absolutely the same.)
But this is not an oversight, as is well covered by the end of the book, so all I have to accept, really, is that the governments and people caught up in the action missed the forest for the trees. To accept that I just have to look around.
So, well done. Looking forward to the next series!
September 17, 2022
Perfect wrap-up to a great series
Even though it had been a while since I read Books 1 and 2 of the series, I was able to pick right up where I left off. This is a tribute to Kroese’s consistency of character and voice, and ability to sustain his overarching story across the series, with no loss of reader involvement. His ability to credibly tear down the great (if rotten) pillars of what we call “civilization”, to strip his characters of power and custom, and still create from the ruins a world where the human spirit survives and triumphs… sheer genius!
Even though it had been a while since I read Books 1 and 2 of the series, I was able to pick right up where I left off. This is a tribute to Kroese’s consistency of character and voice, and ability to sustain his overarching story across the series, with no loss of reader involvement. His ability to credibly tear down the great (if rotten) pillars of what we call “civilization”, to strip his characters of power and custom, and still create from the ruins a world where the human spirit survives and triumphs… sheer genius!
September 5, 2025
This is a 3-star review, but 2.5 stars might be closer to my experience.
This series started out as highly inventive with a great mix of economics, politics, and technology.
This book really is a thinly veiled primer on economics mixed with a little bit of politics.
The world rapidly shifted into a "low trust" mode, but the outcome of the story relies on "high trust" behaviors. The odds of that outcome are low.
If you read and enjoyed the prior two entries, then reading this book is a good choice. You won't miss much by skipping it.
This series started out as highly inventive with a great mix of economics, politics, and technology.
This book really is a thinly veiled primer on economics mixed with a little bit of politics.
The world rapidly shifted into a "low trust" mode, but the outcome of the story relies on "high trust" behaviors. The odds of that outcome are low.
If you read and enjoyed the prior two entries, then reading this book is a good choice. You won't miss much by skipping it.
July 1, 2023
This is a review of this whole series. Mr. Kroese has done remarkable things here. Even while Michael Crichton was still writing I was looking for other writers of his guild, and in R.K. I have found. R.K. writes with the grip of Crichton, but with a broader scope and often more depth. Thank you, R.K. and everyone helping you, for clearly much hard work and great education within!!!
November 3, 2024
A fine conclusion to the series
Somehow, Kroese manages to wrap up the global-scale issues and characters' personal arcs in a satisfying fashion. This one probably features the most play-by-play action scenes, too.
Somehow, Kroese manages to wrap up the global-scale issues and characters' personal arcs in a satisfying fashion. This one probably features the most play-by-play action scenes, too.
August 13, 2022
Crazy, fast, dangerous, ... How to survive (sort of) the apocalypse.
January 22, 2023
Surprising game theory ending to the trilogy.
Tragic really. Resource hell.
Worthwhile libertarian read.
Tragic really. Resource hell.
Worthwhile libertarian read.
February 22, 2023
Stuck the landing. Great work, Rob.
October 14, 2024
Audiobook. 10 stars. Amazing performance. Amazing series. Best ending to a trilogy ever. Trilogy tops my "everyone must read this" list. Which I totally haven't created yet.
August 23, 2025
Very interesting trilogy, I could never have predicted it would go in the directions it did and Kroese’s ability to make me care about new characters was really remarkable.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews