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Peacekeepers of Sol #1
Raven's Peace
The alien Kenmiri empire has fallen. The rebels must survive the aftermath.
After seventeen years of war, humanity has thrown the Kenmiri Empire back from its borders and into defeat. Colonel Henry Wong struck a killing blow to break the insectoid invaders' will, backed by the immense alliance of rebels and freed slaves forged by the United Planets Alliance he serves. Now the war is over. A great Gathering has been called of the allies who fought the war, but they only ever shared a common enemy.
With the Kenmiri in retreat, a thousand new agendas are revealed. Humanity wants peace above all else. The UPA's allies want everything from new homes to new empires – and all too many of them are prepared to do anything to achieve their goals.
War was hard enough. Peace may be impossible.
After seventeen years of war, humanity has thrown the Kenmiri Empire back from its borders and into defeat. Colonel Henry Wong struck a killing blow to break the insectoid invaders' will, backed by the immense alliance of rebels and freed slaves forged by the United Planets Alliance he serves. Now the war is over. A great Gathering has been called of the allies who fought the war, but they only ever shared a common enemy.
With the Kenmiri in retreat, a thousand new agendas are revealed. Humanity wants peace above all else. The UPA's allies want everything from new homes to new empires – and all too many of them are prepared to do anything to achieve their goals.
War was hard enough. Peace may be impossible.
321 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 4, 2019
1038 people are currently reading
1240 people want to read
About the author
Glynn Stewart
115 books1,747 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 91 reviews
May 25, 2022
If you enjoy pulp sci-fi then these books are going to be right up your alley. The book starts with the protagonist in a mental health facility then getting released and by the end of the day his world has changed dramatically. I refuse to do spoilers in my reviews so I cant really tell you much about the story without spoiling something. Its a space opera, a major war had been going on but seems to be over and now how do you keep the peace. Its a lot of fun and not a overly thought educing read so if you just want a nice beach read then this should work great for that.
#spaceopera
#spaceopera
Read
July 20, 2025Rating: minus 3 on a scale of minus 5 to plus 5.
This title is due for rewrite. I doubt that anyone will read this but it needs be done.
Before I begin, I will visit YouTube. This was made possible by Doctor Who/They Break My Heart -RecklessGirl100, NCMI, Red Glasgow, Hoots. Mia Mulder, Naughty Nana DUZ, Silicon Curtain, LuckyBlackCat, Liz Webster, Cindy's Villa, Gingers are Black, ScaredKetchup, Fun Size Reader, Northern Narrowboaters, Girls Rock Asia, Radio Retrofuture, LIbrary of a Viking, Miranda Mills, Democratic Penguin Republic, Artur Rehi, Petticoats and Prose, Blossoms and Greens by Chloe, Mynameismarines, Broken Peach, Nikki Carreon, Widebeam and Wellingtons, Imperial Naval History, Veritas et Caritas, British Museum, NFKRZ, Tank Encyclopedia, Anka Daily News, Tibees, Up and Atom, Ukraine Calling, Yoyomi, May Moon Narrowboat, Jake Broe, Narrowboat Pirate, Sailing Melody, Agro Squirrel Narrates, Maggie Mae Fish, HBomberGuy, Dr Fatima, Anka Daily News, Fit 2B Read, Kyiv Independent, Eugenia from Ukraine, Kazachka, Weirdo Book Club, Tale Foundry, Supertanskiii, Munecat, Roads with Beau, Josh Johnson, Boat Time, Widebeam and Wellingtons, The Narrowboat that James Built, TIKHistory, Operator Starsky, Anna Gramling, Plato's Cave, Ponderful, Rachel Oates, The Book Leo, Crecganford, Friendly Atheist, Not the Andrew Marr Show, Stevie Emerson, WION, Omeleto, Truth to Power, Reese Waters, Belle of the Ranch, Squire, The Cosy Creative, Mandy, Science Fiction with Damien Walker, Amie's Literary Empire, Lady of the Library, Renegade Cut, Dark Brandon, Trae Crowder, The Military Show, Wes O'Donnell, KernowDamo, Inside Russia, Vasya in the Hay, Fantasy and World Music by the Fletchers, No Justice, Times Radio, Combat Veteran Reacts, Alina Gingertail, Eugenia from Ukraine, Think that Through, Yugopnik, May, Raw News and Politics, Natasha's Adventures, NFKRZ, Professor Gerdes Explains, YuJa Wang, EarleWrites, Keffals, Shitty Book Club, Emil Cosman, Endling Echoes, Jessica Kellgren Fozard, Bernadette Banner, Isaac Arthur, Guard the Leaf, Dark Brandon.
I also watched Dark Winds, Role Play, School Spirits, Workin Moms, Unbreakable Kimi Schmidt, Kim's Convenience.
An idiot who whilst insulting a trans essayist whom I mention, complained to her that I list trans creators. Britain has dirty water but I suspect there is a more serious environmental problem in the US which degrades raw intelligence. To that idiot and his ilk, a trigger warning. Please note that the channels which I list include socialist, Irish, trans, archaeologist, astrophysicist, tall, asexual, historian, gamer, bi, boater, German, essayist, miniatures hobbyist, het, redhead, older, primatologist, married, gay, book critic, mathematician, French, autist, linguist, WOC, anarchist, and other creators whom the sane refer to as Women. Almost as damaging are channels which include communist, philosopher, Canadian, science educator, other LGBTQI+, ginger, BIPOC, Danish, other neurodivergent, archaeologist, modeller, Estonian, other anarchist, miniatures gamer, Green, Australian, futurist and others or as the sane refer to them Human Beings. If this warning does not quiet the voices, consider emergency therapy, adopting a hobby (not to include assaulting women, which is a mental illness) or even a Catholic exorcism. My feelings towards that set of readers parallels that of the 13 Ukrainian marines defending Snake Island, when their surrender was demanded by the Russian Navy. Their response was "Russian warship, go f@ck yourself". Glory to Ukraine. Glory to the heroes. Crimea is Ukraine.
The book's prose is for the most part far above the usual Amazon dreck. Unfortunately he writes to popular models rather than step into the new, no matter how stupid or vapid. Several of his books were so bad that I thought one series a spoof. It was not.
The worldbuilding is flawed in that it envisions only two nations as space going. Then he forgets that the one exists and the story became the US space navy saving the galaxy. That is the core of most every US military or space opera title in the Kindle loan collection. His books are easier to read because his prose and descriptive skills are far stronger than most of their competition but the story being told is often weak. That is always the result of thin worldbuilding. He writes books tailored to the few common themes of low end science fiction but does it much better.
The antagonist aliens were well done and their behaviours are far more plausible than that of any other faction. At the start Russia appears for a brief moment as the only other space navy and early on any mention of them disappeared. From the second or third chapter there is only a US navy with no clear authority and that seems intentional to avoid stating that the US navy declared war on several alien factions without authorisation from any government.
The book became a saga of the "tough guy force are so smart and strong" with no explanation of supply considerations, chain of command, diplomatic actions, economic health or the absence of any Non-US space forces. His audience prefer this background universe.
Russia have never been a manufacturing or technological giant. All resources are owned by about 180 billionaires who are nouveaux rich thugs with the limited vision one would expect. More than 25% of the population have no indoor water, heating, more have no paved roads or public sanitation services.
Crumbling infrastructure, no internal investment and Oligarchic clans from oil and gas to military procurement having stolen hundreds of billions from the state budget for 30 years, population decline and finally the Russo-Ukrainian war have increased all the problems mentioned and more. It was a poor choice of competitor navy.
The U.S. Is in decline by every measure. The withdrawal of support for pure science beginning at the end of the space race has pretty much ended the possibility of US governments being able to muster the ability to initiate, manage and control even a system wide set of colonies let alone create an independent US space navy.
The commitment to relying on military adventurism to maintain geopolitical relevance, with no sane improvement in infrastructure or maintenance, renewal of manufacturing capability and the end of the Petrodollar limit the possibility of economic resurgence.
Neither Russia nor the US will be able to field a space navy, if there are any national space forces.
If the standard ethnocentrism and odd choice of strong space powers are not irritating, the book may be entertaining as long as no critical thought is engaged. An Indian, European Union, Japanese, Chinese or other reader may find the series underwhelming.
I need to step away for a bit. This next is courtesy of YouTube -NCMI, Sarah C M Paine, Just in Time Worldbuilding, Perun, Bobbing Along, Ben and Emily, Welsh Viking, Books N Cats, Caolan Robertson, Cambrian Chronicles, Yanis Varoufakis, Terrible Writing Advice, The Great War, Then and Now, Yarmak-Ragnarok, Susanna Huffs, Nomadic Crobot, Earth 2.0, Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox, FAFO, Lynn Saga, Narrowboat Pirate, NanyaCim, Matriarchetype, Hetty and the Jazzalato Band, OrangeRiver, Kazachka, Natasha's Adventures, Larry & Paul, Patrick(H)Willem, Harbo Wholmes, Wayward Winchester, Caelan Conrad, Riverboat Jack, Mrs Betty Bowers, What Vivi did next, Nini Music, Autumn's Boutique, Shades of Orange, Jay Exci, Deerstalker Pictures, Brandon Fisichella, The Great War, Times Radio, Ship Happens, ThePrimeChronus, Ula and Josh, Boat Time, Geo Girl, Shannon Makes, Break N Make, Ash L G, Bernadette Banner, The Closet Historian, No Justice, Politics Joe, Tom Nicholas, Joe Blogs, Truth to Power, Julie Nolke, Queen Penguin, The Kavernacle, The Confused Adipose, Puddles Pity Party, The Alt Right and Table Top Games, Elina Charatsidou. Dungeons and Discourse, TVP News, Female Warriors - Teresatessa, The Grungeon Master, Viking Cats, With Cindy, Austin McConnell, Jaymee Goh, League of STEAM, Fundie Fridays, Stories Invicta, Futures Past, Sarah Z, Ask a Mortician, Physics Girl, Adiemus - Carmina Slovenica, Tibees, Don't F@ck with Ukraine, Then & Now, Gutsick Gibbon, Ben G Thomas, Planarwalker, Half as Interesting, Adam Something, Amadeus Quartet, The Interesting Times, Springtime for Elon, Geo Girl, History with Kayleigh, Dr Becky, Yankee Farm Wife, David and Romany Gilmour, Ukrainian Jenny, Kyiv Post, Jason Jay Smart, UATV English.
The Kindle loan selection is depressing. All fiction have biases and all human communication is political but KIndle books are overt political messages delivered in bad prose, worse storytelling, lack of worldbuilding, lack of any new perspective, ideas, with stereotypes as characters and no development. Absorbing fiction without thought or worse accepting story premises as fact (historical, economic, political, philosophical, military or naval affairs and practice) and without the application of critical thought, limits imagination across all spheres of interaction.
Current (the last 15 or so years) US science fiction and I suspect most genre work is awash in the limited. Movies and TV are derivative and repetitious. Romance, romantasy and Fantasy is written at the eleven year old reading level. US science fiction seem to be written for the nine year old. US publishers think that readers must accept badly written racist, ableist, misogynist, paedophilic or ethnocentric drivel.
I began watching my fiction over the print after four or five years of Kindle and have recently ended my Unlimited sub. I began searching YouTube for more useful science fiction recommendations for both video and print. That led to all the myriad special interest channels. My final gift was the book channel. 😍 These channels host communities of curious, cosmopolitan, friendly lovers of all things bookish. A visit to several regularly are beneficial for any reader. I promise that the environment is far different to that of Goodreads.
Consider treating this as a potentially hostile site. 🤔
Goodreads discourse does not exist. As example, about three years ago I wrote a short negative review of Powers of the Earth, a sorry, juvenile salute to the sociopathic January 6, 2021 hero by Travis Corcoran, self-described libertarian and vocal advocate for the return of chattel slavery, veteran, employee of an unnamed US agency and admirer of Putin. He is the very model of a MAGA moron. He and six fellow patriots were incensed with my communist opinion that glorifying the overthrow of the US government with the aid of the military in order that a rich twat not pay inheritance tax, was dangerous and unhealthy. I hate irony.
There followed a year long stream of demands for engagement with their increasingly unhinged comments led by Corcoran. Finally Claes Rees Jr aka cgr710 now ka Clayton R Jesse Jr wrote a comment declaring that They had won (?). I discovered that They had launched a tsunami of vile sexual and racist attacks against channels which I mention. The physicist, boater, essayist, economist and the many other female creators were not impressed. The world's overabundance of unpleasantness was certainly increased and They did deliver an accurate self-portrait of the snowflake (vicious, self-important US man-child) to a multinational audience. That seems Their victory. Goodreads discourse, Yay ?? USA, Yay ??
This was more extreme than most which I experienced over several years but no far differentiation most ways. Then the Australian Intervention occurred.
My YouTube picks of the moment.
Mia Mulder, Emilie's Literary Corner, Jess Owens, Anton Petrov, Quinn's Ideas, Media Death Cult, Kings and Generals, Keffals, Bobbing Along, Ana Fern, Boat Time, Oceanliner Designs, Owen Jones, The Knitting Cult Lady, World War Two, the Weirdo Book Club, Shannon Makes, Break N Remake, Engineering Knits, Abby Cox, Alexa Donne, Abbie Emmons, The London History Show, Central Crossing, Answer in Progress.
Ominous music begins. 😊 The above antics are fairly normal for Goodreads based on my experience but perhaps more common in the romance, fantasy and romantasy segment. Those readers have organised online and real life stalking, doxxing and threats against one star reviewers. I only know that from BookTube because Amazon and Goodreads do not acknowledge the incidents, neither do they punish writers who sometimes organise them, discipline the members or dismiss the employees who enable them.
The mad lads of Kindle/Goodreads gave my limited message history to insane members
who then requested a favour of Australian Intelligence through Pine Gap Centre. They attempted to interrogate the one friend whom I occasionally messaged for my personal information. The attempt failed but produced two outraged customers, which only became a concern to Kindle/Goodreads as we both began publicising the event.
My time on Goodreads has been educational, if bizarre. Recently a seventh ex-employee of EBay was sentenced for months long real life harassment of a couple who produced a small ecommerce channel, which was deemed unkind To EBay. They were eventually awarded multi-millions of pounds. The ex-employee had been EBay Chief of Global Security. Something to think about.
These members and employees would not use for example, as their source for Ukrainian geopolitics Fiona Hill, one of Britain's foremost experts on Russia and the former Soviet Union or Timothy Snyder, one of America's foremost experts on the same, because the first is a woman and the second a PhD. They would take their information instead from Republican legislators and candidates who could not find Ukraine or Russia on a labelled map or from the 600+ right wing commentators identified and being investigated by the US government as Russian paid propagandists. These patriots seem to support the Russian demand that the US return Alaska which has been written by Putin into law as Russian territory. These patriots cheer on a Russia, whose TV News hosts and various government officials have threatened to use nuclear weapons against their own country because a con artist says Putin loves him. They are a scarily stupid lot with whom communication is neither desirable nor profitable.
I suggest a few precautions to make your time on Kindle/Goodreads if not Safe, at least safe until such time as you are able or ready to replace Kindle with more secure non-Amazon kit. Remove personal information from the profile and avoid massaging. Remove the lurker, those who never post. They are monitors not admirers. Screenshots of the odd and the ugly are very useful, given the Goodreads penchant for Altering customer pages with no explanation.
Do Not use Kindle Files, Calendar, Contacts or Email, unless you are comfortable with that group accessing your life. Internet searches on Kindle should be innocuous and non-critical. To implement these steps will cost nothing, to not might well do.
It might be prudent to not forget that these men and women are not only deranged but are devoid of non-Randian morality or restraint but are american with all that implies. Ominous music ends. 😊
Be safe and may we all discover Good Reading. 🤗
Some of my favourite channels.
NCMI, Imperial War Museums, Ben and Emily, Bobbing Along, UATV English, Tara Mooknee, Philosophy Tube, Owen Jones, Munecat, Some More News, Tom Nicholas, Mrs Betty Bowers, Randy Rainbow, Kathy's Flog in France, Russian Media Monitor, Lily Alexandre, TVP News, Omeleto, Princess Weekes, Shades of Orange, Molly Tuttle, Jessica Craven, Royal Armouries, Maria Drutska, Dr Tamitha Skov, Content without Context, Captured in Words, Kathy's Flog in France, AllShorts, Mandy, Jake Broe, Narrowboat Pirate, Sabine Hossenfelder, Vlad Vexler, Ancient Americas, Cambrian Chronicles, Aid Thompsin, The World Science Festival, Supertanskiii, KernowDamo, Liz Webster, Oceanliner Designs, The Pioneer, The Kavernacle, Virgin Rock, The Players Aid, Table Top CP, Words in Time, Discourse Minis, Prime of Midlife, DUST, Tank Museum, Hardy's Books, Outlaw Bookseller, Krimson Rogue, Bella Ciao - Nikolay Kutuzov, The New Enlightenment, Lives and Histories, Kiko1006, Kayla Kamper, Lavendar, Space 1899, Amber Tiffin Show, Burd's Books, Perun, J Draper, Alt Shift X, Reedsy, Just in Time Worlds, Fundie Fridays, UNTV, Dead Domain, Read Between the Pages, The Caspian Report, Malinda, Cruising the Cut, Cruising Alba, Camper Vibe, Otherwords, RobWords, Mythology and Fiction Explained, Worldbuilding Corner, The Orbital Array, Shitty Book Club, What Rae Reads, Susanna Huffs, Canadiana, Anya Turnbull, DW News, Rationality Rules, Nikola Tesla Wireless Radio, Tank Encyclopedia, AuroraTrek, Sheila Writes, Vintage Tomorrows, BookFox, The SteamPunk Explorer, Amanda Rae, Autumn's Boutique, Bookslike Whoa, The Sword and The Pen, The Skaldic Bard, Hildegard von Blingin', EarleWrites, Verilybitchie, Bookpilled, Book Furnace, Cruising Crafts, Nomadic Crobot, 2Celllos, Haley Whipjack, Book Belle, Books and Lala, Elina Charatsidou, Dami Lee, FullofLit, Supposedly Fun, Annamarie Forcino, The Bitchuation Room, Aaron Read a Book, Kings and Generals, TIKHistory, Dan Davis History, Fall of Civilisations, Ash L G, Abby Cox, Bernadette Banner, Adult Wednesday Addams -2 seasons, Alex Unabridged, Portable Orange, Karolina Zebrowska, Shannon Makes, The Closet Historian, The Hat Historian, Mynameismarines, Reads with Rachel, Time Tinkerer, The Researcher, Yewleea, Savy Writes Books, Bookish Realm, The Leftist Cooks, Jessie Gender, Unlearning Economics, Expert Book Smuggler, Lily, Professor Gerdes Explains, Skip Intro, James Tuillos Book Spin,video What Vivi did next, Natalie Jane Shields, Alexa Donne, Mina Reads, Algard the Bard, The Confused Adipose, Zoe Baker, TIKHistory, The Great War, World War Two, Yoyomi, Kings and Generals, Beautifully Bookish Bethany, Hailey in Bookland, Lilly's Expat, I'm Rosa, Relish Books, Hetty and the Jazzalato Band, Hej Sokoly, A Cup of Nicole, Jean's Thoughts, A Day of Small Things, Tennessee Brando, Warthog Defence, Joe Blogs, Jake Broe, Emma Thorne, Linguoer Mechanic, Northern Narrowboaters, Anders Puck Nielsen, AllShorts, Zoe Bee.
I wish you a sunny morning, a wonderful afternoon. a satisfying evening, a pleasant night and may we all continue learning.
Thou shalt not try me.
Mood: 24: 7
This title is due for rewrite. I doubt that anyone will read this but it needs be done.
Before I begin, I will visit YouTube. This was made possible by Doctor Who/They Break My Heart -RecklessGirl100, NCMI, Red Glasgow, Hoots. Mia Mulder, Naughty Nana DUZ, Silicon Curtain, LuckyBlackCat, Liz Webster, Cindy's Villa, Gingers are Black, ScaredKetchup, Fun Size Reader, Northern Narrowboaters, Girls Rock Asia, Radio Retrofuture, LIbrary of a Viking, Miranda Mills, Democratic Penguin Republic, Artur Rehi, Petticoats and Prose, Blossoms and Greens by Chloe, Mynameismarines, Broken Peach, Nikki Carreon, Widebeam and Wellingtons, Imperial Naval History, Veritas et Caritas, British Museum, NFKRZ, Tank Encyclopedia, Anka Daily News, Tibees, Up and Atom, Ukraine Calling, Yoyomi, May Moon Narrowboat, Jake Broe, Narrowboat Pirate, Sailing Melody, Agro Squirrel Narrates, Maggie Mae Fish, HBomberGuy, Dr Fatima, Anka Daily News, Fit 2B Read, Kyiv Independent, Eugenia from Ukraine, Kazachka, Weirdo Book Club, Tale Foundry, Supertanskiii, Munecat, Roads with Beau, Josh Johnson, Boat Time, Widebeam and Wellingtons, The Narrowboat that James Built, TIKHistory, Operator Starsky, Anna Gramling, Plato's Cave, Ponderful, Rachel Oates, The Book Leo, Crecganford, Friendly Atheist, Not the Andrew Marr Show, Stevie Emerson, WION, Omeleto, Truth to Power, Reese Waters, Belle of the Ranch, Squire, The Cosy Creative, Mandy, Science Fiction with Damien Walker, Amie's Literary Empire, Lady of the Library, Renegade Cut, Dark Brandon, Trae Crowder, The Military Show, Wes O'Donnell, KernowDamo, Inside Russia, Vasya in the Hay, Fantasy and World Music by the Fletchers, No Justice, Times Radio, Combat Veteran Reacts, Alina Gingertail, Eugenia from Ukraine, Think that Through, Yugopnik, May, Raw News and Politics, Natasha's Adventures, NFKRZ, Professor Gerdes Explains, YuJa Wang, EarleWrites, Keffals, Shitty Book Club, Emil Cosman, Endling Echoes, Jessica Kellgren Fozard, Bernadette Banner, Isaac Arthur, Guard the Leaf, Dark Brandon.
I also watched Dark Winds, Role Play, School Spirits, Workin Moms, Unbreakable Kimi Schmidt, Kim's Convenience.
An idiot who whilst insulting a trans essayist whom I mention, complained to her that I list trans creators. Britain has dirty water but I suspect there is a more serious environmental problem in the US which degrades raw intelligence. To that idiot and his ilk, a trigger warning. Please note that the channels which I list include socialist, Irish, trans, archaeologist, astrophysicist, tall, asexual, historian, gamer, bi, boater, German, essayist, miniatures hobbyist, het, redhead, older, primatologist, married, gay, book critic, mathematician, French, autist, linguist, WOC, anarchist, and other creators whom the sane refer to as Women. Almost as damaging are channels which include communist, philosopher, Canadian, science educator, other LGBTQI+, ginger, BIPOC, Danish, other neurodivergent, archaeologist, modeller, Estonian, other anarchist, miniatures gamer, Green, Australian, futurist and others or as the sane refer to them Human Beings. If this warning does not quiet the voices, consider emergency therapy, adopting a hobby (not to include assaulting women, which is a mental illness) or even a Catholic exorcism. My feelings towards that set of readers parallels that of the 13 Ukrainian marines defending Snake Island, when their surrender was demanded by the Russian Navy. Their response was "Russian warship, go f@ck yourself". Glory to Ukraine. Glory to the heroes. Crimea is Ukraine.
The book's prose is for the most part far above the usual Amazon dreck. Unfortunately he writes to popular models rather than step into the new, no matter how stupid or vapid. Several of his books were so bad that I thought one series a spoof. It was not.
The worldbuilding is flawed in that it envisions only two nations as space going. Then he forgets that the one exists and the story became the US space navy saving the galaxy. That is the core of most every US military or space opera title in the Kindle loan collection. His books are easier to read because his prose and descriptive skills are far stronger than most of their competition but the story being told is often weak. That is always the result of thin worldbuilding. He writes books tailored to the few common themes of low end science fiction but does it much better.
The antagonist aliens were well done and their behaviours are far more plausible than that of any other faction. At the start Russia appears for a brief moment as the only other space navy and early on any mention of them disappeared. From the second or third chapter there is only a US navy with no clear authority and that seems intentional to avoid stating that the US navy declared war on several alien factions without authorisation from any government.
The book became a saga of the "tough guy force are so smart and strong" with no explanation of supply considerations, chain of command, diplomatic actions, economic health or the absence of any Non-US space forces. His audience prefer this background universe.
Russia have never been a manufacturing or technological giant. All resources are owned by about 180 billionaires who are nouveaux rich thugs with the limited vision one would expect. More than 25% of the population have no indoor water, heating, more have no paved roads or public sanitation services.
Crumbling infrastructure, no internal investment and Oligarchic clans from oil and gas to military procurement having stolen hundreds of billions from the state budget for 30 years, population decline and finally the Russo-Ukrainian war have increased all the problems mentioned and more. It was a poor choice of competitor navy.
The U.S. Is in decline by every measure. The withdrawal of support for pure science beginning at the end of the space race has pretty much ended the possibility of US governments being able to muster the ability to initiate, manage and control even a system wide set of colonies let alone create an independent US space navy.
The commitment to relying on military adventurism to maintain geopolitical relevance, with no sane improvement in infrastructure or maintenance, renewal of manufacturing capability and the end of the Petrodollar limit the possibility of economic resurgence.
Neither Russia nor the US will be able to field a space navy, if there are any national space forces.
If the standard ethnocentrism and odd choice of strong space powers are not irritating, the book may be entertaining as long as no critical thought is engaged. An Indian, European Union, Japanese, Chinese or other reader may find the series underwhelming.
I need to step away for a bit. This next is courtesy of YouTube -NCMI, Sarah C M Paine, Just in Time Worldbuilding, Perun, Bobbing Along, Ben and Emily, Welsh Viking, Books N Cats, Caolan Robertson, Cambrian Chronicles, Yanis Varoufakis, Terrible Writing Advice, The Great War, Then and Now, Yarmak-Ragnarok, Susanna Huffs, Nomadic Crobot, Earth 2.0, Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox, FAFO, Lynn Saga, Narrowboat Pirate, NanyaCim, Matriarchetype, Hetty and the Jazzalato Band, OrangeRiver, Kazachka, Natasha's Adventures, Larry & Paul, Patrick(H)Willem, Harbo Wholmes, Wayward Winchester, Caelan Conrad, Riverboat Jack, Mrs Betty Bowers, What Vivi did next, Nini Music, Autumn's Boutique, Shades of Orange, Jay Exci, Deerstalker Pictures, Brandon Fisichella, The Great War, Times Radio, Ship Happens, ThePrimeChronus, Ula and Josh, Boat Time, Geo Girl, Shannon Makes, Break N Make, Ash L G, Bernadette Banner, The Closet Historian, No Justice, Politics Joe, Tom Nicholas, Joe Blogs, Truth to Power, Julie Nolke, Queen Penguin, The Kavernacle, The Confused Adipose, Puddles Pity Party, The Alt Right and Table Top Games, Elina Charatsidou. Dungeons and Discourse, TVP News, Female Warriors - Teresatessa, The Grungeon Master, Viking Cats, With Cindy, Austin McConnell, Jaymee Goh, League of STEAM, Fundie Fridays, Stories Invicta, Futures Past, Sarah Z, Ask a Mortician, Physics Girl, Adiemus - Carmina Slovenica, Tibees, Don't F@ck with Ukraine, Then & Now, Gutsick Gibbon, Ben G Thomas, Planarwalker, Half as Interesting, Adam Something, Amadeus Quartet, The Interesting Times, Springtime for Elon, Geo Girl, History with Kayleigh, Dr Becky, Yankee Farm Wife, David and Romany Gilmour, Ukrainian Jenny, Kyiv Post, Jason Jay Smart, UATV English.
The Kindle loan selection is depressing. All fiction have biases and all human communication is political but KIndle books are overt political messages delivered in bad prose, worse storytelling, lack of worldbuilding, lack of any new perspective, ideas, with stereotypes as characters and no development. Absorbing fiction without thought or worse accepting story premises as fact (historical, economic, political, philosophical, military or naval affairs and practice) and without the application of critical thought, limits imagination across all spheres of interaction.
Current (the last 15 or so years) US science fiction and I suspect most genre work is awash in the limited. Movies and TV are derivative and repetitious. Romance, romantasy and Fantasy is written at the eleven year old reading level. US science fiction seem to be written for the nine year old. US publishers think that readers must accept badly written racist, ableist, misogynist, paedophilic or ethnocentric drivel.
I began watching my fiction over the print after four or five years of Kindle and have recently ended my Unlimited sub. I began searching YouTube for more useful science fiction recommendations for both video and print. That led to all the myriad special interest channels. My final gift was the book channel. 😍 These channels host communities of curious, cosmopolitan, friendly lovers of all things bookish. A visit to several regularly are beneficial for any reader. I promise that the environment is far different to that of Goodreads.
Consider treating this as a potentially hostile site. 🤔
Goodreads discourse does not exist. As example, about three years ago I wrote a short negative review of Powers of the Earth, a sorry, juvenile salute to the sociopathic January 6, 2021 hero by Travis Corcoran, self-described libertarian and vocal advocate for the return of chattel slavery, veteran, employee of an unnamed US agency and admirer of Putin. He is the very model of a MAGA moron. He and six fellow patriots were incensed with my communist opinion that glorifying the overthrow of the US government with the aid of the military in order that a rich twat not pay inheritance tax, was dangerous and unhealthy. I hate irony.
There followed a year long stream of demands for engagement with their increasingly unhinged comments led by Corcoran. Finally Claes Rees Jr aka cgr710 now ka Clayton R Jesse Jr wrote a comment declaring that They had won (?). I discovered that They had launched a tsunami of vile sexual and racist attacks against channels which I mention. The physicist, boater, essayist, economist and the many other female creators were not impressed. The world's overabundance of unpleasantness was certainly increased and They did deliver an accurate self-portrait of the snowflake (vicious, self-important US man-child) to a multinational audience. That seems Their victory. Goodreads discourse, Yay ?? USA, Yay ??
This was more extreme than most which I experienced over several years but no far differentiation most ways. Then the Australian Intervention occurred.
My YouTube picks of the moment.
Mia Mulder, Emilie's Literary Corner, Jess Owens, Anton Petrov, Quinn's Ideas, Media Death Cult, Kings and Generals, Keffals, Bobbing Along, Ana Fern, Boat Time, Oceanliner Designs, Owen Jones, The Knitting Cult Lady, World War Two, the Weirdo Book Club, Shannon Makes, Break N Remake, Engineering Knits, Abby Cox, Alexa Donne, Abbie Emmons, The London History Show, Central Crossing, Answer in Progress.
Ominous music begins. 😊 The above antics are fairly normal for Goodreads based on my experience but perhaps more common in the romance, fantasy and romantasy segment. Those readers have organised online and real life stalking, doxxing and threats against one star reviewers. I only know that from BookTube because Amazon and Goodreads do not acknowledge the incidents, neither do they punish writers who sometimes organise them, discipline the members or dismiss the employees who enable them.
The mad lads of Kindle/Goodreads gave my limited message history to insane members
who then requested a favour of Australian Intelligence through Pine Gap Centre. They attempted to interrogate the one friend whom I occasionally messaged for my personal information. The attempt failed but produced two outraged customers, which only became a concern to Kindle/Goodreads as we both began publicising the event.
My time on Goodreads has been educational, if bizarre. Recently a seventh ex-employee of EBay was sentenced for months long real life harassment of a couple who produced a small ecommerce channel, which was deemed unkind To EBay. They were eventually awarded multi-millions of pounds. The ex-employee had been EBay Chief of Global Security. Something to think about.
These members and employees would not use for example, as their source for Ukrainian geopolitics Fiona Hill, one of Britain's foremost experts on Russia and the former Soviet Union or Timothy Snyder, one of America's foremost experts on the same, because the first is a woman and the second a PhD. They would take their information instead from Republican legislators and candidates who could not find Ukraine or Russia on a labelled map or from the 600+ right wing commentators identified and being investigated by the US government as Russian paid propagandists. These patriots seem to support the Russian demand that the US return Alaska which has been written by Putin into law as Russian territory. These patriots cheer on a Russia, whose TV News hosts and various government officials have threatened to use nuclear weapons against their own country because a con artist says Putin loves him. They are a scarily stupid lot with whom communication is neither desirable nor profitable.
I suggest a few precautions to make your time on Kindle/Goodreads if not Safe, at least safe until such time as you are able or ready to replace Kindle with more secure non-Amazon kit. Remove personal information from the profile and avoid massaging. Remove the lurker, those who never post. They are monitors not admirers. Screenshots of the odd and the ugly are very useful, given the Goodreads penchant for Altering customer pages with no explanation.
Do Not use Kindle Files, Calendar, Contacts or Email, unless you are comfortable with that group accessing your life. Internet searches on Kindle should be innocuous and non-critical. To implement these steps will cost nothing, to not might well do.
It might be prudent to not forget that these men and women are not only deranged but are devoid of non-Randian morality or restraint but are american with all that implies. Ominous music ends. 😊
Be safe and may we all discover Good Reading. 🤗
Some of my favourite channels.
NCMI, Imperial War Museums, Ben and Emily, Bobbing Along, UATV English, Tara Mooknee, Philosophy Tube, Owen Jones, Munecat, Some More News, Tom Nicholas, Mrs Betty Bowers, Randy Rainbow, Kathy's Flog in France, Russian Media Monitor, Lily Alexandre, TVP News, Omeleto, Princess Weekes, Shades of Orange, Molly Tuttle, Jessica Craven, Royal Armouries, Maria Drutska, Dr Tamitha Skov, Content without Context, Captured in Words, Kathy's Flog in France, AllShorts, Mandy, Jake Broe, Narrowboat Pirate, Sabine Hossenfelder, Vlad Vexler, Ancient Americas, Cambrian Chronicles, Aid Thompsin, The World Science Festival, Supertanskiii, KernowDamo, Liz Webster, Oceanliner Designs, The Pioneer, The Kavernacle, Virgin Rock, The Players Aid, Table Top CP, Words in Time, Discourse Minis, Prime of Midlife, DUST, Tank Museum, Hardy's Books, Outlaw Bookseller, Krimson Rogue, Bella Ciao - Nikolay Kutuzov, The New Enlightenment, Lives and Histories, Kiko1006, Kayla Kamper, Lavendar, Space 1899, Amber Tiffin Show, Burd's Books, Perun, J Draper, Alt Shift X, Reedsy, Just in Time Worlds, Fundie Fridays, UNTV, Dead Domain, Read Between the Pages, The Caspian Report, Malinda, Cruising the Cut, Cruising Alba, Camper Vibe, Otherwords, RobWords, Mythology and Fiction Explained, Worldbuilding Corner, The Orbital Array, Shitty Book Club, What Rae Reads, Susanna Huffs, Canadiana, Anya Turnbull, DW News, Rationality Rules, Nikola Tesla Wireless Radio, Tank Encyclopedia, AuroraTrek, Sheila Writes, Vintage Tomorrows, BookFox, The SteamPunk Explorer, Amanda Rae, Autumn's Boutique, Bookslike Whoa, The Sword and The Pen, The Skaldic Bard, Hildegard von Blingin', EarleWrites, Verilybitchie, Bookpilled, Book Furnace, Cruising Crafts, Nomadic Crobot, 2Celllos, Haley Whipjack, Book Belle, Books and Lala, Elina Charatsidou, Dami Lee, FullofLit, Supposedly Fun, Annamarie Forcino, The Bitchuation Room, Aaron Read a Book, Kings and Generals, TIKHistory, Dan Davis History, Fall of Civilisations, Ash L G, Abby Cox, Bernadette Banner, Adult Wednesday Addams -2 seasons, Alex Unabridged, Portable Orange, Karolina Zebrowska, Shannon Makes, The Closet Historian, The Hat Historian, Mynameismarines, Reads with Rachel, Time Tinkerer, The Researcher, Yewleea, Savy Writes Books, Bookish Realm, The Leftist Cooks, Jessie Gender, Unlearning Economics, Expert Book Smuggler, Lily, Professor Gerdes Explains, Skip Intro, James Tuillos Book Spin,video What Vivi did next, Natalie Jane Shields, Alexa Donne, Mina Reads, Algard the Bard, The Confused Adipose, Zoe Baker, TIKHistory, The Great War, World War Two, Yoyomi, Kings and Generals, Beautifully Bookish Bethany, Hailey in Bookland, Lilly's Expat, I'm Rosa, Relish Books, Hetty and the Jazzalato Band, Hej Sokoly, A Cup of Nicole, Jean's Thoughts, A Day of Small Things, Tennessee Brando, Warthog Defence, Joe Blogs, Jake Broe, Emma Thorne, Linguoer Mechanic, Northern Narrowboaters, Anders Puck Nielsen, AllShorts, Zoe Bee.
I wish you a sunny morning, a wonderful afternoon. a satisfying evening, a pleasant night and may we all continue learning.
Thou shalt not try me.
Mood: 24: 7
December 7, 2019
Three and three quarter stars. A good book and what looks to be the start of an interesting universe. It was however very slow to build. There are several characters of interest and a strange new environment. I like were Stewart is going here and glad I stuck it out to the end.
As I said it was a slow start and I mean very slow. I almost put the book down for good a couple times. This wasn't any sort of problem with pacing, it is just such a unique universe it took a very long time to build the details. Once the the core action wraps up with the climax, the end moves along briskly and builds up a great interest for future works. Nothing is rushed, but the flow of the characters and action finally return to what I am more used to with one for Stewart's books. Stick with it, you will be happy in the end.
As I said it was a slow start and I mean very slow. I almost put the book down for good a couple times. This wasn't any sort of problem with pacing, it is just such a unique universe it took a very long time to build the details. Once the the core action wraps up with the climax, the end moves along briskly and builds up a great interest for future works. Nothing is rushed, but the flow of the characters and action finally return to what I am more used to with one for Stewart's books. Stick with it, you will be happy in the end.
May 17, 2021
If I have to see one more video game title shoved in where it doesn't belong I'm going to plant a tree and when that tree is fully grown I will hang myself from it
Bold title because all the obvious review bots are doing it.
This book had a really strong opening. The main character wipes out an alien species. Well, the death will be decades long in coming, but he did it, all the same. You don't see that a lot.
And then Base Skyrim came up. I was yanked out of the narrative immediately. Surely, he didn't mean that Skyrim? Oh yes, he did. Because Base Halo was soon mentioned thereafter. Then Base Fallout. I was approaching the event horizon of cringe.
There's a bit of an exposition problem. Not huge. Not like some books I've read. Steward doesn't go on paragraphs-long tangents about barely relevant things. He keeps it to a few sentences. But it's annoying when the narrative suddenly pulls hits the brakes to explain something that it didn't need to. It's even more annoying when the author goes out of his way to explain things that were obvious. But I've seen the comments on some of my own amateur written works and it seems critical reading stopped being taught in (American) schools just after I left the public school system. Readers these days are exceptionally stupid. Just go look at the bad reviews on C. J. Cherryh's books or Hodgson's The Night Land to see how feeble-minded the average reader has become. So I can understand, and even sympathize, with Stewart, for having to stoop so low to explain such basic concepts and themes, as if his audience consisted of 10 year olds with ADHD. Because, functionally, that's the best a lot of people can do. Excuse my tangent, moving on:
Things like this aren't enough to kill a book for me, though. The author handled what I thought was the character's sexual identity really well. He didn't spotlight it or put it on a pedestal, it wasn't central to his personality, it was just passingly mentioned and the conversation moved on, because it was normal and treated as normal. Alas, this did not set the standard for everyone else.
There's plenty of non-binary characters, I think that's the word zoomers are using nowadays, and "androgynous" is the defining character trait of at least three minor characters. Did we need to know that? I'm not convinced. The casual use of the "they" pronoun was good enough the first time it came up.
One of these characters is named Saren. Yes, that Saren. Another is named Miles Kosigan. Yes, that Miles. In a cruel twist of fate, Miles Kosigan is tall in this universe. I wonder what Ms. Bujold would have to say about that? There were probably other expies like this in the book that I missed. But these two, like the video game starbases, yanked me straight out of the narrative and had me asking "Really?"
There's an "Irish" redhead who likes to get violently drunk. The main character thinks she is not actually Irish and is just trying to fit the stereotype. The abuse of Irish and redheads in fiction continues, many such cases. I demand an end to this discrimination. Incredibly, I ended up liking this character, because she had the most growth in her four scenes out of anyone in this entire book.
All the other characters were... just kinda there. The main dude was alright, not the most interesting, but he wasn't unbearable. The ambassador lady ended up doing nothing at all. Everyone else was just a name that said dialogue now and then. Sometimes they had their androgynousness mentioned.
Oh, on that note, Stewart's favorite word must be "gently." I lost track of how many times a character said something "gently." It appeared multiple times on certain pages, in the same context. "Concealed" was the runner up for his favorite word in this book.
The aliens were as dull as possibly could be. They were mostly just humans with forehead bumps, a la Star Trek.
The science fiction was pretty bog standard, except the skip jump, which was neat, and the fact they had heat radiators to dump waste heat from the lasers. That's a detail you don't see a lot. I hated the subspace telephone, it made the entire setting feel shoebox sized like a Disney Star Wars flick.
At this point in the story, I was actually really interested to see how things would pan out. There was a mystery regarding stolen weapons afoot, backroom politics, uncertain futures... Even with all the gripes I listed above, I was getting into it. When the concluding action came up, I was set to read the next book to see what happened.
Then I read "Base Mario." If I'd had a physical copy of this book, I would have thrown it at the wall. Miss me with that garbage.
Take out the cringe video game references, take out the expies, clean up the exposition a little, spend a little more time on the characters, and I think Stewart would have had a solid book. I was really interested in post-Roman Europe except in space. Oh well. I'm a reader of particular tastes. I can't handle being kicked out of the narrative to roll my eyes at a Base Mario or Base Fallout.
Bold title because all the obvious review bots are doing it.
This book had a really strong opening. The main character wipes out an alien species. Well, the death will be decades long in coming, but he did it, all the same. You don't see that a lot.
And then Base Skyrim came up. I was yanked out of the narrative immediately. Surely, he didn't mean that Skyrim? Oh yes, he did. Because Base Halo was soon mentioned thereafter. Then Base Fallout. I was approaching the event horizon of cringe.
There's a bit of an exposition problem. Not huge. Not like some books I've read. Steward doesn't go on paragraphs-long tangents about barely relevant things. He keeps it to a few sentences. But it's annoying when the narrative suddenly pulls hits the brakes to explain something that it didn't need to. It's even more annoying when the author goes out of his way to explain things that were obvious. But I've seen the comments on some of my own amateur written works and it seems critical reading stopped being taught in (American) schools just after I left the public school system. Readers these days are exceptionally stupid. Just go look at the bad reviews on C. J. Cherryh's books or Hodgson's The Night Land to see how feeble-minded the average reader has become. So I can understand, and even sympathize, with Stewart, for having to stoop so low to explain such basic concepts and themes, as if his audience consisted of 10 year olds with ADHD. Because, functionally, that's the best a lot of people can do. Excuse my tangent, moving on:
Things like this aren't enough to kill a book for me, though. The author handled what I thought was the character's sexual identity really well. He didn't spotlight it or put it on a pedestal, it wasn't central to his personality, it was just passingly mentioned and the conversation moved on, because it was normal and treated as normal. Alas, this did not set the standard for everyone else.
There's plenty of non-binary characters, I think that's the word zoomers are using nowadays, and "androgynous" is the defining character trait of at least three minor characters. Did we need to know that? I'm not convinced. The casual use of the "they" pronoun was good enough the first time it came up.
One of these characters is named Saren. Yes, that Saren. Another is named Miles Kosigan. Yes, that Miles. In a cruel twist of fate, Miles Kosigan is tall in this universe. I wonder what Ms. Bujold would have to say about that? There were probably other expies like this in the book that I missed. But these two, like the video game starbases, yanked me straight out of the narrative and had me asking "Really?"
There's an "Irish" redhead who likes to get violently drunk. The main character thinks she is not actually Irish and is just trying to fit the stereotype. The abuse of Irish and redheads in fiction continues, many such cases. I demand an end to this discrimination. Incredibly, I ended up liking this character, because she had the most growth in her four scenes out of anyone in this entire book.
All the other characters were... just kinda there. The main dude was alright, not the most interesting, but he wasn't unbearable. The ambassador lady ended up doing nothing at all. Everyone else was just a name that said dialogue now and then. Sometimes they had their androgynousness mentioned.
Oh, on that note, Stewart's favorite word must be "gently." I lost track of how many times a character said something "gently." It appeared multiple times on certain pages, in the same context. "Concealed" was the runner up for his favorite word in this book.
The aliens were as dull as possibly could be. They were mostly just humans with forehead bumps, a la Star Trek.
The science fiction was pretty bog standard, except the skip jump, which was neat, and the fact they had heat radiators to dump waste heat from the lasers. That's a detail you don't see a lot. I hated the subspace telephone, it made the entire setting feel shoebox sized like a Disney Star Wars flick.
At this point in the story, I was actually really interested to see how things would pan out. There was a mystery regarding stolen weapons afoot, backroom politics, uncertain futures... Even with all the gripes I listed above, I was getting into it. When the concluding action came up, I was set to read the next book to see what happened.
Then I read "Base Mario." If I'd had a physical copy of this book, I would have thrown it at the wall. Miss me with that garbage.
Take out the cringe video game references, take out the expies, clean up the exposition a little, spend a little more time on the characters, and I think Stewart would have had a solid book. I was really interested in post-Roman Europe except in space. Oh well. I'm a reader of particular tastes. I can't handle being kicked out of the narrative to roll my eyes at a Base Mario or Base Fallout.
November 5, 2019
A new universe for Glynn
Glynn hits another one out of the park with his new universe, what happens when a giant monolithic empire is destroyed? Glynn will try to answer that question in his new series, this first entry is a riveting entry, I highly recommend this book!
Glynn hits another one out of the park with his new universe, what happens when a giant monolithic empire is destroyed? Glynn will try to answer that question in his new series, this first entry is a riveting entry, I highly recommend this book!
December 16, 2023
Pretty solid, few editing mistakes
Decent start to a new series. A handful of editing mistakes that don't take away from the story.
A pretty run of the mill sci fi story. Nothing particularly adventurous, but a solid story nonetheless
Decent start to a new series. A handful of editing mistakes that don't take away from the story.
A pretty run of the mill sci fi story. Nothing particularly adventurous, but a solid story nonetheless
April 9, 2025
The first book struggles a bit to fully immerse you in the universe, but once you get through that first half it really picks up and you feel yourself fall into the universe.
The series itself is a 4.5/5 stars for easily and I highly recommend everyone that loves military sci-fi give it a read!
The series itself is a 4.5/5 stars for easily and I highly recommend everyone that loves military sci-fi give it a read!
September 22, 2020
3.5/5
https://delivreenlivres.home.blog/202...
On est sur de la SF militaire dans laquelle un convoi diplomatique est envoyé dans une conférence de paix suite à la chute d’un immense empire.
Je commence par le seul point qui m’ai moins plu, pour ensuite finir sur ce que j’ai aimé.
Un nouvel essai pour cet auteur et j’avoue que malgré le fait que j’ai bien aimé les quatre vingt dix neuf premiers pour-cent de ce livre, et que ça ne ressemble en rien à la précédente série de lui que j’ai lu, Changeling Blood, je commence déjà à lui trouver des points récurrents qui me font un peu moins plaisir sur le dernier pour-cent.
C’est vraiment la seule chose qui m’a gêné sur ce livre, et c’était un « détail » que je n’avais même pas noté dans la série précédente parce que ça n’était pas vraiment important dans celle ci qui était plus manichéenne. Mais vu qu’on le retrouve ici et que ça m’a un peu plus ennuyé, je le dit cette fois ci. Pour tout dire j’espère que c’était juste un faux pas et que je pourrais apprécier livres suivants.
En fait j’ai trouvé que l’épilogue était un peu trop dégoulinant de bons sentiments.
Et du coup dans le contexte global, tout ce qu’on a suivi avant et qui était bien plus nuancé que ça, ça sonnait un peu faux, parce que ça allait à l’encontre de tout ce que j’aurais cru possible avant.
Je ne peux évidemment pas vous dire ce qui s’y passe et vous expliquer pourquoi je trouve que ça ne va pas. Mais en tout cas ce passage de 2 pages à la toute fin du livre m’a un peu déçu. Ça donnait un coté trop facile à l’ensemble vu la situation et rien ne le justifiait à mon avis.
Le pire c’est que c’est ça qui amène le titre de la série donc c’était vraiment voulu depuis le départ par l’auteur, comme tome d’introduction j’imagine. J’ai déjà lu d’autres romans dans le genre, sur le même thème général, et c’est vraiment le premier où je trouve que c’est amené de façon forcée.
Bon, voila c’est dit. Maintenant passons au reste du roman, qui lui était très bien (c’est d’autant plus dommage !)
Dans ce livre nous suions la Colonel Henry Wong, officier aguerri de l’UPSF, l’United Planets Space Force, la force armée de l’espace de UPA, l’United Planets Alliance, en gros le gouvernement allié de toutes les colonies humaines dans l’espace.
Durant des décennies les humains ont combattu l’Empire Kenmiri. Ils ne sont bien entendu pas les seuls, car la galaxie entière est peuplées de centaines de races différentes.
Les Kenmiri sont une races d’extraterrestres de type insecte qui fonctionne sous un système de caste où de toute façon tout les non-Kenmiri sont des esclaves. Et c’est qu’ils en avaient des esclaves, car ils contrôlaient une zone divisée en 20 secteurs de 500 systèmes solaires environ, contenant des centaines de planètes annexées durant leur règne.
Deux forces ont donc luté contre les Kenmiris. D’un coté les rebelles des races colonisées par l’Empire, et de l’autre les extérieurs, ce que sont les humains.
Les rebelles sont en général bien moins organisés que les races extérieures, bien sur, car il n’ont pas de planète à eux, pas de bases. Et donc les seuls vaisseaux qu’ils peuvent avoir sont ceux qu’ils volent à l’Empire, si ils arrivent à mettre en place un système de ravitaillement pour les faire fonctionner après.
Lors de la dernière bataille qui a entraîné la chute des Kenmiri, ce sont les humains qui ont mit fin à leur domination.
Plus précisément, c’est le Colonel Wong, depuis le pont de son vaisseau, quand il a ordonné à celui ci de détruire le vaisseau-mère de sauvetage de la caste dirigeante qui essayait de s’enfuir de la planète assiégée.
Hors, ce que les humains ne savaient pas, c’est que la « mère » Kenmiri présente dans ce vaisseau, la seule capable d’enfanter leur race (on est sur des insectes comme dans le cycle d’Ender de Card, ou il y avait de très rares reines qui enfantaient tout un peuple), était la toute dernière encore en vie à ce moment la.
Privés de leur caste dirigeante, espèce morte sur le papier car sans femelle vivante, les Kenmiri étaient finis.
Je précise que les humains, qui sont l’une des dernières races a avoir découvert l’Empire, étaient en train d’être petit à petit colonisés par les Kenmiri, c’est pour ça qu’ils se sont engagés dans cette guerre.
Si ils ont résisté plus longtemps que les autres c’est parce qu’ils possédaient une technologie différente, ayant été isolés plus longtemps. Notamment leurs boucliers qui sont uniques dans la galaxie et qui sont bien plus performants que ceux dont l’empire dispose.
Revenons au Colonel Wong, notre personnage principal. Celui ci souffre d’un gros épisode de trouble de stress post-traumatique après la bataille en question. Notamment parce qu’il a commis ce qui est considéré comme le génocide d’une race bien plus ancienne, bien plus puissante et très riche en culture au fil des millénaires que les humains.
Il est désormais surnommé le « Destroyeur« , le destructeur, par toute la galaxie.
Après six semaines de traitement dans une unité psychiatrique pour avoir tenté de mettre fin à ses jours, il est jugé bon pour reprendre le service. Et ça tombe bien, on a vraiment besoin de lui pour une expédition qui part le lendemain.
Cette expédition diplomatique est chargée d’escorter la plus fine diplomate humaine, habituée au contact extraterrestre, vers la première conférence de paix des rebelles de l’Empire.
Maintenant que celui ci est tombé, il est temps d’essayer de faire en sorte que toute la zone ne tombe pas dans le chaos. Et ça ne sera pas chose facile car en fait le seul point commun de toute ces peuples étaient les Kenmiri. Leur seule langue commune est le Kenmiri aussi, en gros ils n’existent que par leur ennemi.
Mais maintenant que celui ci n’existe plus, vont-ils resté unis?
Il y a évidemment tout le problème de la répartition des territoires. Qui va les contrôler maintenant?
175 ambassadeurs représentants environ 200 peuples différents sont attendus dans une ancienne usine Kenmiri contrôlée maintenant par la faction la plus importante des rebelles (en gros celle qui possède le plus de vaisseaux volés aux Kenmiri)
Les humains sont bien sur invités, même si ils ne participent pas vraiment en fait, vu qu’eux ont déjà leur zone, celle qu’on essayé de coloniser les Kenmiri, du coup ils ne sont pas directement impliqués dans les négociations.
En fait les instructions que le diplomate qu’on a envoyé a sont simples : faire en sorte de sortir de tout ça sans se mouiller, et surtout sans que ça coûte le moindre argent supplémentaire à l’UPA, car celle ci est ressortie de la guerre exsangue et a besoin de temps pour s’en remettre. Elle n’a plus les moyens d’entretenir sa flotte.
En gros elle veut juste qu’on la laisse tranquille dans son coin.
Evidemment ça ne sera pas facile, avec tout le monde qui se regarde en chien de faïence et qui cherchent à faire en sorte que les humains deviennent leurs protecteurs …
Pour le personnage principal le problème est plus moral : peut-on vraiment se désengager à ce point de la situation sachant qu’on est celui qui l’a provoqué à départ? (même si c’était un peu par hasard)
En dehors de ça, bien sur tout du long on se pose toute sorte d’autres questions. Par exemple faut-il laisser faire les plus forts, ceux qui ont le plus de chance de pouvoir maintenir le chaos loin de chez eux sachant qu’ils risquent de partir en dictature pire que celle des Kenmiri?
Qui va s’occuper de faire en sorte que les routes commerciales restent ouvertes entre les peuples? Sachant que tout le reste de la galaxie va bientôt pulluler de pirates affamés car leurs mondes ne peuvent pas s’auto-suffire et qu’ils ne survivaient que grâce au réseau des Kenmiri qui s’occupaient finalement bien de leurs esclaves (ils ne les laissaient pas mourir de faim).
Globalement : Que peut on faire quand toute l’organisation de la survie de tous est menacée et va bientôt partir en un chaos monumental ingérable ou tout le monde voudra sa part du gâteau.
J’avoue que j’aime bien ces thèmes, la question de l’après guerre. De ce qu’on fait des perdants et de ceux qui ont besoin de notre aide qu’on ne peux pas donner car on a mis tout nos fonds dans la guerre et qu’on n’a plus rien à donner.
Qui abandonner? Qui sauver ?
Un sujet très vaste et qui est bien géré ici, même si ce n’est que le tout début.
Du coup on est vraiment sur un tome d’introduction. Le vaisseau humain dirigé par le Colonel Wong aura fort à faire pour se sortir de la position ou il est sans prendre des coups (car oui, ceux délaissés peuvent aussi le prendre mal si on leur refuse l’aide qu’ils pensent mériter)
Une situation général où il faut vraiment marcher sur des œufs.
J’ai bien aimé le personnage de Henry Wong. Il est âgé déjà, on est très loin du petit jeune. C’est un vétéran qui a vécu toute sa vie en guerre en fait vu qu’il était dans la première bataille contre les Kenmiri et qu’il n’a pas lâché prise depuis.
La guerre a vu son mariage, et son divorce, d’ailleurs son ex mari est aussi commandant d’un autre vaisseau d’UPSF.
Ses convictions personnelles vont à l’encontre des instructions et de la logique des humains, mais il n’a pas l’intention de laisser tomber et d’autoriser les humains a juste se désintéresser du reste de la galaxie. Il se sent responsable du chaos vu que c’est lui le Destroyeur, celui qui a anéanti les Kenmiri. Finalement cette conférence lui permet une ouverture qu’il n’aurais pas rêvé, un espoir pour lui qui avait très mal prit sa précédente mission. Il est réaliste cependant, ce n’est pas lui le diplomate. Il n’est la que pour rappeler à tous qu’il ne faut pas prendre les humains pour des faibles.
Au final, si il n’y avait pas eu les deux dernières pages larmoyantes et pas crédible comme lancement de la suite, j’aurais dit que j’étais tombé sur une excellente lecture. Je lirais le suivant tout de même, et je verrais si c’est possible de passer à coté de ce point précis la dans la suite ou pas.
https://delivreenlivres.home.blog/202...
On est sur de la SF militaire dans laquelle un convoi diplomatique est envoyé dans une conférence de paix suite à la chute d’un immense empire.
Je commence par le seul point qui m’ai moins plu, pour ensuite finir sur ce que j’ai aimé.
Un nouvel essai pour cet auteur et j’avoue que malgré le fait que j’ai bien aimé les quatre vingt dix neuf premiers pour-cent de ce livre, et que ça ne ressemble en rien à la précédente série de lui que j’ai lu, Changeling Blood, je commence déjà à lui trouver des points récurrents qui me font un peu moins plaisir sur le dernier pour-cent.
C’est vraiment la seule chose qui m’a gêné sur ce livre, et c’était un « détail » que je n’avais même pas noté dans la série précédente parce que ça n’était pas vraiment important dans celle ci qui était plus manichéenne. Mais vu qu’on le retrouve ici et que ça m’a un peu plus ennuyé, je le dit cette fois ci. Pour tout dire j’espère que c’était juste un faux pas et que je pourrais apprécier livres suivants.
En fait j’ai trouvé que l’épilogue était un peu trop dégoulinant de bons sentiments.
Et du coup dans le contexte global, tout ce qu’on a suivi avant et qui était bien plus nuancé que ça, ça sonnait un peu faux, parce que ça allait à l’encontre de tout ce que j’aurais cru possible avant.
Je ne peux évidemment pas vous dire ce qui s’y passe et vous expliquer pourquoi je trouve que ça ne va pas. Mais en tout cas ce passage de 2 pages à la toute fin du livre m’a un peu déçu. Ça donnait un coté trop facile à l’ensemble vu la situation et rien ne le justifiait à mon avis.
Le pire c’est que c’est ça qui amène le titre de la série donc c’était vraiment voulu depuis le départ par l’auteur, comme tome d’introduction j’imagine. J’ai déjà lu d’autres romans dans le genre, sur le même thème général, et c’est vraiment le premier où je trouve que c’est amené de façon forcée.
Bon, voila c’est dit. Maintenant passons au reste du roman, qui lui était très bien (c’est d’autant plus dommage !)
Dans ce livre nous suions la Colonel Henry Wong, officier aguerri de l’UPSF, l’United Planets Space Force, la force armée de l’espace de UPA, l’United Planets Alliance, en gros le gouvernement allié de toutes les colonies humaines dans l’espace.
Durant des décennies les humains ont combattu l’Empire Kenmiri. Ils ne sont bien entendu pas les seuls, car la galaxie entière est peuplées de centaines de races différentes.
Les Kenmiri sont une races d’extraterrestres de type insecte qui fonctionne sous un système de caste où de toute façon tout les non-Kenmiri sont des esclaves. Et c’est qu’ils en avaient des esclaves, car ils contrôlaient une zone divisée en 20 secteurs de 500 systèmes solaires environ, contenant des centaines de planètes annexées durant leur règne.
Deux forces ont donc luté contre les Kenmiris. D’un coté les rebelles des races colonisées par l’Empire, et de l’autre les extérieurs, ce que sont les humains.
Les rebelles sont en général bien moins organisés que les races extérieures, bien sur, car il n’ont pas de planète à eux, pas de bases. Et donc les seuls vaisseaux qu’ils peuvent avoir sont ceux qu’ils volent à l’Empire, si ils arrivent à mettre en place un système de ravitaillement pour les faire fonctionner après.
Lors de la dernière bataille qui a entraîné la chute des Kenmiri, ce sont les humains qui ont mit fin à leur domination.
Plus précisément, c’est le Colonel Wong, depuis le pont de son vaisseau, quand il a ordonné à celui ci de détruire le vaisseau-mère de sauvetage de la caste dirigeante qui essayait de s’enfuir de la planète assiégée.
Hors, ce que les humains ne savaient pas, c’est que la « mère » Kenmiri présente dans ce vaisseau, la seule capable d’enfanter leur race (on est sur des insectes comme dans le cycle d’Ender de Card, ou il y avait de très rares reines qui enfantaient tout un peuple), était la toute dernière encore en vie à ce moment la.
Privés de leur caste dirigeante, espèce morte sur le papier car sans femelle vivante, les Kenmiri étaient finis.
Je précise que les humains, qui sont l’une des dernières races a avoir découvert l’Empire, étaient en train d’être petit à petit colonisés par les Kenmiri, c’est pour ça qu’ils se sont engagés dans cette guerre.
Si ils ont résisté plus longtemps que les autres c’est parce qu’ils possédaient une technologie différente, ayant été isolés plus longtemps. Notamment leurs boucliers qui sont uniques dans la galaxie et qui sont bien plus performants que ceux dont l’empire dispose.
Revenons au Colonel Wong, notre personnage principal. Celui ci souffre d’un gros épisode de trouble de stress post-traumatique après la bataille en question. Notamment parce qu’il a commis ce qui est considéré comme le génocide d’une race bien plus ancienne, bien plus puissante et très riche en culture au fil des millénaires que les humains.
Il est désormais surnommé le « Destroyeur« , le destructeur, par toute la galaxie.
Après six semaines de traitement dans une unité psychiatrique pour avoir tenté de mettre fin à ses jours, il est jugé bon pour reprendre le service. Et ça tombe bien, on a vraiment besoin de lui pour une expédition qui part le lendemain.
Cette expédition diplomatique est chargée d’escorter la plus fine diplomate humaine, habituée au contact extraterrestre, vers la première conférence de paix des rebelles de l’Empire.
Maintenant que celui ci est tombé, il est temps d’essayer de faire en sorte que toute la zone ne tombe pas dans le chaos. Et ça ne sera pas chose facile car en fait le seul point commun de toute ces peuples étaient les Kenmiri. Leur seule langue commune est le Kenmiri aussi, en gros ils n’existent que par leur ennemi.
Mais maintenant que celui ci n’existe plus, vont-ils resté unis?
Il y a évidemment tout le problème de la répartition des territoires. Qui va les contrôler maintenant?
175 ambassadeurs représentants environ 200 peuples différents sont attendus dans une ancienne usine Kenmiri contrôlée maintenant par la faction la plus importante des rebelles (en gros celle qui possède le plus de vaisseaux volés aux Kenmiri)
Les humains sont bien sur invités, même si ils ne participent pas vraiment en fait, vu qu’eux ont déjà leur zone, celle qu’on essayé de coloniser les Kenmiri, du coup ils ne sont pas directement impliqués dans les négociations.
En fait les instructions que le diplomate qu’on a envoyé a sont simples : faire en sorte de sortir de tout ça sans se mouiller, et surtout sans que ça coûte le moindre argent supplémentaire à l’UPA, car celle ci est ressortie de la guerre exsangue et a besoin de temps pour s’en remettre. Elle n’a plus les moyens d’entretenir sa flotte.
En gros elle veut juste qu’on la laisse tranquille dans son coin.
Evidemment ça ne sera pas facile, avec tout le monde qui se regarde en chien de faïence et qui cherchent à faire en sorte que les humains deviennent leurs protecteurs …
Pour le personnage principal le problème est plus moral : peut-on vraiment se désengager à ce point de la situation sachant qu’on est celui qui l’a provoqué à départ? (même si c’était un peu par hasard)
En dehors de ça, bien sur tout du long on se pose toute sorte d’autres questions. Par exemple faut-il laisser faire les plus forts, ceux qui ont le plus de chance de pouvoir maintenir le chaos loin de chez eux sachant qu’ils risquent de partir en dictature pire que celle des Kenmiri?
Qui va s’occuper de faire en sorte que les routes commerciales restent ouvertes entre les peuples? Sachant que tout le reste de la galaxie va bientôt pulluler de pirates affamés car leurs mondes ne peuvent pas s’auto-suffire et qu’ils ne survivaient que grâce au réseau des Kenmiri qui s’occupaient finalement bien de leurs esclaves (ils ne les laissaient pas mourir de faim).
Globalement : Que peut on faire quand toute l’organisation de la survie de tous est menacée et va bientôt partir en un chaos monumental ingérable ou tout le monde voudra sa part du gâteau.
J’avoue que j’aime bien ces thèmes, la question de l’après guerre. De ce qu’on fait des perdants et de ceux qui ont besoin de notre aide qu’on ne peux pas donner car on a mis tout nos fonds dans la guerre et qu’on n’a plus rien à donner.
Qui abandonner? Qui sauver ?
Un sujet très vaste et qui est bien géré ici, même si ce n’est que le tout début.
Du coup on est vraiment sur un tome d’introduction. Le vaisseau humain dirigé par le Colonel Wong aura fort à faire pour se sortir de la position ou il est sans prendre des coups (car oui, ceux délaissés peuvent aussi le prendre mal si on leur refuse l’aide qu’ils pensent mériter)
Une situation général où il faut vraiment marcher sur des œufs.
J’ai bien aimé le personnage de Henry Wong. Il est âgé déjà, on est très loin du petit jeune. C’est un vétéran qui a vécu toute sa vie en guerre en fait vu qu’il était dans la première bataille contre les Kenmiri et qu’il n’a pas lâché prise depuis.
La guerre a vu son mariage, et son divorce, d’ailleurs son ex mari est aussi commandant d’un autre vaisseau d’UPSF.
Ses convictions personnelles vont à l’encontre des instructions et de la logique des humains, mais il n’a pas l’intention de laisser tomber et d’autoriser les humains a juste se désintéresser du reste de la galaxie. Il se sent responsable du chaos vu que c’est lui le Destroyeur, celui qui a anéanti les Kenmiri. Finalement cette conférence lui permet une ouverture qu’il n’aurais pas rêvé, un espoir pour lui qui avait très mal prit sa précédente mission. Il est réaliste cependant, ce n’est pas lui le diplomate. Il n’est la que pour rappeler à tous qu’il ne faut pas prendre les humains pour des faibles.
Au final, si il n’y avait pas eu les deux dernières pages larmoyantes et pas crédible comme lancement de la suite, j’aurais dit que j’étais tombé sur une excellente lecture. Je lirais le suivant tout de même, et je verrais si c’est possible de passer à coté de ce point précis la dans la suite ou pas.
October 21, 2019
I received an advanced copy in exchange for a review. As always, Glynn Stewart does not disappoint. Minor spoilers ahead. The worldbuilding for this first book in a new universe is top-notch, as is the character development. Unlike many other series, Peacekeepers of Sol isn't just about space battles and wars but deals with the aftermath faced by both the nation and the individual. I look forward to the next entry in this series.
February 27, 2025
Quite good!
November 8, 2019
Give this series a pass and read his other books
Love Glynn Stewart’s writing but I felt that this series fell a little short of the mark.
A couple issues was that I liked the secondary character of o’flannagain, I even liked the redeemed pirate Attalis better than the main character Henry who felt stiff.
Also the female lead of ambassador really didn’t do anything and her official instructions actually were to do nothing and let other worlds fall into chaos.....
The premise was good, but execution felt off both in the twist at the end which was not good both in cause and effect
I hated the twist and the stupidity that came from it and would say more, but trying to avoid spoilers.
the fact that I felt less than nothing was accomplished at the gathering.
The eventual last 5 pages was ok...but not nearly enough to turn things around.
I will continue to look forward to his other series and love the duchy of Terra and the exiles even his urban fantasy etc, but I will give this series a pass.
Love Glynn Stewart’s writing but I felt that this series fell a little short of the mark.
A couple issues was that I liked the secondary character of o’flannagain, I even liked the redeemed pirate Attalis better than the main character Henry who felt stiff.
Also the female lead of ambassador really didn’t do anything and her official instructions actually were to do nothing and let other worlds fall into chaos.....
The premise was good, but execution felt off both in the twist at the end which was not good both in cause and effect
I hated the twist and the stupidity that came from it and would say more, but trying to avoid spoilers.
the fact that I felt less than nothing was accomplished at the gathering.
The eventual last 5 pages was ok...but not nearly enough to turn things around.
I will continue to look forward to his other series and love the duchy of Terra and the exiles even his urban fantasy etc, but I will give this series a pass.
November 28, 2019
This was one of the least memorable books by Stewart I've ever read. The sad part was that all of the backstory, of things that happened in the years leading up to current time in book 1 was far more interesting than the actual events in the book.
That's not good.
That's not good.
December 7, 2019
Raven’s Peace is the latest novel to come out of the mind of Glynn Stewart. And you just know that it’s going to be a science fiction novel of epic proportions – this is Glynn Stewart we’re talking about, after all.
For nearly two decades humanity found themselves at war with the Kenmiri Empire. But now the war is over – but what does that mean for all of the soldiers dedicated to the cause? What will the United Planet Alliance be willing to do, in order to maintain this hard-won peace?
Colonel Henry Wong has been a part of this war since it started. The sudden end has left a ringing in his ear – and not just because it was his crew that dealt the final blow. But now he’s back in action, playing the position of guard and symbol for the peace talks about to occur.
“He learned he couldn’t stop the dream, but months of therapy allowed him to disconnect from it.”
Raven’s Peace was yet another thrilling read from Glynn Stewart. If you haven’t read any of his previous works, know that he is meticulous in the way he writes space travel sagas, and thus they’re startling complex and believable.
And in that vein, Raven’s Peace perfectly fits in with the rest of his works. Colonel Wong’s story was brilliant and fascinating. I think what I loved most about him was that he was unafraid to feel conflicted about the devastation he was a part of (even if it wasn’t completely willing or informed). It made him feel more human. And that’s a vital element, given what he and his crew are about to do and face.
I’ll confess that it did take me a little bit of time to get into Raven’s Peace. But once I did, I found myself thoroughly invested in the characters and their venture. Though I obviously had some favorites in particular (I always do).
Stewart’s works are always so full of facts and science, and yet they never read as infodumps. I think that’s one of the reasons I keep jumping on any and all-new series from his brain. They’re always so intriguing and approachable.
Speaking of – even if you haven’t read anything by Glynn Stewart before now, you can easily pick up Raven’s Peace and enjoy the story. There’s really no back information required, as Stewart will happily introduce you to the characters, science, technology, and setting.
For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
For nearly two decades humanity found themselves at war with the Kenmiri Empire. But now the war is over – but what does that mean for all of the soldiers dedicated to the cause? What will the United Planet Alliance be willing to do, in order to maintain this hard-won peace?
Colonel Henry Wong has been a part of this war since it started. The sudden end has left a ringing in his ear – and not just because it was his crew that dealt the final blow. But now he’s back in action, playing the position of guard and symbol for the peace talks about to occur.
“He learned he couldn’t stop the dream, but months of therapy allowed him to disconnect from it.”
Raven’s Peace was yet another thrilling read from Glynn Stewart. If you haven’t read any of his previous works, know that he is meticulous in the way he writes space travel sagas, and thus they’re startling complex and believable.
And in that vein, Raven’s Peace perfectly fits in with the rest of his works. Colonel Wong’s story was brilliant and fascinating. I think what I loved most about him was that he was unafraid to feel conflicted about the devastation he was a part of (even if it wasn’t completely willing or informed). It made him feel more human. And that’s a vital element, given what he and his crew are about to do and face.
I’ll confess that it did take me a little bit of time to get into Raven’s Peace. But once I did, I found myself thoroughly invested in the characters and their venture. Though I obviously had some favorites in particular (I always do).
Stewart’s works are always so full of facts and science, and yet they never read as infodumps. I think that’s one of the reasons I keep jumping on any and all-new series from his brain. They’re always so intriguing and approachable.
Speaking of – even if you haven’t read anything by Glynn Stewart before now, you can easily pick up Raven’s Peace and enjoy the story. There’s really no back information required, as Stewart will happily introduce you to the characters, science, technology, and setting.
For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks
December 26, 2023
Colonel Henry Wong gained the reputation as The Destroyer as a 17 year war against the Kenmiri Empire is brought to an end. The United Planets Space Force is hoping for years of peace as they have little hope of getting the funds and help from the people now that the war is over. Wong is restored to his position as Captain of the Raven's Peace space ship. His task is to deliver a diplomatic ambassador to a great Gathering of hopeful allies trying to regroup after the war.
Initially there was some good rapport between the restored ship Captain and the diplomatic ambassador. There was also some interesting interaction with the new crew members pulled from many other ships. As the story proceeds, a lot of time is spent on descriptions of space time and distance as speed or measurement squared that totally disrupted the story for me.
There is entertainment action, but unfortunately, I was not really drawn in by the characters or the story. The technical minutiae lost my interest. Others might find it engaging or not be distracted by the details. The story idea has some worth and readers might want to try the series.
Audio Notes: Oliver Wyman was a big plus for me. His narration did pull me in initially. He continues to deliver a strong performance but couldn't overcome the disconnect I got to. I am glad that I got to listen to this with a strong narrator rather than reading it.
Source: Audible Plus Catalog. I will likely try the author on another series but I won't be jumping on this one. My rating 3.75 Story, 4.25 Narration.
Initially there was some good rapport between the restored ship Captain and the diplomatic ambassador. There was also some interesting interaction with the new crew members pulled from many other ships. As the story proceeds, a lot of time is spent on descriptions of space time and distance as speed or measurement squared that totally disrupted the story for me.
There is entertainment action, but unfortunately, I was not really drawn in by the characters or the story. The technical minutiae lost my interest. Others might find it engaging or not be distracted by the details. The story idea has some worth and readers might want to try the series.
Audio Notes: Oliver Wyman was a big plus for me. His narration did pull me in initially. He continues to deliver a strong performance but couldn't overcome the disconnect I got to. I am glad that I got to listen to this with a strong narrator rather than reading it.
Source: Audible Plus Catalog. I will likely try the author on another series but I won't be jumping on this one. My rating 3.75 Story, 4.25 Narration.
March 6, 2025
What if Aliens Turned Out to Be …
What if two sentient species met for the first time? Both species have been searching the galaxy since time immemorial, wondering “Are we alone?”
What if the warlike aggressors we were always afraid of running into, the violent aliens that moviemakers helped us imagine, turned out to be us?
Would we look at the interaction transactionally? Quid Pro Quo? Establish a generous-to-both-sides treaty?
Or would Earth take a turtle in its shell approach? Earth First! Maybe a “If you’re not like us, you are against us!” Shoot first, ask questions later?
Think what we could learn from each other, and possibly other species. If all sentients threw off their prejudices? What if we got rid of those in their circle who hate anyone different than them in looks, color, number of arms, language?
Why wait? If this book, brilliant by the way, is a true representation of a possible future for this world, maybe we can start that revolution across this big beautiful blue globe today!
Hopefully we will wake up one day soon and make the first step towards a time for worldwide peace and equality. Toss away the labels we’ve all grown so fond of because I have news for you. THEY are out there … and they’re coming …. here!
To help you get ready, read this book and the rest of the set. Hey, you might just as well get all of Glynn Stewart’s books because you will love every universe he has created and those who populate them!
What if two sentient species met for the first time? Both species have been searching the galaxy since time immemorial, wondering “Are we alone?”
What if the warlike aggressors we were always afraid of running into, the violent aliens that moviemakers helped us imagine, turned out to be us?
Would we look at the interaction transactionally? Quid Pro Quo? Establish a generous-to-both-sides treaty?
Or would Earth take a turtle in its shell approach? Earth First! Maybe a “If you’re not like us, you are against us!” Shoot first, ask questions later?
Think what we could learn from each other, and possibly other species. If all sentients threw off their prejudices? What if we got rid of those in their circle who hate anyone different than them in looks, color, number of arms, language?
Why wait? If this book, brilliant by the way, is a true representation of a possible future for this world, maybe we can start that revolution across this big beautiful blue globe today!
Hopefully we will wake up one day soon and make the first step towards a time for worldwide peace and equality. Toss away the labels we’ve all grown so fond of because I have news for you. THEY are out there … and they’re coming …. here!
To help you get ready, read this book and the rest of the set. Hey, you might just as well get all of Glynn Stewart’s books because you will love every universe he has created and those who populate them!
November 27, 2019
I felt that this book was OK, but not great. There were too many things that just annoyed me. Inconsistencies, such as bouncing around between "kilometers per second squared", "KPS squared", and "KPS2" [with 2 as superscript] as if our author partway through figured out how to get the superscript working but then forgot to go back and fix the rest of the book. "Ser" instead of "sir", which seems to be swiped from Game of Thrones (but in one funny instance apparently auto-corrected to "sure" (because a military subordinate wants say sure to his captain, right?)). Attempts early on to use "they" as gender-neutral, but then forgetting (or maybe realizing it was seriously confusing for the reader) and going back to he and she. Our main character, Henry Wong, making a few too many comments grousing about his ex-husband; let's take note that Henry is a Colonel, 50 years old, supposedly was mostly amicably divorced, and a spaceship captain - get over it, Henry. Everyone else can tell you about the plot (which wasn't overly exciting, BTW), but it is the little annoyances when a book should have been better edited that really get to me. From reading some of his other works, I know that Glynn Stewart can do WAY better than this.
November 4, 2024
As with all Glynn Stewart books, a great face-paced read
A heck of a start to what should be a terrific series.
Captain Henry Wong of Raven and United Planets Ambassador Plenipotentiary Sylvia Todorovich are on their way to a deep space meeting with the various factions that made up one side of a war that folded when the leaders of the enemy faction were killed.
Leaderless, that faction has since folded up shop and retreated to its home worlds, leaving millions of their forced citizens stranded in star systems without support. The friendly faction has since splintered into many groups who’ve set their eye on large sectors of occupied space. This meeting is to divvy up the leavings.
The United Planets just want to stay out of the way and not get sucked into the politics. Henry’s clear job is to back up whatever play Todorovich makes.
When a friendly side wager between two oddly matched ships goes awry, Henry may have put Earth right in the middle of things.
There’s a lot I’m leaving out, but that’s the gist. It was well plotted, paced, written and the characters were mostly likeable, even the aliens.
A heck of a start to what should be a terrific series.
Captain Henry Wong of Raven and United Planets Ambassador Plenipotentiary Sylvia Todorovich are on their way to a deep space meeting with the various factions that made up one side of a war that folded when the leaders of the enemy faction were killed.
Leaderless, that faction has since folded up shop and retreated to its home worlds, leaving millions of their forced citizens stranded in star systems without support. The friendly faction has since splintered into many groups who’ve set their eye on large sectors of occupied space. This meeting is to divvy up the leavings.
The United Planets just want to stay out of the way and not get sucked into the politics. Henry’s clear job is to back up whatever play Todorovich makes.
When a friendly side wager between two oddly matched ships goes awry, Henry may have put Earth right in the middle of things.
There’s a lot I’m leaving out, but that’s the gist. It was well plotted, paced, written and the characters were mostly likeable, even the aliens.
November 5, 2023
Peace is Expensive
I love Henry. As an experienced captain with a stellar career record, a firm morality, a guilty conscience, and a notable case of PTSD, he stands as a relatable and admirable example of the conflicting emotions faced by his fellows in the wake of a war ended by any means possible as they grapple with the full weight and meaning of the phrase.
I enjoy books tackling complex topics that make me think. I feel it's important to drag the dark into the light, into consciousness and conversation. Light is the best weapon against the darkness, after all.
Raven's Peace asks the questions of what to do in the aftermath of the difficult decisions when there's no good answer, when the necessary thing to do cannot be excused as the right thing, and how to chart a course to live with one's actions afterwards.
There's also some exciting space battles, and certain characters I am hoping to spend more time with in future books. All in all, I highly recommend this book.
I love Henry. As an experienced captain with a stellar career record, a firm morality, a guilty conscience, and a notable case of PTSD, he stands as a relatable and admirable example of the conflicting emotions faced by his fellows in the wake of a war ended by any means possible as they grapple with the full weight and meaning of the phrase.
I enjoy books tackling complex topics that make me think. I feel it's important to drag the dark into the light, into consciousness and conversation. Light is the best weapon against the darkness, after all.
Raven's Peace asks the questions of what to do in the aftermath of the difficult decisions when there's no good answer, when the necessary thing to do cannot be excused as the right thing, and how to chart a course to live with one's actions afterwards.
There's also some exciting space battles, and certain characters I am hoping to spend more time with in future books. All in all, I highly recommend this book.
November 7, 2025
It took me a long time to decide what rating to give this book because, while I liked the premise, and I liked the characters (mostly), for me, the story just...dragged. The author threw a lot of math and physics into the pot, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it was just...a LOT. I found myself skimming over those parts because they weren't intrinsic to understanding what was happening and weren't needed to follow the battle, and for me, they were a distraction. This happened enough that I had to force myself to finish the book and I'm pretty sure I won't be picking up the next one in the series.
I give props to the author for being thoroughly inclusive in their choice of character gender, race (at least in regards to the Earth races), and sexual orientation. Loved it.
And extra mad props for the author's inclusion of one Miles Kosigan, Head of Intelligence, whom I am 1000% certain is a tribute to Miles Vorkosigan from the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster-Bujold (one of the greatest sci-fi series of all time). :)
I give props to the author for being thoroughly inclusive in their choice of character gender, race (at least in regards to the Earth races), and sexual orientation. Loved it.
And extra mad props for the author's inclusion of one Miles Kosigan, Head of Intelligence, whom I am 1000% certain is a tribute to Miles Vorkosigan from the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster-Bujold (one of the greatest sci-fi series of all time). :)
November 5, 2019
New Universe, New Hero, New Series to Love
I recieved an ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review.
When I finished this book, almost a month before its release, I was ready to shout its praises immediately. I had actually forgotten it was an ARC and couldn't figure out why my kindle WOULDN'T let me leave a review!
I love that Glynn includes many diverse characters in his stories. In this book we start off with an introduction to the main character's PTSD nightmare. It isn't immediately clear as to who the good guys or bad guys are...and that's somewhat of a bonus, in my opinion. This book lets you make your own decisions as to who to root for, yet it still has a strong lead character you want to succeed.
Down to the important details for all you potential readers:
-this book has great pacing
-there are many diverse characters
-the story won't let you put it down
-the writing is smooth
-if you love science fiction and space operas, read this book!!!
I recieved an ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review.
When I finished this book, almost a month before its release, I was ready to shout its praises immediately. I had actually forgotten it was an ARC and couldn't figure out why my kindle WOULDN'T let me leave a review!
I love that Glynn includes many diverse characters in his stories. In this book we start off with an introduction to the main character's PTSD nightmare. It isn't immediately clear as to who the good guys or bad guys are...and that's somewhat of a bonus, in my opinion. This book lets you make your own decisions as to who to root for, yet it still has a strong lead character you want to succeed.
Down to the important details for all you potential readers:
-this book has great pacing
-there are many diverse characters
-the story won't let you put it down
-the writing is smooth
-if you love science fiction and space operas, read this book!!!
December 20, 2020
Great storyline, too much agenda.
Mr Stewart is a fun author I always try to read. His starship mage books start really well, then have the same elements that bug me in this one. Its almost like he has a quota of. F bombs that has to be hit along with a quota of alternative life style references. The profanity is not needed and really doesn't add to the story or characters at all. Many authors can write 600 page books with only 2 or 3 of theses as opposed to what feels like 2 or 3 a chapter forced in. I understand being forced to write for the politically correct crowd and can tolerate it to some extent, but it gets old when it is in every third or fourth paragraph, and is the same reference. I made it about 45% through the book and am done. I will try again on his next series. He really is a good writer with good stories when he leaves out the other stuff.
Mr Stewart is a fun author I always try to read. His starship mage books start really well, then have the same elements that bug me in this one. Its almost like he has a quota of. F bombs that has to be hit along with a quota of alternative life style references. The profanity is not needed and really doesn't add to the story or characters at all. Many authors can write 600 page books with only 2 or 3 of theses as opposed to what feels like 2 or 3 a chapter forced in. I understand being forced to write for the politically correct crowd and can tolerate it to some extent, but it gets old when it is in every third or fourth paragraph, and is the same reference. I made it about 45% through the book and am done. I will try again on his next series. He really is a good writer with good stories when he leaves out the other stuff.
November 20, 2019
Good, but
It was an enjoyable read. The plot has complexities that make for a solid narrative. The characters are a little thin, but as the first novel of a series it didn’t *over* introduce and describe them, leaving something for the future.
There was something that failed to ring true about many of the military interactions. A lack of intensity or that little bit of snap. Maybe it was a missing character, that Chief who growls or the XO who seems merciless. They started out complaining about getting the dregs of the fleet and managed to gloss over that almost instantly. It was a sub plot that was almost ignored as soon as it was established and it left a hole in the development of the story.
I still liked it. I just think it could have been better. I will likely preorder the next novel.
It was an enjoyable read. The plot has complexities that make for a solid narrative. The characters are a little thin, but as the first novel of a series it didn’t *over* introduce and describe them, leaving something for the future.
There was something that failed to ring true about many of the military interactions. A lack of intensity or that little bit of snap. Maybe it was a missing character, that Chief who growls or the XO who seems merciless. They started out complaining about getting the dregs of the fleet and managed to gloss over that almost instantly. It was a sub plot that was almost ignored as soon as it was established and it left a hole in the development of the story.
I still liked it. I just think it could have been better. I will likely preorder the next novel.
November 2, 2022
Disclaimer: I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
This book was generally good. I really enjoyed the characters and the world building. I enjoyed the ships and the discussions about their technology. I especially enjoyed the action!
Where the book fell flat for me was the formal speech and procedural aspects. While I understand that it’s realistic to the characters, reading formal greetings and salutations over and over again got tedious for me. I am a reader that prefers readability over realism.
Overall, I think the story arc was good and this is a fun world. It’s a good fit for people who like sci-fi and military stories. I think it probably will be a bigger hit with people who are used to the formality or appreciate the realism. I’m just a casual mom reader with insomnia.
This book was generally good. I really enjoyed the characters and the world building. I enjoyed the ships and the discussions about their technology. I especially enjoyed the action!
Where the book fell flat for me was the formal speech and procedural aspects. While I understand that it’s realistic to the characters, reading formal greetings and salutations over and over again got tedious for me. I am a reader that prefers readability over realism.
Overall, I think the story arc was good and this is a fun world. It’s a good fit for people who like sci-fi and military stories. I think it probably will be a bigger hit with people who are used to the formality or appreciate the realism. I’m just a casual mom reader with insomnia.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 11, 2019
You did it again!
So, Mr. Glynn Stewart, once again you have done it. You have this 76 year old, retired English professor, who is as unwarlike as is possible for an old woman to be, staying awake til 2 a.m. to read another of your space war books (I have every one of your books) when I don't understand any of the technology you so blithely string your action together with or enjoy reading about so many entities dying, but still once I start your books, I am compelled to finish it before I can sleep. I like your protagonists....they are always GOOD people whose morality I agree with and who are very real and likeable. Please keep writing and I will keep reading....although I can read MUCH faster than you can write. What a pity for me.
So, Mr. Glynn Stewart, once again you have done it. You have this 76 year old, retired English professor, who is as unwarlike as is possible for an old woman to be, staying awake til 2 a.m. to read another of your space war books (I have every one of your books) when I don't understand any of the technology you so blithely string your action together with or enjoy reading about so many entities dying, but still once I start your books, I am compelled to finish it before I can sleep. I like your protagonists....they are always GOOD people whose morality I agree with and who are very real and likeable. Please keep writing and I will keep reading....although I can read MUCH faster than you can write. What a pity for me.
December 30, 2019
This book started quite slowly and for quite a while I didn’t really relate to the main characters. However it did grow on me and although it didn’t make the same impact as many of the authors other books, it wasn’t a bad story.
There were a few things that didn’t really make sense, but I was able to ignore most of them.
There were a few things that didn’t really make sense, but I was able to ignore most of them.
February 10, 2021
An unusual start to a military book - making the hero of the story a perpetrator of mass genicide!
This alone makes the captains later actions plausible after all the guilt he carries.
Story wise, Lots of diplomacy in this book with some action. Probably just enough to keep me reading.
I don't know if it's just me but I found something odd about the way that the author repeatedly put the skin colour of people in the descriptions. I wouldn't normally comment but it seemed to be added for no purpose (he never described any other trait other than skin colour and hair colour!)
Didn't ruin the book for me, just found it odd.
I will seek out the next book as I think the first sets up the story a lot.
This alone makes the captains later actions plausible after all the guilt he carries.
Story wise, Lots of diplomacy in this book with some action. Probably just enough to keep me reading.
I don't know if it's just me but I found something odd about the way that the author repeatedly put the skin colour of people in the descriptions. I wouldn't normally comment but it seemed to be added for no purpose (he never described any other trait other than skin colour and hair colour!)
Didn't ruin the book for me, just found it odd.
I will seek out the next book as I think the first sets up the story a lot.
February 13, 2022
The book starts with a war in space ending and the peace initiatives post-war efforts starting where each of the allies has their own expansionist agenda. During the conference between all the allies, something strange happened - their sub-space communication capabilities vanished, thus losing the capability to communicate instantaneously with their primary bases.
Overall a very interesting book, but a very very slow start. The story picked up pace towards the last few chapters. In the audiobook version, the normal pace of narration is very slow - I used 1.4x the speed in the audiobook for a good experience. While I got this book as part of Audible plus subscription, I think I will use my credits to buy the second part in the series.
Overall a very interesting book, but a very very slow start. The story picked up pace towards the last few chapters. In the audiobook version, the normal pace of narration is very slow - I used 1.4x the speed in the audiobook for a good experience. While I got this book as part of Audible plus subscription, I think I will use my credits to buy the second part in the series.
June 20, 2020
Another fascinating world created by Glynn Stewart. It confronts most of the ills in our society in a way that seems obvious. It also holds up the best of humanity and our core principles, or at least those of many, in order to protect others. Even when that protection comes with a hefty cost and no guarantees of repayment it restitution. It also acknowledges multiple motivations, including profit and near colonialism, as reasons why some support the protection of others. Which is an interesting dichotomy. The book does all this while not being overly preachy and still presenting an interesting set of worlds and lives to become involved in.
November 15, 2019
Interesting premise. Have to see how the series progresses.
I enjoyed the premise of the book, as well as the relationship between the captain and the ambassador. I think that relationship has a lot of potential. Of course with most first books in the series there was a lot of world building and development of the supporting characters in the series. A little bit slow, but most first books are. I am going to read the next book when it comes out. I suggest you give this one a try.
I enjoyed the premise of the book, as well as the relationship between the captain and the ambassador. I think that relationship has a lot of potential. Of course with most first books in the series there was a lot of world building and development of the supporting characters in the series. A little bit slow, but most first books are. I am going to read the next book when it comes out. I suggest you give this one a try.
November 27, 2019
Raven’s Peace is a keeper
Stewart hits another series out of the park. I’m a huge fan and I was excited to see a new book from him. It does not disappoint. The characters are relatable. Included in the narrative is how soldiers have to cope after returning from the violence of a war, how they can process the damage they’ve seen or perpetuated. This is done within the scope of the characters in a non preachy way. There’s enough military action and sit on the end of your seat moments to satisfy any fan of military SF. Can’t wait for the next book!
Stewart hits another series out of the park. I’m a huge fan and I was excited to see a new book from him. It does not disappoint. The characters are relatable. Included in the narrative is how soldiers have to cope after returning from the violence of a war, how they can process the damage they’ve seen or perpetuated. This is done within the scope of the characters in a non preachy way. There’s enough military action and sit on the end of your seat moments to satisfy any fan of military SF. Can’t wait for the next book!
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