G J Ogden

OMG, finally! After an agonizing wait for what I hoped would come, Tori is working with Hudson and Liberty. Tobin stuck around as well which made me really happy. He's a hoot. Basically this entire book is split between hunting for the crystal which Griff stole and trying to defend themselves from (as well as prepare to take down) Goliath. Morpheus shows more of his insane and strange powers, even sharing some of them with certain members of the team. Griff is maybe, finally, about to get show more what's coming to him. Oh, wait, he gets away again.

There was plenty of suspense and the story moved along at a good pace. It's hard to believe everything will be resolved in book 5. I'm enjoying the story quite a bit. It has a lot of lighthearted moments and I am discovering I really like the space cowboy genre. I do have my doubts about whether Hudson will ever be able to settle down to a life as a relic hunter when all this is over. Maybe after a long nap.

I received a free copy of the audiobook from the author and have reviewed it willingly. show less

Hudson and Liberty are in trouble when they are finally caught by Griff, Cutler, and Tory. Even Tory seems to be unable to rescue them this time despite her apparent crush on Hudson. But then, Tory's mad at Cutler ever since he nearly left her on the last planet, so who knows what that will lead her to do in the future.

The crystal in Griff's possession, Liberty hauled off to be sold as a slave, and Hudson nearly dead with his broken down (sabotaged) ship and no way to fix it seems hopeless, show more but Morpheus comes to the rescue and is able to fix up both Hudson and his ship. But how will Hudson be able to find Liberty? How will Liberty escape (because we all know she isn't going to just accept her fate and wait around to be rescued)? On a related note, I'm loving Liberty's new "rich boy" friend and his nonchalant attitude about being captured - please let him remain part of the story!

The action doesn't look like it's going to let up any time soon, and with the odds stacked against Hudson, well, I guess nothing has really changed. But I'm still looking forward to what happens next...and dying to know when Tory finally switches sides. Even knowing her backstory, I don't think she has a strong enough reason to stay with Cutler after all that's happened in this book. We will see.

I received a free copy of the audiobook from the author and have reviewed it willingly. show less

Descendant of War is Mass Effect: Renegade Interrupt - The Book. Commander Reeves is a guns-blazing human Space Navy officer, and also the distant descendant of characters from one of Ogden's other series. When he goes too far in pursuit of pirates, he's exiled to command of Conclave/The Abyss, a massive space station that servers as neutral territory for the six civilized races, and also a hive of scum and villainy for all their criminal elements. Along with his XO, Major Katee Kane, he has show more to bring justice to the void of space at the point of a blaster pistol and his plasma trench knife. The situation goes from bad (human extremists out for him personally, local criminals, idiot diplomats) to awful when mankind's ancient enemy returns through rifts in shadow space, threatening terrible revenge, which only Reeves can stop. See more in books 2-6!

So, I did not expect crackling writing or originality from the description or the price point, and even so, I feel let down. The sole bright spot is that the background details are not directly copied from the inspirations of Babylon 5 and Mass Effect. Enough is shuffled to make it not a carbon copy, though the aliens are still very much "planet of hats". But everything else is a study in artlessness. At least it's a quick read. show less

This was a short but bracingly good, military science fiction story. I loved the fast-paced and exciting plot, and can't wait for the next in the series.