Book Review: It's a Series! Again!

But this time, science fiction

Ok, so here’s the thing. I couldn’t review these books on Amazon. Why? Because I’m connected to them, and my name is in the frontmatter of the books. I did the covers for them. I was paid for this, because… well, I’m a businesswoman and John is a decent human being as well as a great writer. However, it dawned on me that duh, I can blog review them and really should because they are darn good reads.

Seriously, you don’t have to read all of this. The Wolfhounds series¹ is a complete six-book story arc² and if you enjoy military science fiction, you’re going to like these books.

However, if you aren’t sure…rubs hands together in delight…? Let’s talk about it.

The series opens with Chase, a street kid who has had to survive unspeakable horrors in a capitol city after his mother died and he was thrown out of home, school, and any real hope. Chase found his niche in a gang, and the next step in his rise in their leadership is to get himself thrown into prison. It’s all cold and logical and the plan does not survive contact with the judge presiding over his case.

Chase next wakes up to find that he’s been put aboard a huge asteroid space navy base, home to the elite unit called Wolfhounds. Furthermore, because of a dastardly coup on the capitol planet to take over the entire galactic empire, Chase and everyone else aboard has rip-van-winkled their way ten years into the future.

John’s world building is solid, intricate, and sets up the conflict very well. You will, I think, be in suspense for multiple books about how this thing is going to turn out. The Wolfhounds would, after all, be justified in settling for colonies on minor planets. Except… the regime that has taken over the empire is so vile that they could not in all conscience accept anything less than a complete win.

I won’t spoil the books. Spoilers are not good in a review. I will tell you that there is combat here, for the action junkies. There are characters who grow, learn, forge friendships and find love. There is a compelling plot for each book, which buttresses the arc of the whole series in a very believable way. The pacing will keep you reading late into the night if you don’t plan for it. There’s no golden-boy syndrome in this book. Chase is not a very nice person and there’s a good reason for that, later it turns out that if he had been, well… I won’t spoil it. You should read it.

Also, if you get to the end of this book and want more? There’s a spin-off series, Valley of Fire, being published by Raconteur Press, which will release book 2 in about a week. Read on, my friends!

1. Yes, that’s an Amazon affiliate link. Helps support the blog, and costs you nothing. Thank you!

2. For those readers who insist on a complete series before they will read. Weird.