Review: Honor from Ashes

I haven't been able to read - no time!  - for about two weeks. I made the time for this book.

First, I'd been looking forward to Honor from Ashes, the third book in the Honor and Duty series. Second, I really needed some relaxation time and I knew that this book would be well-enough written to keep my attention even when I'm stressed and pretty much only focusing on the end of the school year.

I wasn't wrong. Actually, other than having no time to read, which forced me to read this in small amounts, it was a great reading experience. A good book, for me, is one that lets me escape into another universe for a while - at least until the annoying timer goes off - and leave the real world behind. Sam Schall delivers that. Honor from Ashes is easily the strongest book of the series. For the first time, we get a well-rounded cast of characters, being introduced to Ashlyn Shaw's whole family as well as her military comrades in arms. We also get a glimpse of what sent her unjustly to a prison planet.

There is action a-plenty in this book. Assassins for close-up, and starship battles with boarding skirmishes, and all the trappings for those who want an exciting read. Improbable things happen, but they are set up well enough to make them seem a natural progression of events. This is, after all, space opera. This book, in the arc of the series, is the turning-point that marks a battle which might win the war... but the fighting isn't over yet.

I would suggest that you start with the first book - you could probably pick up the threads in this one, if you entered the series here, but one of the lovely things about Amazon is that you aren't forced to start a series where you found a book. I can remember many books picked up and put back down when I realized they were book two or three or something in a series, and I had no way of knowing if I would ever be able to find book one. Sometimes I read it anyway, and sometimes that worked. Other times it was frustrating and annoying. But now, with the power of ebooks and the internet, you never need to drift aimlessly in and out of another book series. You can find the whole Honor and Duty series here. Also, it's in the Kindle Unlimited program, so you can read for free. Well, not free, but honestly the $10 a month subscription is cheaper than a cable bill, and a whole lot more fun.