Wednesday 5 February 2014

The Phoenix War - Richard L. Sanders

RATING: FOUR STARS

The human Empire is on the verge of civil war, threatening to tear itself apart as House Akira and other prominent high lords fight each other for the right to sit upon the throne. But such civil division is a waste of effort and resources that mankind cannot afford to lose. The cogs put into motion by the Phoenix Ring are still whirring in the shadows and, as events quickly get out of hand, it begins to become clear that the selfish group of benefactors were never truly in control. The Enclave are stirring in their dark halls of exile and, in a far region of space, the Rotham are mobilising—a highly advanced race that had always coveted the affluence of the human empire; wanting our lush worlds and rich solar systems. But these are only the beginning of human worries and rumour has reached some that the Polarian Dread Fleet—an armada of ships that leaves nothing but dead worlds in its wake—is waking. The Polarians have no love of humanity either and fanatically believe that they have the right of dominion over the entire universe . . . 

Amidst all the chaos and violence, the Nighthawk continues its mission to find and destroy the last of the isotome weapons—missiles that are powerful enough to destroy whole solar systems and leave their suns blackened and cold . . . The success of their mission is crucial to both the future of the Empire and the human race, but they have few leads to go on and are almost literally searching for needles in an infinite haystack!

Meanwhile Calvin Cross, now the Imperial Executor by appointment of Princess Kalila, is ordered to gather as much intelligence as he can on the Rotham and assess whether their military deployment is a threat to the Empire. His mission takes him deep into Alliance spacea xenophobic government that has no sympathy for the Empire and is unknowingly riddled with Enclave agents . . .

The Good
The Phoenix War is an exciting instalment of The Phoenix Conspiracy series and begins to tie lose ends together ready for the final book (which will hopefully be released soon). It also begins to build the political turmoil and military threat from aliens in a fast-paced plot, getting ready for what I imagine will be a stunning end to the series!

The Bad
Once again, I feel like Richard L. Sanders could have included more description in his writing as it is very ‘bare’. His dialogue and tone are both good, but he has an annoying habit of skipping over the details of his environments and provides scant information. This is a shame really, as his characters are aboard an array of space ships that would be interesting to read about and visit a number of worlds where he could quite literally ‘go wild’ and paint stunning landscapes around his characters!

My Thoughts
Overall though, I was impressed with The Phoenix War and think that it's the best instalment of the series so far! I am eagerly awaiting the next (and final) book, although it will be a shame to finish the series off! The Phoenix Conspiracy is undoubtedly a true gem of a series in a genre that I've found somewhat stale of late!

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