Counterstrike by Joshua Dalzelle

Counterstrike by Joshua Dalzelle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In the final novel of the Black Fleet trilogy the Earth is once again the focal point of the human race but the long ostracised humans are not overly friendly to their brothers and sisters returning home with their tails between their legs. However as the political battlefield continues to develop Captain Jackson Wolfe and his close allies have to deal with Earth and the remnants of the confederation both civilian and military and surprisingly the enigmatic Vruahn who have requested to speak to Jackson more or less in person. The Phage it seems have never spoken to any individual directly, this is a mystery and maybe the first real weakest that can be exploited but even as the massed fleets of humanity look to strike back Wolfe sees that the final battle may lie down a totally different path. Decisions have to be made and Wolfe has never doubted that his gut and pure luck has gotten him this far but with the very survival of humanity at stake can he afford to gamble...
Counterstrike was a very good way to wrap up this trilogy, no question it's more of the same but that isn't that unexpected, both the characterisation and action within the story was satisfying with a few unexpected twists and turns to add a little spice.

View all my reviews

Black Fire by Sonni Cooper

Black Fire by Sonni Cooper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The novel opens up pretty spectacularly, a terrorist attack on the Enterprise leaves the ship seriously damaged with crew deaths. Investigating the explosion indicates a huge conspiracy yet the powers that be seem indifferent forcing Spock to take independent action, not for the first time it has to be said. The alien species introduced in the book was interesting but I don't think they or the situation made a lot of sense but some of the Spock dynamic was to coin a phrase fascinating.
Black Fire was an enjoyable read and that got the extra star but for the Star Trek purist it's probably going to mildly annoy if only because one of the main plot elements would never have come to pass within the tv canon. That said I loved the idea of Spock becoming known throughout Federation space for his exploits and poetry being written about him, McCoy was having the time of his life:)

View all my reviews

The Wrath Of Khan by Vonda N. McIntyre

Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan by Vonda N. McIntyre
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What can you say, a novelisation of the greatest Star Trek movie ever to grace the silver screen can not go wrong and it didn't. In fact you can easily argue the book is better than the movie thanks to the extra depth and characterization given to elements that where not seen, were truncated or never even existed in the script. The look at the science team developing Genesis adding so much more to their deaths than we got out of the movie and an interesting take on Joachim and a little extra for Savvik and Peter as well. Lets me honest a novel has the opportunity to expand a story in areas a movie with a severely restricted run time has to ignore and as readers we get the benefit.
I don't think I need to go into the plot of the book, doubtful anyone would be reading that hadn't seen the movie so lets just say it was well worth the time even for a die hard fan of the movie.

View all my reviews

The Abode of Life by Lee Correy

The Abode of Life by Lee Correy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Enterprise is charting gravitational anomalies on the outer edge of the Orion arm of the galaxy when they run smack bang into one, the ship is flung into the void and is badly damaged. Limping towards home the detect a rogue star with a habitable world which shows intense levels of energy usage as if transporter systems were running continuously. A landing party beam down and discover a world of high technology but operating a society based upon the code duello and the three main political/social elements now exposed to the reality of "alien life" could see their society fracture as some embrace the new reality while others attempt to suppress and deny it.
The Abode Of Life was a mighty fine read, I enjoyed the concept of a rogue world thrust from the populated areas of the milky way whose people had woven into their society the elements of what once was. The social structure was interesting and functional, too many times in scifi the "bad" guys tend to be a little over the top but here we see reason and facts win out albeit with some false starts. Not quite sure I'm ready to see the Enterprise crew walking around with old timey pistols but it does create a picture:)

View all my reviews

The Covenant of the Crown by Howard Weinstein

The Covenant of the Crown by Howard Weinstein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The planet of Shad is the key to the stability of the quadrant and the Klingon Empire are arming a dissident faction and the civil war is slowly but surely crumbling the long established monarchy. Shad also supplies raw material for energy generation to many nearby worlds and if she falls to the Klingons many other worlds will follow. James Kirk served on Shad as adviser to the King and led him into exile, 18 years later the loyalist forces have turned the tide and have started bickering amongst themselves. Only the return of the king who represents both the lineage of rulers but also a living conduit to the gods of Shad can stabalise and bring true peace to this world.
The Covenant of the Crown is a story which feels a lot bigger than it is, the narrative is complex and diverse allowing you to really sink your teeth into the character and situations. Klingons are Klingons and their MO syncs with the tv series although like one or two of the tv episodes how the Federation deals with non-member worlds and pre-warp at that isn't entirely clear. If you can accept that then this is a great Star Trek story, lots of action and suspense with the characters written very well and always nice to have McCoy front and center:)

View all my reviews

The Klingon Gambit by Robert E. Vardeman

The Klingon Gambit by Robert E. Vardeman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The catastrophic loss of telemetry from a Vulcan ship supporting an archaeological dig has the Enterprise warping into the Alnath system to confront a Klingon dreadnought suspected of involvement. Upon arrival the Vulcan ship is found adrift, its crew all dead but with no direct evidence of foul play, further investigation is required amongst the Andorian led scientists and the Klingon warship. Evidence of a very advanced civilization has been found on Alnath but as the mystery deepens the crew of the Enterprise starts to behave in a very peculiar manner.
The Klingon Gambit was a good and traditional Star Trek story, a mystery with a long gone alien race whose technology continues to impact on the races that follow combined with ongoing fall out from the Organian accords. The story also explores character traits many of which have been seen in smaller doses in the tv series and new crew members were added to enhance this effect. Overall a good original series story in character with the television show.

View all my reviews

The Entropy Effect by Vonda N. McIntyre

The Entropy Effect: Star Trek by Vonda N. McIntyre
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The mysterious appearance of a singularity has the Enterprise and more importantly Spock committed to an extensive study, six weeks into the mission the ship receives an "ultimate" distress signal, it can not be ignored. Upon arrival at Aleph there seems little to justify the emergency but with the ship and crew in need of a moment of rest and rejuvenation perhaps a milk run taking a prisoner to a nearby rehab facility is just what's needed. Tragedy then strikes, an attack on board with proscribed weaponry leaves two dead and one seriously injured and as the paranoia runs rampant the secrets Spock and McCoy are keeping makes them look ever more guilty of conspiracy and murder.
The Entropy Effect is a solid piece of Star Trek story telling, nothing really new here after all the ship often gets diverted for no real reason but the criminal activity and mystery adds a very welcome layer to an established trope. The novel was a lot better than I remembered and I really enjoyed some of the new characters introduced in the book a few of which turn up in Trek novels from other authors.

View all my reviews

Star Trek The Motion Picture

Star Trek I: The Motion Picture by Gene Roddenberry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A solid novelisation of the first Star Trek feature film which allowed the author to expand on some scenes and relationships with great effect and not get mired in the minutia of the environment. Yes we all know the motion picture went a little overboard with the visual effects sequences at least in terms of length so it was appreciated that this novel provided the visual impact to the crew without boring the reader.

View all my reviews

Call to Arms by Joshua Dalzelle

Call to Arms by Joshua Dalzelle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Captain Jackson Wolfe the most experienced combat captain in the fleet now has command of the Starwolf class "Ares" the most powerful and advanced warship ever built by humanity but the threat of invasion has diminished. After the massacre on colony worlds it was expected the mysterious alien species/entity would rampage towards the core worlds but little has been heard and public opinion and the support from politicians that goes hand in hand begins to wane. Wolfe realises the veneer of cooperation and mutual respect that has been the bedrock of humanity for the last few centuries has been a bit of shame as the factions maneuver amongst themselves seemingly indifferent to the threat. Wolfe takes his ship to hunt down the aliens and try to reveal why they seem to be intent to hold the now dead world of Xi'an and makes some startling discoveries but Centcom and the confederacy are fracturing leaving Wolfe to hold the line with too few ships and souls.
Call To Arms is an excellent second book in the Black Fleet Trilogy building on the characters and events from the first book but adding far more depth and plot elements which opens up the story and poses some interesting questions as we are carried along with Wolfe and the Ares. The final novel "Counterstrike" has a lot to live up to but I don't think I will be disappointed.

View all my reviews

My New PC

The sad fact is that you kinda know when it's time to do some major work to your personal computer at least when it's running windows. Years of updates and installing/uninstalling programs take it's toll so using the time off work to build myself a new PC.

I could take pictures of the internal workings and truth be told the aesthetics of motherboards and other hardware seem to take into account a windowed case but lighting condition are not great so they wouldn't look their best anyway so I didn't bother:)

• Asus Z170 Deluxe
• Core i7-6700K 4.00GHz
• 16GB DDR 4
• 480GB HyperX Predator PCIe SSD
• Be Quiet! Silent Base 800 & 750 Watt PSU

I've used my existing Nvidia 9600 GT graphics card and while it is probably in need of an upgrade I have yet to play a game it couldn't cope with but I'm not that demanding when it comes to cutting edge graphically demanding gaming.

A Savage War Of Peace by Christopher Nuttall

A Savage War Of Peace by Christopher Nuttall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Savage War of Peace continues the story of the planet Vesy and it's indigenous population who are being caught between some of the major powers of Earth along with fringe elements who claim to know what is best for this species. Britain left a presence on the world before the Warspite returned to Earth and that camp soon becomes overwhelmed with the influx of ships and people many of who have no real interest in allowing the British forces to dictate terms of occupancy. The Indian fleet establishes their own base and opens negotiations directly with other city states and the almost inevitable sequence of events is kicked off as this culture is destabilized even more so than before when only Russian deserters were in system.
This second novel of the second "Ark Royal" trilogy was for me more interesting than the first even though it's light on space based action but the events on the ground and diplomatic maneuvering more than makes up. The interesting thing is that at this point there is no real "bad guy" although reading the British forces as the "heroes" of the story means you should take the Indian forces as the protagonists but they do nothing that anyone else wouldn't do and have done and with some style it has to be said. I am looking forward to the conclusion to this story in the third novel "A Small Colonial War" not just for the expected action but for the final steps of the characters that I've been following during the events in and around Vesy.

View all my reviews

Warship by Joshua Dalzelle

Warship by Joshua Dalzelle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I got my copy of Warship for free after signing up to Discover Scifi, while I've read other novels from Joshua the Black Fleet series wasn't an immediate attention grabber. However I wasn't going to turn the offer down since I do enjoy his writing so I jumped right into this world that he created to tell the story of Captain Jackson Wolfe an Earth born native who commands the Raptor class destroyer "Blue Jacket" part of the Centcom Black Fleet. Far into the future mankind has discovered FTL and colonised numerous worlds mostly along racial and political lines and conflict amongst them has been non-existent. While it's true the various factions of humanity may not overly like eachother they are bound by economics and a surprisingly well thought out political and military structure. The Black Fleet is at the bottom rung of the military ladder, old ships and questionable crews but for this cruise Captain Wolfe has been ordered out to the frontier to investigation some curious events, what he finds changes everything.
I took me a while to get into the story although I have found myself enjoying the more "realistic" physics in military scifi where FTL is not simply a button press away and sublight in system is not a matter of minutes but days. I did eventually get into the swing of things and while most of the characters are not that endearing the interaction and events that play out on the ship were interesting even before the discovery of the destroyed colonies. Once we get to that point then the novel changes gear and everything ramps up and I found myself turning the last page and going straight to the store to buy book two in the series.

View all my reviews page and going straight to the store to buy book two in the series.

Warspite by Christopher Nuttall

Warspite by Christopher Nuttall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first interstellar war is over, many of the space faring nations of Earth and still licking their wounds and after the devastation the need to move humanity out into the stars is compelling. While human treaties exist to protect the solar systems infrastructure the star systems and colonies beyond the tramlines leading away from Sol are far less protected. The great powers have an understanding but nation states sidelined for decades who survived the war relatively intact are flexing their muscles and the newly discovered planet and it's alien population will become the powder keg.
Warspite is a change of pace from the original Ark Royal trilogy, with less conflict and more diplomatic and political issues the story seems a little slow paced but that's not a bad thing. Without giving too much away we can see that there will be trouble ahead for many of the characters we first met in the original trilogy as the demands of Britain, Earth, Humanity and this new species conflict.
A solid start to the new series but it may be a little jolt in style and substance if you are fresh from the Ark Royal series while I had a good gap between them and that allowed me to embrace the changes without any negativity.

View all my reviews

Hobby Master McDonnell Douglas CF-188B Hornet

Picked this up the other day, having room on the shelves is proving to be expensive but the Canadian livery really caught my eye :)

The Furies by Jo Graham

Stargate Atlantis: The Furies by Jo Graham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The threat of Queen Death escalates not only to every human in Pegasus but also to the factions of Wraith who she is alienating thanks to her scorched earth policy and together they face a stark truth. There is no help or salvation but from themselves and they all know in their hearts that the current dynamic within Pegasus has been shattered forever, for Pegasus to survive will take not only a military alliance but a fundamental shift in attitudes from everyone. This is the situation which has Teyla once again embracing the part of her which is Wraith and taking her place as a Queen for only a Queen can influence and manipulate the events in the direction which could mean a future for all.
The Furies by Jo Graham once again gives its all to lovers of Stargate Atlantis while enhancing and massaging the established canon from the tv series, some may see this as a bad thing but Legacy has to evolve the characters, it would have happened on the tv show and maybe in a similar direction. I still adore diving deep into the Wraith culture and the introduction of Waterlight was beautiful as is how the Wraith see the humans. The overlay of their worldview on the Atlantis command structure and personnel is inspired and makes so much sense and as is often the case it's the lack of understanding and insight which blocks potential solutions from being seen.
With the revelations and events in The Furies we can only look forward to their consequences in the next Legacy novel "Secrets", can't wait.

View all my reviews

Sir Apropos of Nothing

Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sir Apropos of Nothing was not a book I went looking for although as a Trek novel fan I do tend to look at the other work of its authors and follow them on social media. This was how I first became aware of Sir Apropos of Nothing and decided to give it a go and boy was that a great decision.
The story takes the usual tropes of a low born young man who through force of will, effort, coincidence and plain good luck raises through the ranks of the society he lives in. The main difference here is that you really have to decide if Apropos is a good guy or not, he's certainly a broken individual (his physical limitations, birthing and status made sure of that) but he tends to keep doing the right thing for maybe all the wrong reasons. You see his mother believed in destiny and it's hard to argue after she witnesses the death and birth of a Phoenix and while she herself has a hard life never doubt that everything she did was to give her son every chance, of course Apropos only really really understands that long after she has passed on. Never fear though, the loss of his mother spurred him into his grand adventure dealing with Kings, Queens, Knights and oh yes the very opinionated and arrogant princess who may just more crazy and dangerous than everyone else combined.
After I finished Sir Apropos of Nothing I immediately went to buy the second and third novels in the series but alas they are not offered as ebooks and the prices for new copies of printed media were quite high. I have yet to decide if I can justify the cost but I would certainly love to read them and perhaps that is the best recommendation I can give:)

View all my reviews

Stargate Atlantis: Allegiance

SGA-18 Allegiance by Melissa Scott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reviewing the Legacy series is tricky, I was fortunate I read it well after the fact but was totally unaware of the major plot points but I never went looking for reviews either.
So here we go, Allegiance is the third novel in the series and Rodney is still very much missing and unaware he is helping to bring down his friends and family in Pegasus and after the failure of the first retrieval mission things look bleak. Atlantis greets some old and new friends from Earth but before anyone can get settled the city is attacked by forces loyal to Queen Death, the city survives mainly intact for all but one critical element. However we also see that Sateda in a small way is rising from among the ashes of it's former civilisation offering hope to Ronon but there are always other worlds and groups looking to exploit the resources of worlds unable to protect themselves. It seems diplomacy will be the tool of the day to protect and nurture alliances within the humans of Pegasus but the consequences of the bargaining being done could be severe...
Allegiance is another fine addition to the Legacy series, Melissa and Amy have done a great job incorporating new and previously seen aspects of the Atlantis tv show into this series and maintained the pacing and entertainment value while holding true to the spirit.

View all my reviews

Coulson and Lola

Coulson And Lola

Now this I had on pre-order for a long time, it would be quicker to import but the cost was prohibitive but I got it the other week so all good :)

Vienna Season 3

I had the third season of Vienna on pre-order from Big Finish for a few months and the CD package arrived the other day, they also provide direct access to the mp3 library of your purchases and a version formatted as an audiobook. Big Finish should be praised for both the gesture and the added convenience they provide to their customers.

Vienna are the audio adventures of the bounty hunter Vienna Salvatori voiced by Chase Masterson, well worth listening too and produced to a very high level.

• 3.1 Self Improvement by Ian Potter
• 3.2 Big Society by Guy Adams
• 3.3 Impossibly Glamorous by Steve Lyons

Big Finish

Stargate Atlantis: The Lost

Stargate Atlantis: The Lost by Jo Graham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Lost is the second book in the Stargate Atlantis Legacy series and the story quickly picks up from the first novel where McKay was captured by the Wraith. The fate of McKay was unexpected but in hindsight perfectly in sync with events as seen in the television series. The complexity of dealing with Todd and the Genii added some depth to the novel which did feel a little like a staging story, moving pieces into places ready for a more hard hitting events to come.
That said I am loving how the Wraith are being written and the creation and expansion of their world is one reason why this Legacy series needed to exist and while I've never been a fan of the Genii their presence in this story certainly gave counterpoint to dealing with Todd and the threat of the uber Wraith Queen. Overall a good addition to the series, not every book is going to be all action and suspense and the series will need to balance things out but so far the first two novels are proving well worth the time to read.

View all my reviews