Turning Point + Message from the Dead

I am finding it harder and harder to write the reviews for these books not because there isn’t much to say but because there isn’t much to say that I haven’t said already in my four previous reviews. Anspach and Cole have nailed pacing, story, and an ability to seamlessly slip between third and first person to convey an amazing slice of sci-fi entertainment. This series is the epitome of addictive to my personal tastes.

So, Book 7 is a straight-up battle where we see the Legion finally kick off the shackles of the corrupt, moithering bureaucracy that is the House of Reason and go full Roman on the psychotic Zhee. Throughout this series it has been a running battle within my mind about who exactly are the good guys and who the bad, with the true Legion being brave and noble warriors tethered to a bloated, unscrupulous, and deceitful House of Reason while the Black Fleet are an ambitious, take-no prisoners collection of disillusioned soldiers and violent scrapings led by a demi-god who is intent on saving the galaxy at all costs from a threat that only he understands. It’s been a great dichotomy, but finally we are given two adversaries in these books that we as an audience can totally get behind the absolute battering of: the Zhee and the Cybar. Book 7 is the assault on the new Zhee fortress that the Republic handed over through double-crosses and sheer insanity, but luckily for the Legion, the Zhee haven’t got the first clue about how to fight a real war. It is incredibly satisfying to see how this race of religious fanatics who are absolutely convinced in their racial and cultural superiority react when meeting actual soldiers who know what they are doing. The battle is long, bloody, and full of amazing action, fantastic heroics, and the introduction of an old sergeant major who is now one of my all-time favourite characters in sci-fi. An experienced and seemingly invincible sergeant major is a bit of a trope that gets used a lot in military fiction, but this one is my favourite so far, and he isn’t even one of the book’s main characters. This book doesn’t try to be much more than one single, awesome fight between good guys and bad, and it doesn’t need to be. Anspach and Cole absolutely nailed what they tried to achieve here.

Book 8 focuses more on Wraith’s attempt to rescue his capture crew from the Cybar mothership plus the Legion finally taking the fight to those scheming snakes in the House of Reason. Still plenty of action here but a lot more time for character development, and this book has sections from just about every one of the many main characters we’ve come to know. The contrast between Wraith and Chhun is really highlighted here, and the changes that Wraith’s time in the dark have caused to his original straight up and down no-nonsense personality are highlighted to perfection, especially on the occasions when he fully dons the Wraith persona and seems to seamlessly melt back into his old self. This shift in personality is so well written that throughout the series—even after learning that Captain Keel calls himself Wraith, even after Wraith volunteers to go undercover at the end of Book 3 (I think)—up until Chhun and the other surviving members of Victory Company actually meet back up with Wraith, part of me was still unsure if it was in fact the same character or if it was someone else had just taken up Wraith’s mantel. His different personas are that good. And the best bit, it is entirely believable. I don’t doubt that Wraith’s time in the dark has led to such a shift in his personality, not when the old personality perfectly reasserts itself whenever needed, but it’s the fact that the original Wraith personality has now become subordinate to Keel that really makes me appreciate how well the character has been written.

In summation, both books were great. I’m still gagging for one of these novels to hit the unicorn of a five-star rating that Part 1 achieved, but they have all come close in their own way. All this one was missing was a single spectacular piece that would just push it over the edge. I shouldn’t complain though, as what we get instead is simply an awesome piece of action-packed sci-fi filled with characters I love within a backdrop that is rich and filled with both deep and entertaining events. Another great book in what is a truly great series.

As ever, R.C Bray is the absolute best for sci-fi narration in my opinion, or at least for more commercial fiction as opposed to literary. There are mountains of truly funny interactions between the characters in this series, the humour for which is entirely dependant on the delivery of what could overwise be completely innocuous dialog. Bray nails it each and every time.

Personal Score: 4.75 stars

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