An outstanding book with a very intense space battle at the end that will startle almost everyone. The Republic is still the monster government as we saw in the first book. Only they know they are in a war with the rebels of the Rim lead by the Governor of Newport, Governor Hawthorne. The only reason for this rebellion is from the action by Senator Decimus of Beowulf. He failed to protect the very people he was supposed to represent when he let Senate Bill 796 pass the Senate with very little opposition. That Bill effectively cut off a lot of commerce for the entire Beowulf Sector which would eventually require a large amount its population to have to migrate to some other planet, like Beowulf. That would make Senator Decimus that much more powerful since power came from the number of people each Senator was supposed to oversee. Yeah, this is all about politics until it’s politics of another kind and that means war!
Governor Hawthorne has rallied all the other Governors of the Rim to support his secession from the Republic. That will be strongly opposed by the Republic Navy, a very powerful but untested military power. Yet, Governor Hawthorne has not been just wishing that he could pull this secession effort off without bloodshed. He has managed to build a few warships of his own and had managed to convert what once were freighters into quasi-combat capable fighting ships.
Just prior to the secession declaration, Governor Hawthorne had sent his Son, Captain Caleb Hawthorne, to Beowulf to witness first-hand how the Republic was treating it’s displaced populations, those not worthy of becoming citizens. They were placed in habitation rings around Beowulf and fed drugs to keep them docile and controlled. While the citizens of the Republic lived in relative comfort, immigrants were treated almost as slaves. And that was what would happen to the people of Newport and Battenberg with the passage of Bill 796. So, even though Captain Caleb was a Republic Naval Officer, he came around to the conclusion that the Republic no longer represented the people but were only to make the Senators richer and more powerful. He now sided with is Father and was just now returning from his most recent battle with the Republic Navy.
And as it would be, Senator Decimus also had a Son, Captain Alexander Decimus, who just happened to be a close friend of Caleb Hawthorne. Now they were enemies since Alexander Decimus could not go against his Father and betray the Republic like his former friend Caleb. Yet, Alexander seemed to question if he was actually on the right side of this rebellion. He had met Caleb and his ship also in this last battle with Caleb getting the better for the battle but it cost both sides greatly. Now they are both regrouping and the Republic Navy is considering how to put down this rebellion once and for all.
Caleb Hawthorne has found that his home planet of Newport has been slowly industrializing beyond what anyone knew about. His younger sister has turned out to be a genius engineer and has been developing warships right under the noses of the Republic Regulators. These Regulators are the enforcers of the rules of the Republic. No one can do anything that is not in an approved regulation and if they are caught breaking a regulation, it’s usually a long prison sentence or a summary execution. But now that Newport and Battenberg have seceded from the Republic, they are making up their own rules and developing new forbidden technology far faster than the Republic. This is very evident when Caleb returns to Newport and finds a magnificent new warship waiting for him.
His Father has see that Captain Caleb Hawthorne has a talent for naval strategies so they ensure he is the new Captain of the *FRC Resolute*. At the same time, back at Beowulf, Alexander Decimus didn’t know if his naval career was over or what his future held until he convinced his Father that he was still loyal to the Republic and swore to defeat any future rebel ships he encountered. He is also given a new ship, the *Panther* and told to make it the terror of the rebellion or else he would find himself at the mercy of the Regulators.
So, the Republic Navy has to attack and destroy of recapture both Newport and Battenberg, both rebel strongholds. They are making plans on how to do that and Captain Alexander Decimus is brought into that planning. Meanwhile, Captain Caleb Hawthorne has to figure out what the Republic Navy is planning and thwart those plans as best he can. He and the rebel Navy cannot go head to head with a Republic Fleet. Yet, he knows that a fleet or even two such fleets are being gathered some where and then they will attack either Newport or Battenberg. Caleb must be there to stop them. He knows that those battles will likely end in his death.
The day comes when a major battle is about to take place. How will it end? That’s what you have to read to find out. It’s a very exciting part of the book. I can assure you that I will be reading book 3, “Storms of Vengeance”, now available on Amazon.
[Note 1 (12/23/2025): I’m no longer associated with Amazon and will no longer provide any links to books from that website. You can usually find books that you like at your usual source.]
[Note 2: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be posted on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. ]