We’re finally at peace for Earth’s very small collection of humans that now live in the galaxy since Earth was virtually destroyed in book 1. Ethan Irons and his son, Jamie, now live on the quiet planet Matros. They are enjoying some quality time as father and son without the thought of saving the galaxy running through Ethan’s mind. Oh, he has his nightmares and a good case of PTSD, but hopefully all that’s behind him.
Even Jamie’s adopted Aunt Xornaa and Uncle Jarred come to visit often in this peaceful part of the galaxy. Ethan believes he finally has a place to raise his son and do the things he should be doing as a father. Even Jarred has found peace after all the fighting he has been through. He loves coming to visit with Jamie and has come quite attached to the young boy. He even sits down to play a rousing game of chess with Jamie on occasion and the banter and cross-talk goes between him and Jamie like they’re in real combat, albeit on a much politer level! Yet, when he and Ethan talk, they’re back to the Marines they are and some of the words flying around probably should not be used in Jamie’s presence.
Then Xornaa calls to tell Ethan that she has a new mission. She’s definitely not one to sit around and do nothing so, yeah, she has a new mission, but she thinks it’s going to be real easy. She tells Ethan that she has to find a Professor Arcah who lives right there on Matros. He’s something of an absent minded professor that has invented something that needs to be discussed if it was true. She’s just telling Ethan that she’ll be in the area and if she needs backup, wants to make sure they may be available. She certainly doesn’t think backup will be needed but just incase.
Ethan tells Jarred about the phone call and he says he’s available and kind of would like to go on another mission. He’s getting awfully bored with this peacetime stuff. Even Ethan doesn’t know who a guy can clean his guns so often or so many times without having used them. But that how Jarred passes the time, cleaning his weapons and his gear.
Unbeknownst to these three main characters, a protege of Commander Seraphis, Commander Zhaora, is slowly going mad with rage over his defeat and the occupation of her home planet, Kanoor, by the hated Xortaags. She has decided that she will have to avenge his death and somehow wipe the Xortaags off her planet and out of the galaxy if possible. She is willing to do just about anything to accomplish these goals.
The first thing she decides to do is to enhance the Akakies under her command. The method she chooses to do that is going to be vividly displayed on herself. She takes a hypospray into the side of her neck and a horrendous transformation starts taking place. Before the eyes of her bridge crew, Zhaora starts to grow! Her exoskeleton begins to crack as huge, bulging muscles emerge from her body. She starts growing upwards to where she is now at least seven feet tall all the while she’s screaming during this transformation. Eventually, her body stops growing, but her whole being has been transformed into something just short of horrific. Her teeth have sharpened and she now has huge mandibles that drip with saliva. She now shouts to her crew that she is more powerful than anyone else in the galaxy and this will allow them to conquer their enemies.
Then she starts asking for volunteers. At this point most of her crew are so terribly afraid of what they see before them that they don’t hesitate to agree to the serum. Sick bay on the ship fills up quickly with crewmen and women strapped to gurneys slowing going through the transformation.
While this was going on, Commander Zharoa gains information about the item Professor Arcah has invented and she now desires to gain it for her own use. She sends a squad of her now elite warriors to find the Professor and grab his invention before anyone else can do so. This is where Xornaa and these enhanced Akakies paths will cross and it will be brutal. You can also guarantee that Ethan and Jarred will be called upon once more to save the galaxy from the Akakies as they have done before.
So, this is a short book. It also doesn’t end here. The title of the book is somewhat misleading since the “War” won’t even start in this book so you’ll definitely need to read book 5, “Heart of Inferno”, now available on Amazon. I, for one, am getting a little tired of the constant dialogue made of old clichés and supposedly military jargon. A little bit of that goes a long way and most military types don’t constantly talk like Ethan and Jarred. I might take a break from this series for a while.
==[Note: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be published on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. Once the ban is lifted, assuming it does get lifted, I’ll go back and post this to Amazon.]==