Well, this was one of those books that I really hated to put down and go do something else. The story is so well written and exciting that I did have trouble not reading when I should have been doing something else. After the last book, which ended on a downer and a defeat of the Rebels, I wasn’t sure how they were going to turn things around.
Yet, as you’ll find out, they figured out a way. It wasn’t easy and Caleb Hawthorne and his ship, the *Resolute*, barely made it back to Newport. Caleb honestly thought he was coming back as a defeated Rear Admiral that had no business commanding a fleet, a fleet that he had thoroughly lost! The defeat at Battenburg could be the end to the rebel uprising. In Caleb’s estimation, there wasn’t much more standing in the way of Republic Admiral Socrates and Vice Admiral Alexander Decimus conquering Caleb’s home planet of Newport. He had visions of everyone he had known and loved, executed by the Regulators on live TV. The destruction of Newport and the ravages her population were about to experience were almost unbearable to Caleb.
But, when he got home to the Newport shipyards and went to see his Father at the family home, he was met by an astonishing uplifted spirit that he had trouble explaining. The people of Newport had heard of his fight against a greatly superior Republic fleet and knew that many had suffered. Yet, in the defeat, they saw the chance for Newport to shore up its defenses and be that much more prepared when the Republic Fleet came for them. They were determined to fight just as hard as Caleb and his fleet of Rebels and were determined to give their lives like they saw so many others do at Battenberg! Caleb was immediately promoted to Vice Admiral and placed in charge of the defense of Newport. He knew he definitely had a big job to do and he didn’t know how he was going to get any of it done.
Meanwhile, Rebecca, Amelia and Captain Freya of the *Ramses* were still searching for Earth. They thought they could find it but didn’t know how to approach the planet or the system. Something had prevented Earth from ever reaching out beyond its system boundaries and even the fact that Earth existed was a fable to most Republic citizens. The Republic Senate definitely didn’t want its citizens flying around looking for a lost planet or system. Rebecca has the information to find the system and the planet. Her information leads her to further discoveries that are going to be amazing.
Then we go back to Battenberg and follow the exploits of young Zach Hawthorne. This is the youngest Son of Governor Hawthorne. He’s a Marine and has gone down to the planet to fight for the citizens of Battenburg when the Regulators landed en masse. When the rebel fleet was defeated, the rebel Marines had to go underground and continue the fight for Battenburg. You’ll read about how that’s going and what part young Zach has in it. He’s quite the Marine and another Hawthorne that won’t accept defeat in this rebellion.
The final battle in this book is way to exciting. While some of it is hard to follow and the terminology is sometimes confusing, you’ll get the gist of what’s happening in a big way. Not everything goes well for the rebels, but they have some surprises in store for the powerful Republic fleet bent on completely stopping the rebellion one and for all at Newport.
Book 4, “Weight of Victory” is now available on Amazon. It’s already on my reading list.
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[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. ]