Book Review - Final Assault by Stephen Ames Berry

I've said it before, I am not a huge science fiction fan but then I read some books by a guy called Michael R Hicks, the In Her Name series.   Through Mr Hicks I found Stephen Ames Berry, who like Mr Hicks had written a small series of space based adventures and I am coming round to be a fan of SyFy alongside all the other genres that I read.  The other thing about these guys are that they are Indie Authors, self published through the various e book formats. And I am fast becoming a HUGE fan of Indie authors, folk who market their own books because they can't get a publishing deal, why the hell not, there are some fine Indie writers out there, and they engage with you, although so do some more established authors as well, Julian Stockwin, a firm favourite, who takes time to respond to you through social media,  but, this is about A Book and not my gripe on publishing agencies, so here goes....


Final Assault by Stephen Ames Berry, last in a quartet of books:

100000 years ago humanoids fled from an other universe to escape the sentient Telens, biofab beings that had created them and used them as slaves.  With the help of the Scotar, an insectoid shape shifting, teleporting race, they establish on new planets setting up their own planetary systems and hierarchical structures.

For 100000 years they lived under an emperors rule; but then the Scotar introduced a new element into the mix. An element that tore the new planetary systems apart in wars that spanned the known universe killing billions. Why? The Scotars knew that the Telens would eventually come for their escaped slaves and determined that over the centuries they had become fat on commerce; lazy and unable to defend themselves against the Telens.  By starting  such a destructive war the Scotars believed that the surviving humans would be better able to defend themselves against what was to come, regardless of the cost in lives and planetary systems.......

The Final Assault is the culmination of that war and to the coming of the Telans.  It brings together all the parts of the previous books, in a fast paced Galaxy and Alternate reality spanning flight and fight and withdrawal to defend Kronar the home planet established after the first flight to safety all those centuries ago.

Spiders webs of intrigue and double dealing start to unravel, the truth of who the Scotars really were are revealed, central characters are revealed to be more than we thought in previous books, and it all makes perfect sense.

It's Science Fiction and it is out of this world, it scans as you read and it is fast paced action from start to finish.

  Ratings:
Editing for Kindle: 4 out of 5
Reading Enjoyment: 5 out of 5
Plot: 5 out of 5
Overall Story: 5 out of 5


Previous Posts:

The Battle for Terra Two
The AI War

The AI War - Stephen Ames Berry

"Space, the Final Frontier" Well not if you are a Science Fiction Writer, apparently.  Space seems to have no end to the amount of stories that can be set up there and, in many time lines, or, as in the words of Buzz Lightyear, "To Infinity and Beyond".

Science Fiction in book form has not been something that has really interested me since I read the E.E. Doc Smith 'Lensman' Books way back in the early 70's and even then those books had been around for about 40 years prior to that.  All that changed a couple of months ago when I picked up, on Kindle, the In Her Name series of books by Michael R Hicks.  Even my wife has picked up a science fiction novel (!) recently by some chirpy chappie called Jason Halsted, and by all accounts, has thoroughly enjoyed it Ramblings of an Old Bird!


I then picked up The AI War by Stephen Ames Berry 

To summarise,  the battle cruiser Implacable is in Orbit over Terra when the Commodore is attacked in his quarters while sleeping.  As he begins to question the intruder two shots ring out and he, the intruder falls dead.

The shooter turns out to be a Special Ops Intelligence Colonel, who, it turns out later on,  is also something much more dangerous.  He goes on to inform the Commodore that as the assassination attempt has failed Fleet Ops will be issuing orders for his arrest on treason and that the orders are being issued by AI Lifeforms that have infiltrated fleet.

The Commodore and his battle fleet were due too leave on a mission that Fleet Ops wants scrapped but Special Ops Intelligence wants to succeed and so the Colonel convinces him to leave for the mission immediately...

Thus begins the last AI war in the quadrant and this universe, as the Commodore and his crew find that they are placed on a 'destroy on site list', and they become the only ones to know that the vanquished AI's of centuries past who they have chased into an alternate universe have been rebuilding and re-arming while looking for a way to establish a 'worm hole' back to their mortal enemy to take their final revenge!

The book got a bit techy in places but if you are a fan of science fiction movies, nothing in the book was outside the realms of, or as unbelievable, as what happens on a cinema or TV screen.  Over all it was a fast paced thriller as the the Commodore and his crew are chased across the galaxy by both 'friend and foe' trying not to kill their friends but desperately trying to find a way to save the galaxy from the invasion that is coming.

Lots of intrigue with plenty of twists and turns.  It slowed down in places and some of the parts seemed to end abruptly as it jumped to another scene, but from a slow start, bearing in mind I am 'new' to the genre, I thoroughly enjoyed it and have downloaded a sample of his next book to look at, since completing the AI War.

I give it a 4 out of 5 rating for keeping my interest piqued

Good reading