Descent into Darkness

Blood on the Stars, Book 17

By: Jay Allan

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Victory or death.

Tyler Barron and his associates are divided, split between two courses of action. Barron doesn't believe in the desperate plan to eradicate the Highborn, the strange virus that has been created for that purpose, but may or may not be the exact formula used by the empire 300 years ago. There are too many possible problems...a small difference in the virus, a cure created by the enemy...for him to accept the plan. Barron commits instead to a traditional defense, even though he knows the chances of ultimate success are almost zero.

Many of Barron’s cohorts are on his side, but not all. The leader of the other party is none other than Andi Lafarge, Barron’s wife. If the odds were any less gruesome, either one would have given in to the other. But Andi wants nothing less than the extinction of the Highborn, and she believes the virus will work. She will do anything to see it used. Anything.

The two work together, somewhat at least, and apart as well, striving to end the conflict in any way possible, with millions of spacers fighting...and facing probable doom either way. It is the last stand of free humans on the Rim, the final chance to evade slavery...or worse.

Descent into Darkness is the penultimate book of the Blood on the Stars series, leading up to the smashing conclusion, Empire Reborn.

©2020 Jay Allan Books (P)2020 Audible, Inc.

Amazing, edge of my seat always

Jay Allan writes so many books and they never disappoint. I have to do better at writing reviews because he deserves them and so do other readers so they can enjoy them too. “Enjoy” really don’t his books just but that’s all I got.

Why are his stories good?
-Amazing world building
-Strong character building, they become your friends and enemies
-Good mix of action and drama
-True space operas: action, politics, friendships, scheming, espionage, exploration, science, war, love and family

I have an annual kindle unlimited subscription and Jay’s books make it a good investment.

I read some and listen to others.

Other authors and TV/films I love:
Peter F. Hamilton
The Expanse (books and TV series)
BattleStar Galactica (TV 2003-2009)
Firefly
Arthur C. Clark/Gentry Lee - Rendezvous with Rama 5 book series
Alien movies including Prometheus & Alien Covenant
Jasper T. Scott
Evan Currie
Margaret Atwood (ALL of her books)
And of course...
Star Wars including The Mandalorian, each Star Trek series especially since binging all w/o commercial interruptions

I’m going to copy/paste this same review into all Mr. Allan’s books that I have read, sorry fo my laziness.

Another great book in the series!

This series has grown and got better for each book but this one wasn’t on the sams lvl and I guess this book was a rush job. And the total depression of the story makes it abit harder to read. But still it’s a great book. Let’s hope we get to know how the other enemy is in the next book.

Good but ending bad

good book but do not like the way it ended. why end it there yuck

repetitive

a great storyline but literally just repeats the same thing over and over again. continuously redescribes the character their goals their objectives in every single scene. The rest of the books in the series have had this problem but it has gotten progressively worse with every new book. this series should be about 6 books rather than 17 plus.

OK story, but…

The story at this point is just OK, J seems to have lost track of his own story and the way battles are fought. The entire fighter squadron is entirely absent from the book.

At this point, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no editor involved.

was this rushed, many continuity mistakes.

someone didn't proofread this book or edit it. characters were referred to by the wrong name.

Needs proof reading

I agree with other review, way too much repeating of internal dialogue. How many times do I need to hear it might work or it might not or that Andy wants them all dead, ect. Also the amount of names that get mixed up is crazy, it happens nearly once a chapter or more.

Also what happened to fighter combat, they have a big Jake and Redge part about feeling but no mention of combat.

Also...they know the enemy is coming through certain transit points but no X-Ray laser mines or anything at the point. They've done mines before in the series,so why none for a battle you were waiting months for.

Also why is it battle or virus? To me it's the collars, their fleet is slave run. They should find a way to disable all the collars, have their own people beat them. Some electrical pulse weapon or computer virus that disables them. That is a true hope research into disabling the implants.

Also where are the fall back points in case they lose , places in the dark on moons in empty systems, research bases and secret colonys that are looking for ways to improve the virus or remove the collars, build new fleets. Ways to free humans if they lose. An all or nothing plan is stupid.

Good series, Book has a lot of Fluff.

Love the story, but just seemed to have way too many fillers. seems the whole book could have been like 12 chapters of you removed all the fluff. I really hope the next one is better, more about the story line than revisiting everything through out the book series.... I may not buy it. I found myself in this book hitting forward and bypassing chapters.. Not a good sign...

Way too wordy

I struggled with this book. Too many times the same thing said over and over.... and over.

Decent story but...

... but there’s an awful lot of internal monologue. It seems like the internal monologues become more frequent the farther we get into the series. I get it- decisions are hard, bravery is important, etc... but the oscillation in every decision gets tedious.

The performance is what I’ve come to expect from Jeffrey Kafer. Good performer, but the different voices do run a little close together.

There could have been one more run through an editor or one more proof. Names kept getting mixed up. Names of ships and names of characters. Is it Andi or Atara? Constellation or Excalibur? Are we looking for Masters or Highborn? Cassidy or Cassi / Cassiopeia? And why would Redge seem to be jealous of Jake- that seems uncharacteristic.

Overall less than Jay Allen’s best. Hopeful that there’s more meat and potatoes and less internal monologue in following entries.