Ronin

Rebel Stars, Book 3

By: Edward W. Robertson

Narrated by: Ray Chase

The Hive has survived their first fleet action against FinnTech. But in the process, they've lost the Hive itself.

With their manufacturing base in Finn's hands, it's only a matter of time before they're outnumbered and destroyed. As Rada searches for a path to victory, she stumbles on a horrifying secret: the aliens who've kept humanity confined to the Solar System are about to make their move.

To stand against the coming threat, the Hive will have to bring FinnTech to the peace table. If they fail to stop the fighting, no matter who wins the battle for the Solar System, they'll lose the war for survival.

©2016 Edward W. Robertson (P)2020 Podium Audio

4th book in the series is good but not great

This is the 4th book (out of 6) in the series, and while I enjoyed it, I've tired of the series and I'm taking a break before reading books 5 and 6 . . . if I ever do. I do tip my hat to Edward Robertson, (author), though, for wrapping up the plot of each of the first 4 books at the end of each book, while leaving the overall plot moving forward. Each book is essentially a stand-alone, but the bigger plot continues from book to book. (You definitely want to start with the first book (book 0), though. I like the characters and their continued evolution.

Once again, the narration by Ray Chase is excellent.

MacAdams Story

It's been awhile since I last left off on this series since Edward W. Robertson seemed to be on a hiatus from continuing it after Book 2, back in 2016. After a few years of waiting I had stopped looking back for the new book. It was only that I found myself in a null from finding other audiobooks of interest that I found that the author had restarted the series recently.

Of the three left in the Rada/Webber/MacAdams team, only MacAdam's backstory had been left sparse and spotty. Ronin corrects that in making him the leading protagonists on several occasions. His comfort zone is marine-like brutal frontal assault. While he lacks the tactical fighter skills of Rada and the shrewdness of Webber, he makes up for it in shear determination propelled by a body sculptured after Conan. In addition, the author provides a more character-interesting backstory.

The thing is, Robertson has a keen understanding of what it takes to write a post-apocalyptic future after an alien invasion novel. First, he rejects the standard Horatio Alger approach where the protagonists soldier-on through true grit and steel determination alone. No, while there are great examples of books of this genre, using that template when faced with alien species thousands of years ahead of humans in technology alone is absurd. Rather, he takes a different approach and creates a cast of characters that blend the positive character aspects of Alger's characters and adds the cynical character who accepts the absurdity of the endeavor but decides to move forward one snarky comment at a time and a hard-edged objective-oriented character who seems to ignore the jaded comments but actually, processes the vein of truth behind them and works it to her advantage.

Together, this makes for a highly interesting combination and an equally entertaining continuation to the series.

Ray Chase has a gift for delivering this kind of performance wonderfully.

GREAT SERIES, AWESOME STORYTELLING

Edward Robertson does it again another remarkable storyline. Well worth the time! Ray Chase is spectacular as always!!!