They Shall Not Pass

The Empire's Corps, Book 12

By: Christopher G. Nuttall

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Despite the escape from Meridian - and a strike at the heart of Wolfbane - enemy forces are still advancing on all fronts. The Commonwealth, worn down by a year of hard fighting, is reaching the end of its tether while Admiral Singh, having secured control of Wolfbane, is searching for the breaking point that will shatter the Commonwealth once and for all. Time is needed, time to bring new weapons and tactics into service, but time is the one thing the Commonwealth doesn't have.

Now, with enemy forces closing on the industrialized world of Corinthian - Admiral Singh's former base of operations - Colonel Stalker decides to make a stand. The Commonwealth will meet its enemies on the ground and destroy them...or die trying. They will not pass as long as a single marine remains alive.

But how much of Corinthian and the Commonwealth will survive the nightmare to come?

©2016 Christopher G. Nuttall (P)2016 Podium Publishing

Another great installment

If you've made it this far in this series you know what to expect. Great military sci-fi with another ground campaign. I won't spoil the story but it's worth reading.

Standout in the series

What a great listen. This and "To The Shores" have to be the standouts in an outstanding series.

This is Stocker's war the way we like it!

After several volumes where Ed Stocker plays a secondary role, this book has him back in command and running the offense against the evil Admiral Singh. Although he is in the Command Center, and not leading the actual fighting, he is there on scene, and involved! They are setting a trap for Singh at Corinthian hoping to put an end to the tyranny of Singh as well as Wolfbane. Jasmine is here also, with Mandy and Mindy playing important roles.

Ever since Blake died, and Col Stocker (I still hear it that way, even though I believe it is supposed to be Stalker) took on more administrative duties than he ever had as Sergeant, the remaining 80 or so Marines have not felt as tightly-knit as they did in the first few books. There is an attempt in this book to bring some of that back, but it falls flat. Seriously, they need to accept the fall of the Empire and Earth, and go ahead and build a new Slaughter House on Avalon, or somewhere else, so they can quit lamenting its loss, and can start training new real Marines.

There is lots of military action, lots of death, lots of horror on the ground, but just a little in space, and there are enemies to hate and some to sympathize with. There is a little impressive tech, but mostly just battle descriptions. There is very little of the moralizing found in other volumes condemning education, politics, and society, so it proceeds smoothly from scene to scene. However, it is not always easy to keep the people straight since they have at least 3 names: first, last, and rank. It is hard to tell if the people in any given scene are the good guys or the bad guys unless one of the people named above is in it.

Jeffrey Kafer continues to narrate the series, and I have the same disgruntlements with his reading as in every book. His voice is good and tough for the genre, but although there is some distinction between men's and women's voices, they still all sound the same. In this book especially, I found many times where his reading would have been greatly improved with emphasis placed differently. Nevertheless, other listeners love him and find no fault.

I have enjoyed this series so far, except for Reality Check, and look forward to the next several books, since the war is far from over.

keep going love the series!

Awesome series! keep writing. when will the marines return? what other foes lay in wait!

Good complete story

Storyline was believable & left no doubt about a follow-on book! Looking forward to it.

Having to wait again to get back to the corp's

Any additional comments?

The Empire Corps is a really great series but as always Audible is behind the curve on keeping us supplied with the latest edition.

Wolf's Bane book 14

The Commonwealth has won a great victory, smashing Wolfbane’s attempt to take Corinthian and driving Admiral Singh’s forces back into enemy space. Now, as the Wolves reel under the impact of their defeat - and powerful factions plot to take control of the government and military - Edward Stalker plans a final offensive to bring the Wolves to their knees.

But as mighty fleets clash in the inky darkness of space, infiltrators struggle to weaken a tottering edifice and both sides brace for the final confrontation, it all comes down to the last Terran Marines and a battle that will determine if the galaxy is to be united once again ...

... Or thrown headlong back into a new Dark Age.

Audible has a really poor businesses model for the production of audible books. First other publishers release Paperback and trade editions then months pass before an audible version is planned and placed in production. And all this well after CD version are already on the market

Great story

Made even better by narration of SB... I very much enjoy Nuttals works with SB bringing it to life

Christopher Nuttall is back!

This book reminded me of why I followed Nutall's work in the first place. The setting was not easy, yet he nailed it. Some of his best dialogues are found in this piece. I'm looking forward now for the next chapter of the Commonwealth-Wolfbane war.

It was good to see Nuttall get back to his great story telling

The book was well rounded and tie seamlessly into the previous story lines without too much repetitiveness. His character development continues with a greater understanding of several surrounding individuals that was reminiscent of his earlier books.

The best of the last four. Enjoy

Solid installment, sets up for more in the future

If you are this far in the series then you probably are on auto buy like myself. I think my favorite part of the book was realizing the set up for the overall story arch of the series- oh the possibilities!! So I liked it... But it won't rank as a top 5. Still some movement on our commonwealth friends - Slaughter, The Cesius sisters and Jasmine. A couple of new characters to crave, and action LOTS of action.