TLAM Strike

No actual dragons were ambushed in this book

Revisado: 03-12-25

Story:
The positives,
That prologue. The first part of the book grabs you and doesn't let go. Lots of action from start to finish. There are some really emotional and touching moments in the book as well. The protagonists really think through problems and find solutions; so there is lots of "smart" action in the book in addition to the gripping guns blazing style action.

The negatives,
Without getting in to spoilers I did find the disproportionate response by the US against China (nope, not calling it the MKFS) strained credulity with the possibility that it could have turned out far worse than it did. But I'm letting it slide as I feel that in these books the politics are more a vehicle for the action than the other way around.

I also felt there should have been more conflict between the crew of the USS Vermont and the secret gov't agency that ends up conscripting them. Again I'm letting that slide, I'm not holding something the author decided not to do against the book.

The comments (things that are neither positive or negative),
I do hope the author doesn't use the cyber attack plot device to knock out everything but the enemy's submarines in a future book. It was in the first Patch Pacino book, and its here again. That's enough. I do want to know what happens between Short Hull Cooper and the crew of the Vermont crew given the events in the climax of the book.

The protagonists do go down a much darker path than in the previous two Patch Pacino books, which ends up harming lots of innocents. I don't like that they went down that path so easily, which in turn makes me like Ambush of the Dragon less than Dark Transit and Panic Switch. However judging Ambush of the Dragon on its own I give it a higher rating than I did with Dark Transit (don't think I wrote a review for Panic Switch) because it's a much bolder and exciting book than the previous two were.


Narrator:
Joseph Courtemanche with his smooth radio voice is fantastic as always. He's wonderful at giving every character a unique voice. If you see his name on an audiobook snap it up. His version of Bullfrog Quinnivan is a hoot.

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Troubled start to new Honorverse series

Revisado: 02-13-25

The first few chapters actually deal with the character (Lt. Brandy Bolgeo) in the description of the book. Following that it just repeats Field of Dishonor (one of the author's previous books) with small additions here or there. Between Ch7 and Ch24 Lt. Bolgeo is no where to be seen, and even then she is just watching Space TV in one chapter (that is just copied from Field of Dishonor) and in another she is walking around when Honor Harrington walks past. After that she mostly shows up for a single chapter here and there either having some kind of cameo (yea a cameo in her own story) or having a chapter about how she's being promoted or given more responsibilities due to her competent work (which we never actually get to see). There is little to no drama involving Lt. Bolgeo until Ch41 which is resolved in the next chapter. Now the author has lifted chapters from his other books before, but that was more because events and people from multiple books cross paths; this however lifts chapter after chapter.

Book Two, Ch33 forward, focus more on Admiral White Haven's operations during the early part of the Manticore-Haven War which repeats the Battle of Nightingale from Flag in Exile. This part of the novel is more of an original novel although the last three chapters were already published as the short story A Travesty of Nature in the anthology Onward Libertycon. This part of the book really should have been the whole book chronicling HMS Prince Adrian's exploits with Capt. McKeon, Scotty Tremaine, Horace Harkness, Gunny Babcock, and Lt. Bolgeo where Bolego helps all these characters we know behind the scenes; like Gunny Babcock is a family friend and Harkness is in her department why isn't Bolego the one who finally helps that couple get together. I really thought that was going to be a plot point at the start when the relationship between Bolego and Babcock gets mentioned. But Bolego ends up just being a passive observer through most of the book, she does virtually nothing that moves the story along or plays a major role in the plot.

In the author's note he says he wanted to revisit some of his older books and fill in the some of the holes in the Honorverse, but advertising this as a "new" book feels very deceptive. Its more like 50% an old book then 25% of a new book and 25% of another new book. Make the story of Lt. Bolgeo its own short story (or better a full book or new series) and/or publish a 2nd edition of Field of Dishonor & Flag in Exile etc. They just don't work together, at least not in how they were advertised to me, the reader, and I say that as someone who would love to go back to the early Honorverse era or see it form a new character's perspective.

Allyson Johnson is fantastic, I'm sad she had to redo most of an entire book she already narrated.

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It never happend. We were never there.

Revisado: 05-19-24

DiMercurio gives us a thrilling tale of modern submarine warfare with quite a bit of insider day-to-day life details from an actual submariner to make you feel like you're experiencing the adventures of a group of real submariners who are sailors who go drinking on liberty and get in to raunchy situations rather than cardboard cutouts that "professional military personnel" in other works tend to become. Its got action, torpedo battles, nukes, fast cars, and hot women; so if you're a guy (or a girl) whose in to that, this book is for you. This isn't a book where there is ten chapters of old men in suits sitting around talking (like in the books written by that one techno-thriller author who shall not be named), this is an action story with just enough technical bits thrown in.

This book does include characters from the author's previous works (which I think I've read one or two of a long time ago) but everything is introduced in a way you can follow. You can very much start from this book.

I'm going to talk about three criticisms of the book, don't think I didn't like the book because of them; I very much enjoyed the book. I just want to be well rounded.

The ending with the very blasé attitude between the US President and Russian President over the whole incident strains credulity. I guess the Russians blowing the whole thing off is saving face, but there is a lot of dead bodies who had families. Even in an authoritarian state when that many people don't come back people ask questions. This is the biggest problem I have and makes the book seem less serious.

That the Americans didn't have more than one person available who understood Farsi and no one familiar with how the Kilo-class submarine works in detail I felt was odd. Those subs are old and several US allies have them, US intelligence should have the operator's manuals for the things by now. I actually knew a US Navy officer who spent some time on one and got to crawl around in it's sonar array, which is this big analog monster of a thing. This might have just been something needed to put the main character where they needed to be. I think it could have been handled better.

Some of the details of the Shkval rocket torpedo are wrong, they don't use liquid fuel that can leak; instead they use solid fuel (which could still leak out if the weapon was damaged but it would be a powder or chucks). That these were solid fuel rockets has been known public for a couple of decades after Iranian documents about their version of the torpedo were leaked. I probably shouldn't get too much in to this one detail but these torpedoes and their fuel are a very important plot point.

The narrator does a serviceable job. Not amazing, but far from bad. (I feel I should mention the narration, but I'm not very good at judging it.)

Overall I really liked the book and have already bought the 2nd installment.

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Fast paced but average space opera

Revisado: 02-20-24

The setting is interesting with cool alien races. If you like Battlestar Galactica you'll like the space combat scenes. But the story struggles with character development as it tends not to focus too long on the characters interacting but instead rushes to get to the next battle. By the time of the third book (this set contains three) I was just ready for the story to be over.

The narrator Mark Boyett is good as always, he's very much a staple of sci-fi on Audible.

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Okay, but nothing essential to the Honorverse

Revisado: 02-20-24

This anthology contains 5 short stories. I'll review each in order.

Traitor 4/5 stars
A prequel to the Manticore Ascendant series (which is itself a prequel) we get to meet Gustav Anderman in his eccentric prime as he deals with an attempted coup along with learning the background behind Cutler Gensonne. Lots of action but not necessary to read to enjoy the rest of Manticore Ascendant.

Deception On Gryphon 3/5 stars
Stephanie Harrington, Karl and their Treecat friends from the YA spinoff solve a murder. Its well paced but not particularly exciting.

The Silesian Command 4/5 stars
Basically the hunt for the German pocket battleship Graf Spee but set in the Honorverse. Not a lot of action, a little bit of political maneuvering and intrigue. Not bad, although I don't find it believable that StateSec hardliners would sacrifice their lives for a villain who is very clearly setting himself up as a warlord.

If Wishes Were Space Cutters 1/5 stars
The sequel to "Grayson Letters Home". First half is absolutely boring. The final half dealing with a poor Grayson man who takes a job building a new space station but has to deal with an air headed intern is a little interesting. Overall you can pass on this one, Grayson Letters Home was far better (which is saying something).

First Victory 2/5 stars
Honor Harrington's parents have to deal with Allison Harrington's family. If you just must read everything about Honor Harrington I guess read (or listen to) this one as this is the story about when Honor was born. How Alfred and Jacques conspired to get Allison's mother to come visit the Harringtons on Manticore made me very angry.

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Was hopeful but left disappointed

Revisado: 03-19-22

Space combat is hilariously unrealistic. I cringe when I hear ranges of just kilometers being used. The room that controls the sensors has a window as backup! Its that bad. The author doesnt know basic physics, lasers have "infinite range", umm no the inverse square law still applies. When the hero arrives aboard his ship its like any semblance of being in a navy vanishes. I understand some of the crew dont like him but he'd have been given a qual sheet with what he needed to go and learn on it, rather he just gets dumped on tasks he doesn't even understand. Its like its his first day at Walmart not on an interstellar warship.

The narrator was great. The characters were okay but undeveloped. The initial concept that the character joined the navy to avoid jail is totally forgotten. I liked the universe, there was possibilities there.

I wanted to like it but it was just bad.

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