Collect First Comes Duty (The Hope Island Chronicles Book 2) Documented By P.J. Strebor Issued As Textbook

read the three books so far in this series and liked them for their entertainment value and good writing, The third book in the series Silent Running did disappoint a little but I did finish it, The books are a real old fashioned space opera that keeps you wanting to start a new chapter but you have to forget the obvious cliches and impossible scenarios that seem to abound.


From the start, this series draws heavily on a war formula and it wouldn't surprise me if the author writes World War Two books as well.
One disappointing aspect is that no original effort has gone into setting the interplanetary scene with the villains of the piece, the Preussians, based on WWNazis, the Bretish fairly obvious, Francs again obvious and the Athenians I'm assuming the heroic Americans.
The Cimmerians are a little more obscure by name but the characterisation is stereotypical of one particular racial group even though they're are supposed to be an alien race.
The use of the occasional famous figure, such as Garfield Sobers, again opportunistic lack of originality which leaves the reader feeling a bit dudded,

Then to further perplex, the author has the hide to mix a bit of Star Wars Jedi type powers into the narrative, The main character and the main villain character have some unusual abilities but of course, the hero always prevails,

If you don't mind your science fiction dumbly unscientific and you don't object to the use of north east, south and west in the vastness of outer space where there are no north, east, south or west then you will probably enjoy these books.
I don't think I'll read another, assuming there is another, Fun read. Looking forward to book. First Comes Duty The Hope Island ChroniclesBookBy PJ Strebor is a procedural science fiction with some element of military science fiction and political science fiction that might well rival David Weber's Harrington series.
This is the second book in the series and I strongly recommend reading the first book Uncommon Purpose to get a full introduction to Nathan Telford and his strange story and somewhat strifefull beginnings.


I read this novel three times, I do that sometimes when I find something that was hard to swallow and I want to figure out just what it is, In this instance there were mitigating circumstances and nothing to be found or unraveled, The first read I believe was an ARC, The second I purchased the book when I was seeing double, That's not why I purchased it, it's just a medical condition, So because it's hard enough to read while seeing double, I didn't do a review, On the third time through the intent is to do the review with the whole thing fresh in my mind and I have to say I'm delighted I came back for a third look.


There are certain balances within the story that I really loved while there was at least one imbalancein my perceptionthat became a bit annoying, The balance is the Military the political and the procedural, They all get about the same amount of focus throughout, The imbalancefor meis that the bulk of the procedural is all in the front, making it hard to warm up to the whole novel, The only thing that drove that along were the myriad of interesting characters being set to it all with their own quirks and strengths and weaknesses,

The narrative is tight despite the initial seeming endless procedural text, It takes a while to really get to the story but when it finally gets there the players are all introduced and the plot begins to thicken up and as a reader you begin to wonder how far things can go wrong and how many bodies will pile up on the way.


It is interesting to note that one thing I found intriguing

was how the plot seemed to mirror the procedural in that everything that happens, whether it's something the characters have control over or the things that are going maddeningly wrong, fits into place with how the character either plans things or how they would logically react to them.


As with the previous story Nathan has his own set of quirks that sometimes work against him and sometimes are to his benefit, One of those comes narrowly close to creating his own internal deus ex machina, I'll just say that he has this talent that gets him out of tight spots, For the reader who dislikes those things this might begin to grind a bit because it's integral to the story,

The good news is he's not the only one with the talent so that means he isn't the chosen one, Or maybe I should say he isn't the only chosen one,

Did I mention there are plenty of strategic battles in the story to keep the reader interested, And narrow escapes for those characters who manage to make it to the end,

Each chapter has a timeline and location or setting note that I found I didn't need or read on the third time through, Again they are there for those interested though I'm not sure they add a lot to the story and it's clear enough that the average reader shouldn't get lost if he fails to follow the listed directions.


I think for anyone who loves the intrigue and politics of worlds like that of Honor Harrington, they should love these books, I'm looking forward to book three,

J. L. Dobias I've enjoyed the first two installments of Nathon Telford's adventures, I might have to stop here though as it looks like Amazon is the only outlet selling the next book and I try to avoid them, Here's hoping that at some point I will find them on Barnes and Noble where I found the first two, The hero of Genevieve Incident is assigned to the Monitor Insolent as she escorts a freighter into the northern reaches of league space, Their destination, the distant world of Cimmeria,

While the Cimmerians are striving to find their own identity under the yoke of a corrupt regime, far from their world the Pruessen Navy have made their own plans for Cimmeria.


As the battle lines are drawn, one rookie ensign, a handful of friends and a rag tag band of freedom fighters try to hold the line against an implacable enemy who outgun and outnumber them.


Nathans hastily conceived plan of attack may cost him his life, but for an officer in the Athenian Navy, nothing comes before his duty,

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