Review: The Stirring, Thrilling Conclusion!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 8, 2013
The finale in John Bower's Fighter Queen Saga is a gripping, stirring novel of war, love, loss, suffering and retribution as the intergalactic war with Sirius comes to a end.The futuristic, interplanetary setting--where Earth has been renamed "Terra"--has the Galactic Federation fighting a very long war with the Planet Sirius, whose people are redneck Nazis who oppress and murder anyone different. Their champion is Onja Kvoorik, an ace gunner from the planet Vega and former slave girl whose life's mission is to rescue to her scattered family and kill as many Sirians as possible along the way. Wanting to join her is Johnny Lincoln II, the son of Onja's dear friend and pilot (and lover), who wants to follow in his father's footsteps in being a great pilot and hero. He's inherited his father's incredible flight skills and has grown up flying all kinds of flying machines and conditions. Unfortunately, he's also fairly brash and cocky, putting his career in danger before it properly start. Meanwhile, Onja is starting to waver in her cause. The War's been going on a very long time, she's lost several comrades, her skills aren't quite as good as they used to be, and she fears dying before she can find her family or that it may be too late. While we root for them, we realize they may very well not reach their goals...The plot also puts the focus on other characters in the Federation as they to are put through trials dealing with the Sirians. Bowers does a very good of makeing use know and care for--and sometimes dislike--these people as fate either comes to their aid or makes the situation worse in a war that's as harsh and brutal as any that took place in ancient times.Bowers has writes exhilarating action scenes that literally put you in the middle of the chaos or creates gripping suspense as characters have to wait out a battle from a safe place. He also throw in some deep moments to make the characters--and us--really think about actions and their consequences during war and off the battlefield.My chief complaint stems from a plot twist that unfortunately ends up being a red herring. I won't give it away, but, well...it felt wholly unnecessary in the long run.If you want an exciting, riveting science fiction story that'll hook you from start to finish, look no further than "The Fighter Queen" and the other books in its series!