Review: It snuck up on me!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 26, 2013
I came upon the first book in this series while plying my trade as a Kindle Katfish. Even if you've not heard of us the odds are good you may be one and not know it. Kindle Katfish are bottom feeders. We look for the cheapest possible books. We start out at the Gutenberg freebie spot and before we know it we're getting several (eagerly anticipated) emails a day from blogs that promise the absolute best new Kindle freebies on a daily basis. It isn't that we're cheap (or frugal, if you prefer a more inellectually-polite sounding adjective) it's more that we love the chance of "discovering" a new superb author when said person is still cutting their literary teeth as an unknown. Oh sure, we read a lot of truly lousy dreck passing for prose, but every once in a while we come across a Hugh Howey and get to feel smugly vindicated for a day or two. It all balances out.Anyway, I was in the mood for a space opera with an end-of-the-world invasion threat when book one of the Slaver Wars turned up in one of my "Hey cheapo, check this out" emails. I clicked the "buy with one click" button before the words, "that's frugal-o to you" finished slipping through my lips. I read it in one sitting and thought, "decent start, but I bet part two costs a mint." Nope. Book 2 was less than a buck. So was book 3! This person wants to be read. He finds his validation in pleasing the audience, not just in padding the wallet. The end of book one featured a plea for reviews, but I was too busy reading the second book to worry about that. Well, to make a long story short (too late!) I finished up the trilogy. I found them to be utterly pleasant, not overly complicated, but a bit light on action. The third book ended with the promise that book 4 would be a full-length novel instead of a quick novella and even included a brief blurb from what is apparently the first chapter. I decided that as long as the price was reasonable I'd continue reading the series as new volumes became available and went back to combing the bottom for my next ch... uhm, FRUGAL dalliance.I quickly noticed a trend.After spending months reading apocalyptica, (almost always featuring at least a cameo by brain-starved zombie hoards it seems)satires about the apocalypse, and what seemed like an endless parade of Tru-Hungry-Twilight-Games knockoffs, I found that none of the usual fare on the menu at the bottom of the Kindle ocean looked satisfying. I bought one of those space Megapacks for a dollar and, like a bag of bargain Chee-zee Poofs, it filled the hole but left me oddly unsatisfied. I needed more of the Slaver Wars. My mind kept drifting back to the characters I'd met in the stories. After three novellas full of tasty tid-bits of a human technology far in advance of our current space gear, I wanted more. Don't get me wrong, I commend NASA for what they've done with their $18.26 annual budget (or whatever bread-crumb sum our battered economy can afford to scatter their way) but our space program is becoming more the realm of private corporations in France & China than anything else. I was curious as to how the monstrous 1500 meter battle cruisers and space carriers could ever have been bested in battle or how an admiral of such seeming competency as the fleet leader could have been bested in any battle.Somehow these three little tales had gotten under my skin.Well, book 4 is finally out. Not only that, it is full-length as promised. It's also very reasonably priced and is now sitting in my Kindle awaiting me. I can't wait! So why am I writing this rather lengthy diatribe instead of diving into the continuing story? Simple. This guy Raymond L. Weil is a deceptively talented author. He already has a healthy number of rave reviews under his belt, but he asked for more. If my review convinces even one new reader to pick up the trilogy that provides the backdrop for what proves to be an extremely satisfying series of novels then I'll feel I've paid the author back for the hours of entertainment he's provided to me. Good sci-fi is incredibly hard to find these days. Giants like Asimov, Ellison, and Clarke have cast long and intimidating shadows that make writing sci-fi look easy... until one actually tries to write it. It takes real talent to grab a reader the way the Golden Age authors could. Mr. Weil is well on the way to joining them and that truly is something worth crowing about. Take my word for it and pick up the "Moon Wreck" books. It's 3 measly dollars for Pete's sake and they're easily worth triple that. I don't give out many 5 star reviews - you can look if you'd like - I'd give this opening trilogy 6 each if I could. I only hope that his other published works will keep me busy after reading book 4 of the Slaver Wars until book 5 arrives.