GALAXY OF HEROES II: War Heroes

Galaxy of Heroes #2

by Gus Flory

The Red Wrath crash lands on a dead planet. Capt. Jace Spade and Capt. Mina Casey walk across a desolate plain to an isolated human outpost that is besieged by a mighty alien war machine. The beautiful Mayor Lourdes Magna struggles to save her city in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Fear, intrigue and murder spread like contagions under the gray skies of her lost world. A mysterious stranger arrives. He promises victory and awakens hope for a new dawn for all humanity as a cataclysmic battle commences. Capt. Jace Spade, Capt. Mina Casey, Sgt. Joe Grimes and Genie reunite as empires collide.

Genres: Science Fiction

313 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 2011

Reviews

[Mike Nemeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gus Flory's second outing in the Galaxy of Heroes saga increases the adrenaline somewhat. It's not that his first novel, which I decided to reread since it had been three years, dragged. Quite the opposite. But "War Heroes" connects back with our irreverent Capt. Jace Spade and Mina Casey when the collective fate of mankind looks even worse. The premise is this: a third-tier race devastated earth hundreds of years past. Only the outliers on Mars and Saturn's moons put up much of a fight. After that, humanity became the nomads of the stars, settling here and there and trying to gain a foothold in an increasingly unstable galaxy. Two races, the Craaldans and the Diocons, want to annihilate each other and anything else that stands in their way. Humans seemingly irritate both, and there are very few of them remaining. Spade isn't really the hero type. His former ex, Casey, falls for him again after he helps assemble a ragtag group of refugees to make a run for empty space. Spade feels the only alternative to keep at least some human DNA intact is to flee to the far corners of space. He's right. Unfortunately, his refugees don't make it very far. They're attacked by the Craaldans at world the war-like aliens had bombarded and left for dead. A small colony of survivors lets them into their midst, but the harsh conditions of the planet and minimal resources don't give them much hope of survival. Zeth, the Craaldan leading the kill team, wants them all dead so he can return to fighting the Diocons. And nobody likes Spade. He's on the hit lists for both the Craaldans and the Diocons after he uncovered the duplicity of the small rat-like bipeds, the Noctish. But his actions resulted in huge losses for both aggressors. Out of nowhere, a new ally comes to the aid of the refugees and planet dwelling humans. His name is Capt. Jack Winner, and he's got a fast ship and amazing ordnance and ammunition, way better stuff than they previously could dig up. And he says he wants to fight. Spade's outvoted. Nobody wants to ship out on a thousand-year voyage through empty space. They want to fight. This Winner guy has them convinced. The story plays out like a bit of an old western with Flory's trademark high-octane action sequences. He infuses the story with strong female characters, who appear to carry the emotional depth in the story line. The guys are a little gung ho and easy to predict. But, then again, that's pretty much how it is. Genie, the drop-dead gorgeous cyborg, has her independence and still decided to live with Sgt. Joe Grimes. She makes sure they all survive, somehow. Casey represents the despair of the human race. The Craaldens are unstoppable and she wonders whether living is even worthwhile with so many losses, so many deaths. Better than the first book and I'm expecting big things from No. 3 due in July

[Keith Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining with likable characters.

I enjoyed this voyage of big red and her crew. Amazing how they continue to survive all of their exploits, although it's science fiction so why not let them survive the journey?