The Riss Enemies

The Riss Series #6

by C.R. Daems

The threat from the JPU has been eliminated and the empires should be at peace, but fractions within the SAS have revised old resentments against the Riss and Freeland. These anti-Riss groups have distorted the facts of the war with the JPU and dispute the Riss's right to quarantine JPU, insisting the SAS should have exclusive rights to the JPU and the Riss quarantined. While the SAS plots against the Riss, an alien force enters SAS space and is annihilating inhabitable systems. The Riss attempt to form an alliance with the SAS and UFN to stop the alien invasion. But the threat from aliens isn't enough to avoid dissention and rebellion within the SAS. Meanwhile, newly discovered humans in a neighboring section of the galaxy are at war with other aliens—close enough to eventually be a threat. The Riss must choose to remain neutral or get involved. Book VI in the Riss Series, The Riss Enemies, can be read as a standalone novel although it contains references to events in previous books. Book V, The Riss Challenge, can also be read as a standalone although it contains references to events in previous books. It explains the war with the JPU and the reason for the quarantine. Book III and IV, The Riss Survival and The Riss Accession, are best read together. They cover the invasion by an advance race of aliens using robots as hosts. Books I and II, The Riss Gamble and The Riss Proposal, are best read together. They introduce the Riss, Gorilla-looking but peaceful aliens, and details the human protagonist's rise to spokesperson and leader of the Riss Nation.

Genres: Science Fiction

313 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 19, 2016

About the author

I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and joined the military right out of high school. I served twenty-two years in the United States Air Force as a certified internal auditor. While in the military service, I lived in seven states and two foreign countries, and obtained two degrees: a BS in mathematics and an MS in computer science.

After I retired from the Air Force, I secured a position with Digital Equipment Corporation, located in Bedford, Massachusetts, as a software course developer and instructor. I worked twenty-two years at DEC and held positions as a course developer, course development manager, software engineer, and software engineering manager.

Today, I’m retired and live in Tucson, Arizona, with my wife of fifty-three years. My daughter and two grandchildren live in Maryland. I began writing several years after I retired, when I was seventy. My first two attempts remain in my desk drawer—good ideas, but poorly written. Subsequently, I co-authored, with Jeanne Tomlin, three fantasy novels: Talon of the Raptor Clan, Scales of Justice, and All My Friends Have Wings (young adults). Talon of the Raptor Clan was sold to ePress-online Books and came out in July 2009. Since then I have written two additional novels: The Laughing Hounds (urban fantasy) and The Riss Gamble (science fiction).

My hobbies for the past forty years have been kung fu and tai chi.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished listening to the audio versions of this series. I sure hope the series doesn't end here, as the last book feels like the beginning of another sequel. I find it ironic that a pacifist species decides to defend themselves by becoming the very best at war. Something doesn't quite sit right about that, which I hoped would come to an eventual resolution. I would have liked the series to reach a point with a nice long epilogue showing what that eventual peace looked like, but the scale of threats and conflicts seems to just keep growing with out end.

Many times the protagonist complains about the very small numbers of the Riss. I may have dozed off when the reason was given why they aren't reproducing more once they have more habitat, but that seemed to be a puzzle to me in several of the books. I started the first book to relax before going to sleep, which backfired as I simply could not turn it off, always wanting to know what was going to happen next. Several mornings I woke up to the audio still going, and had to try and figure out where I feel asleep.

[Ian Denner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

This was truly the end. And didn't enjoy the follow up to this one, Desperate Measures. Maybe the first book by the author that I did not enjoy. But this whole series was phenomenal, and a true joy. Everything what science fiction should be.

[Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great sequel!

This book has a good story full of discovering new systems, ending old alliances and is an opening for the next book. Overall it is a great book!

[Tony Hisgett · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been two and a half years since I read the last Riss book and perhaps due to my advancing years, I found it quite difficult to pick up on all the characters and the situation with the SAS and JPU. (My own fault, I probably should have re-read book 5). Thankfully about a quarter of the way in this didn’t matter, as I was fully engrossed with this new story.
One of the interesting things about this series is the different approach the RISS have to conflict, this makes these books a different reading experience from many other Science Fiction/Space Opera series.
This isn’t my favourite book in the series but it is still a very enjoyable read, although some of the detail in the attack sequences against the mother ships did get a little tedious.
The story ends with a bit of a cliff-hanger, but at least I don’t have to wait over two years for the next book.