Combined for the first time in one volume, here are the bestselling novels SILENT IRON HAND, SILENT WRAITH HAND, SILENT AXIOM HAND, and the short story RAIL GUN. The galaxy is at war, but wars are won and lost in the shadows. To the galaxy at large, Jack March is a privateer of the interstellar Kingdom of Calaskar and a former Iron Hand commando of the malevolent Final Consciousness. In truth, he is an alpha operative of the Silent Order, the most efficient and feared intelligence organization in human space. When there is a crisis, Jack March is the man to call. But there are many forces that wish to enslave or destroy humanity, and March is the one to stop those forces...
Standing over six feet tall, USA Today bestselling author Jonathan Moeller has the piercing blue eyes of a Conan of Cimmeria, the bronze-colored hair of a Visigothic warrior-king, and the stern visage of a captain of men, none of which are useful in his career as a computer repairman, alas.
He has written the DEMONSOULED series of sword-and-sorcery novels, and continues to write THE GHOSTS sequence about assassin and spy Caina Amalas, the COMPUTER BEGINNER'S GUIDE series of computer books, and numerous other works. His books have sold over one million copies worldwide.
I was initially excited to read this book, as it sounded promising and I'm a huge fan of space opera. However, in practice it was so awful I barely made it through the first book of the omnibus.
The writing was a lot better than some I've seen, which was nice, but it didn't make up for all the cliches - a strong dark man with a violent past, or a beautiful woman no one can resist on a mission to save her beloved brother. It's rather eye-roll inducing.
I was willing to go with it until chapter 5, when it all came crashing down. Beautiful woman approaches strong dark man. I mean really?! So predictable, so cliched, and so lame. I don't know why I decided to continue, but I did, and it only got worse.
Then I got... >drum roll please< space zombies!!! I just couldn't after that. I skimmed the rest of the book and didn't feel like I missed anything. I was so disappointed another one bit the dust, especially since there were three more books in this omnibus. Do not recommend unless you have a high cheese threshold.
Jack March belongs to the Silent Order, an organization so secret that almost everyone guesses that he's a member within minutes of meeting him. The Silent Order, despite supposedly being an intelligence arm of an interstellar government, doesn't appear to provide him or any of the other members he meets with any kind of funding.
His repeated antagonists are the Machinists, a competing government based on an electronic hive mind. They're vicious and have access to technology well in advance of Calaskar's. Fortunately for Jack March, they're all really stupid. The confrontation between March and a Machinist leader in book 2 has the Machinist giving a speech that's so foolish it's comical. Their plans are usually silly and self-defeating.
March runs up against the same enemy through all 3 books. Every time they meet, he indulges in pointless villainous monologues. Every time they fight, March's chief antagonist gets away so he can be the villain in the next book.
March spends a lot of time talking about how attractive various women he meets are. Generally quite a few show sexual interest. In each book at least one woman offers to sleep with March despite having only known him a day or two. It's never the least bit believable.
March always turns them down out of combination of self-loathing and the fairly sensible idea that sleeping with women he barely knows while involved in dangerous doings is a bad idea. This got pretty repetitive by the third book.
Occasionally the author's prejudices show through in weird ways. For example, on one planet, an entire social class is "emaciated" because they "favor a vegetarian diet." Apparently he thinks being a vegetarian automatically makes you malnourished.
These are action books, which is a mild positive, but that's not enough to make them worth reading.
I like the authors writing style. Some conversational, some descriptive. The antagonist is truly frightening. Just the right amount of techno babble, great scene descriptions. However, our hero keeps turning it down. I'm enjoying the storyline, but I love interstellar blockade,fighter,freighter starship stories. Nothing beats having your own starship all to yourself, right?
Fun read! Smarter than most independent publishers. The bad guys in this are the Borg only far more viscous and blood thirsty. The correct idea that they just the ultimate expression of socialism/communism is choice. The Renarchist planet depicting the ultimate outcome of socialism is accurate and so parallel to our world. That aside the action is great, the characters interesting, and villains horrible. Entertaining read, recommended.
A good introduction to a series of Silent Order adventures. Excitement runs throughout coupled with reasonable character development. The main themes will presumably evolve greater depth and I would hope adversaries do not become too repetitious as the overarching story moves forward. Will read the next instalment and come to a decision on the rest at that point.
Politics is one thing, terrorism quite another and in Calaskar both somehow holds reign except, the Calascar Kingdom has the services of one Jack March and who was an iron hand for the Machinists at one stage i.e. when Jack could suffer the deadly Machinists no more. Jack become the scourge of the Machinists. This box set tells his story. Graphically In detail. Enjoy
More today than in the past, organ implants have become routine. Soon to be overtaken by technological innovation, organic material like hearts and kidneys will be easily immitated and superseded by wiring and chips. For better or worse, it is coming. Only motivation determines cost or benefits.
When I read science fiction I expect to have a little more action. They did have action in here but it wasn't very science fiction. I guess I'm hardcore science fiction thinking about space battles and flying through space rather than being a secret agent. That's all I say; if I was into the secret agent part I would probably enjoyed this book.
This was the second book in this series and I am beginning to bond with the characters and enjoy the simple but entertaining plots. I definitely recommend the book series.
Jack March is a conflicted hero with a bionic arm that often saves his life. I would have found reading it more enjoyable if the author learned another dialogue tag than "said Marsh." or any character's name rather than NO tags or Marsh said.
I enjoyed the first three and a half books. I feel March is a solid character, and though we don't spend a lot of time with his supporting cast, Moeller does a good job of still making them relevant and interesting. I especially liked Axiom.
Solid action, solid space military type thrillers. Well worth giving them a read. I look forward to continuing this saga. I have one question for the author. Why can 't medical nanobots fix March's scars?
Freighter Captain Jack Marsh , Privateer and a bit more?
This is the first time I've read Jonathan's book and am amazed at how good a writer he is. Characters are full of witt, sarcasm, honesty and some evil. Captain Marsh can handle all of it. It's a binge able read for sure!
These were good reads. They held my attention with pretty much nonstop action. The writing was a little sophomoric, but the storylines were very good. The hero never gets the girl. These would be good young person's books.
Characters and Plots were just average. Very little in the way of scene settings. Not something I can recommend. I’ve read better. This was just tolerable.
It’s a good one thing after another story. The lead has issues and can’t come to terms with his past. Considers a woman in each story to be a distraction.
A series worth reading. The main character is skilled, which can sometimes make them obnoxious. But not the case here. I enjoyed cheering the hero on. .
I found it quite captivating with the way the world is heading at the moment with certain organisations beginning to believe that electronic and mechanical additional AI components will evolve humans to their rightful place as gods. Of course this is delusional but still dangerous especially when people can be conned into buying into the concept.