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The Last War #4
The Last Champion
Admiral Jack Mattis thinks Spectre, humanity's nemesis, has been defeated. And he sacrificed the USS Midway to do it.
Now a US Navy pilot has gone missing. A terrorist group kidnaps a dozen infants. Admiral Mattis's own infant grandson is suddenly and mysteriously ill with a sickness no doctor can--or will--diagnose. No one can piece the puzzle together, until from a derelict future-human ship Mattis finally recovers an actual mutant human, come from the future to destroy Spectre himself.
Because humanity's greatest nemesis is not dead--he is only now ramping up his plan for galactic domination. And the pieces he sets in motion will force Admiral Mattis to make the unthinkable choice between saving a billion people, or saving his only grandson and a dozen other infants.
Spectre must be stopped.
And only one champion can stop him. Or die trying.
Now a US Navy pilot has gone missing. A terrorist group kidnaps a dozen infants. Admiral Mattis's own infant grandson is suddenly and mysteriously ill with a sickness no doctor can--or will--diagnose. No one can piece the puzzle together, until from a derelict future-human ship Mattis finally recovers an actual mutant human, come from the future to destroy Spectre himself.
Because humanity's greatest nemesis is not dead--he is only now ramping up his plan for galactic domination. And the pieces he sets in motion will force Admiral Mattis to make the unthinkable choice between saving a billion people, or saving his only grandson and a dozen other infants.
Spectre must be stopped.
And only one champion can stop him. Or die trying.
- GenresScience Fiction
450 pages, Paperback
Published May 22, 2018
429 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Peter Bostrom
12 books56 followersPeter Bostrom is the pen name of Nick Webb as he co-writes Science Fiction with other authors.
Nick lives in Seattle, and someday wants to be the first man to die on Mars. Not like a heroic, failed-Nasa-mission style death where he plummets through the thin atmosphere and crashes into Olympus Mons, but a calm one in a hospital with plenty of fantasy books to ease his passing.
Nick lives in Seattle, and someday wants to be the first man to die on Mars. Not like a heroic, failed-Nasa-mission style death where he plummets through the thin atmosphere and crashes into Olympus Mons, but a calm one in a hospital with plenty of fantasy books to ease his passing.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
July 3, 2018
I have to be honest, when I pick up a book like this, I pick it up because I am not expecting an award winning piece of literature (no offence to the Author), I am expecting to be entertained by a fast paced, action thriller, with fantastic ship combat, both capital and fighter, some great characters (not earth-shattering, sometimes you get a surprise, but I do expect a good set of characters with some dramatic/humorous dialogue, and a decent background, that builds and builds as the story goes on), and it is always nice to have an inventive bit of world building as well. Parts 1 and 2 easily fulfilled this in this series, and they even provided a great storyline with a lot of little sub-plots, but the ship-to-ship action was exceptional, and Admiral Mattis, the grumpy old Admiral who just won’t give up, and always survives against the odds, was a great character, along with his bridge crew, the robotic Modhi, and the eager to please Lynch, as well as a few others. Even the reporter Ramirez, Mattis’ old flame added a touch of amusement.
I was still on-board with Part 3, although there was some things starting to occur that could have happened that went either way, however, the combat, the characters, even Mattis losing the Midway and the death of some other major characters showed that the Author was willing to not always give us ‘Mattis always wins’ scenarios.
But Part 4 unfortunately has been a disappointment. Apart from a real lack of combat, either in starships, or ground-based marine/special forces action, the actual storyline has become very convoluted and almost lost in itself. The almost ‘Matrix’ like scene in which dozens of the same clone come pouring into a room to confront the crew was just laughable, and not in a good way.
And there are just so many bad plot actions turning up in the story now that it is making the story quite unbelievable (yes, sure, it is Sci-fi, and therefore, um – not real, but there is always an element of realism or authenticity you expect – Admirals are the same rank, so why can one order the other one around? Why is everyone always so worried about an Admiral doing his job and following up on the bad guy and determined that he be behind a desk? Why did bullets bounce off the Future Humans in one instance and later, penetrate them? Then there is the whole baby thing…)
I don’t want to go into too much and give away too many spoilers, but needless to say, part 4 has really lost its way and I was disappointed in the story, especially after parts 1 and 2 had been so good. Hopefully part 5 is better?
I was still on-board with Part 3, although there was some things starting to occur that could have happened that went either way, however, the combat, the characters, even Mattis losing the Midway and the death of some other major characters showed that the Author was willing to not always give us ‘Mattis always wins’ scenarios.
But Part 4 unfortunately has been a disappointment. Apart from a real lack of combat, either in starships, or ground-based marine/special forces action, the actual storyline has become very convoluted and almost lost in itself. The almost ‘Matrix’ like scene in which dozens of the same clone come pouring into a room to confront the crew was just laughable, and not in a good way.
And there are just so many bad plot actions turning up in the story now that it is making the story quite unbelievable (yes, sure, it is Sci-fi, and therefore, um – not real, but there is always an element of realism or authenticity you expect – Admirals are the same rank, so why can one order the other one around? Why is everyone always so worried about an Admiral doing his job and following up on the bad guy and determined that he be behind a desk? Why did bullets bounce off the Future Humans in one instance and later, penetrate them? Then there is the whole baby thing…)
I don’t want to go into too much and give away too many spoilers, but needless to say, part 4 has really lost its way and I was disappointed in the story, especially after parts 1 and 2 had been so good. Hopefully part 5 is better?
June 2, 2018
Book 4 again set Admiral Pattis up against the future humans, but not all it appears to be true, after reading the three previous books, there is a lot of answers to the questions about why the future humans came and what Spectre has to do with all this. Great book, great series. Looking forward to book 5.
June 19, 2018
Implausible and disjointed
DNF. I got close to the end (83%) but the issues with plot, characters, dialogue and interactions became overwhelming.
There was a hint in earlier books of a broader picture of humanity, in its struggle with the mystery aggressors. By Book 3, instead of the human race at war, the aliens/future humans are waging war solely against the U.S. space navy.
The characters which were named all suffer the old English surname problem. The only exceptions are a couple of South Asian and one East Asian officer, one of whom is a recent immigrant. No other political, military, economic leader has Eastern, Central, Western European roots. None has Middle Eastern, other Mediterranean roots. I was very disappointed that the writer wouldn't shed that naming convention, which though common is a very political statement.
The physics of travel, distances or direction in relation to Earth and a rough distribution of colonies are missing. This has been a weakness throughout the series. I gave Book One a pass on that issue but it doesn't get corrected in the following books.
The cross galactic phone exchange, the U.S. navy having only 2 admirals, the informality of the naval characters across ranks and lack of security protocols paint the writer into a corner with regards character interaction and development. It's a trade-off that allows plot shortcuts and non-stop action which become nonsensical action with silly characters and a hard to support plot.
The writer hasn't committed to tech heavy opera, military science fiction, social examination of human expansion or the alien incursion scenario. I was not surprised that a pilot can be missing for months and returned to duty with a party, no debrief and no medical exam. I was not surprised that an adult takes a toddler onto a smuggler ship to chase a geneticist across the galaxy. No one questions that a naval officer who is known to be a clone, created by the enemy might pose a danger to a warship when slotted into a bridge post. No one inspects mystery crates delivered by a naval supplier to All five hundred U.S. warships. Narrative liberties turn into an excuse for lazy plotting, lack of character development and a weak universe. I think I saw flashes of insight and competence earlier but by this book the writer has given up the novel, in favor of continuous action sequences strung together with a succession of incredible coincidences.
I don't think that I will read any more of his books and definitely not this series.
DNF. I got close to the end (83%) but the issues with plot, characters, dialogue and interactions became overwhelming.
There was a hint in earlier books of a broader picture of humanity, in its struggle with the mystery aggressors. By Book 3, instead of the human race at war, the aliens/future humans are waging war solely against the U.S. space navy.
The characters which were named all suffer the old English surname problem. The only exceptions are a couple of South Asian and one East Asian officer, one of whom is a recent immigrant. No other political, military, economic leader has Eastern, Central, Western European roots. None has Middle Eastern, other Mediterranean roots. I was very disappointed that the writer wouldn't shed that naming convention, which though common is a very political statement.
The physics of travel, distances or direction in relation to Earth and a rough distribution of colonies are missing. This has been a weakness throughout the series. I gave Book One a pass on that issue but it doesn't get corrected in the following books.
The cross galactic phone exchange, the U.S. navy having only 2 admirals, the informality of the naval characters across ranks and lack of security protocols paint the writer into a corner with regards character interaction and development. It's a trade-off that allows plot shortcuts and non-stop action which become nonsensical action with silly characters and a hard to support plot.
The writer hasn't committed to tech heavy opera, military science fiction, social examination of human expansion or the alien incursion scenario. I was not surprised that a pilot can be missing for months and returned to duty with a party, no debrief and no medical exam. I was not surprised that an adult takes a toddler onto a smuggler ship to chase a geneticist across the galaxy. No one questions that a naval officer who is known to be a clone, created by the enemy might pose a danger to a warship when slotted into a bridge post. No one inspects mystery crates delivered by a naval supplier to All five hundred U.S. warships. Narrative liberties turn into an excuse for lazy plotting, lack of character development and a weak universe. I think I saw flashes of insight and competence earlier but by this book the writer has given up the novel, in favor of continuous action sequences strung together with a succession of incredible coincidences.
I don't think that I will read any more of his books and definitely not this series.
October 9, 2019
PB./NW./DA. Deep Space Wartime Action Adventure (TLC) (TLWSB - 4)
PB./NW./DA. have penned a deep space Wartime Action Adventure in which another advanced ship comes from the future to end Earth as it presently is. The current crop of Earth scientist, after studying a humanoid from the future begins to understand what is occurring. They are attempting to stop a man from becoming a dictator. This is can excellent read for the genre.....DEHS
PB./NW./DA. have penned a deep space Wartime Action Adventure in which another advanced ship comes from the future to end Earth as it presently is. The current crop of Earth scientist, after studying a humanoid from the future begins to understand what is occurring. They are attempting to stop a man from becoming a dictator. This is can excellent read for the genre.....DEHS
September 16, 2018
Wow! I could not put this book down!e
This book has everything! clever villains, selfless warriors, brave heroes, and a story line that never let up. Everyone including the villains were believable characters.
I have not seen a sci-first story with this intensity in years.
This book has everything! clever villains, selfless warriors, brave heroes, and a story line that never let up. Everyone including the villains were believable characters.
I have not seen a sci-first story with this intensity in years.
April 22, 2019
Great series
Love the characters ,even the weird human ones!
Book has a BSG feel for sure. If you enjoy big space battles this is the book for you.
I am looking forward to starting 5th book.
Love the characters ,even the weird human ones!
Book has a BSG feel for sure. If you enjoy big space battles this is the book for you.
I am looking forward to starting 5th book.
May 7, 2019
The Last Champion keeps the suspense up
I'm giving this book 5 stars because the author keeps rausing thw rension, masterfully, up through the very end. Even though, there are glitches in the plot sice the very begginning of the story, back at book 1.
I'm giving this book 5 stars because the author keeps rausing thw rension, masterfully, up through the very end. Even though, there are glitches in the plot sice the very begginning of the story, back at book 1.
August 17, 2019
Welllll
Still a lot of action, but it feels like somethings missing, like somethings have been edited out or not actually written into the story. Also things are getting a bit predictable. Except for a couple of twists.
Still a lot of action, but it feels like somethings missing, like somethings have been edited out or not actually written into the story. Also things are getting a bit predictable. Except for a couple of twists.
October 29, 2019
A military space opera worthy of your time
This plot is time tested which also includes time travel. This story has family drama, honor, adventure, blood and guys who don't know how to quit. It would make an excellent big screen block buster.
This plot is time tested which also includes time travel. This story has family drama, honor, adventure, blood and guys who don't know how to quit. It would make an excellent big screen block buster.
December 29, 2019
Boring
Very slow starting and action starts lst we Dr in the book, unlike most other SyFi books. In fact it was so slow and uninteresting I almost out it aside partially read.
Not your best work.
Very slow starting and action starts lst we Dr in the book, unlike most other SyFi books. In fact it was so slow and uninteresting I almost out it aside partially read.
Not your best work.
April 5, 2020
One of the best series books instead all year
I haven't stop reading this series since the outbreak of the coronavirus. The characters are great and story line unique. Very easy to read .
I haven't stop reading this series since the outbreak of the coronavirus. The characters are great and story line unique. Very easy to read .
July 15, 2018
A great ride
It was a fun ride. Can't wait for# 5. Will read as well. Where will we end up next ?
It was a fun ride. Can't wait for# 5. Will read as well. Where will we end up next ?
August 13, 2018
Good read
Got a bit sloppy in this, the last book, but still a good read. Author needs to further develop the protagonist.
Got a bit sloppy in this, the last book, but still a good read. Author needs to further develop the protagonist.
August 26, 2018
Enjoyable
Great story the characters were individually driven and believable, the ending was well done without leaving to many questions of what was going to happen.
Great story the characters were individually driven and believable, the ending was well done without leaving to many questions of what was going to happen.
November 13, 2018
Thoroughly enjoyable book
I have, once again enjoyed reading the next chapter in this series . Peter Bostrom writes with wit and excitement. The next book should be as enjoyable.
I have, once again enjoyed reading the next chapter in this series . Peter Bostrom writes with wit and excitement. The next book should be as enjoyable.
January 18, 2019
Fun read, light science fiction space cowboy opera.
January 30, 2019
I am hardly qualified to review anything, but as a reader (and I read a lot) I give this book (and series) and the author my thanks and praise for such excellent work.
May 12, 2019
This fourth entry has done a beautiful job connecting the several characters into the same plot. The author has done a magnificent job creating an action packed sci-fi military series that keeps you on your toes for the next book
October 28, 2020
Another great story
This story was as good as all the others in the series. I hope the future episodes are as interesting as well.
This story was as good as all the others in the series. I hope the future episodes are as interesting as well.
May 26, 2019
I have to be honest, when I pick up a book like this, I pick it up because I am not expecting an award winning piece of literature (no offence to the Author), I am expecting to be entertained by a fast paced, action thriller, with fantastic ship combat, both capital and fighter, some great characters (not earth-shattering, sometimes you get a surprise, but I do expect a good set of characters with some dramatic/humorous dialogue, and a decent background, that builds and builds as the story goes on), and it is always nice to have an inventive bit of world building as well. Parts 1 and 2 easily fulfilled this in this series, and they even provided a great storyline with a lot of little sub-plots, but the ship-to-ship action was exceptional, and Admiral Mattis, the grumpy old Admiral who just won’t give up, and always survives against the odds, was a great character, along with his bridge crew, the robotic Modhi, and the eager to please Lynch, as well as a few others. Even the reporter Ramirez, Mattis’ old flame added a touch of amusement.
I was still on-board with Part 3, although there was some things starting to occur that could have happened that went either way, however, the combat, the characters, even Mattis losing the Midway and the death of some other major characters showed that the Author was willing to not always give us ‘Mattis always wins’ scenarios.
But Part 4 unfortunately has been a disappointment. Apart from a real lack of combat, either in starships, or ground-based marine/special forces action, the actual storyline has become very convoluted and almost lost in itself. The almost ‘Matrix’ like scene in which dozens of the same clone come pouring into a room to confront the crew was just laughable, and not in a good way.
And there are just so many bad plot actions turning up in the story now that it is making the story quite unbelievable (yes, sure, it is Sci-fi, and therefore, um – not real, but there is always an element of realism or authenticity you expect – Admirals are the same rank, so why can one order the other one around? Why is everyone always so worried about an Admiral doing his job and following up on the bad guy and determined that he be behind a desk? Why did bullets bounce off the Future Humans in one instance and later, penetrate them? Then there is the whole baby thing…)
I don’t want to go into too much and give away too many spoilers, but needless to say, part 4 has really lost its way and I was disappointed in the story, especially after parts 1 and 2 had been so good. Hopefully part 5 is better?
Disappointing.
I was still on-board with Part 3, although there was some things starting to occur that could have happened that went either way, however, the combat, the characters, even Mattis losing the Midway and the death of some other major characters showed that the Author was willing to not always give us ‘Mattis always wins’ scenarios.
But Part 4 unfortunately has been a disappointment. Apart from a real lack of combat, either in starships, or ground-based marine/special forces action, the actual storyline has become very convoluted and almost lost in itself. The almost ‘Matrix’ like scene in which dozens of the same clone come pouring into a room to confront the crew was just laughable, and not in a good way.
And there are just so many bad plot actions turning up in the story now that it is making the story quite unbelievable (yes, sure, it is Sci-fi, and therefore, um – not real, but there is always an element of realism or authenticity you expect – Admirals are the same rank, so why can one order the other one around? Why is everyone always so worried about an Admiral doing his job and following up on the bad guy and determined that he be behind a desk? Why did bullets bounce off the Future Humans in one instance and later, penetrate them? Then there is the whole baby thing…)
I don’t want to go into too much and give away too many spoilers, but needless to say, part 4 has really lost its way and I was disappointed in the story, especially after parts 1 and 2 had been so good. Hopefully part 5 is better?
Disappointing.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews