Surrender Demand

Halberd #4

by John Spearman

The fourth in the series of books detailing the adventures of Jonah Halberd, now an Admiral in the Royal Navy of the Inter-Planetary Commonwealth. Tragedy, loss, danger, excitement, a new love and a new beginning accompany our hero.

Genres: Science Fiction

262 pages, Paperback

Published June 30, 2019

About the author

John Spearman is an award-winning author. In the past, he served a Latin teacher and coach at a prestigious New England boarding school. Before joining the world of academia, Spearman had been a sales and marketing executive for 25 years.

Reviews

[Mark Lajoie]

Overload

There's a decent story here, but in my opinion, padded with commentary on ladies' fashions, jewelry, and rather boring "love stories". Other authors pad with descriptions of food, but fashion and food are better experienced than described, and not usually useful to advance the story.
The writing is adequate and no intrusive. In short, this is space opera, popcorn with a little too much artificial butter flavoring.

[Carter F.]

John Spearman- one of the best sci-fi writers of all time…

Space navy or wet navy, John Spearman is at the top of the field. His characters, dialog, plot, pacing, and excitement are tangible, visceral, and satisfying. His work is such that you sacrifice sleep, dread the end of each book, and can’t wait for his next work. There are many good writers, but John Spearman is my favorite. I’m almost 74, but I hope I live long enough to enjoy many more of his books. Better than Heinlein, Weber, and all the rest. Read, enjoy, and dream of what could be…

[anthony boone]

Disappointed, slow read, silly characters

Too much romance, girlie nonsense, happy perfect people. Slow read. The little military science fiction was predictable. I do not think this is worth the effort to push to the end.

[Volpot]

2 stars. I think the series jumped the shark. While the war with the "Chinese" concludes with some rather dry descriptions of events, the majority of the book deals with political events and the MC's social life. Not interesting to me.

[Tony Hisgett]

I know this is just Pulp Space Opera and I shouldn't expect too much, but I was disappointed with this book.
I don’t really like stories where the combat becomes an endless ‘Slug fest’ with little innovation or change in tactics. In the earlier books there was a little creativity that made the combat bearable.
However with this book t seemed like the author had just given up and couldn't be bothered to think of anything new e.g. in the years since missile attacks had become ineffective there was no effort to counter the defence missiles or introduce multiple warheads to overwhelm the enemies defences. So instead he decided to concentrate on writing a Soap Opera.
If possible I would have given 1.5 stars.

[David Scoins]

just once

Is discreet used correctly. I could go on at missed opportunities for humour, but this singular failure grated with me so very much it subtracted - yet again - at least one star. I am depressed at the persistent failure across Kindle Unlimited to provide works that are properly edited. I would wish for swaps of discreet and discrete to be identified as deliberate and humour rather than glaring error.
Apart from this, I enjoyed the tale enough to read more by Spearman. May his publisher (who, in my world, would provide editors) rot.

[Frank Trenery]

Talk about a good read. This is it! Look

My review is based on the series of four books. It was of well defined characters and the storyline kept you interested in both the human interest and the science fiction plots as they developed. The added storyline concerning royalty was interesting for someone not familiar with that lifestyle. The technology presented throughout the series was interesting and believable. Thank you!



lieed.

[David C.]

captain Halberd series.

Read these four book series. Very difficult to put down. Series is action packed throughout. Moments of exhilarating warfare, moments of tenderness, caring and heart wrenching sadness, interlaced with everyday officers life, make this an excellent series. J. Spearman knocked this one out of the park. Look forward to reading his other books.
Don’t pass up this space opera.

[Chris Howkins]

A great set of books

This series is an excellent set of books, following on from his Perseverance set of space fighting books, again the characters and plot lines are well developed as the reader works through the set.
Also worth noting that although this is based on similar enemies from the first set of books they have their own life and plot. Excellent set of books

[Thomas A]

decent space opera engaging and worth a go

This is a decent effort at a bit of military space operation based upon a future Royal Navy.

I enjoyed the battles and the characters , could have left the romance out of it for me, but I am sure others would have enjoyed

Overall thoroughly engaging and a good read

[Tom Stanberry]

Inspired

First, things i like. The characters, not even the main ones but all those surrounding. The action was epic, pitting the English and allies against the Chinese That said, I like it when the author provides a summary of previous books in the series so a.person can keep up

So you keep it up, John Spear man. Loved that story

[GREGG CORDELL]

Good read.

This book was a great ending to the series. There was a lot that went on from plenty of space battles to someone falling in love . The book was well written and had a very good storyline. The series itself was a good series with plenty of action where the good guys don't always win. If your into space syfi I would recommend this series to you.

[Dan Donovan]

Fun space opera

Not overly taxing to keep up with. Author’s style is more of relating a narrative rather than crafting a story, not a knock on someone whose books I’ve enjoyed but more of an observation.
Simple reading if you’re looking for relaxation and entertainment.

[Ed Oliver]

Excellent series

Fun to read, love the characters and relationships, with heroes both male and female, struggles and setbacks. The guy on the cover is a lot deeper and more interesting than the art work suggests.

[Michael Wooten]

Well written

The author does owe tribute to a number of other famous pens, beginning with the Immortal C.S.F. and his HH novels. That said, the books are well written, move nicely, and entertain. I do recommend them

[Robert Lacey]

Page Turner

Sir, I lost sleep over this and your other novels. I could not put this down. Keep up the great work. You were able to transport me to the stars and feel apart of the story. I say "Keep Up The Fire 🔥"

[anthony Lang]

Crying a river

Not many stories hit me this hard, but you got me good Mr Spearman!
And I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Such well written and thoughtful stories. I need a full box of tissues!
Thank you again!
Tony

[Lelia Howell]

Another good book

This is a good finish to a great series of book. I enjoyed the books and the characters. Dang good job

[Shane Sport]

Very solid series

I’m astounded by the lack of reviews for this series. Very solid entry for the genre and a definite read for fans of such

[gerald morson]

A great read

A real gripping series,full of fantastic characters and plots I hope john Spearman has great success Whispersync writing he needs support from us readers

[Maurie Hill]

As always, excellent and thrilling story. Enjoyed every book, keep them coming.

[James A]

Not real science fiction!

It was a space soap opera. I had to skip through it. Anyone who really likes science fiction will find this boring... It's for women.

[Pamela K Boles]

Great read!

This series is one that grabs you from the start and doesn't let until you finish. Danged good story telling.

[Char Ko]

Good almost until the end

Then there was too much gossip mag stuff. But hey, it’s done now and all’s well that ends well, eh?

[Jim Purcell]

With a new person in his life, Joshua is again challenged by assassins. Royal intervention very positively aids his recovery and it is time to take on the Chinese.

[Raymond Marshall]

Well , I read all 4 in 3 days

As you should be able to guess from the first statement, I enjoyed the stories. Fast and varied action with some excellent plot changes. Very likable characters and fun dialog. Nice heartwarming moments. Can't stop reading novels.

[Bruce mckinney]

Couldn't put it down!!!!!!!

I found that all the sub story lines came together from the first book through each one of the series installments. The humorous injections,sadness, and joy shown by the characters touched my heart. A series well worth reading again!!!

[Donald Clark]

Good series, see comment from book 2. With this book the series seems to have reached a satisfactory conclusion.