Breach of Peace

Breach of Faith #1

by Daniel Gibbs, Gary T. Stevens

Everything is on the table when survival's at stake.

Captain James Henry is caught between a rock and a hard place – again. Merchant ships operating in neutral space near the Terran Coalition and the League of Sol are disappearing without a trace. The latest report has something the others didn’t.

A survivor.

When news reaches the planet Lusitania during a cargo offload, Captain Henry and the Shadow Wolf’s crew are hired to extract the surviving operative before she’s silenced and the information she has is lost.

But too many opposing forces are at work within the faction-torn republic – and they all want a piece of the prize.

With directives from multiple government contacts, Captain Henry concedes to protect his ragtag crew. Years ago, he surrendered to dishonor and dismissal from the Coalition Defense Force in order to protect his fellow officers. This time he knows how to play the game.

To save his band of brothers and sisters, Jim must walk a fine line between the operative’s survival and the threats against his crew from the League of Sol.

Before the time to negotiate runs out.

Genres: Science Fiction, Audiobook, Amazon, Fiction

362 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 25, 2019

Reviews

[NoNo JoJo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this novel. It's not bad by any means. It's competently written, respects the reader and its characters, and isn't overly difficult to follow - but it feels overly ambitious/bloated. There are too many POVs that don't really contribute anything to the story, and too much political/engineering exposition that drags down the pace of the story. Despite the novel being longer than average, not a whole lot happens in terms of plot. There's a few scuffles, a tinge of action, but by far the bulk of it is sitting in place watching characters interact. There are an awful lot of side characters, and they become jumbled together, to the point where I wouldn't have minded any of them dying, because I couldn't really keep track of who had which tragic backstory. I think the novel would have been much better served if it stayed with our main two characters, Miri and Jim, and explored the other characters through their eyes. I could maybe see having the despot character be a third POV, just to keep tabs on what's happening politically, but even that seems unnecessary for the most part, since we just see her doing vague totalitarian things - or, again, more exposition.

This novel is perfectly serviceable as a sci-fi story, but you're probably going to be skimming generous chunks of it just to get to the meat of the story itself.

[Adena Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hannibal Smith may love it when a plan comes together, but I do not blame Captain Henry for not loving it when multiple plans mandated by multiple masters with offers he cannot refuse come together, leaving Captain Henry and his ship Shadow Wolf at the center of a mess that pulls him, his ship and his crew into a war that they were all trying to avoid. As always, Daniel Gibbs delivers a great story with believable characters who are understandably confused, flawed and willing to act - once they figure out what they are supposed to act on. We all have days like this; does it have to be several weeks like this?

I received this ARC from Hidden Gems and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

A detailed and involving dystopian story of good (Coalition forces and ideas) versus bad (Society) that takes over world’s and asset strips them whilst totally controlling their thoughts, housing , lives etc.
It’s clearly an allegory based on freedom of thought and religion (Coalition) versus total state control (Society modelled on excessive communist control of every aspect of life).
It works well as as a novel and the characters are drawn well, making you want to read on in the next book.

[Cindy B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exciting space adventure., clean and well narrated.. It’s a series but this episode had a definite ending that didn’t feel like a cliffhanger. 3-1/2 stars. Narrated by J. S. Arquin.

[The Mysterious Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just binge read the first two books of Daniel Gibbs Breach of Faith series, Breach of Peace and Breach of Faith. Set in the sane universe as other books by him, with war looming between the League of Sol (bad guys) and Terran Confederation (good guys, more or less), this book stars Captain James Henry, merchant skipper of the Shadow Wolf, and ex-navy man (who “dishonorably” left the Coalition Defense Force for the best reasons: in order to protect his fellow officers). Following Henry as he adventures through officially neutral space (and more) to first rescue a Coalition undercover operative and then deal with what follows is exciting, thrilling, stuff that’s pretty impossible to put down. In fact I only stopped at the end of book 2 because, darn it, book 3 isn’t out yet. I suppose that’s add string a recommendation as one can give - and I’m definitely looking forward to that book 3.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are extremely interested in political intrigue, ethnic identity and a general mass confusion about everything, then this is the book for you! We're in an advanced age where politics seems to have taken over everyone and every thing.

Our book starts out with one of the semi-main characters spacing herself in order to avoid capture by League of Sol Marines. Her ship (the Kensington Star), which was nothing more than a freighter carrying various sundry goods between planets is attacked and totally disabled by a League military starship. Miri Gaon is not a normal spacer. She has previous experience with the League and it was very imperative that she not get to experience them again. So, she manages to escape the Kensington Star with an EVA suite and an extra bottle of oxygen. She has no expectation of being rescued alive!

The League is for some reason yet unknown is capturing all kinds of ship in what is supposed to be neutral or independent space and bringing them back to the Solar System. This in itself would be an act of war but since the League and the Terran Coalition are already at war, it's not going to make much difference if they are caught. Except, there are a large number of independent planets that want nothing to do with the League or the Coalition. To find the League actively attacking independent freighters would definitely put them on the side of the Coalition in this war. So, it is very important that the League not allow anyone to know about their activities. Yet, Miri Gaon is now floating in space quite aware of what the League has done, but hoping not die before she can spread the word about the League's actions.

Then we get to go aboard the independent freighter call Shadow Wolf captained by James Henry, a disgraced former Coalition military Officer. He and his crew, who you'll soon meet, are trying to make a living in independent space by transferring goods from one planet to another. He has a good connection with the Minister of Culture and Trade for the independent planet Lusitania. His current cargo is for that planet, but it just so happens that his cargo is normally restricted from export by the League authorities. His ability to quietly reason and "bribe" the Customs Inspector allows them to be on their way. They successfully reach Lusitania and are attempting to find out if they have other cargo jobs available.

Meanwhile, and to all unimaginable luck, Miri Gaon has been rescued by pirates! They took her aboard their ship just as she was about to take her last breath. And her luck was even better in that these particular pirates had an agreement to not attack ships of the company she worked for since they had made generous "protection" payments.
So, they had no problem with treating her as a passenger and took her to their next destination which was the planet Harron. Unfortunately word did get out that Ms. Gaon was the sole surviver of the Kensington Star. Now everyone wanted her to testify to what she experienced which would definitely not be good for the League of Sol.

Miri Gaon turned into be the next mission for the Shadow Wolf and one that they probably should have declined. Yes, they had cargo destined for Harron, but Minister Vitorino wanted Captain Henry to bring Ms Gaon back to him so she could then testify as to the Leagues actions. At the same time, Minster Cristian Caetano, Minster of Defense and Home, which gave her control of the military, the police and the Republic Security Service (RSS), wanted Captain Henry to deliver the same Miri Gaon to her for further questioning. Both Ministers were enemies of each other with Caetano the more dangerous of the two.

Minister Caetano was paranoid in the extreme. She felt that too many of her country men were betraying the state and therefore the state much do whatever necessary to stop them. She had no problem turning her head away from attacks against her political foes and was often times thought to have supplied the thugs that caused extensive damages to people and things she did not approve of. Captain Jame Henry knew that to not fulfill a contract with her might find his ship impounded and he and his crew imprisoned. That wasn't much of a stretch since most of his crew were already wanted for one thing or another anyway.

So the rest of the book is about the Shadow Wolf's mission to bring Miri Gaon back to Lusitania. It is not going to be an easy mission by no means, but initially Captain Henry and his crew have no idea of the lengths certain parties will go to to kill or capture Miri Gaon. They will soon find out.

I found this book interesting, but there was a lot politics involved. Every member of Jim Henry's crew is from a different faction or political group. They seem to constantly argue about which is worse or better all the while working together quite effectively. There are also a lot of explanation about the various politics of the League of Sol and the Terran Confederation. I couldn't really tell which was better, both seemed pretty bad. The there's the names of the characters. Seems like the author wanted to introduce a lot of foreign names to try and match the political differences. Not sure that worked, but it did make the story somewhat tedious to read.

My bottom-line is that I might not continue to read this series. It's just not that appealing to me. Even what happened at the very end of the book kind of seemed to elicit a "so what" reaction from me. If I stumble upon the second book, I might put it on my reading list, but probably not.

[Join the Penguin Resistance! · Rating 5 out of 5]

BREACH OF PEACE is the first in the brand-new BREACH OF FAITH series from accomplished author Daniel Gibbs [ECHOES OF WAR Series]. It's an enthralling blend of literary fiction (his descriptions of space and of human psychology are luminous) and of hard science fiction, with action and space adventures. Always he brings us strong characters, women and men of integrity, leadership, morality; individuals we admire and would do well to emulate.

[Donald E Rockwell III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Space opera with depth!

Well crafted with be!usable technology, plot, and characters - lots of them. But, eve nmore, it has detailed historical and political background, Lots of action but no love interest despite multiple opportunities. There was enough going on so that it wasn't missed.

[Adalynd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not bad at all! It was nice to meet new characters that expand on the world Daniel has created. Gary did a great job as well. I look forward to the reading the rest.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great sci-fi war read

This was a great read it has some good characters along with action and twists that make it a great story

[Lavonne Wingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but a little slow in action.

Good read. Finally got some good action before the ending. Needs some work on plot and action sequences sprinkled more throughout the book.

[Allen Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might sound weird, but I appreciated that the names of the characters were real and not some combination of apostrophes, consonants and maybe a vowel here and there.

Anyway...I enjoyed the book and especially the politics. A couple of times I got confused which member of the crew, at one point supported which political entity but it certainly wasn't a distraction. The characters were real...real ethnic groups, real belief systems that more or less lined up with their ethnic group but, most importantly, had their own internal struggles that somewhat paralleled the struggles of the plot. There were some nice plot twists, one that caught me completely off guard, that were neatly done. There was no 'deus ex machina' as there so often in the some of the sci-fi novels, the crew struggled to survive through their various encounters. I look forward to reading the next one.

[Adam Newgas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wants to be the Expanse. It is not.

The plot takes a long time to get started, then doesn't really go anywhere exciting. An important dilemma the book spends most of its time foreshadowing fizzles by the end of the book.

Almost every chapter is interspersed with two crewmates discussing religion, or politics. These are extremely boring as apparently religious cultures and perspectives haven't changed in 400 years, and the politics is pretty much "yeah the League is evil", which the narrative also enforces, almost cartoonishly.

I didn't care about any of the crewmates - their personalities entirely seem to be what planet they are from, and there were slightly too many to keep track of anyway.

[More Books Than Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is bad, ponderous political yackery, too many poorly defined characters, boring in places, lack of continuity with other books in Gibbs’s overall series. Hostile Spike is set within a year of the Sol League war. In it the cargo ship in this book already has secret super duper drive and weapon which it uses. Yet in this book the backstory implies the war started 10+ years before. Minor point.

I got this from BookBub either 99 cents or free but didn’t like it and stopped after the first chapter or so. Then I read the freebies and got interested, read the Battlegroup Z series, liked it and came back to this. It’s still bad but I managed to finish. Good as the other series is I doubt I’ll read more this book’s sequels.

[Gerard E. Trigo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange book. It spends a great deal of time on the religious differences of the characters and uses incorrect stereotypes for various groups. There have been few countries, nations or political entities in the past that punished failure with death. Stalin's totalitarian regime may be a real life example, but it was mainly too much success that got most people in trouble, not failure. No modern political group today would even think of acting that way because the negative effects of such actions are too well documented.

[Sheryl Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed the book, but I had to let go of not knowing certain aspects of the characters. There are a wide variety of beings from all sorts of places that play a role in the story on one side or another. First challenge is keeping up with the names and Who Is Who. The second and more difficult challenge is remember where they have come from and what kind of creature they are.

When it comes to the conflict and the story itself it is all pretty good. Nothing really stood out. It was just fun to read. I was able to somewhat conceptualize the world of space and that was enough for me.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it a bit strange that there was so much focus on the religion of each character, even more so than cultural background. Having said that, I really enjoyed the story and most of the characters. The plight of James Henry and his crew was quite compelling and I really want to know what happens. Their issues weren’t solved by the end of this book and I’m looking forward to reading the next.

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was GARBAGE! I finished "Echoes of war" series which was enjoyable by the same author....but this was like having to eat a raw onion, no matter how many layers you eat, it stinks and continues to taste bad. Get Echoes of war- "Fight the good fight"....and "A simple mission" by Daniel Gibbs. The last introduces you to the crew and missions if the shadow wolf (read first) then the Echoes of war series

[Conrad Jellison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great introduction and start of a story that will keep you wanting for more. The first of a series has you following the ShadowWolf while it flys through space as an independent vessel. You meet the crew and learn of their back stories. I found myself struggling to get back to work in between stops. It keeps your attention and is not predictable.

Looking forward to the next book in the series.

[C.S. Wachter · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable, fast-paced read from these authors. For me, personally, the number of points of view made plunging myself into this story a bit difficult. Not a bad read, just not my favorite by Daniel Gibbs. If you, however, prefer multiple points of view and varies species, this might be the series for you.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s OK

The storyline and plot weave a credible tale though the multitude of characters, species and planet systems tend to confuse this reader. Lots of battles with nearly overwhelming odds, followed by thin escape and slow recovery. Not exactly enjoyable, perhaps for some but not me.

[Jose' · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow Start

This is the first book in a series. It begins slowly. In fact, it develops so slowly that I was tempted to stop reading. There are several different subplots running simultaneously at the beginning. They were so disconnected that it seemed pointless to read any more. But then everything started to come together and it became interesting.

[Michael Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to confess I did not finish this and started skimming the 2nd half. The story is well written, the characters are well developed and fit well into the story. I like the way the authors write in general and will read other things from them but this story just lost my interest when it way to much into the interplanetary politics.

[james holt · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first 50 percent of this book was about politics. I could barely keep my eyes open. There were a few interesting moments but mostly it barely kept my attention. They would have been better served to spend more time on character development as opposed to politics of the time. I won’t read the next of the series.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book thinking it was the other Breach of Peace by Daniel B. Greene, but still found it quite enjoyable (although thought it was in a different context).

I just found there to be too many POV without much plot, but I do appreciate having an ending despite having multiple books in the series.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

If you are a fan of the genre of space operas, this is an excellent opportunity to get on board a well designed vehicle. The writing is great, the characters are believable, and the story line has many different possibilities. Read this book

[Peter Bruyns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just My Sort of Book.

This book is right up my alley! I've enjoyed it immensely enough to finally give a book a five and know that it's not the 90% a ten score would allow me to give other books. This Series is going to be very good.

[Jose Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I have never read a book as quickly as this one, I couldn't get enough, I went right into looking for book zero and read that quickly also, I have just purchased book two and looking forward to continuing reading the story.

[anil singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

A really good read with a lot of fast paced action. I loved the reference to the Expanse (Holden Nagata). Looking forward to reading the rest of the series. Daniel is a master of his craft.

[A.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firefly fans and all military SF fans will enjoy this new series

Independent spacers are caught up in political machinations, covert ops and preparations for war. Excellent read - can't wait for the next book!