Alliance Insurgent

The Alliance Trilogy Series, Book 3

By: Michael Wallace

Narrated by: Emily Beresford

Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

An apparent naval victory turns to chaos when the Adjudicators awaken an ancient star leviathan and send it against the allied fleet.

Falling back to friendly territory ahead of this terrifying weapon, Jess Tolvern and the allied command muster the combined forces of the Alliance planets to finally defeat the Adjudicators and push across the inner frontier to reestablish contact with the remaining civilizations of Old Earth.

©2018 Michael Wallace (P)2018 Tantor

Exceptional End to a Remarkable Saga!!

Alliance Insurgent is the culmination of the entire series, as Wallace brings together every element that he has been working on since this series began all the back with Blackbeard. The Adjudicators have unleashed the terrifying Star Leviathan upon the galaxy, and even worse, they are able to control it, as it has implants down its spine that allow the Adjudicators to shock the creature into moving where they want it, and when it does, it is angry, and attacks whatever is there.
The Leviathan is a thing of sheer beauty in its utter horror, as it is larger than every ship in the fleet most of them added together. It is nearly impervious to weapons, and damage it takes, just heels, and with its massive size, as seen at the end of the last book, the greatest ship in the Royal Navy, the HMS Dreadnaught was taken and basically swallowed, and with it, went the hopes of the Navy, that is until a young Captain and a former Pirate Captain decide to take the fight to this Titanic Terror of the Stars.
The Alliance have come up with a daring and desperate plan to try and remove the Leviathan from the field of play, and then they only have to deal with the Star Fortresses (I mean, once you kill a Leviathan, what’s a few Star Fortresses??).
As the Alliance desperately tries to carry out this plan, watching ship after ship get destroyed, and thousands of lives lost at a sickening rate, Vargus and Tolvern come across a Captain who believes he is from the Earth region, and that they are bringing reinforcements to fight the Adjudicators. The two Captains are wary though after their run in’s with Adjudicator slaves, and it is obvious that these two have been chipped at some time, and the chips forcibly removed.
I don’t want to give to much away, too many spoilers, but needless to say, the two Captains uncover valuable intelligence that will not only change the course of the war, but can end it all in one fell swoop.
Suddenly, everything turns to ending the Leviathan threat, and completing this other operation to end the war.
This book becomes a masterpiece of intricate timings, schemes, plots, politics, Captains begging favours, and heroic sacrifices in the face of ridiculous odds to try and achieve their goals.
As well as this exceptional storing that is being so cleverly crafted by Wallace, he has not forgotten any of the Characters, or the outstanding Character work that he has used throughout this series to get him to this point. As a result, nearly every character (those that are living, even some that have died!), get a mention, in what is a true masterclass of writing skill on how to create an enthralling masterpiece of Sci-Fi fiction, that after 13 books, is remarkably, more engaging now, than it was in the original series.
One of the really thrilling parts of this book, scenes that will have you starting to almost skim read, or be tempted to skip pages to find out the outcome, is the description of the combat between not just ships of war, but ground forces (Including Scandian Mechs), as forces fight to the very last man standing, and even then, someone will crawl to fire another shot. Seriously, the sequences of combat between the ships is stunning. You feel like you are on the bridge, with the ship shuddering and rocking around you from the impacts, listening to the screams of orders, the shouts of pain, the fear that we won’t survive the engagement, let alone the actual battle. It is at times brutal, at other times emotional and powerful, but at all times, it is just outstanding.
Overall this is an incredible book, a fascinating, exciting and thrilling end to the saga that has occurred before it, and one that will not leave you disappointed. If you have been reading the series, you will love this, and it is a must read, and if you haven’t, then what have you been DOING!!! Get into it now!!

Good Wrap Up

was a good Wrap up of this trilogy. as with the fist two the narration was good and the story is engaging.