Cauldron of Fire

Blood on the Stars, Book 5

By: Jay Allan

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer

Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

A deadly fight to the finish....

The warrior culture of the Alliance has fragmented, and comrade fights comrade, brother kills brother. The Red Alliance forces, backed by the Union and its propaganda machine, have the advantage in numbers and position, and they are pushing forward, driving relentlessly toward the final attack, the one that will destroy their enemies.

The Gray Alliance forces are weaker, trapped in the great Sentinel-2 fortress where they've established their headquarters. Their enemies have the larger fleets and armies and control of the homeworld...but the Grays have Tyler Barron and Dauntless.

The Confederation's celebrated captain and his famous ship have been reinforced, and the newly promoted Commodore Barron now commands a small fleet of battleships, every vessel Admiral Striker could spare to reinforce the faltering Gray forces.

One final battle is all that stands between the Red fleet and victory, and it seems the Grays have no choice but to stand on the defensive and wait for the fight they know they can't win. Unless they try something else, a wild gamble, a desperate plan to pull victory from the jaws of almost certain defeat. It will take all Barron and his people can give and put Dauntless and the ships of his task force to the test. But it is the only way to win the victory, to prevent the Reds from a triumph that can lead only to a disastrous invasion of the Confederation, one that Barron knows he has to stop...whatever the cost.

©2017 Jay Allan Books Inc. (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Great start to a great series

War is coming to a region of the galaxy. Mankind has proven to be its own worst enemy. Earth fell centuries ago along with most of the human inhabited galaxy. As planets were destroyed or their inhabitants lost the battle their civilization degraded into chaos and the dark ages.
Three distant regions of human controlled space. The Alliance, the Confederation and the Union they each covet each other's property, technology, and wealth. Commander Tyler Barron of the Confederation war ship Dauntless has his ship docked for needed overhaul when a massive warship from the Alliance is sent in to start a war.
The Alliance ship is Captained by the finest warrior of the Alliance fleet in the largest and most advanced ship of the fleet. They are to make a foothold in Confederation space prior to a full invasion taking place. A young Captain Barron and his crew are all that stand in the way of a war and the loss of millions of lives. Can Tyler Barron live up to the reputation of his family’s heroic name or will he fail and cause the downfall of the Confederation……
This is an excellent story that involves a lot of strategy and warfare. It includes battles in space and on a planet’s

Excellent story.

well thought out sci fi. Jay Allan has proven to be an excellent science fiction writer.

this series is good

I can't wait to read the next one. keeps my interest and attention. on to the next one

Great addition to the series

I was very pleased with build up of excitement as the story progressed. This book had more personal growth and turmoil than the earlier books. The action scenes are quite thrilling.

Best in the series so far.

I got away from this series for as I became more interested in fantasy lit RPGs. With that said this book pulled no punches killing a few main characters. A few I was surprised, some characters had small parts but I grew to love the character before their death. Narration was good. Initially I didn't like Jeffrey's voice but due to complaints from book 2, hardly any dragging of his tone. Overall excellent book 5 with story elements setup for a showdown in book 6.

An emotional rollercoaster ride

These books just keep getting better and better. The characters and relationships are deep and relatable and are what really drives the story and makes every battle scene feel like you are right there in the thick of it, with your stomach in your throat.

action packed

loved it absolutely nothing but action the whole time. I could not put it down. looking for the next book in the collection.

Micro management

For the most part, I enjoy this series, but there is a major flaw with it, and the genre in general. When you have a major character that is the captain of a ship, or worse, commander or admiral of several, that person simply can’t micro manage. They can’t call every single shot and every single maneuver and direct damage control and and and and and - to top it off, they can’t do all of that micro management while thinking that they think micro management isn’t good... might as well dump all of the officers on the ship, have one captain and a bunch of mid-shipmen - this is a starship captain genre problem, but it’s glaring in this series and distracting for me.

Really like this series and will keep buying them

Like the other ones....against all odds....they win. The book is just a fun listen and the narrator is a big reason they are so good. What I liked about this one was the No right, not wrong, it just is......

The enemy was conflicted also and even though they needed to be defeated...you hoped some of them would come around.

I love this series

I really enjoy it, it’s got enough characters and plots to keep it interesting without overwhelming plot holes and complications.

It’s what classic military sci-fi should be.