Pride of the Fleet

Ixan Legacy, Book 2

By: Scott Bartlett

Narrated by: Mark Boyett

Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

The Galaxy's Never Had It Darker

Armed with new tech that could revolutionize space combat, Captain Husher must now try to convince the Interstellar Union to implement it in time to defend against the godlike Progenitors.

When a new alien ally shows up in the galaxy, it’s a mixed blessing. Their military might could prove a boon to the war effort, but what secrets lurk in their past, and how might they shape galactic society for centuries to come?

It's a lot for one supercarrier captain to contend with, especially when tensions are escalating aboard the IGS Vesta herself.

Husher can only stand on his well-worn principles:

Do right by his crew.

Do right by the galaxy, even when the galaxy fights him every step of the way.

If death comes anyway, make it an honorable one, and make it count.

Download Pride of the Fleet today and experience the explosive next installment in this fast-paced military science fiction series.

©2018 Scott Bartlett (P)2018 Scott Bartlett

The Action escalates, the plot thickens

This sequel is more than "more of the same" from the 1st excellent installment. More story line twists and turns, more action, and more characters entering the stage. This is my kind of action adventure, in Space! The narrator continues to impress.

A step, may, a LEAP forward!

A giant leap forward in the series with a fantastic cliffhanger to set up Book 3. As much as I liked the protest timelines in Book 1, their relative absence in this book made for a tauter, more dramatic story. Great battles, intrigue, and characters were the rule in this one. Really looking forward to Book 3, and now I absolutely have to go back and listen to the Mech Wars series to find out more about Jake Price and Gabe Roach.

Great But Mech Entry Was Surprising

Great follow-up book in the series, loved the action and Mark Boyett is an outstanding narrator.
I have not read the Mech Wars books, so the insertion of Jake and the 'comic book like' Mechs was a bit sudden and off-putting to me, seemed more like an injection of fantasy than science fiction in some points.
This book still made some fairly heavy-handed political points, which was necessary as a follow-up to the previous book, but still might be a bit off-putting, especially if you are strongly on the other side from this (I am not but noted it nevertheless).

Perfectly Balanced, as all things should be.

Narration and story are both excellent, in the previous book the fallacy of liberal madness was shown to us and now in book 2 the fallacy of right wing madness is shown to us. I like that the Author was able to take equal jabs at pointing out extremism is never a good thing regardless of the belief system and what's most important is people working together. We continue to learn more about the story and how things unfold and it's entertaining with more epic space battles that are fairly long. This book like the last is very action packed with its battles and I loved that. I wish the character Rug got a little more screen time but I understand the book is not about her. I also would have loved to see Tort make a return, I felt he was underutilized in the first trilogy (Ixan Prohecy). Ultimately I very much enjoyed Book 2 of the Ixan Legacy and have since finished the entire trilogy. That makes 10 books from Scott I've finished now. Always a fun read as long as you don't take politics too seriously.

A captain fighting against all odds- and surviving

Talk about the galaxy's darkest hours! Well in this, the second book of the Ixan Legacy, it's not the galaxy and all of humanity, and many other species: It's our whole universe!

Fortunately ( or unfortunately) we find out this Universe is just one of many in the multiverse. But some of these other universes are full of some very, very bad actors!

In Pride of the Fleet, the embattled captain Vin Husher of the IGS Supercarrier Vesta is fighting on all fronts: He has the IU, the Interstellar Union led by a being who despises and opposes Husher (and to some extent all humans). He has an enemy called the Progenitors, who turns out to have a secret that will just blow you away. The civilians on his ship, who despite the fact that the Vesta is a warship they want to live happy and safe lives, hate his guts and think that he is prejudiced against all non-humans. But Husher is able to see that these people are in fact behaving in a prejudiced and bigoted and discriminatory way even as they descry his motives. And then there's the REAL enemy, Teth, the Ixan, who's back and badder than ever, with new military tools that are literally chewing up the Vesta and all the worlds of the galaxy. He's really not having a great day.

At least his buddy, the Ixan war criminal from the last war whom Husher is funding to develop new military hardware, has figured out how to fight fire with fire, and give them a fighting chance.

Husher is really on the rocks here. Outmaneuvered by a government-affiliated member of his own crew, he loses his command. But an act of heroism on his part shows the IU government that what he has been warning them of is true, and they reinstate him - for now.

Things are not all hunky-dory yet. Those who despised him have left the Vesta, but the new people that support him are just as bad on the opposite swing of the pendulum. And they are going to get worse.

This is a great, acton-based, human story of impossible choices in impossible situations. Mark Boyett continues to do an excellent job voicing the characters in a near-flawless narration. His voice characterizations of humans and other species, genders and personalities really shine through and give lots of life, action, and believability to this gripping, fast-paced edge of your seat 2nd volume of the Ixan Legacy.

So reset your occulenses, buckle up, and get ready for battle in Pride of the Fleet. Just be aware that you're not going to want to stop here, you're going to feel compelled to read book 3!

Enjoyable

Carrying on with Captain Husher and company, this is a fun to listen to book that has me ready for the next in the series

Heavy on action

This book never got boring and had many parallels to current events in our world. Sometimes I like all of the technical background and explanations. Other times I just want a fast moving story with a lot of action. I can take those leaps of faith in regards to the theoretical stuff like the multiple universes or popping in and out of subspace.

A universe at war.

Picking up shortly after the end of the first book, Pride of the Fleet, the second book in the Ixan Legacy series, finds are heroes dealing with the fallout of their last battle. Despite there being an obvious external threat, the various factions within the collected government seem almost hellbent on destroying themselves as they teeter on the edge of civil war. Once again I enjoyed how real the various political factions felt, often mirroring the infuriating squabbles we witness on a daily basis between real world political parties, where the parties are more concerned with 'winning' their point of view than dealing with more concrete threats. There is a ton of action in this one, and that ending. I could completely picture that..in fact if it were a movie I could imagine them just ending with a shot of a certain character, no dialogue would be needed.

I was given a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Stress, tension, and incredibly high stakes

Book 2 picks up shortly after where book 1 left off. There is stress, tension, and incredibly high stakes. There’s a good chance of the enemy destroying or ruining life as we (or they) know it, and yet, society still wants to bicker and fight amongst themselves. The coalition government seems intent on ignoring the real enemy and tearing itself apart. All of this while hamstringing the military and trying to suppress scientific advancement that the coalition government needs to win this war. I loved the introductions of the mechs and I think I’ll need to listen to Mech Wars in order to get to know the characters better. The narrator does a fantastic job with this book. He handles several alien voices and multiple earth accents very well. Overall, it was a great story and I’m looking forward to book 3.

This audiobook was provided by the author at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

Where will I find a masterpiece now ?

Only a poet could write my feelings about those awesome series’s that Scott Boyett have written, I don’t believe that I’ll ever find such a great imagination ever again!
The truth is that only one review needed to be written and then copy/paste it to every one of his books because they are all perfection !
Coupled with the narrator Mark Boyett no less then an audiobooks masterpiece series’s where created.
Like I said if I only was a poet I probably could a written the perfect review ever but I’m not so trust me those books are impossible to put down, it’s just impossible not to fall in love with all the books in that beautiful universe that he created and all the surprises and twists in each of those books.

Full heartedly, sure that all will agree with me,
ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED !!!