Stand or Fall

The Omega War, Book 4

By: Kevin Ikenberry

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

Length: 15 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Peacemakers. The Galactic Union’s most capable enforcers and resolute negotiators, their name alone elicits fear and awe among the Union’s citizenry.

While the occupation of Earth continues, MinSha mercenaries under the command of Major General Drehnayl have assaulted human-held colonies in the outer rim, wiping them out completely. With the famed Four Horsemen nowhere to be found, the Mercenary Guild’s attempt to instill fear and subvert humanity is perilously close to reality. Tasked with finding the MinSha is Jessica Francis, Earth’s first Peacemaker, but the odds aren’t in her favor. Racing against time, Jessica realizes that finding Drehnayl's forces isn’t enough - she must do something to stop their atrocities and end their reign of terror.

Upon locating the MinSha fleet, Jessica faces down Drehnayl’s armada with a band of heroes both hopelessly outmanned and under-equipped on the binary planet Victoria Bravo. Her decision made, and with MinSha Lieutenant Colonel Tirr and the near-AI Lucille at her side, Jessica charges into battle intent on stopping Drehnayl once and for all...or to die trying. A Peacemaker must set the terms, honor the threat, and know when to stand or fall. For Jessica and her friends, that time is now.

©2018 Seventh Seal Press (P)2019 Podium Publishing

probably the weakest in the series so far

I love the story in the universe a lot and I understand it's more of a story about a place then characters

but a couple of things that rubs me the wrong way

the writing kind of fell off from the last couple.
there was a couple too many Dave's ex machina
these hardcore racist come around a little bit too easily

and the kid was not needed it's cheapened up a lot of the plot.

These books...

are amazing. I haven't been so addicted to a series since battletech. I absolutely love the nerdy/military/pop culture references. I mean, cmon, TROGDOR?! that's awesome...

worst book in the four horsemen series

crappy story line. jumps back and forth in time between multiple characters perspectives. which destroys the suspense as you already know what happens in the next scene. and does not talk anymore with the rest of the series

The Peacekeeper Guild Story Arc

This book and book 2 are written by different authors than the original and cover tangential story arcs. While this broadens and adds more depth to the galactic struggle, it also stalls the progress of the primary battle-for-earth story. Using the Halo series as a baseline, its more like Halo Legends than the Halo Saga. That said, I enjoyed many of the Halo Legends stories but found others less interesting.

The MC's mission seems illogical and ill-conceived, with the guild assigning her as a lone peacekeeper to sleuth-out those responsible for a human colony destruction. Then, her deciding to press on without getting additional support, knowing the likelihood of a deadly encounter from a MinSha fleet bent on destruction of every human they encounter. While her acts of bravery and gallantry during the battle of Victoria Bravo were impressive, her decision to easily forgive and forget the atrocities committed by the surrendering MinSha troops was cringe-worthy for it's ridiculousness.

The rest of the book covered other secondary characters on secondary missions and was interesting but was too often bogged down with lengthy sections of intrigue side issues.

There is one constant throughout these books being that of Todd McLaren's excellent narrating performance.