Triumph's Ashes

The Cassidy Chronicles Volume Five

By: Adam Gaffen

Narrated by: Veronica Wylie

Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Viva la Revolucion!

The Primus, Vasilia Newling, is facing her worst nightmares.

A revolution on Luna.

Titan and the Asteroids abandoning the Solarian Union.

Defections from within her own government.

All because of those damned Cassidys!

But she's still as ruthless as ever.

And if Aiyana and Kendra thought she was playing dirty before? They're going to see how filthy she can really get!

There isn't room for both the Terran Federation and the Union

This time, one is going down.

For good.

Return to the future for the conclusion of the Artemis War in the fifth installment of The Cassidy Chronicles: Triumph's Ashes.

©2021 Adam Gaffen (P)2022 Adam Gaffen

Best in the series so far!

Note: This is book 5 in the series and it’s probably best to read some of the previous books, tho if you are a Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica fan, you can probably jump right in and catch on quickly.

This is my favorite book of the series so far. While still very much Star Trek fan fiction, there’s a stronger Battlestar Galactica influence than we’ve seen in previous books. I like the politics going on in the background even as the Federation moves forward with exploring nearby star systems.

I absolutely love the addition of the 6-legged telepathic cat-like people discovered on a nearby planet. Very exciting! Reminded me a bit of the treecat companions in the Honorverse. It was especially cute how the kids bonded with a pair. I look forward to seeing what this series does with them going forward.

Artemis Union continues to be a pill, fighting against the tide of popularity for the Federation. Even as more groups join the Federation, Artemis ups the stakes and rains down havoc. This made the book quite exciting because for the first time in this series I truly worried about the safety of not just some beloved side characters, but also our main heroes Kendra and Cass. This story maintained a level of suspense and tension all the way through, keeping my attention.

This series continues to be very LGBTQ+ friendly, which I love. Cass and Kendra aren’t the only ones either – there’s a full spectrum of relationships. Additionally, the focus is on the adventure, the struggle to birth this space-faring Federation, and not on romance. Yay!

AIs play significant roles in this story too. Diane is the main one, providing a steady hand to the still-young Hecate. Then the Dire Wolves (think fighter shuttles) have smaller AIs (one of which has the personality of Starbuck). Most of the characters treat them with respect, recognizing them as sentient beings.

Overall, it’s a lot of fun even if it’s a little predictable because of the strong pop culture references, etc. I look forward to seeing what happens next in this series. 4/5 stars.

The Narration: Veronica Wylie is growing on me. The first 3 books in this series were narrated by Jane Weatherstone and it was a little difficult last book to switch to a new narrator. That said, Wylie has mellowed out the New York accents and gotten better at her Australian accent. Her male voices are pretty good nd each character has their own unique voice. I especially like her fun, chipper voices for Mac (a speed-talker) and the young Hecate AI. The pacing is still a little slow but that’s easily solved by speeding up the playback slightly. There were no tech issues with this recording. 3.5/5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book. My opinions are 100% my own.