Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The Road of Danger-David Drake

The Road of Danger


David Drake

Baen, Apr 3 2012, $25.00

ISBN: 9781451638158



After the war left both the Republic of Cinnabar and the Alliance severely crippled, the two empires agree to end the hostilities. However, the peace is at best shaky as neither Cinnabar and the Alliance has demobilized; instead many of the military remain on active duty status drawing reduced pay.



In that environment, Captain Daniel Leary and Warrant Officer Adele Mundy report to regional commandant Admiral Cox on Kronstadt after completing the first phase of a mission. Jealous and angry, Cox overtly is hostile to them before ordering them to remove the Cinnabar citizen Freedom leading a revolt on Sunbright in the Funnel Cluster where the Alliance has a base. Both are stunned as they thought they and the crew of the Princess Cecile would be part of the Tattersall action. The rebellion is an RCN matter because Freedom claims Republic backing. Going undercover Leary pretends to be an unemployed officer downsized when the Treaty of Amiens was signed; Mundy masquerades as a former planetary ruler and the owner of the Cecile. However, the mission proves much more complex than an envious desk jockey admiral expected when he sent Leary on what seemed frivolous job; instead someone is spending a lot of capital to cause a revolt and perhaps reignite hostilities.



The latest RCN Leary-Mundy military science fiction (see What Distant Deeps) is an engaging outer space thriller starring the two opposites in personalities. The storyline starts slow as the scope is laid out, but quickly accelerates as the seemingly unrelated subplots merge into an exciting tale.



Harriet Klausner

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