4 out of 4 stars
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The following is a review of the action-packed second book in the Space Fleet Sagas: SFPT-109, John F. Kennedy series entitled Confrontation: Aliens and Humans – Allies and Enemies by Don Foxe. To get caught up on the story so far, check out the first book in the series Contact and Conflict and its subsequent review (forums.onlinebookclub.org/viewtopic.php ... 40#p672748) before carrying on with the adventure.
Finished reading book one? Excellent! Here’s the primer that will get you excited for book two. Now that Earth and the human race have made first contact and that they have saved thousands of alien refugees from the evil Zenge, things will never be the same again. As the Zenge could return back to our Solar System at any time, likely with a much larger force, Earth scrambles to fit as many ships as possible with Space-Fold systems and advanced weaponry. The only problem is that Earth has already exhausted the store of crystals they found on Mars. Luckily for them, some of the refugees hail from the planet that has made their name selling just these types of crystals on the intergalactic trade market. Captain Cooper, the SFPT-109, and the rest of the ship’s crew take Earth’s first intergalactic trading mission to Rys in order to secure more crystals for both space-fold and for weapons. They intend on peacefully trading new, crystal powered tachyon canons for the goods on Rys, but it is essential that Earth gets these crystals. So essential in fact, that Captain Cooper has been authorised to take them by force if necessary. Will force be necessary?
Confrontation: Aliens and Humans – Allies and Enemies sees humans and aliens working together as a part of space-fleet on trading missions on Rys, covertly scoping out the Zenge invasion force on Fell, embarking on rescue missions against the Zenge, and eventually launching a full blown offensive. During this book we also get to see some of the history behind the Zenge and how they became the pawns of another race alluded to at the end of book one. How will Capt Cooper’s mix of humans and aliens on space fleet work together? How will negotiations with the Rys go? Can he and the rest of the Earth forces be successful on Fell? How will the rest of Earth support losing humans lives to help aliens? You’ll just have to dive right into this series’ second book to find out.
This book was quite a bit different than the first one in that the focus of the story wasn’t so much on the idea of first contact, but rather on human/Earth forays into international travel, trade, and battle. That being said, I enjoyed this book just as much as I did the first, perhaps even more so. If you enjoyed the action and fight scenes in the first book, this one too was riddled with excitement throughout. Right from the beginning the reader is tossed into battle with Capt Cooper and the rest of the Space Fleet crew. Foxe’s descriptions of space battles and alien surface battles were extraordinary. You would have thought that the author had grown up on the surface of Fell and dreaming up tactics for battles in 3D space. The characters in this book, both the new ones and those we saw in book one, were extremely dynamic and complementing to the story. You have the entire gamut of personalities from cute and cheeky, to militarily strict, and even full-blown evil. Foxe goes over an beyond in outlining the challenges, relationships, and nuances about operating a military mission with not only a military/civilian mix on board, but also including multiple alien races as well! What I liked the most, however, was that Don Foxe has continued to build the conflict of this series and a multi-dimensional way. We no longer have just one source of conflict (Zenge invaders) and we no longer have a clear enemy. Between the manipulation of the Zenge, the potential unrest on the home front, the necessity of obtaining crystals, the multi-racial/multi-special crew, and a Captain that can’t say, “no” to a request for help, Foxe has created a melting pot of tension to serve to the reader.
The only issue I have with this book may come from a general flaw in these kinds of science-fiction/fantasy “hero” stories. Captain Cooper and his crew are always more than willing to jump into action (sometimes literally) to help a species or friend in distress. In some of these situations, I could never for an instant believe that such actions would be approved or even well-regarded by the crew’s chain of command. Having made the first intergalactic trading trip in human history, the last thing on a crew’s mind (or their chain of command) would be to make a side trip to another (never before visited) planet and launch an unplanned rescue mission. Again, I fully understand that this is a work of fiction and it helps to advance the story, but it is highly unlikely that it would ever go down in that way. That being said, if you can get past these little bits of non-realism (which is actually quite easy), you are still in for a treat.
I loved the first book and have extremely enjoyed where Don Foxe has taken the Space Fleet Sagas so far with book two, Confrontation: Aliens and Humans – Allies and Enemies. For that reason, and since the book only improved on all of its positive points of book one, I figure I would be no better than a Zenge if I rated this book anything lower than 4 out of 4 stars. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who read the first one, lovers of the sci-fi genre, and those that enjoy books who mix humans and aliens throughout their character plot. If you have yet to read the first book, you should probably (in order to fully appreciate Confrontation) read that one first. If you are not a fan of sci-fi at all or if you didn’t like the first book in the series, you can probably skip this one. I can’t wait to see where the author leads us next!
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Confrontation (Space Fleet Sagas Book 2)
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