Looking for a good read? Here is a recommendation. I have an unusual approach to reviewing books. I review books I feel merit a review. Each review is an opportunity to recommend a book. If I do not think a book is worth reading, I find another book to review. You do not have to agree with everything every author has written (I do not), but the fiction I review is entertaining (and often thought-provoking) and the non-fiction contain ideas worth reading.
Book Review
Death of a Dictatorship
Reviewed by Mark Lardas
October 5, 2025
“End Game: Wolfhounds - Book Six,” by John Van Stry, Independently published, 2025, 320 pages, $10.99 (Paperback), $5.99 (E-book)
Two years ago – in real and book-chronology terms – the Wolfhounds woke up from a 10-year cold sleep to discover their emperor was dead and his empire ruled by revolutionaries styling themselves the Democratic People’s Republic of Solaria. A vicious dictatorship, it combined the worst aspects of every socialist hellhole.
“End Game: Wolfhounds - Book Six,” by John Van Stry, closes the cycle. The sixth book concludes the march back to Cor Imperii by the Wolfhounds to reclaim the empire for the Morgan dynasty, and its heir Chase Collingsworth Morgan.
The Wolfhounds are the emperor’s household troops. Stationed in a faster-than-light capable asteroid, they are sworn to the reigning emperor, or in the event of death, the emperor’s heir. In this case the heir is Chase, the illegitimate son of an acknowledged illegitimate imperial prince.
Chase’s mother was assassinated by his father’s enemies, and Chase turned out as a child to live on the street in the slums of the capitol city. By the time his father found him Chase, a young adult, was a lieutenant in the capitol city’s largest street gang, on trial for murder. Father sentenced him to ten years in the Imperial Navy and sent him to Wolfhound Base.
In previous books, Chase discovered who he was, proved himself through action to be worthy of being emperor, and acknowledged as emperor at the Tombs, the Morgan complex on old Earth, cradle of humanity. He served aboard Wolfhound Base as a mech pilot, fighting the DPRS, retaking imperial planets in the process.
It is not a spoiler to say the Wolfhounds defeat the DPRS. The title “End Game” makes that explicit. Despite the known ending, Van Stry keeps tension high throughout, through use of a doomsday weapon. He also finally provides the backstory to Phillip. T. Neill, revealing DPRS leader’s twisted, evil nature.
Van Stry resolves all threads started in previous books. He does so satisfactorily, deftly untangling even those so knotted that readers thought them irresolvable. This includes those started in the previous book. (The funniest involves a retired admiral secretly convinced by Chase to accept command of the DPRS navy to arrange their defeat with the lowest loss of life.)
If you like books where right prevails and competent men and women of action are featured, you will like this series. It is worth starting at the beginning, yet “End Game” takes the Wolfhounds series to a strong finish.
Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City. His website is marklardas.com.