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
A Reluctant Rebel
Reviewed by Mark Lardas
October 6, 2024
“Rebel,” by David Weber and Richard Fox, Baen Books, 2024, 496 pages, $28.00 (Hardcover), $9.99 (E-book), $33.25 (Audiobook)
Governor Terrance Murphy was doing his job when he chose to protect the inhabitants of worlds in his outlying province of the Terran Federation. He just was not doing the job the Terran Federation sent him to do – to keep those in a Fringe World province in line, serving the will of the Five Hundred, the elite families ruling the Terran Federation. Terran Federation officials attempted to arrest him. When he resisted, they declared him a rebel and his province “out of compliance.”
“Rebel,” a science fiction novel by David Weber and Richard Fox, is a sequel to “Governor,” in which Murphy defied orders and repelled an incursion by the human Free World Alliance into his territory. Worse, he has proof the alien Rishathan Sphere is secretly aiding the Alliance.
To the Five Hundred, Rishathan conspiracy talk is conspiracy theory talk. Proof does not matter. They view Murphy as a nutjob ignoring his roots in the Five Hundred. They attempt to suppress Murphy and his conspiracy theorists and force an abject surrender of the Fringe Worlds defying them.
Murphy has a fleet backing him. He also has the support of the Fringe Worlds. The Terran Federation is in a war with the Free World Alliance, ongoing for nearly a century. The Terran Federation’s fleet is largely staffed by people from the Fringe Worlds. They do most of the fighting and dying. Their worlds are kept undeveloped – to serve as markets for Heart World products made by Five Hundred-owned companies.
The Fringe Worlds are tired of sending their children to die for the Five Hundred, but objections to Heart World policies are brutally repressed. They join Murphy, taking over the Terran Federation ships guarding their systems (staffed largely by Fringe Worlders) and are joining Murphy.
Murphy is trying to damp down the explosion, but the Five Hundred are unwilling to compromise. They profit from defense spending contracts and never-ending war. To them the Fringe Worlders are serfs, subservient to the Hear World. Their reaction is to crush any Fringe World defying them.
When the Heart Worlds attack and employ scorched-earth tactics on the planet Odysseus after the Bellerphon System declares for the rebellion, Murphy must make a decision. Does he support them, starting a civil war?
“Rebel” follows his decision’s consequences. The result is fast-paced space opera with desperate planetary stands and sprawling space battles. Weber and Fox have created an absorbing adventure tale.
Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City. His website is marklardas.com.