Review: The Hunt For Seawolf 4: A War Against The Black Sun novel

The Hunt For Seawolf 4: A War Against The Black Sun novel by Dietmar Arthur Wehr
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Hunt for Seawolf 4 is a historical fiction novel set in the last days of World War II and recounts an interesting “what if” tale of the last fragments of the Nazi regime as the war ended and they fled from Germany. It’s part historical fact and part creative storytelling with a bit of conspiracy theory thrown in -- but all great reading. After the book is over, the author sorts fact from fiction in an interesting (and educational) review of what is actually part of the historical record and what was created for the novel.

When you get right down to it, Dietmar Wehr just tells a damn good story. I’ve read at least 8 of his novels and his style has been fairly consistent through all of them. In The Hunt for Seawolf 4, the plot unfolds in snapshots or small scenes that skip forward in time; each scene reveals key events, conversations, and characters in the story. There is no ultra-immersive world-building or characters with incredible depth and development, but there is both a very active narrative and uncommonly compelling story. It’s reminiscent of a theatrical production and I think it works very well, particularly for this “historic” work.

Special thanks to Dietmar Wehr, who gave me this book as part of his mailing list promotion. If you like his work, I strongly suggest finding Wehr's website and joining his mailing list where you can find his latest updates, promotions, and occasionally free books!

For the audiobook version:
Luke Daniels always delivers a solid performance when narrating. Though he isn’t my favorite narrator out there, I’ll always give any of his books a shot if I see his name -- I know that the narration will be good. His narration of The Hunt for Seawolf 4 is well done and he tackles a variety of unique character voices, some with difficult accents. My only critique is that I think he struggles with some of the female characters in the story, but overall, it’s very good.

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Review: Fight the Good Fight

Fight the Good Fight by Daniel Gibbs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Fight the Good Fight is a military science fiction novel set in a universe where humans have colonized many nearby star systems in a religion-driven exodus from the Sol system. At the opening of the novel, a war between the deeply spiritual, democratic Terran Coalition of the colonized planets and the atheist, socialist League of Sol from the earth has been ravaging both territories for years. The story follows the career of David Cohen, an orthodox Jewish naval officer, as he rises through the ranks of the military and battles with the conflicts of faith and war. The world-building is impressive, particularly the way religion shapes the social and military structures of the societies, but atheists (or socialists) may find this book defamatory, as the League of Sol is vilified for their lack of religious beliefs and portrayed much like a stereotype Soviet-era Russia. Even the title is a reference to a bible verse (“Fight the good fight of the faith,” 1 Timothy 6:12).

For a military science fiction story, Fight the Good Fight is a decent representative of the genre with a really fascinating sociopolitical system as a backdrop for the military action and political maneuvering. As far as action goes, I think the book was slightly lacking; though there were some exciting battles, much of the story either skips non-critical engagements as time was fast-forwarded or gets bogged down in dry dialog outlining the religious or bureaucratic systems of the setting. While I can appreciate the detail that went into the setting, sometimes I really wanted battles and explosions.

I’ve noticed that lack of deep character development is a flaw for many military science fiction novels, and Fight the Good Fight is no exception. The characters are very one dimensional -- generally, they are all business and very serious. Every character is driven by a strong sense of duty and little else: duty to the military, duty to their nation, duty to God, and duty to family. Though there’s an occasional reference to friendships or other interests (David’s “best friend,” for example), there’s not much interaction in the actual dialog that shows these social dynamics. If characters are social outside of work or worship, it’s not something the reader gets to see happening. I missed this insight into the dynamics of the personal relationships of the characters and as a result, I didn’t feel very invested in the characters or their fate as the plot moved along.

All-in-all, it’s a solidly good book in the genre, but not a great one. I feel like the plot could have been improved with more character development and better story pacing with great focus on the action for a military science fiction novel set in the middle of a decades-old, constant conflict. All that said, I was good enough that I would give the next book in the sequel a shot to see if these small issues are resolved.

Thank you to Aethon Books who provided me this book free of charge at my request.

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Review: Homefront

Homefront by Craig Alanson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Don't listen to the haters. Trust the Awesomeness.

I know this audio drama has gotten some flak from fans of the ExForce audiobooks. Don't listen to them! It's amazing. Yes, the music and sound effects are loud at times, but there was never a time when I couldn't hear and understand the dialog. Like other ExForce works, the story is great and it's still full of the humor and action that makes the book series great. The full cast really brings a nice depth to the characters you already love and the sound effects and music immerse you into the narrative. I hope Podium decides to produce more of these audio dramas for the ExForce series. Also, I wish that Kate Mulgrew could get a permanent role as the voice of Nagatha for all of the audiobooks. Other than R.C. Bray, her performance was my favorite out of the full cast.

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