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A review by mary_soon_lee
The Caledonian Gambit by Dan Moren
This is the opening novel in "The Galactic Cold War" series, which, at least based on this first book, appears to combine elements of espionage, space opera, and military science fiction in what proved to be a thoroughly entertaining mix. There are two main protagonists, both of whom I liked. There's abundant humor. There's darkness sufficient to give the book some weight, but not so much that it becomes a bleak reading experience.
I'll mention two minor quibbles....
Firstly, I found the prologue the least engaging and most generic part of the book -- it read like vanilla military science fiction. Since I enjoy military science fiction, that was still fine, but it didn't convey the individuality or humor that the rest of the book possesses. As a result, I picked up the book a couple of times over the past year, read the start, and then set it down again. Once past the prologue, I became hooked.
Secondly, while I thought the two main characters were well done, some of the supporting cast, especially Tapper, felt closer to stock characters (albeit, in Tapper's case, a stock character that I enjoy).
Quibbles aside, I enjoyed this very much. Enough so that I ordered the next two books before I'd finished reading this one.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).
I'll mention two minor quibbles....
Firstly, I found the prologue the least engaging and most generic part of the book -- it read like vanilla military science fiction. Since I enjoy military science fiction, that was still fine, but it didn't convey the individuality or humor that the rest of the book possesses. As a result, I picked up the book a couple of times over the past year, read the start, and then set it down again. Once past the prologue, I became hooked.
Secondly, while I thought the two main characters were well done, some of the supporting cast, especially Tapper, felt closer to stock characters (albeit, in Tapper's case, a stock character that I enjoy).
Quibbles aside, I enjoyed this very much. Enough so that I ordered the next two books before I'd finished reading this one.
About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).