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A review by davidmunch
Capital Starship by Scott Bartlett

4.0

Capital Starship is the first book in a new trilogy, the Ixan Legacy, that follows the events of the Ixan Prophecies, written by Scott Bartlett. Husher is now captain of a new class of capital super carrier starship, The Vesta, which in this post-war time, carries a population of 50.000 civilians. It is a time of peace, and politics are guiding development in the galaxy, trying to promote friendship everywhere they can. Husher on the other hand, is restless after 20 years of not having been to war, and most certain that recent attempt to establish lasting peace with the aliens species the Gack, which he defeated in the war, is not going to end well. And thus it should came as no surprise that an old enemy rears its head..

As with the previous trilogy, this is a military scifi series, and the writing style is very similar. Good dialogs, interesting characters, and very well written action, of which there is a lot. Since it has been 20 years since the war has ended, politics takes up much of the first half of the book, which I found to be a nice change from the previous trilogy, as it fleshed out the world building even more. The public community aboard The Vesta is pushing for peaceful actions, and this is in stark contras to how Husher want to act, and creates nice tension between the two world views. Husher has to deal with both being a warship captain, a man in charge of 50.000 civilians, and he is also coping with memories of his dead daughter, and likely suffering from PTSD. Husher believes in following principles, but he starts to find disbelief in himself, when he is accused of being a fascist that undermine of non-human species. This gives us a complex main character, which is quite interesting to follow, and I really enjoyed that. It also gives the civilian view a much larger voice in this book, compared to the previous trilogy, which suited it quite nicely.

The book is a little less action oriented, because it takes its time building up, which was good, and in the we of course find outselves in the climax of the story, with excellent space battles yet again. The author has a nice and simple way of writing tense space battles, despite the many variables that are part of it, and that in a 3D setting.

The narration again was excellent, as Mark Boyett again was in charge. Great voices, good pitching during action sequences, and generally a very nice and clear voice to listen to.

If you enjoyed the previous trilogy, you’ll most certainly also enjoy this. If you haven’t read the previous trilogy, I’d recommend that you do that first, since there’s a lot of recurring characters and it often refers to what happened during those books. It will also explain why some things happen as they do.

I received this audiobook for free in return for a review. I have no affiliation with the author, the narrator, the publisher, or their pets (Although I am sure the latter are quite nice!).