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In the fourth and final installment of the Confederation series, Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr, again leads her Marines into battle against an unknown enemy and with a mostly green squad. The Confederation and The Others have been battling each other for a long time. The Elder Races of The Confederation, themselves non-combatants, only let the Younger Races, humans, Krai, and di'Taykan, in because the younger ones could fight. Kerr and her company ship out to the new battlefield. Torin, as usual, as the most senior NCO, ends up with the greenest troops, and when she discovers that her 2nd lieutenant is far out front of the company, she goes ahead to try and find him. Just as she does, a huge explosion turns a large portion of the battlefield to glass, and she disappears. Craig Ryder, a salvage operator and Torin's lover, is notified that Torin is dead. He flies to headquarters only to find her father also there and also doubting that she has died. The Confederation has people at the battlefield, looking for DNA, but the heat that turned everything to glass probably destroyed all evidence of life as well. Anyhow, neither the Others nor the Confederation ever take prisoners. Meanwhile, Torin wakes up in an underground cave. A Krai with an injured foot is there as well. He tells her there is a group of marines in a larger cave nearby. They threw him out because of his injured foot, but Krai can and will eat anything, so he has managed to stay alive. He attaches himself to her and she gets to the inner sanctum of the sergeant who is masquerading as a Colonel. Of course she has to kill several of his minions as well as the faux Colonel, but that has never bothered Torin. Finally, Torin and a group of Marines attempt to escape from the prison. They don't know it, but the fate of the civilized worlds will depend on their escape. This is another fast-moving old-fashioned space opera from Tanya Huff. Will the good guys win? Who are the good guys anyway? If the enemy doesn't take prisoners, how come there are at least 300 marines in this underground prison? There will be no more Confederation novels, but this one brings the series to a satisfactory conclusion. I do hope she writes more of the Blood series or the Smoke series or the Keeper series. In fact, I'll try anything she writes.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, June 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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