Return of the Vorpal Blade

John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor: Claws That Catch (Baen Books; 2008; ISBN 978-1-4165-5587-2; cover by Kurt Miller).

When we last left the valiant crew of the A.S.S. Vorpal Blade (don't ask), they had barely survived a survey mission to find out why contact was lost with a planetary outpost. (And in checking my old entries, I find that I never wrote up a review of the second and third book—Manxome Foe. So, I direct you to the Ringo-solo effort that started it all: Into the Looking Glass and the collaborative effort of Vorpal Blade.) Things got interesting (as usual) when they ran into the Dreen (about the nastiest group of aliens in the annals of science fiction), but the day was saved when they teamed up with a new alien race, the Hexosehr.

With the Vorpal Blade more hole than ship, they build the Vorpal Blade II. Claws That Catch deals with the "shakedown cruise" for this new ship. And, as usual, there's a whole lot of shaking going on.

The book was a lot of fun, space opera at the peak. There's also a lot of nitty-gritty military stuff (going from being an NCO to an officer, being a military wife, the joys of being an executive officer, relations upon a ship and more). Toss in a new alien species, hints of an older race, more Dreen (of course), and one heck of an alien artifact.

A fun space opera. But seriously folks...there is a lot of "meat" here as well. The passages on how a newly-minted lieutenant faces sending his troops into harm's way or how an executive officer is supposed to act are excellent. I called the first book in the series (a solo effort by Ringo) snack food, but that hasn't stopped it from becoming one of my favorites (just as Warp Speed, the solo novel by "Doc" Taylor is one of my favorite reads). Ringo and Taylor are getting better and better at feeding you some really hard science plus good concepts on leadership and the military...plus a tasty helping of space opera.

When is the next one coming out? Dang...