Hellfire

by Jean Johnson

Paper Book, 2013

Status

Available

Call number

813.6

Series

Theirs Not to Reason Why (3)

Theirs Not to Reason Why Universe (6)

Genres

Science Fiction

Fiction

Publication

New York : Ace Books 2013.

Description

Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. Science Fiction. HTML:Her story began in the national bestsellers A Soldier�??s Duty and An Officer�??s Duty. Now Ia is captain and commander at the helm of Hellfire, where she is finally free to chart the course for the fulfillment of her destiny�?� As captain, Ia must now assemble a crew that can rise to the ultimate challenge of saving the galaxy. The hardest part will be getting them to believe her, to trust in her prophecies. If they don�??t, her own crew will end up being the biggest obstacle in her race against time. The Salik are breaking through the Blockade, plunging the known galaxy into war. Ia cannot stop it this time, nor does she want to. This is the terrible price she has seen all along�??that some must pay with their lives so that others might live. Now only time itself can prove whether each member of her crew is merely a soldier or truly one of… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey

Ia's now captain of her own ship, the Hellfire. She's got a hand-picked crew - more than hand-picked, picked via her precognition. And in the picking, she learns that she's got some Feyori enemies now, and they are (of course) Meddling. Trouble! Ia sets things up on her ship in some very odd ways -

her crew are called the Damned, for one thing. They're troubleshooters, steered by Ia's visions and answering to (almost) no one outside the ship. And Ia has to make choices - her ship can do a lot, but it can't be in two places at one time. She's developing her powers, and working the crystal for the next step, but she's also dealing with her crew en masse and as individuals. Oh yeah, and thanks to the Meddlers, her second-in-command is that all-too-attractive fellow officer... One major crisis, where one of her crew disobeys an order in the heat of the fight - and manages to derail everything Ia has done and intends to do. She finds a way around it - but aside from the precognitive aspects of the problem, there's also that double indemnity clause in her carte blanche. And the book ends with her taking the next step - drawing the Feyori in fully, not just dealing with their Meddling. It's a cliffhanger of sorts. And as usual, wow. Lots of bits where her precognition is useless - the crisis, for one, she can see that everything is done, that that one channel has dried up, and it just about knocks her off her feet. The fact that she can see the future is there more of a handicap than a help. There are a lot more emotional interactions in this book than the first two - Ia can't just be super-competent any more, she has to deal with other aspects of things. Telling her crew - individual members of her crew - about some of her choices, and how they've affected those crewmembers, for one. And Meyun, for another. Ia gets more interesting when she's not perfect...

Show Less

2 more

LibraryThing member WDBooks

This is a very generous 4*, unfortunately the 5* system isn't very good for ratings, especially if one can't select a 1/2*.

I have to admit this series has been growing on me. It has taken awhile for me to really get comfortable with her power level, yet now that I have accepted it I find the story

more compelling.

Show Less

LibraryThing member zjakkelien

Shoot! This is the last book in the series so far, the next one hasn't been written yet. I hope Jean Johnson is a fast writer... Again, I loved this book. I had a moment of boredom during one of the battles at the beginning, but after I again enjoyed this book the way I did the previous two. I

liked very much that there was a scene where Ia relaxed a bit (at one of the Wakes, the parties aboard the ship Hellfire), and I would have wanted a few more of those. Yes, I know Ia has to save the world and doesn't have time for parties, but it would have been nice if she could have saved the world with a few minutes to spare. It lightens up the book a bit. In this book, there were also some things that went wrong, which I think is a good thing with Ia being a massive precog. It shows some vulnerability on Ia's side. This book also shows a bit more about the Feyori, which was very interesting (and also resulting in a lighter scene that I liked very much).

Like I said in my previous reviews, I'm not sure why I haven't gotten bored with a protagonist who foresees everything yet, but somehow I still want to know how everything will play out, and I'm hoping the next one will come out soon. If it had been there already, I would have started it immediately, meaning I would read all four books in a row. Too bad I have to wait now...

Show Less

Fewer