Prince War Leader – A solid 5 star book.

Prince War Leader.
Prince of Britannia, #5.
By Fred Hughes.
My rating ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ out of 5 stars.

Awakening from cryo sleep after barely surviving the Tarrant System Battle, Captain Hazard King begins work on restoring the wrecked Imperial Fleet, but Swarm Forces sense blood in the water and press the attack by sending a strike fleet toward the Fleet Base at Icarus.

The Empire doesn’t have the forces to stop the Swarm force and Hazard must send a old friend forward to buy the time he needs. Hazard knows the final battle is fast approaching, and that the fleet he assembles must win or the Empire will fall. A fleet that he must lead, not as Hazard King, but as Prince Henry, War Leader.

I must be on a roll. Rarely, if ever actually, have I read two books in a row, from different authors, that I both gave a five star rating. But that is exactly what just happened.

This is the third book in the Prince of Britannia series and although both the first and the second book was very good they “only” got four stars from me. On this one I finally relented at went all the way to five stars.

I actually had some misgiving during the first third of the book. I was afraid that it would go down the drain of a bunch of bullshit machinations by asshat politicians. A road that I thoroughly despise. The subplot with Princess Lucille was just so annoying with these scheming asswipes at a time when humanity’s survival is at stake.

Luckily, not only did the direction of the story straighten itself out but the asswipes in question, including a bunch of politically appointed asshat navy brass, got dealt with in an acceptable and satisfactory way.

So from there on this book was so enjoyable to read. Well written story, likable and competent hero and good action. All the things I like in these kind of books are there. This book actually has much in common with the previous five star book, The Burden of Command, that I read before this one.

One big difference though is that this one is all about fleet action. No marines, no ground battles. The Swarm is a nomadic species with no home planet after all.

A lot of the story revolves around how to rebuild humanity’s fleet, how to develop new usable weapons, tactics and in general the preparations for the big showdown.

Our main protagonist continues his double life as Captain Hazard King and Prince Henry. I have come to like this element of the story since it allows for so many surprise moments when the truth is revealed. The best of those moments are of course when the person on the receiving end is some less than competent asshat that thought he could bullshit or just role over Captain Hazard King.

This third books completes the first story arc of this series and, in my opinion, it does so rather well. However the author already teased about problems to come in the next book which is supposedly going to be named Prince Peacemaker. A somewhat worrying title for me. I just hope the author doesn’t try to return, too much at least, to the rabbit whole filled with political bullshit.