A review by pjonsson
De Oppresso Liber by Evan Currie

5.0

The book blurb starts with stating that war is over. I think that is rather an understatement. There is a lull in the real fighting, nothing more. Well the full war kind of fighting is in a bit of a lull but the book has plenty of action even without an official war going on. Actually, this book is a lot more action filled than what I expected from the book blurb. I expected something a lot more “Cold War” style where there was a lot of posturing, spying and undercover work but not so much action. I was wrong which, to me, is a good thing this time.

The book focuses a lot on Captain Sorilla which, to me, is also a good thing since she is one of my favorite characters in this series. We also have somewhat of a first contact situation. That is a first contact for the humans with this particular race. Unfortunately for this race they already had their first contact with the Ross. A contact which, not surprisingly ended badly. Now let us throw in a surprising discovery as well, one which explains why the Ross wanted this particular world in the first place, and we have quite a good story.

This was a very enjoyable book as far as I am concerned. It is written in the usual Evan C. Currie style which means it is quite well written. It has an interesting story, some interesting new aliens, good science fiction physics, material, gadgets etc… and lots and lots of action.

Captain Sorilla excels of course and she is reaching almost super hero levels in this book. Too much gung ho Sorilla? Not yet, at least not to me. The author is managing to balance her superior capabilities, partly due to her experimental implants but also due to her being…Sorilla, and the human side of her quite well. Also, she is not the only interesting character in the book although she, of course, has the lead role.

I have to say that, given the ending of this book, I am very eagerly looking forward to the next installment in this series. After all, it looks like the balance of power in the Alliance might have changed rather drastically.