Sean Randall reviewed The Two Front War by Peter David
Review of 'The Two Front War' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
"Who am I to judge you?" asks Mackenzie Calhoun, "I am someone who knows what it's like to deal with someone like me."
It's all still there - the laughs, the character development, the inexorable rolling on of the plot. This time, of course, things are heating up.
naturally, it's all gone wrong and also naturally, it's all gone wrong at once. Kebron and Si Cwan have lost their ship and were the sole occupiers of a second during its complete obliteration which, if it weren't for the very early placement in the series chronology, might just be fatal. Captin Hufmin and his refugees seem to have landed themselves in extraordinarily hot, piranha-laced water, and Captain Mackenzie calhoun, despite his emphatic "They made their free choice, and they die as free beings", cannot surely just let everyone be slaughtered for petty technological advancement?
"Are you saying you think I have …
"Who am I to judge you?" asks Mackenzie Calhoun, "I am someone who knows what it's like to deal with someone like me."
It's all still there - the laughs, the character development, the inexorable rolling on of the plot. This time, of course, things are heating up.
naturally, it's all gone wrong and also naturally, it's all gone wrong at once. Kebron and Si Cwan have lost their ship and were the sole occupiers of a second during its complete obliteration which, if it weren't for the very early placement in the series chronology, might just be fatal. Captin Hufmin and his refugees seem to have landed themselves in extraordinarily hot, piranha-laced water, and Captain Mackenzie calhoun, despite his emphatic "They made their free choice, and they die as free beings", cannot surely just let everyone be slaughtered for petty technological advancement?
"Are you saying you think I have a pretty face?" "I am saying that, with sufficient intoxication, anyone may seem attractive."
In the less combative (but highly emotional) scenes, we have Selar still refusing Chief Engineer Burgoyne's advances. But with both shipboard Vulcan's having ample spuriously scandalous history, things continue to bubble.
So: is it the end for Cwan? Is Calhoun heartlessly going to let everyone die (thus ensuring Commander Shelby has to report him and take over his job)? Is Soleta going to keep her heritage a secret? is Selar actually producing increased hormones, and if so, will she allow her control to slip long enough to actually have sex with someone not of her own species? And if any of this happens, what's Admiral Jellico going to have to say about it all?
I suppose some of these questions will be answered in the next title, which I am immediately going to pick up. The plot thickens yet again, and although we can easily see this is yet another link in the complex chain of events, it's a more thought-provoking, cliffhanging link than the last. "may the Great Bird of the galaxy," As Lieutenant Commander Burgoyne so graciously opined, "Roost on your planets."