Defender

Kris Longknife, Book 11

By: Mike Shepherd

Narrated by: Dina Pearlman

Kris Longknife is back in the good graces of the brass - and to demonstrate that, they've promoted her to Admiral. Now her mission is to find the home base of the space pirates who are plaguing the fringes of the galaxy.

But no mission is ever simple when your name is Longknife. And this time the complications range from the military to the personal, as Kris finds herself - reluctantly - having to make some command decisions about her future....

©2013 Mike Moscoe (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Make Love (then war .... then some more love ...)

Overall a very good addition to the Kris Longknife saga, although the story periodically switches between something that feels like a Harlequin romance and something else that feels like a battle from Master and Commander. On the one hand, Kris and Jack finally get married and Mike Shepherd provides a fairly graphic description of their "honeymoon activities". Based on that alone, this story is decidedly not PG. On the other hand, the battles, particularly the last one, are exciting (in a much different way) but are described in a similar level of "high" detail. The story has some interesting and colorful cross references to events from the Jump Universe series although it is not at all necessary to have read that series for context It also has a satisfying ending while leaving strong hints about the next book.

Mike Shepherd Can't Do Romance

This is one of the most aptly titled books in this series. When last we left our intrepid adventurers, they had made contact with a human colony on a far flung world half a galaxy away from Human Space. In this book, we see Kris prepare for the inevitable conflict with the genocidal aliens from the last book, here dubbed "The Bastards".

Shepherd once again shows his ability to make bureaucracy and battle prep interesting and fun to read. All of the plans and prep make one really look forward to the coming battle. That said, 2 things really bothered me about this entry into the Kris Longknife series. 1.) While it is nice to see Jack and Kris finally come together (seriously, 11 freaking books now), Shepherd can't do romance to save his life. Scenes that were meant to be sexy were decidedly unsexy. 2.) There were a few parts when the narrator used personal language while describing things. As this book is written (like all of the series) in 3rd person limited, it was jarring when the narrator said things like "our ships". It only happened a couple of times, but it was enough to catch my attention.

Dina Pearlmen is and always will be Kris Longknife to me. She's gotten so good at voicing the main cast that most times I knew who was speaking before I was told. She does a great job bringing in new cast members. The only reason I didn't give her 5 stars is because she does not pronounce the Japanese names of the Musashi ships well at all. I realize that is going to bother me more than most people, but if you studied Japanese at all, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

All in all, another fine addition to the Kris Longknife saga.

I Like this series

If you could sum up Defender in three words, what would they be?

Fun, bit different, good new characters

What other book might you compare Defender to and why?

Pretty much all MS books in the series

Which character – as performed by Dina Pearlman – was your favorite?

I like all the long knifes and a new character we meet in this book.

Any additional comments?

I find this a good series MS always writes a good book and this universe is always on par. i have yet to read or listen to one of his books i don't like. he has finally gotten away from the tag line of those d*mn longkifes, it gets real old. so i was happy to only hear it once or twice in this book. And seems that Kris gets off on here own allot more in this book.

Enthralling, fast pace

This is book eleven in the Longknife series. You must read the books in order or else you will be lost.

In the last book Kris had found her Grandma Rita (King Ray’s long missing wife- she went missing during the Iteechee War). Rita’s war ship disappeared during a bad jump. Rita and her crew were living on the bird plant Alwa that Kris had saved from destruction by the huge alien ship.

In this book Kris is back in the good graces of Wardhaven and has been made first a Commodore when King Ray arrived at Alwa with a fleet of war ships for Kris, then an Admiral when the second fleet of war ships and repair base ships, supply ships and a space station arrived for her to command. She also has to prepare for a pending war with the aliens. King Ray made Kris the Viceroy of Alwa, to rule and make contracts, treaties and so on. The Alwa human colony and the Alwans decided not to join the United Societies but accept associate status, and accept Kris as the Viceroy.

The story is fast paced with lots of action, suspense and space battles. The suspense of rescuing the crew of the missing USS Hornet was typical Shepherd. As with all the books there is pithy dialogue and humor. I still like the smart computer “Nelly” best of all.

I get the feeling the series maybe coming to a close soon as numerous things are explained, some plot threads are tied up and some are left hanging for the next book. Dina Pearlman narrated the series.

great story

but sometimes I think the narrator does her job in a room with no dampening material. otherwise a great listen