Legend of the Sword (In Her Name: The Last War, #2) by Michael R. Hicks

Legend of the Sword (In Her Name: The Last War, #2) Reviews

• 
  Cyc

  The great action continues in book 2. I enjoyed the first book, First Contact, a little better but that doesn't take anything away from this book. Tesh Dar is the main character in this one and her story is very interesting. Even though she is a ruthless human killer, you feel for her as much as the humans being slaughtered. I will definitely be finishing this trilogy and maybe move on to the next trilogy in the series.
• 
  Anissa

  The second book in the In Her Name series has me left in a bit of a quandary. I honestly feel like this story didn't know what it wanted to be. A cold war epic? A social commentary? A mythological & mystical journey? All of the above? There's a lot in here but it just didn't feel cohesive to me.
  
  When reading about the spy situation on the ground with Valentina, I really liked it. When delving into the political dance between the Confederation & St. Petersburg over where the coal ash & nuclear weapons were & how Riga factored in, was enjoyable. Tesh-Dar's quest & angst for a successor just seemed really disconnected from everything, including the battle the Kreelans are bringing to bear on St. Petersburg. As with the first book, there were some convenient turns (so much so that I was disappointed that I was correct in having guessed them Sato has fatal radiation poisoning so the Kreelan save him with their super healing gel in the middle of a battle where they're bent on killing a multitude of humanity for the glory of the Empress... because he's "The Messenger". ). The point that the Messengers are so very revered has been made since book 1 so I'm wondering why the Kreelan seem so confused by Sato's reactions to their repeatedly singling him out to save while he watches his fellow humans slaughtered & left for dead. Surely, past Messengers the Kreelan have run into have had similar reactions over the thousands of cycles the war & decimations have been waged.
  
  I still need to know more about the Kreelan but so far they, Tesh-Dar especially, just seem so surface & flat they aren't reading as "real" to me. Li'ara went a bit deeper what with all her introspection in this book & I really began to care but overall, the Kreelan leave me wanting. I mean, I get it. Epic warrior society, prophecy, destiny, Bloodsong, invincible & they make it all look good because they do everything with a dash of beauty to the glory of the Empress, while being all blue & badass. But it's not making me deeply empathetic to their plight. The only thing that makes that somewhat okay is that with the exception of a few "special" humans, the rest are dispatched relatively quickly & aren't written in a way that even if you liked them, you much mourn them. I wanted this to read like BSG but on a character empathy level, it's just not there. On the upside, St. Petersburg fared somewhat better than Keran in that they weren't left to utter decimation as sport to the Kreelan & left behind by humanity after the big battle.
  
  There were long expository re-introductions to characters met in book 1, right in the midst of conversations that really broke continuity & seemed like unnecessary filler. Possibly it's just me though, I read the first book recently so I didn't need to be reintroduced to these people in depth. Honestly, I'm still interested in where this is going & I do like the political & diplomatic backdrop of this series, I think the story quite shines there, so I'll definitely go to the next. My understanding from the reviews I've seen is that for those who've read the original trilogy, it's fantastic but I can't help feeling that I should be able to pick up a series at what is its actual beginning & feel the epic.
• 
  Winter

  3,5 Stars
• 
  Cameluta

  The real rating of this book is 3.5 stars rather than four stars.
  
  The book should be focused on Tesh-Dar, and indeed the stories about Kreelans are wonderful, and much better than their humans counterparts. The battles scenes were really well done. The characters are very well developed (and this is true for all the other books in the series). It is impossible not to like some of the Kreelans, and not to hate some of the humans; there are not good guys and bad guys, every character has his own qualities and flaws.
  
  However, I found the "cold war" from Saint Petersburg planet described in too many details, and I didn't care about it. From my point of view, this part should be cut in half (and have more about Kreelans and Kreelan - humans interaction). And again, as in “First Contact” the book has too many references to present and it has a too US centric view.
  
  To conclude, the whole "In Her Name" series is a great read, one of the best sci-fi I've read.
• 
  Bill

  I'm loving everything about this storyline. Sad to see some of the characters die. Can't wait to see where this is heading. Just bought book 3.
• 
  Nicole

  Legend of the Sword follows Ichiro Sato as the war against the Kreelans progresses, with the administration of a rogue planet confounding the whole situation.
  
  Hicks makes a giant step forward in his writing here; better plot, better dialogue, more fleshed-out characters that make a much more cohesive story that's more enjoyable to read than the first in this series. An additional proof-reading/editing would not hurt.
• 
  Alan Grant

  After a few years gap this is my 2nd time reading this book, im re- reading the whole series again. Wish Netflix or somebody would make a series out them.
  
  Author has a great way of giving both perspectives "human & alien" his descriptions make it easy for my minds eye to imagine the fast paced scenes of this page turner.
• 
  Gary Weinman

  I'm really enjoying this series. I like both the human side and the bad guys. I'm hoping the author has a decent plan on where he is taking this as it seems like it could be possible to go off the rails. On to book three.
• 
  David Murray

  Just as good as the first. I powdered though this & got book 3
• 
  Jeff Wombold

  Sci-fi
  
  Another great book in the trilogy, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I can't wait to see how it all ends.
• 
  S

  A gave up on this entire series (despite having bought all of the books in advance) after the invisible dinosaur attack about 28% through. What utter rubbish. The first book was interesting, but this is not for me. If I could donate the series to someone else, I would. Don't even want this in my library.
• 
  Phoenix Reads

  It had been a long time since I read science fiction, but I decided to expand my reading to new genres and picked up Empire (In Her Name: Redemption, #1) by Michael R. Hicks. I found it to be a wonderful blend of epic fantasy and sci fi.
  
  So read it, loved it, and immediately bought Confederation, and Final Battle.
  
  Michael Hicks created the world of Earth after it had taken to space, having built far-flung, loose colonies that behaved similar to our own nations here on Earth - mistrusting, not necessarily ready to help or support one another, and having fierce differences of opinion.
  
  Humans were not sure they were the only sentient species in the universe and had not given up looking.
  
  I love the characters, which Michael Hicks is a master at creating, a massive number of them as the series progressed, and some wonderful key players such Ichiro Sato.
  
  But the best characters in the series were among the Kreelans, a society whose ideals were so foreign that it was easy to hate them. And yet, the author managed, at a point, to gain my understanding for them and even empathy. Imagine a society of female warriors, whose lives were totally dedicated to battle. And they were so skilled at war that there was no one left anywhere to conquer - they have taken on every sentient society they found and annihilated them.
  
  To die in battle was the ultimate glory to the Empress. So they fought and were happy to die in her name. Until they found the humans, they had the problem of having no more wars to win. So this war-like society was excited to have a new game of war to play with what they felt were somewhat worthy opponents. Even though the humans were Neanderthals when it came to technology. Nor did they have their powerful magical skills. So the Kreelans had to use ancient technology to even the odds. Because if the win was easy, it was not honorable.
  
  You ask, were there only females in this strange society? Well, no. But to tell you about that would be a spoiler.
  
  So we had a clash of two completely different societies - the Kreelans who had terrible powers, and who did not find killing immoral, and the humans who found killing abhorrent but a necessary evil of war - a war in which they were powerless to win.
  
  I was riveted to the entire exciting series.
• 
  Per Gunnar

  I was actually not overly thrilled about the first book in this series. It was still good enough for me to want to try and read another one though. After all I really hate starting on a series and not finishing it. In this case I was rewarded with a pleasant experience.
  
  This book was really enjoyable to read. As I mentioned in my review of the first book, there’s a lot to like in this book series. There are plenty of action, both in space and on the ground, an alien invasion of giant blue amazons and some interesting characters. As in the first book the action, the fleet maneuvers and science in general are quite well written and generally believable. Well the believable part starts to get a bit thin when these überwarriors and priestesses of the Kreelans gets going of course.
  
  I was really bugged by the Kreelans and their mysterious ways in the first book which led me to give it a less than stellar rating. I’m still bugged by them in this book but not so much as before. Part of this is probably because I knew what I was getting this time so it was not as much of a surprise as in the previous one.
  
  The thing that really annoys me though is that these Kreelans could crush the humans like they were insects but they have chosen to downgrade their technology for a more “honorable” fight while, at the same time, they are looking for their mythical savior. I’m still not super thrilled by this background story but okay…I go for it. But then, every time the humans seems to get some upper hand, the Kreelans cheat and bring out some super technology, or downright magic, to neutralize this advantage. What the f…?
  
  Anyway, I definitely enjoyed this book more than the first one. It is really well written, as was the first one, and with plenty of action. I’m looking forward to read the next one now. Much more so than after the first one.
• 
  Lizzie

  The In Her Name series are great. Probably, the first one I read, From Chaos Born (First Empress), would have resulted in my not continuing the series as it was a bit closer to fantasy rather than hard science fiction from my perspective. First Contact (The Last War), the first book of which I also received free, made me reevaluate and I ended up purchasing all the ebooks in the series. This is the 2nd book in the Last War series.
  
  The Last War series is about human's first contact with the Kreelan and the Kreelan bringing war to the humans. Each book introduces us to a different planet and brings in new characters but continues with prior characters, creating a thread throughout the stories. I know other reviewers have described the stories in each series, so I won't. My recommendation as to why you should read this book and all of them in each series is because the author has done a wonderful job of writing characters, world building, and dialogue. We experience the story and it moves forward jumping between the perspective of humans and the alien Kreelan.
  
  Significantly, the author in the Last War series provides us with contact with an alien species and a war in which their actions are not attributable to human motivations and responses. While it is first and foremost a huge story, the questions of - How do you fight an enemy that doesn't play by the rules you are used to? When an alien looks at humanity and doesn't see them as "people" by their criteria then what governs their rules on how you are treated. Can a herd animal earn respect? When another species' abilities are so far advanced do we see it as science or magic? Can we stop fighting between ourselves long enough to fight a bigger threat? The 9 books in this 3 series story is a huge tapestry, well written, with a balance of ideas and action.
• 
  Darsie

  Second in the first (of three) trilogies.
  This book lived up to the hopes and expectations built up by First Contact.
  
  It is a strange anomaly that the invading aliens, committing genocide as they make their way across many galaxies, are yet sympathetic characters. Their situation as a dying race creates an empathy with them that almost seems wrong as they exterminate the human race.
  
  So many strong characters here. The story, the battles, the very real tragedies and courageous actions ...all of it just pulls me in.
  
  I so rarely read entires series but now I simply must, I can't help it.. I am totally hooked!
  I am even more thrilled that most of the series is available to borrow from the library.
  
  *****Highly recommended
• 
  Lisa Hapney

  I finished Legend of the Sword, the second volume in Michael R. Hicks' In Her Name: The Last War series yesterday. The second book was as good as the first so I started on the third one and am about halfway through it at this time, but that's a review for later. I'm really enjoying this series. The Kreelan priestess Tesh-Dar is fascinating as is the entire culture that Mr. Hicks has brought forth here. Not very long after the first book ends we rejoin our characters as the crisis is picking up between the Confederation and the totalitarian government of Saint Petersburg. Just in time for the fun the Kreelans arrive to join the party. We are introduced to some interesting new characters who keep things exciting and moving along, as well as giving the reader a few new characters to follow that will tug at your heart. This is military science fiction, but it's so much more. What I've read so far has been really well done and Mr. Hicks is an excellent storyteller. There's lots happening all the time and you have to pay attention because he does a really good job with character relationships and wrapping things up. If you skim through parts, when you get to the wrap-up you'll feel like you're missing a piece (I say this from guilt of trying to see what was going to happen next to a particular character lol). This would be a fantastic science fiction action flick. I heartily recommend it for summer reading if you enjoy action with a great story.
  
  This review originally posted at
  http://tjsbookblog.blogspot.com/