Pros
- Great pacing for plot and expansion of the story universe
- Elements introduced that broaden story and gives depth to plot
- More information regarding the Empire revealed
Cons
- Mystery of Gaia left unanswered or ignored in this book
Warrior King Review
Warrior King by Evan Currie continues the exciting story that pits Earth and its newfound ally, the Priminae, against an empire whose domain includes numerous star systems. Whereas the Drasin in the previous books were major threats, they pale in comparison to the threat that the empire poses.
Captain Weston and the crew of the Odysseus live up to their namesake in this story. Whereas previous battles required stealth, tactics, and ingenuity to fight against the numerically superior Drasin, the battles in this book are more direct, showing that Weston can fight well in any scenario.
The battles in this book, and in the series, tend to be more exciting. Unlike many science fiction stories that give the illusion of immediacy in space battles, Warrior King reminds its readers that space is an unimaginably large dimension. Thus, battles in this dimension take place not over kilometers but over light seconds, or hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
These reminders about the vast distances make space battles seem a bit dull, but the source that powers the ship, a singularity, makes the weapons seem a tad more realistic. In fact, the mystery surrounding these singularities in each ship make a brief appearance during the main battle in this book.
A slight course correction that saves the ship from certain destruction hints that there’s more to the singularity than meets the eye—readers were introduced to this possibility when Gaia visited the ship during the Drasin invasion. What the singularity, the power interruptions, and the independent ship movements hint at still remains a mystery.
However, Gaia’s existence suggest that perhaps there’s more to the universe than the inhabitants may have supposed, though not much else is revealed about what Gaia is and what role she plays in the story.
The pacing of the story is steady with the plot slowly expanding to reveal more of the universe that humanity finds itself in. What humanity discovers leads to the question of human origins and perhaps to the conclusion that there was once a human precursor species that is now lost to time.
Part of the expansion of the plot includes Weston’s new mission to discover who is behind the Drasin. This mission leads to some interesting discoveries that have yet to play a role in the story.
Warrior King, and by extension, the Odyssey One series, does a great job in introducing readers and the characters in the story to a universe that is filled with the mystery and sense of discovery that fans love about the genre. Combined with the action-packed tense space battles, Warrior King is a great addition to the series.
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