Talcon Star City

One will find in Talcon Star City a universe populated with all sorts of new extraterrestrial civilization for a tale that brings back the excitement of traditional Space Opera and the television space shoot-out. Marvels also abound in his galaxy. The story continues here with Star Knight and commodore Robert Sheppard leading his part of the fleet in the flagship Phoenix to rendezvous and help protect the not fully impregnable Talcon Star City. The universe is at stake again with the enemies being the Varlons and the newly joined ally The Accads, who are also acquisitive and evil in their own right.

It is good old guilty space fun to be party to all the intergalactic maneuverings as the forces assemble. One can brush shoulders here with extraterrestrial allies, some of whom have alien powers. It would have been nice to have pictures, but the book is somewhat visual anyway, with interesting descriptions of other space creatures.

If one is looking for it, they will find captured here the excitement of preparation for the forthcoming galactic battles. Though long in the coming, there is the big battle at the end in the Rhendal Sector, but the story does not end there. Many civilizations have gathered to take on the imperialistic Varlons and their allies, but it will be a tough battle in a longer space war. Though a sequel to Phoenix Rising, which won the 2010 Indie Excellence Award for Caplan, it is understandable without reading the prequel. There is also a glossary at the end of the book if needed.

Some sentences seem long in all the universe building. There is much material here for future and side tales. If one does not like character development, they will be happy to find that it is not a major part of this novel. One will not find a lot of personal growth taken place in Robert Sheppard in this single book, but the book is more about his high adventures on the seas of space. The characters are also more fully realized if one has read the prequel. One will need to follow the longer story for the book to be more meaningful psychologically, but there is more excitement on the way.