Doug BrotherofCats Dandridge

Cartwright’s Cavaliers can be found here.  First a confession.  I have known Mark Wandrey since attending my first Liberty Con (I will be going to my fourth this year).  I met Chris Kennedy at that first Liberty Con as well.  This is an honest review.  I don’t do bad book reviews, since I’m not out to make enemies.  I simply won’t do a review of something I don’t think has merit.  That said, I loved this book, volume one of the Four Horsemen universe.  It is a galaxy filled with aliens, some fairly harmless, others terrifying.  War is codified by laws which limit its destructiveness, or are supposed to.  Planetary bombardment from orbit is outlawed.  Most biological weapons, from microbes up to Kaiju class monsters, are outlawed.  War is conducted by mercenary companies (in the meaning of a commercial enterprise, since some of the companies are very large, more than battalion size).  There are companies that specialize in ship to ship combat, and those that are ground specialists.  Several of the alien species have mercenaries, but humans make up some of the best and most rewarded of the class.  In fact, the economy of Earth depends on the income brought in by her mercenary companies.  And the greatest of the mercenary companies are the Four Horsemen, of which Cartwright’s Cavaliers are one of the most storied.

Jim Cartwright, the son of the hard as nails leader of the Cavaliers, is determined to become a mercenary.  Smart, tough, unable to quit, he is cursed with the genes of his mother, and is overweight and unable to make the physical grade.  His father dead, killed on a contract, his mom is in charge of the company, and she spends the family fortune.  Jim graduates from school to find that everything his family has owned is now caught up in bankruptcy court.  He is broke, almost penniless, and the company he has grown up in is no longer in existence.  Until he meets some of his father’s former employees who have a contingency plan.

Most of the people following my blog know that I make my living writing military science fiction/space opera.  I make my bread and butter out of action scenes.  And Cartwright’s Cavaliers had excellent action.  If you like great action, soldiers in armor, and even some giant robots battling fierce aliens, this book is for you.  Very well written, well edited, few errors.  Chris Kennedy will be writing the next volume of the series, and I think he and Mark will be alternating novels from that point in this, the Revelation Cycle series.  Again, highly recommended, five stars.  Do yourself a favor and pick up this book..