Light Bringer is book six of the Red Rising series and it's a good one; however, if you were hoping this would finally lead to a resolution of the rebellion then you will be disappointed. After the last book, it felt like the series was set up to be resolved in a final battle for control of the solar system, but Pierce Brown decided that Darrow needed to go on one more side quest before that ultimate battle. I must admit that when I understood the direction this book was taking I was disappointed, but by the time it was over, I definitely felt differently. This was yet another solid book in the series and it delivers some meaningful events, even if it felt more like a side quest than progress in the main campaign. It does set things up for an even bigger finish in the next book, which I am definitely looking forward to.

At Alpha Centauri, the United Nations of Earth made their last stand against the Medari Council. Humans would have been willing to consider joining if the dominant race of the Council, the Medari, didn't demand that all races convert to their religion. The war was going poorly until humans produced the new phase cannons and establishing a policy of destroying their ships to ensure the enemy never gets one. At Alpha Centauri, the phase cannons almost carried the day but instead it ended with the Japanese fleet heroically sacrificing themselves to cover the evacuation of civilians to Sol. Among the broken remnants of humanity, grandparents and parents pass on the stories of those heroes, the few ark ships hiding deep in space, and the legend of a ship that was supposed to save them all. Excalibur.

Mage-Captain Ivan Halloway managed to retire from the Royal Martian Navy without seeing combat. He's a coward, so better to be retired rather than serving in the coming civil war. Back home in the Xanth system he's uncertain what he wants to do with the rest of his life, so he agrees to help an old friend. He should have gotten more details before he agreed! Karl is deeply in debt following a divorce and mid-life crisis that saw his entire crew resign so he's going to enter the illegal Black Pulsar Race, an obstacle course around a binary pulsar system run by crime syndicates. One reason it's illegal is that twenty-five percent of ships don't survive to the end, but Karl is confident the Restoya can win. The prize money will allow him to pay off his debts and keep his ship. Ivan's not a fan of this plan, but he does want to help Karl until the mob threatens to kills both of them unless Ivan helps them take the Restoya during the race. He agrees on the condition they don't harm Karl and forgive his debts, but he still has a bad feeling about this.

After the events of the last book, it is a miracle that Hadrian Marlowe is still alive. Or is it? Since Hadrian is narrating the story of his life as an old man, it is a foregone conclusion that he won't die, so every situation comes down to how he survives the events that threaten his existence. Things were so dire in Kingdoms of Death that any way out alive for Hadrian would have to border on ludicrous, and it did. It made me wonder if Christopher Ruocchio had fundamentally undermined this series by giving Hadrian a reality-shifting ability that was just too powerful. At the time it seemed that Hadrian could use this ability to get out of any situation without consequence, but there are also a few hints that things are not exactly as they seem to be. Only time will tell which side of plausible this series winds up on, but either way it continues to get more dark and foreboding.

This isn't the first time that the Emperor has given Hadrian an impossible task, but it certainly seems more boring than the others. And the boredom is starting to get to him. There have been numerous attempts on Hadrian's life, and that is one of the reasons he has been relegated to an obscure planet where his talents are going to waste. As Hadrian, humanity's most effective effective weapon, sits on the sidelines for decades, the war between the Empire and the Cielcin rages on without him. There is however one thing that has changed - humanity is now clearly losing the war. The Great Prince Syriani Dorayaica has united the Cielcin clans and is driving the Empire back at every turn. Hadrian has high hopes when he learns that the Emperor is coming in person to give him a new mission, but he is quickly disappointed when he finds out what it is. Hadrian is commanded to travel to the Lothrian Commonwealth and convince them to join the war on the side of the Empire. An impossible task for sure, and a boring one. Or not?

After defying death at the hands of the Cielcin, Hadrian Marlowe is now known as the Halfmortal and has become a bit of a legend within the Sollan Empire. His prominence has also amassed him quite a few enemies who feel that he is a threat to the throne, and he must now worry that the Emperor himself could be one of them. To make matters worse, the Cielcin have also upped their game and they now have a new leader known as the Scourge of Earth. This new leader is a lot more strategic and that has turned the tide of the war in the favor of the Cielcin. Despite all of those threats to Hadrian, what really grabbed me about this book was related to the "ancient" alien race known as the Quiet. Although some of the new revelations will make your brain hurt at times, for me the Quiet have now gone from a slightly boring thread in the series to a very interesting one.

The Troy Rising series is a humorous take on the standard Sci-Fi scenario of humanity's first contact with an alien race. As is often the case, things don't go well for Earth as we are outclassed both technologically and militarily when the Horvath come to claim our resources. Earth's governments have no recourse but to comply to the alien demands, and Earth becomes a subservient planet. The Horvath control the space orbitals and there is nothing that humans can do from the planet to fight their way free. Enter Tyler Vernon, entrepreneur and maple syrup king, into the story and things start to change. Tyler Vernon not only steps up to save Earth, but he also saves this entire series of books. He is an interesting, opinionated character that isn't willing to allow Earth to remain slaves to the Horvath. Any time the  series focuses on Tyler Vernon and his plans to use maple syrup to save the Earth then it flies by and is a joy to read or listen to.

Hadrian Marlowe has managed to free himself from his gilded cage and is now in a position to pursue his dream of seeking peace with the Cielcin. For 400 years the Sollan Empire has been at war with the alien Cielcin and it has now become a war that both sides have inherited rather than started. Because of this, Hadrian thinks that if humanity could just find the Cielcin leadership it might be possible to discuss peace with them and end the bloodshed. Rumors indicate that the path to finding the Cielcin lies with first finding the lost planet of Vorgossos, and that is something Hadrian has been pursuing for decades without much success. He has been chasing down one rumor after another and has nothing to show for it except yet another "promising" lead. With the limited support he has from the Empire eroding quickly, Hadrian finds he is at a crossroads. He must either commit treason against the Empire in order for it find peace or give up on his dream and return to his former captivity. For Hadrian Marlowe, that is no choice at all.

The Sun Eater is a series that chronicles the life of Hadrian Marlowe. The official blurb says "The galaxy remembers him as a hero: the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a monster: the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives - even the emperor himself - against Imperial orders." So this is one of those series where the reader knows that the protagonist is not going to die because he is the one telling the story of his life, something I am not a fan of, but it does come highly recommended so I decided to give it a try. This is a far distant future where Earth has been destroyed and since become the basis of the dominant religion, and humanity has spread among the stars using ships capable of interstellar travel. So it is epic in scope and the quoted blurb sets the stage for big things to happen, but it all starts with Hadrian as a young noble who resents his parents and wants no part of the gilded future that is available to him.

Firefly: Carnival is the 6th book in the series, but chronologically it would be first because the events in it occur during the time of the original TV series. That makes it a pretty standalone novel with a unique setting for telling a fun story because the planet Bethel has a definite Las Vegas vibe going for it. On Bethel, Carnival is approaching and that means three days of non-stop partying, but that's not the reason why the crew of Serenity have arrived there. Mal and crew have taken on a security job that requires them to guard an important shipment of minerals, which should be a piece of cake. Of course, even when Mal is trying to be on the right side of the law, things don't go according to plan. The shipment is stolen and the crew of Serenity finds themselves split up, with two of them taken hostage by the owner of the lost shipment. If Mal doesn't come up with the 500 platinum required to pay for the shipment, then those two will be executed, and local law enforcement won't do anything about it. This puts the rest of the crew at odds and it results in a lot of arguing over what the plan should be. When that fails to produce a viable option, multiple schemes are taken on by various crew members, each trying to earn some quick money before it is too late.