Book Review: Kris Longknife: Commanding by Mike Shepherd

Kris Longknife: Commanding
Author: Mike Shepherd
Series: Kris Longknife (Book 17)
Publication: KL & MM Books (May 1, 2018)

Description: Grand Admiral, Her Royal Highness Kris Longknife is up to her ears in problems . . . again.

While summoned to the Imperial Iteeche Court to be humanity’s Emissary, it turns out that what the Iteeche really want is a fighting admiral!

You see, they’ve got this huge civil war going, and the Imperial side isn’t doing so well. Kris now has command of the entire Imperial Combined Fleet. Sort of.

The Iteeche Empire has a ten-thousand-year long history. There is nothing that won’t say, “We’ve always done it that way,” pointing to a track record lasting for thousands of years. Even when Kris reminds them they’re losing, many have a hard time changing.

Many Iteeche also wonder if letting a human win this war for them isn’t losing everything already

Kris managed to win a defensive battle with a scratch force. Now she’s thrown together a larger force and is ready to take the fight to the rebels.

It’s full speed ahead with Kris Longknife: Commanding.

My Thoughts: Having defeated the rebel battle force intent on taking over the Imperial Capital planet, Kris is tasked with taking the fight to the rebels. She and her crew identify the planets which are the centers of the rebellion and the ones that need to be defeated in order to put down the rebellion. 

The first planet chosen doesn't require space battles. They need to find the ruler of the planet and take him out along with his staunchest supporters. This task falls in part to Lieutenant Megan Longknife who has a way of connecting with computers that sometimes runs in the Longknife family. Megan and a small task force use her ability to get into and understand alien computer networks to locate their targets and take them out. 

They also have to deal with sabotage of the planetary infrastructure and, in doing so, get to know what some of the rank-and-file Iteeche are like and let them see what humans are like. Kris is determined to do the conquering the human way which is quietly bringing another form of rebellion to the Iteeche empire. 

The second planet they choose to take on is the one farthest from the Imperial Capital planet. They weren't expecting to encounter a fleet that outnumbers them by 4-to-1 but using some tactics from human history, including Nelson's at Trafalgar, and hitting a force that hasn't trained to anything like the human led fleet allows them another victory. 

And, though the planetary government isn't willing to surrender the planet to the loyal forces, Megan's skills with computers again allows the human led loyal forces to triumph.

This was another entertaining episode in the Kris Longknife series. I'm eager to see more of her efforts to defeat the rebels and bring her own brand of change to the Iteeche Empire. 

Favorite Quote:

"I fight," Kris said, "for every sailor that sails with me. I fight for every citizen in the United Society. Yes, from the richest and most powerful to the poorest and least of them all. But first. I fight for the man on my right and the woman on my left. We fight for each other and each of us matter to each other."

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.