Book Review: Rebel by David Weber and Richard Fox

Rebel
Author: David Weber & Richard Fox
Series: Ascent to Empire (Book 2)
Publication: Baen Books; 1st edition (September 3, 2024)

Description: HE NEVER WANTED TO BE A REBEL

The Five Hundred, the elite families who rule the Terran Federation, control its political power and its wealth, and they’ve grown steadily wealthier and more powerful, thanks to the war against the Terran League. War may be hard on the people who get caught in its path, but it’s very good for business, in the short term, and the Five Hundred own the shipyards that build the Navy’s ships. They own virtually all the industry that produces the weapons and matériel the war consumes so voraciously . . . and they’ve made damn sure someone else does the dying.

True, there are a few flies in the Five Hundred’s ointment.

There’s the growing hatred and resentment of the Fringe Worlds, whose children do eighty percent of the dying in the Five Hundred’s war. But the Five Hundred have made sure the Fringe knows what will happen to any system that goes ”out of compliance.”

There are the lunatic conspiracy nuts who insist that the alien Rishathan Sphere is secretly aiding the League’s military, but the Five Hundred have forced them to keep their mouths shut where it matters.

And then there’s Terrence Murphy, a man of honor who loves the Federation, who springs from the Five Hundred, yet knows it for what it is and is determined to speak for its victims. But the five hundred have dispatched ample force to deal with him and his handful of lunatic followers

Unfortunately, the Fringe has paid enough of its children’s lives, and it no longer cares what may happen if it dares to defy the Five Hundred.

Worse, the lunatic conspiracy nuts were right, and the Rish have planned carefully for the Federation’s destruction.

And, worst of all, the Five Hundred have fatally underestimated Terrence Murphy.

My Thoughts: The second book in the Ascent to Empire series by David Weber and Richard Fox chronicles deteriorating conditions in the Terran League. The ruling government is controlled by the 500 -- the richest citizens who control all the industries and much of the wealth -- and they will do anything to hang onto their power and position no matter how reprehensible. 

With colony planets out on the Fringe declaring independence, the 500 are determined to show them just who is really in charge with extremely brutal tactics including bombing non-compliant planets out of existence. And there is Admiral Terrence Murphy who married into the 500 and who was recently appointed governor of one of the Fringe planets. His failure to stop their secession from the League and his determination to convince them that the Rish, an alien species, is acting to keep the war with the League and the rival Terran Federation at a boil has made him Enemy #1 in the 500.

Murphy believes in the League and is reluctant to believe how far from its ideals it has strayed, but he finds himself the focal point of a revolution as more and more planets secede. 

A lot of this episode takes place on Bellerophon which had seceded and asked to join the new Free Worlds Alliance. The 500, with the assistance of their various toadies in the government, has sent General Alaimo to bring the system back into compliance. He had been set aside after atrocities on another planet the 500 wanted to bring into line. This time he has a blanket pardon for any crimes, and he is determined to use it. From strikes from space destroying cities to mass firing squads to torturing individuals for his own sick pleasure, Alaimo runs rampant. 

This is excellent space opera. It is, however, the second book in a series which leaves many, many things unresolved. What is resolved is that Terrence Murphy now knows there is no chance of a negotiated settlement of the grievances of the Fringe planets and his determination to fix the League even if he has to bring battle to Earth. 

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