Book Review: Kris Longknife: Defiant by Mike Shepherd

Kris Longknife: Defiant
Author: Mike Shepherd
Series: Kris Longknife (Book 3)
Publication: Ace (October 25, 2005)

Description: As part of an agenda to oust her father from his political position, Kris Longknife is relieved of command. But when an alien enemy launches an invasion, she defies both government and military authority to lead a rag-tag fleet against the threat.

My Thoughts: Lieutenant Kris Longknife finds herself assigned to small, experimental ships designed to protect individual planets and made of the semi-smart metal that was used in an assassination attempt against her. The ships have all sorts of problems from equipment failures to the sheer impossibility of small ships taking on battlecruisers. 

Before the problems can be solved, but with some hope in sight, Kris is pulled from the ship and arrested for dereliction of duty. This is a put-up case because her father's enemies have found a way to get him out of power and are using Kris's earlier mission as a way to keep him out. 

While awaiting her court martial, her Great-grandfather King Ray sends her on a diplomatic mission to sit with one of his old comrades who is dying and, incidentally, convince her planet to join the United Sentients. She has a fight on her hands when off planet agitators attempt their own takeover of the planet. 

Then, when returned home to Wardhaven, Kris learns that the planet's defense fleet have been sent to another potential member planet of the United Sentients just when a battle fleet of unknown origin comes to Wardhaven.

With the new government burying its head in the sand, it is up to Kris and quite a few co-conspirators to get her twelve ships functional and find a way to defeat the invading armada. Luckily, she isn't alone. Her Grandpa Al opens his space repair facilities to her, and she gets help from his crew along with private yacht captains, space tugs, the Army, the Navy, and even the local flying clubs. It is up to twenty-three-year-old Princess Kristine Longknife to meld all these elements together into a cohesive fighting force if she wants her planet to survive. 

I enjoyed the planning, conniving, space battles, and soul-searching even while hating the losses of friends that were the inevitable result of the battle.

Favorite Quote:

"Battles aren't so much won by the brilliant choices of the winner as lost by the dumb mistakes of the losers."

***

"Eighty years of peace create a certain way of thinking."

"Yes, Father. And those who don't break it may very soon find it listed as their cause of death."

I bought this one before 2008. You can buy your copy here.