Book Review: Kris Longknife: Furious by Mike Shepherd

Kris Longknife: Furious
Author: Mike Shepherd
Series: Kris Longknife (Book 10)
Publication: Ace; Reissue edition (October 30, 2012)

Description: Having used unorthodox methods to save a world—and every sentient being on it—Lieutenant Commander Kris Longknife is wanted across the galaxy for crimes against humanity. For her own safety, she’s been assigned to a backwater planet where her Fast Patrol Squadron 127 enforces immigration control and smuggler interdiction.

But Kris is a Longknife, and nothing can stop her from getting back to the center of things—not when all hell is breaking loose. Now she’s on the run, hunted by both military and civilian authorities—and since the civilian authorities happen to be her immediate family, Kris soon finds herself homeless, broke, and on trial for her life on an alien world…

My Thoughts: When this story begins, Kris is in command of a fast patrol squadron on a very backward planet. In fact, she is being held there. When she learns that her Grampa Al is planning to equip and send a trade mission to the aliens Kris fought and ran from, she is determined to talk to him and convince him that this is a really, really bad idea. But first she has to escape the "command" she is running.

With the help of Abby and her niece Cara and a variety of friends, Kris finds herself at Wardhaven where she meets up with her Grampa Trouble and Jack, who is the man she loves, but who was sent away from her. She has also gathered her old friend Penny. Along with some other allies, they attempt to infiltrate her Grampa Al's supposedly impenetrable fortress. But her father the Prime Minister has tasked Senior Chief Agent in Charge Foile of the Wardhaven Bureau of Investigation to find her and save her life. 

Foile and his team which a includes a Kris super fan-girl manage to track her but are always one step behind. But Kris and her compatriots are one step behind Grampa Al too. In order to escape Wardhaven and track down Grampa Al, Kris surrenders herself to a Musashi ship at high Wardhaven even though this means that she will go on trial for her life when she gets to Musashi. Kris just wants a chance to tell her story since she's convinced that her Longknife relatives from King Ray to the Prime Minister are giving the citizens of their planets the straight story about her alien encounter.

I enjoyed all the part of the story that takes place on Musashi from her meeting with the Emperor to her trial. I liked that Kris and her friends are reunited. I liked that the Musashi realize the threat that the aliens present and are willing to help Kris do something about it. I liked that she and Jack have confessed their feelings for each other. 

This was an entertaining and exciting episode despite the fact that it ends on a bombshell cliffhanger. 

Favorite Quote:

Kaylin paused again. "If I had a ship, one of the first things I would do would be to take it back to that planet. To see if they were attacked by the surviving alien ships or if the aliens moved on to some easier target."

Kris raised her hands in a shrug. "But I have no ship, and my movements are, at the moment, restricted by law. So, no, I don't know if the bird people are still alive. I only know a lot of good men and women died to give them a better chance than they had before we fought."

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