Conquered world's cross cultural misunderstandings and cultural arrogance all are underlying themes in the second of Baker’s “Breaker of Empires” series.
Alien groups once again comes in for unjust treatment from those who feel superior. This lends more weight to Sikander’s considerations of how a conquered nation or a nation without a technlogically advanced defence force might deal with a super power and maintain its cultural identity.
An excellent addition to this series.

A Macmillan-Tor/Forge ARC via NetGalley

Published by Tor Books on October 23, 2018

Restless Lightning is the second book in Richard Baker’s Breaker of Empires series. The books mix military science fiction with the politics and diplomacy that a reader will find in many of C.J. Cherryh’s books. It is a good mix.

After his valiant but disobedient actions in Valiant Dust, Sikander North has been posted to Tamabuqq Prime in the Tzoru Dominion, a remote location where Sikander will presumably not upset the military applecart. Of course, there would be no book if trouble did not follow Sikander. A faction of the Tzoru have concluded that humans are unwelcome on Tamabuqq Prime, and Sikander spends the first part of the novel escaping the consequences of civil unrest.

On the ship to which he is assigned, Sikander is in charge of Intelligence. His rivals accuse him of an intelligence failure because he did not predict that the upstart Tzoru would try to seize a diplomatic quarter on Tamabuqq Prime that houses humans. Sikander’s ship leads a rescue attempt. Battles ensue between human warships and their allies against warships that are allied with the Tzoru. Eventually, Sikander must do something daring to save the humans — and to save his career.

The military sf aspects of the novel are represented in combat on the ground and in more interesting battles in space, where considerable attention is given to strategy and tactics that might attend the equivalent of naval battles with no water and huge distances separating warring vessels. Almost as much attention is given to North’s analysis of the political and cultural forces surrounding the battles. His instinct for diplomacy is not shared by everyone on his ship, leading to rivalries that give the story additional substantive dimensions.

I like the way these novels mix action with intelligent thought. Alien cultural traditions are imagined with care. Sikander benefits from stronger characterization than is common in military sf. He even finds time for a brief romance. The action scenes generate excitement and the novel resolves multiple plot threads neatly, but I admire most the sophistication with which the story is told. Sikander is educated, thoughtful, and not obsessed with how powerful his weapons are, how efficiently he can kill aliens in hand-to-hand combat, or the superiority of humans to other sentient life forms. I’ve enjoyed both entries in this series and I recommend them to fans of military sf who are looking for books that rise above the genre’s clichés.

RECOMMENDED

This book reminded me of the Die Hard movies. The hero is constantly having to save someone...or even himself...from an ugly situation. He has family that is important to his background and a love interest to keep him human. Every where he goes, he finds himself with a dilemma and always manages to make the right decision, even if he takes the long way around to reach it. Good read.

RIchard Baker immerses us in the second Sikander North adventure Restless Lightning. Classic hard science fiction with fleets fighting it out and diplomatic mayhem negotiating behind them. Sikander has to fight off the jealous attacks of one superior and rescue alien diplomats. The aliens are very alien and the humans do not understand them.

Richard Baker's previous Valiant Dust introduced readers to a new SF military thriller hero, Lieutenant Sikander Singh North. This 2nd in the series takes Sikander to the alien Tzoru Empire, where unrest is brewing.

This hero has been compared to C.S. Forrester's Horatio Hornblower and David Weber's Honor Harrington. Elizabeth Moon's Kylara Vatta also comes to mind. Highly recommended!

"Restless Lightning" eBook was published in 2018 and was written by Richard Baker (https://richardbakerauthor.com/). Mr. Baker has published more than ten novels. This is the second novel in his "Breakers of Empire" series. 

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Situations. The story is set in the far future. The primary character is Lieutenant Sikander North of the Commonwealth Navy. 

A little time has passed since North's first adventures in "Valiant Dust". Now he has been sent to the alien Tzoru Empire. He takes the opportunity while planetside to rekindle the flame with Dr. Duston. While on the surface he is inadvertently drawn into a rebellion that no one saw coming. In the resulting conflict, he finds himself in danger time and again. He also finds himself working with and dependent on Dremish forces that only a short time ago he was battling with. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the 11.5 hours I spent reading this 432-page science fiction tale. This novel is a mix of political intrigue, space vessel combat, and heavily armed combat on the surface. I generally like the character of North, but he is not your perfect hero. I like this series. It reminds me of the "Honor Harrington" novels. I think the cover art is OK. I give this novel a 5 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/. 

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

Restless Lightning by a Richard Baker 3 stars

This is the second book in a series featuring Sikander North. I did not read the first book Valiant Dust. This is a military sci-fi novel focused on a single protagonist and his trials and tribulations. I think the gold standard for military sci-fi is David Weber's Honor Harrington series, this is nowhere near it. There are some good points. North is a thoughtful officer,but brave and decisive when the situation needs it. He has his enemies, mainly because he a citizen of a conquered planet. He got into some trouble at the military academy for it and his enemies and detractors are influential. again I am reminded of the early Honor Harrington novels. But i got bogged down during the chapters where it was showing the alien point of view. I had a hard time finishing this and I don't think I will trying to find Valiant Dust.

baker has put together a very complex story line that can, at times, be very difficult to follow. Using made up names and terms for alien clans, customs, etc. is disorienting. Sikander is not a typical actin hero but he manages to get the job done, utilizing his bodyguard and anyone else available.

I did not read the first book in the series and had a hard time getting into this one. I do like the world premise. The Aquilan Commonwealth comes to Torzu to sign a trade agreement . While there a civil war is brewing. They have some legitimate concerns since it seems the ruling council of Torzu is selling their museum pieces to wealthy humans. We see both sides of the story and I tended to cheer more for the Torzu, mainly because the humans had few redeeming qualities

Sikander is an intelligence officer from a well to do family. He has his own valet/bodyguard that he tries to avoid. His position should have taught him responsibility not running away from his bodyguard to go get laid. He seems to have a superior officer that loathes him, yet it is hard to be sympathetic toward Sikander even though the author expects us to due to the unfairness of the treatment. I understand Sikand wants to do the right thing but he goes about it in such bad ways that of course he gets into trouble. He is a Captain Kirk want to be without the charm or smarts ( maybe he needs a Vulcan sidekick).

Also the colonialism attitude of the Aquilan Commonwealth, although probably a true representation if we were in their shoes, its tiresome and again, why do we care about them.

The writing is good and the action is constant, character likability is lacking.

Restless Lightning is the sequel to last year’s ‘Valiant Dust’, a military sci-fi story which took the time to explore some socio-cultural issues in between blowing stuff up. The sequel takes us to whole new worlds, but keeps that attachment to broader themes which made Valiant Dust so interesting. It’s happy to talk to you about life and love in a space navy, but it also wants to talk about cultural homogeneity, stasis, and the struggle to retain identity in the face of a cultural conquest. The story also, to be fair, wants to blow some stuff up.

Sikander North is still the protagonist – the scion of a rich and powerful family, but one whose world was recently appropriated into a cross-system federation relatively recently. Egalitarian as the Aquilan Federation claims to be, its members tend to come off as confident in their own superiority, and Sikander left to prove himself as not being a second-class citizen. This exploration of the idea that even the ‘good’ guys have their blind spots – so assured of their own truths that they don’t often question them – is welcome. It also lets us see Sikander, a son of privilege in the extreme, in a more positive light. As an outsider, he struggles against social and cultural expectations even from his own position, highlighting the woes of those below.

From a character standpoint, Sikander makes for an interesting protagonist. Alongside his difficulties integrating with an imposed culture lives a man who wants to do the right thing. A hero in the classic mould. If his relationship with his superiors is a complex, often tumultuous thing, his sense of right and wrong is not, or his sense of duty. Doing What’s Right has defined Sikander up to now, and it’s nice to see that extended here, even if there are consequences to be had, or indeed, different definitions of what’s right.

Which brings us to antagonists. I shan’t spoil it, but was immensely pleased to see time given to Sikander’s antagonist as a viewpoint. As an individual, they appear to be making difficult, painful choices, and even when some of them were awful, and others disagreeable, you could see the path taken to get there. In a different story, perhaps, the villain would become the hero. It’s a wonderfully nuanced portrayal of an individual acting within their own bounds to serve what they thing of as a necessary goal – as, after all, no-one is a villain in their own story. It’s here the text excels, giving us an antagonist wo is themselves thoughtful, idealistic and determined to do the right thing – by their own lights. The complexity is appreciated, and gives some added depth in between the compelling action sequences.

This is a story which asks questions of its readers. When is social and cultural capital a weapon? How far can you stretch soft-power? What are the ramifications of economic warfare, and can you push people far enough that they’re willing to act in their own worst interests just to make it stop? These are big questions, woven seamlessly into the narrative tapestry. There’s some answers floating around in there too, though I think as a whole the text embraces the show, not tell, philosophy.

That said, this isn’t entirely (or even mostly) a book of meetings about trade. There’s enough hull metal and big guns floating around to satisfy anybody. The space combat is there, and some of the ground action that kept the heart pumping in the previous novel. The blend of the stately dance of space warfare is tactically convincing and well realised; the infantry battles are visceral moments of violence entwined with adrenaline and blood.

It keeps you turning pages, that’s a fact. The characters definitely have the depth and complexity of real people, and they’re working against a well-drawn background to provide a masterful blend of politics, personal drama and hard-hitting military action which kept me looking at the next page, and the next, and the next. So yeah, if you need some more sci-fi military action, this continues to be a breakout series that is absolutely worthy of your attention.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Tor/Forge for a digital galley of this novel.

I was granted access to a galley of this novel through NetGalley and decided to read the first book in the series, Valiant Dust, to have a firm foundation of knowledge before starting book two. I'm glad I made that decision.

Book two in this series was essentially the same as book one but with new characters. Four years have passed since the ending of Valiant Dust. Lieutenant Commander Sikander Singh North has served in several different posts but is still in the Commonwealth Navy, now serving a tour of duty on a different ship in the Navy's Helix Station. The Torzu people are ready to sign a new trade agreement with the Aquilan Commonwealth so Sikander and his commanding officer are on the planet to attend the signing ceremony. This was they first they knew about the unrest building among the inhabitants of this isolated planet.

As before there is another high ranking officer who hates Sikander and tries to make his life a misery. There is a war on the planet where Sikander breaks all kinds of military rules but this war is at least fought in a different way than the war in Valiant Dust. There is another woman for Sikander to be involved with. Once again Sikander leaves his personal security high and dry and gets into all kinds of scrapes his father would be anxious over.

The first and second books were just too much alike for this one to hold my interest. I will not be continuing on with this series.

Good scifi story about future where alliance of humans and a few other aliens run up against a much older and non flexible older race. Book has some starship battles. Plot is well developed. I enjoyed book