The tenuous alliance between the reborn Roman Empire and the United States has been broken, and war breaks out between them once more. Farragut, the American captain of the USS Merrimack, is forced to fight the Romans on one flank and the continuing menace of the Hive on the other. Meanwhile, his head Marine, TR Steele, is forced into gladiatorial games on Palatine, and must fight his way to freedom. The battles between Rome and the US are thrilling, if a bit slapdash. In the last three books, Caesar Romulus was nearly a genius--abruptly, he becomes a sister-schtupping fool. It is only *because* he suddenly starts making idiotic choices that the US manages to win. I found the other half of the plot even more annoying, because I tired of Steele after the first book. He is the most annoying, sexist, macho cliche ever, and I hate having to read his adventures, in which everyone is always astounded at his physical power and manliness. Whatever, Meluch.

In the end, all the plots are resolved and all the characters marry their designated partner of the opposite sex and it's all very cheery.


Non-plot but still spoilery annoyances:
For four books, Meluch made a great deal of the unresolved sexual tension between Farragut and his colleague, the very married Lieutenant Hamilton. Every book, Hamilton's marriage broke a little more and her intimacy with Farragut progressed a little further. And then, randomly, in the last chapter, Farragut meets some 20 year old in a bar and marries her 9 hours later. Everyone thinks this is a great choice. The author seems to think this is a great choice. Why spend *so* much time building up Farragut/Hamilton, only to introduce a random new character in the last few pages?

I wasn't emotionally invested in Farragut/Hamilton, but it seemed so obvious that the author would get them together eventually. What I knew would never deepen, but nevertheless felt entranced by, was the relationship between Farragut and the brilliant undead patterner, Augustus. The uneasy alliance between their governments forced them to work together, but it was Farragut's unending goodness and Augustus's wary but receptive intelligence that made them bestest friends. They knew that at any moment their governments could declare war and they would be forced to kill each other, but they clung to the little shreds of friendship they had while they had them. And then (HUGE SPOILERS AHOY) Augustus randomly dies, off-screen? And Farragut marries some chick? It's very anticlimactic! Augustus was a main character for three books--why kill him in such an off-handed manner? Very weird. ( )

Superb. A really exciting finish to the series. High drama throughout, and all the loose ends wrapped up.

As expected from the end of the last book, the focus on this story is in concluding the Roman / US war. Augustus gets turfed off the Merrimack in short order, while Don Cadrilo is a less welcome loss. Romulus is the acclaimed Cesar, but doesn't quite have legitimacy he might have wanted. The US try not to interfere with Augustus and those Romans who were loyal to the last Cesar - and to take advantage of those opportunities presented. Augustus doesn't make life easy for anyone however - and the secrets concealed in his Striker come at a high price. The other continuing theme from across the series is the usefulness of the low-tech solution in the face of excessive automation. In a turn about form the usual fare, but consistent withe this series, it's the US who needs to improvise the low tech answers. When the ground troops on Palatine get captured by Roman automatons, this becomes a vital skill.

The characters continue to interact in a light-hearted manner, with Colonel Steele finally getting his moment in the limelight. Kerry Blue gets a lesser role, but is still important, while the captain's brain gets lions share. Many of the supporting cast also get to show off their skills, Calli being chief amoungst these. For Military SF the characters aren't too straightforward and the descriptions of each blow and shot, are kept to a minimum. All the action is high paced, and quickly over, onto the next fight.

The twists and turns of the plot never fail to excite, and if some of it is occasionally unbelievable or even ownright unlikely, it is quickly skimmed over. I thought the actual ending a little trite, but it did provide a worthwhile ending for all the characters and completed the loop started back in the first book.

Thoroughly worthwhile.

...............................................
On re-read - not the end of the series there are two more. I shall seek them out, sadly they don't seem to be in ebook format here. ( )