R.M. Meluch Wolf Star

Wolf Star

R.M. Meluch

Daw, Jan 2005, $23.95, 336 pp.

ISBN 0756403243

The Roman Empire was never destroyed it just went underground waiting for the right time to emerge. That time came when FTL ships were built and the planet of Palatine because the home world of the New Roman Empire. Even though it has a better military and more hardware, Earth has the slingshot technology that allows ships to travel vast distances between space stations without entering Roman territory.

Now Rome is working on a catapult technology; the mission of the USS Merrimack and USS Monitor is to find the space stations and destroy them. Captain Farragut of the USS Merrimack has run into a Roman convoy in a part of space where they shouldn't be and he hopes to follow them to the space station where he believes one of the catapults is being built. It is a trap that the Romans have set up using technology from a surprising source in the hopes of capturing the Merrimack. The captain evades the trap but it turns out the common enemy of both, the Hive, an insectoid sentient intelligence will devour the two civilizations in less than a decade unless humanity works together.

R.M. Meluch writes military space opera that is so exciting that fans will red this heart thumping action-packed novel in one sitting. Emphasis is more on action than characters but that doesn't take away from the interest Wolf Star generates in the readers as the big picture is more important than individuals who are made into stereotypes to fulfill a certain role. It will be interesting to see future books in this series when former enemies work together to destroy a common enemy.

Harriet Klausner