BOOK TOUR: VANGUARD STRIKE by Jarom Strong
Vanguard Strike: Paragon Space Book I hit shelves yesterday. This novel by Jarom Strong, the first of three in the series, takes place in a spacefaring future that's a little bit Warhammer, a little bit Gunbuster. Within this first installment, readers will travel from the horrors of the battlefield to a heist in nullspace.
Our hero is Lax, a former Vanguard: an enhanced super-soldier who, through a combination of metal implants and regularly-administered uppers and downers, fights for peace (albeit of a Helldivers sort, it seems) and for Paragon. When the war comes to an abrupt end, he finds eight years of reprieve with the love of his life and a lucrative job picking over ships as a "vulture." But when a job goes wrong, he'll lose everything and spend the next eight years behind bars.
This is where the story begins. An old friend and fellow former Vanguard offers to break Lax out of his 20-year sentence early. The catch? One last job. Instead of throwing fights for bets in prison, he can be part of a massive score. And the target is a big one: a Paragon battlecruiser, believed to be lost in the depths of nullspace. But even with a crack team at his disposal, the job is deadly on many levels.
While Vanguard Strike is great fun for fans of military sci-fi and heists, where it really shines is its unique depiction of PTSD. Lax's dreams of his lost love, the invading imagery of the day everything changed, and the peace he can find only from the medications he's become accustomed to all paint a very vivid picture of the difficulties of coping with trauma.
This is not a solely serious or depressing book, though. There's plenty of action, surprising moments of romance, and interesting and complex characters throughout. If you're ready for well-crafted sci-fi in a deeply developed world—and if you crave stories that value story and character above checking off a list of tropes—give this one a go.
Want me on your book tour? Email karaATkaradennisonDOTcom to get in touch.
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