Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Book Review: Scout's Law

I recently purchased and read Scout's Law, the fourth and latest installment in Henry Vogel's series that starts with Scout's Honor.  Like the other volumes in this series, it is a gripping tale story in the tradition of classic planetary romances, like Edgar Rice Burroughs or Leigh Brackett.  It is told in the first person, and the main viewpoint character is our returning hero from the previous volumes, David Rice, along with his talented, brave, and beautiful wife, Princess Callan of Morden. Some other favorite characters are also seen once more.

In this novel we return to Aashla, the once-lost colony world that only a decade ago made contact with the Terran Federation, as told the events in the previous novels.  Modern galactic technology from the Federation isn't supposed to be distributed on the world - and its sudden appearance presents a pretty pickle for our pretty princess and her beau.

Prose isn't fancy, but it doesn't need to be.  The story and plot kept me quite enthralled without any tricks of prose.  In fact, not to be critical of the late Burroughs, the modern prose employed by Vogel makes it an easier read.  For me, it was also a swift read, given the prose and the relatively-short length. I read it in one sitting, and enjoyed every minute of it.  

I can't recommend this book enough. I don't think reading the previous novels is strictly necessary to enjoy this one, though there are a few spoilers for previous ones. The price for Kindle editions of the whole series is quite reasonable, though, so if you do want to read the others as well, it won't set you back much - about $12 for the whole set. 


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