Book Review: Caine's Mutiny

The eARC of the most recent novel in Charles E. Gannon's Caine Riordan series, Caine's Mutiny, was released on Monday by Baen Books.  I purchased a copy after dinner and have just spent far too many hours reading it.

First off, let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would recommend it.  This one is slightly more of a military tale than others, but it as easily qualifies as space opera as the previous novels in the series.

The story delves into the situation teased at the end of the previous novel in the series, Raising Caine. Human broadcasts from an ostensibly alien world draws our cast of heroes from Raising Caine to investigate.  They promptly find themselves wrapped up in a conflict between human soldiers and the aliens on the planet, while troublesome adversaries lurk elsewhere.

In many ways, Gannon's Caine Riordan novels remind me of a space opera version of technothrillers, along the lines of Tom Clancy or Stephen Coonts.  Gadgets, intelligence work, military operations, schemers, plotters, and politics all combine with dynamic characters and understandable motivations. Even many of the alien characters are well fleshed out, and their motivations are understandable, even if different from those of the average modern human.

There's more I'd like to say, but there's little I more I wish to say that wouldn't involve spoilers. Therefore, I'll just add a few more points.  Like many of the other novels in this series, it ends on something of a cliff-hanger for the series' eponymous character, Caine Riordan.  Hopefully, that portends that the series will continue.  I hope Charles Gannon writes more.