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Lucky Legacy: Lucky Marines: book 2 by Joshua James (book review).

‘Lucky Legacy’ is the second in what I thought was an 8 book ‘Lucky’ Marines military SF series. It now looks to be a 9 book series. Books 1 to 6 are currently available so the author, Joshua James, just needs to complete the last three and that’s the job done. Probably. Unless Lucky gets killed off in the last novel, I would not be at all surprised if we see more of him.

Following on from book 1, ‘Lucky Universe’, book 2 introduces us to more of the Empires adversaries. There’s the Cardinal Order, the Union, the Alliance and the Asiatic Rings to name a few. These are of course human nations, as aliens have been very scarce until Lance Corporal `Lucky’ Lee Savage, a Frontier Marine of the Empire’s forces, got himself involved with something. Now the aliens start popping up, but the Empires main foes still seem to be the other human factions.

Lucky’s assignment is to escort a team of scientists down to a Union planet that’s in the middle of having the civilian population evacuated. The fact that some of the scientists are clones dampens the marines’ spirit. The clones are obvious as they have red eyes which is why they have the derogatory nickname ‘blood eyes’. In addition to six marines, there are 20 army regulars and 12 scientists.

The action takes place in the main evacuation center which is protected by a force field with the evacuees only getting admitted at one entrance. The place is surrounded by thousands of civilians who all want to get on board the departing spaceship. The object of interest to the scientists is in the basement of the main building in the middle of the evacuation center. Of course, the assignment quickly goes as far wrong as it is possible to go. Which is just as well as there hadn’t been any shooting up until now.

Having read book 1, I’d come to expect the shooting to start as soon as Lucky is dispatched to wherever. As the dead bodies start to mount up, another alien makes an appearance, although this one is somewhat immobilised in regeneration pod. It’s also dead but that doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. Even without the alien threat, things go from worse to even worse for the marines.

As I mentioned in my review of book 1 ‘Lucky Universe’, Lucky lives in a rather violent age where most of the universe appears to want him dead. He is repeatedly saved by his augmentation and by that I mean the nanobots floating around a marine’s system. These can heal, repair and, within reason, re-grow damaged bits of the soldier’s anatomy. They can’t undo being dead though. Once you’re dead, you’re dead.

‘Lucky Legacy’ is a fast-paced book which makes it hard to put down. There’s also the usual plot turns and twists which makes for an interesting if violent plot. This is one of those rare occasions where the second book is just as good and perhaps even better than the first one. There are more characters, more technology and more mayhem and destruction.

Before you go rushing off to buy this book, I should point out that there are some interesting buying options if your looking for the ebook from Amazon. ‘The Lucky Universe Omnibus (Lucky’s Marines: Mission Pack # 1)’ includes the first 3 books of the series for a stupidly low price of £3.07.

Andy Whitaker

January 2019

(pub: down7media LLC. 306 page paperback. Price: £ 1.24 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-98046-562-1. Ebook: Price: £ 1.24 (UK). ASIN: 0792PQ7DM)

check out websites: http://joshuajamesauthor.com/lucky-shot/ and www.amazon.co.uk/Lucky-Legacy-Luckys-Marines-Book-ebook/dp/B0792PQ7DM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1546509962&sr=8-1&keywords=lucky+legacy

AndyWhitaker

I live in deepest darkest Essex where I enjoy photography, real ales, walking my dog, cooking and a really good book. I own an e-book reader which goes with me everywhere but still enjoy the traditional paper based varieties. My oriental studies have earned me a black belt in Suduko and I'm considered a master in deadly Bonsai (there are very few survivors).

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