Book Review: Wraith(The Convergence War Book 1)
Wraith (The Convergence War) is the first in a Sci-fi space military novel series set several hundred years in the future. In this future that still shows lots of resemblance to our present day, humanity has learned to travel the stars by using jump drives with which the space navy ships traverse space systems in a matter of hours. Humanity has traveled through the stars and inhabited alien planets and systems.
Captain Soren Strickland has retired from the navy. A bona fide war hero, he is credited with being instrumental in bringing the last war against the peoples of the outer worlds to an end. The war over, he has retired to his home with his wife. He spends his days fishing and enjoying the peace and the outdoors. Meanwhile, his daughter and son are in the military, light years away on their missions. His son is a marine sergeant, while his daughter captains a navy research starship.
While responding to a distress call by one of the Federation’s starships in the Wolf System, Soren’s daughter Dana and her ship The Galileo are accosted by a fleet of fully armed Federation ships which force her to surrender. Contact is then lost with Dana and her ship.
When notified of Dana and her ship’s disappearance, Soren immediately decides to obtain a ship and look for his daughter’s ship by himself, as he couldn’t trust the Federation Navy’s politics. He gets the help of one of his ex-admiral friends who finagles for Soren a research battle starship, the Wraith, that had been defunded and was to be scuttled. The ship was nearly complete, and it has some new technologies that prove to be decisive for Soren and his crew later on.
He cobbles together a bare-bones crew for The Wraith by reaching out to several of his ex-navy crew members and a bunch of space sailors from the Dregs, a hang-out district for the dishonorably-discharged from the navy.
Just as The Wraith undocks from its spaceport, a fleet of starships appear from jump drive and lunch a sudden attack on the spaceport. The Wraith is able to escape and make its way to the Wolf System, but the entire spaceport and its personnel and ships are destroyed. Obviously, a potent adversary has started a war on the Federation. But Soren and his crew can only guess who this enemy could be: were the outlier worlds seeking revenge for the war they’d lost over a decade ago, or some members of the Federation military had started a rebellion? The attackers’ identity is a significant driver of the story.
Wraith (The Convergence War) makes for an engaging read. The space battles are intense and devastating; the author lays bare the wreckage and the lives lost in these engagements. I thought The Wraith would be an okay space military procedural, but it turned out better than expected. Other than a rather flat dialog during some romantic moments, it is very well written. The descriptions of space and alien jungle planets are immersive and believable. Narratives of Starship battles and skirmishes also seem realistic. Characters are well drawn and the plots and reveals skillfully handled.
Wraith is a recommendable read for those interested in the – as yet – fantasy of deep space travel and battle ships. It is a strong start to the M.R. Forbes’ Convergence as an enjoyable and educative series.