When this story begins, Kris is in command of a fast patrol squadron on a very backward planet. In fact, she is being held there. When she learns that her Grampa Al is planning to equip and send a trade mission to the aliens Kris fought and ran from, she is determined to talk to him and convince him that this is a really, really bad idea. But first she has to escape the "command" she is running.

With the help of Abby and her niece Cara and a variety of friends, Kris finds herself at Wardhaven where she meets up with her Grampa Trouble and Jack, who is the man she loves, but who was sent away from her. She has also gathered her old friend Penny. Along with some other allies, they attempt to infiltrate her Grampa Al's supposedly impenetrable fortress. But her father the Prime Minister has tasked Senior Chief Agent in Charge Foile of the Wardhaven Bureau of Investigation to find her and save her life.

Foile and his team which a includes a Kris super fan-girl manage to track her but are always one step behind. But Kris and her compatriots are one step behind Grampa Al too. In order to escape Wardhaven and track down Grampa Al, Kris surrenders herself to a Musashi ship at high Wardhaven even though this means that she will go on trial for her life when she gets to Musashi. Kris just wants a chance to tell her story since she's convinced that her Longknife relatives from King Ray to the Prime Minister are giving the citizens of their planets the straight story about her alien encounter.

I enjoyed all the part of the story that takes place on Musashi from her meeting with the Emperor to her trial. I liked that Kris and her friends are reunited. I liked that the Musashi realize the threat that the aliens present and are willing to help Kris do something about it. I liked that she and Jack have confessed their feelings for each other.

This was an entertaining and exciting episode despite the fact that it ends on a bombshell cliffhanger. ( )

Better than the disastrous nine, but still not very good. I can see now that there is a large scale pivot in the overall story arcs but the pivot so far is *very* badly handled. I would suggest reading the pivots around volumes 11-14 in the Dresden Files to see a well executed pivot. ( )

A very different story. Kris isn't in charge of a ship - she isn't even in charge of herself, she's been shuffled off into nearly-prison after the disaster of the hunt for the aliens. But of course she escapes (with a little help from her friends...), and heads out to find allies for figuring out what to do with the threat of the aliens. Because between politics and head-in-the-sand, no one else is dealing with it (at least, not in any useful or wise way). A lot of running fights, a lot of hiding from the law - we get it from the police point of view too, which is interesting. She reconnects with Jack, as well as Penny, Mac, and Trouble - and things develop between her and Jack (finally!). She ends up standing trial (something the Longknifes didn't want her to do, for various reasons), but it's by her choice and in the court of her choice (sort of). And in the process, the full story of the expedition, and the aliens they found, comes out - so the US and others have to actually deal with it. It's Kris forcing a pivot again, this time on her own family (as the powers that be in the United Societies (or whatever the name actually is...still arguing)). Between truly facing the consequences, and events with Jack, Kris gets a bit pivoted herself, here. Quite rich. ( )

  This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.  Title: Furious  Series: Kris Longknife  Author: Mike Shepherd  Rating: 3 of 5 Stars  Genre: SF  Pages: 368     Synopsis: Being the galaxies Most Wanted Person isn't all it cracked up to be. Kris is being kept on a backwater planet doing busy work and climbing back into the bottle while Jack is on a Super Secret Security Platform. In essence, they are both imprisoned.   Then Kris gets free, puts herself on trial on a world not associated with either the Longknifes OR the Grenfelds and begins the battle to prepare humanity for its worst nightmare.   While she succeeds in the trial, it doesn't stop her from being wanted on other worlds. So she, Jack and the others setout to find the abominations and to scout and kill them if possible.   My Thoughts: Once again, this felt like 2 separate stories in one book. You'd think I'd be expecting it or used to it after 10 books, but no, it gets me every time. Maybe Shepherd has ADHD?   Pretty much everything I've ever said about the previous books applies here. This is an open ended series with no real over-arching series plot without a conclusion for us to look forward to. If these books weren't in the 300-500 page range, I'd be tempted to just call this a serial and let Shepherd rot. In some ways I think Shepherd would do better to let this series turn into something like the Rogue Angel series with nothing but action plots and ghost writers. At least that way I won't be expecting more than I end up getting.   If you've stuck with the series this long, chances are you are going to stick with it for another 10 books unless they are horribly written and Shepherd is a good enough writer that I don't foresee that happening for quite some time. " ( )

Review 28 November 2015: whew, i had to reread the entire series (because i had forgotten just about everything) before i could read this one and the following ones.

heh heh reading them all again i notice that Kris is always getting into messes and never seems to have any down time...which i find kinda unrealistic that she and her crew would still function as well as they do with so few breaks from combat/assassination attempts.

also just noticed that abby was black. why i never pictured her as black before but now that she is it makes me mad. esp when he is so obvious when he puts other non white USA cultures in the book. like he really tries to include them and respect their cultures and only show the positive sides, yet he still does stereotypes. some of the stereotypes are positive and some are negative but stereotypes all the same. apparently we don't mix that much even with over 600 planets. (yeah, um ok. i can sorta see that since humans do tend to gather in groups were we all look the same and kinda act the same and like the same stuff.)

the stereotypes i noticed are the black gals are the ones from the bad part of town and speak the most slang, the muslims that help her out are taxi drivers and restaurant owners, the russias /germanic folks(greenfields)are prejudice and act like nazis or communists. so far he hasn't done the negative stereotypes with the oriental, native american, or the hispanic folks...at least not yet. or i didn't catch it since i am not that familiar with their cultures.

and reading them all in a row you can see the formula... it's a formula i like but his books are becoming a tad predictable. basically whenever Kris has some down time and things are a lil peaceful in about a minuter shit is gonna hit the fan. it will be a David vs Goliath space battle or it will be a hidden political/corporate agenda guerrilla warfare type fight. Kris will have to make really tough decisions that will get her in hot water and folks killed but is the right thing to do. civilians and close friends from her crew will die and get injured but Kris will defeat the evildoers and reveal the evil politicians/corporations. there will be lots of planning sessions. there will be lots of smart alckey remarks. nelly will do some magic. kris will be blamed for something or another. kris will have girly moments where she flirts with guys, dreams about jck, and wishes she was curvier.

seriously it's a formula but i like this formula. so i am still reading and looking forward to more. although the formula has caused me to look ahead in the books. he does have a few surprises. like some surprising deaths and some surprising tech and some surprising alien stuff. bad ass females in scifi military with humor and alil but of romance. a formula i love. ( )