By Kelly Bridgewater

About the Book

Book: War of Torment

Author: Ronie Kendig

Genre: Space Opera, Science Fiction

Release date: April 11, 2023

The time for peace is over—now he demands vengeance

They followed him back. Against his will, against his intention. Now enemies threaten from every direction. Amidst it all Marco Dusan struggles to lead his people, to help them survive, even mayhap win the war. He will take any advantage to even the odds. But only after tragedy strikes does he learn just how much he’s willing to sacrifice.

He's not alone. Droserans fight as one, united against the offworlders—Symmachians who covet their planet. With the aid of unexpected allies, the Droserans battle on longer than anyone could have anticipated. Yet they cannot win. And the Faa’Cris, those supernatural warriors, fair of face and fierce of mien, do nothing.

But not all have turned their backs. After a bitter year of pain and loss, Kersei Dragoumis navigates a new heritage, ever intent on defending her people. Like her, light-years away from the Quadrants and even farther from the girl she thought she was, Eija Zacdari must come to terms with a new role. Or, rather, with an ancient one. And her success or failure may determine back in the Quadrants who lives and who dies.

In the end, Marco will have vengeance for the torment brought by this war. No matter the price. Not even if the price is his soul.

My Thoughts:

War of Torment by Ronie Kendig is her thesis to the Space opera genre. This edition is almost 500 pages long. With plenty of downtime, it takes quite a while for the story to take off. I believe it was about seventy percent into the novel before the actual war started. But trust me, once the war does start, Kendig’s writing for action and reaction shines across the pages. Even though the setting is taking place in a different world, it was relatable for the readers. Kendig does a fabulous job at crafting a world that is unfamiliar and making it familiar. As for the characters, many familiar faces. Some bad endings. Some good endings. Since readers, if they have read the whole series, have hung out with all the characters for about 2000 pages, they have been pretty well-developed and three-dimensional. While I will own all four of these novels, I would personally like to see more of her military men and their actions either to uncover more Biblical artifacts or some damsel in distress. Those were what attracted me to Kendig’s writing. Overall, War of Torment by Ronie Kendig is a long story with fully developed and aching characters with a familiar landscape, but it took a little bit of time to get to the war part of the series. If fans love science fiction, then this might be just the book for them.

I received a complimentary copy of War of Torment by Ronie Kendig from Enclave Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Purchase War of Torment

About the Author

Ronie Kendig is a bestselling, award-winning author of over thirty books. She grew up an Army brat, and now she and her Army-veteran husband have returned to their beloved Texas after a ten-year stint in the Northeast. They survive on Sonic & Starbucks runs, barbecue, and peach cobbler that they share–sometimes–with Benning the Stealth Golden. Ronie’s degree in psychology has helped her pen novels of intense, raw characters.

Read an Excerpt

Anticipation tremored in his veins—it had come. The Progenitor’s War had finally arrived.

“Admiral on the bridge!”

“What’s going on? What was that swarm of ships?” Amid grating claxons and pulsing orange lights running around the bulkheads of the Command deck, Fleet Admiral Domitas Deken strode past the offices and conference rooms to the central Command hub of the newly christened Cronus, the flagship of the Symmachian armada. He glared up at the array hovering in the air between him and his handpicked officers, who had been transferred from other ships in the fleet.

“A fleet, sir.” Grim-faced, Captain Lasson Pount stood with the executive officer.

“What fleet?” Domitas demanded. “We have the only fleet in the Quadrants!”

“Unknown, sir.” Commander Wellsey Dimar, onetime XO of the Macedon, recorded the images and waved them to Command. “None we have record of, and the ships are . . .” He frowned at what he saw. “They’re entirely foreign. Fast. Advanced—incredibly so.”

Domitas compared radar to the moments before the arrival of the new ships. “Where’d they come from?”

“As far as we can tell,” Pount said with a shake of his head, “the jumpgate at the Chryzanthe.”

“Can’t be. Baric reported it damaged by that spherical ship.” Never would Domitas forget watching that alien ship explode from the jumpgate and come around, firing. The relay vids of the incident had taken nearly a day to reach the Cronus on its route to Drosero.

“Maybe they slipped through in time?” The captain quirked a blond eyebrow.

“Baric said it was damaged beyond repair,” Dimar noted. “Perhaps the ship came through one of the other Sentinels.”

“They’re not operational yet. With Baric’s flair for the dramatic, it’s possible the Chryzanthe isn’t as damaged as he reported.” Probably wanted a way to keep anyone from nosing into whatever he and that alien were doing. Domitas indicated to the array, then flicked the screen, rolling back the time. “Those ships are moving fast.”

“Like we were standing still,” Dimar noted.

“Any idea where they’re headed?”

“I’ll calculate,” Pount said, tapping on a console, then nodding at the results that splashed through the air between them. “Course and speed suggest a trajectory for Drosero.”

“In fact”—his fingers flew over the console—“the exact same course the first craft took.”

“We think,” Dimar added with a look to Domitas. “The engine signature of the first craft is so slight that, while we can confirm that fleet followed its course, we cannot say if they ended up at the same place.”

Not comforting. “Do we have a lock on the sphere’s final destination?”

“Speculation only, sir.”

Domitas waited for said speculation, and when neither officer expounded, he lifted his brows. “Is there a problem?”

“Pount and Dimar exchanged glances before the XO sighed. “Long-range scans suggest it entered Droseran orbit, but since we have yet to hear from the Damocles, we don’t know if those projections are accurate.”

Drosero. This war sure was waking up the ’verse, wasn’t it?