Breach of Trust
By Gary T Stevens and Daniel Gibbs
Breach of Trust is the last book in a series by Mr. Stevens set in the Universe created by Mr. Gibbs. Before I jump into this, a quick disclaimer, both the editor and I know Mr. Stevens and my editor even aided a bit in the writing of this book. Furthermore, Mr. Stevens is a patron of this review series and sent me signed copies of his books (Same, plus I’ve co-authored other projects with him). That said, everything below is my honest opinion on the book but I would prefer that you, my readers, be aware of all the facts. I've covered Mr. Gibbs and Mr. Stevens in prior reviews and I feel I've exhausted explanations of the setting at this point. So I'll leave some links at the bottom to prior reviews if this is your first run-in with this setting and encourage you to come back to this once you're caught up. Warning there are spoilers for the prior books below so you may want to hold off if you're planning on reading them.
Alright, quick recap, last book Captain Henry cleared his name in the Coalition and foiled a plot to turn Earth into a smoking wasteland. However, his Uncle Charlie, who was not only a second father to him but the man who helped him put his life back together when he was framed died while he was doing it. This meant that Captain Henry was never able to say goodbye and Mr. Stevens does a good job showing how this eats at Captain Henry. Piling on top of that, the Shadow Wolf, the ship that he and his Uncle worked on, the ship that gave Captain Henry a new lease on life, has developed fractures in the hull that will destroy it fairly soonish because of things Captain Henry did. The blow is compounded by the revelation that his best friend Felix who followed him out of the Coalition into Neutral Space was actually working for Coalition Intelligence the whole time, which causes a rupture in their relationship (Yeah, spying on your best friend is No Bueno. Don’t be a narc for the feds.). The cherry on top of this ice cream sundae of pyrrhic victories is his questioning of whether he gave in to the frame job too easily in the first place and we have a man who, rather than strengthened by his recent trials, has been nearly hallowed out and is near his breaking point. Because everything that tied him to the man who gave a second shot at life is either gone or slipping away.
First Mate Tia Nguyen also has problems with her unresolved past haunting her. In this case, the haunting is less metaphorical and emotional and more of the literal being hunted type. Tia is one of the survivors of a failed revolution on her homeworld of Hestia (I'll get more into that in a moment) and while that's always an issue, it's become more pressing. You see, a figure from her past has made his personal goal in life to find her, bring her back alive, and utterly break her. The goal being to have her sign an amnesty in exchange for forswearing the revolution and her socialist beliefs (Oh fuck that shit.). This man has the money, power, and the lack of morals to reach deep into the underbelly of Neutral Space and send all sorts of terrible people after her; including terrifying people that the crew of the Shadow Wolf has crossed paths with before and have a number of unsettled scores with. Tia is left with a stark choice: overthrow the government she's already failed to topple once, or be hunted by increasingly powerful forces until she is dead or worse (If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.).
There are several larger issues at play here as well. One of them is that the Coalition and the League signed a peace treaty. This caused the Saurian Empire to break the alliance and withdraw to their borders in disgust as the Coalition was on the verge of victory (Which is odd, because wouldn’t “not being invaded anymore” count as a victory? Objective creep is a thing. But then again, if you have not removed your enemy’s ability to wage war, they might just come back and try again.{The League as written cannot stop trying to conquer everyone, so the only way to ensure lasting peace is to topple the League government}). A broadly isolationist coalition of so-called Peace Parties holds the government in the Coalition and would rather slander anything that threatens their isolation as a plot to break the peace treaty than confront any threats beyond their borders. Meanwhile, the League has struck an incredibly unlikely alliance with the government of Hestia to fund a little science project, one that if it succeeds could enslave humanity forever (And there it is.).
This is particularly haunting for Oskar, the ship's doctor of the Shadow Wolf, who fled the League and ended up on the Shadow Wolf. Because not only did he play a role in this project's predecessor but someone from his past is involved in it up to their neck. Only, they believe that this technology is the key to humanity's liberation. Arguing that this technology will end the war, violence, and anti-social thought forever bringing nothing but harmony and peace under the enlightened guidance of the League's leadership. A “guidance” that will be inescapable, forever. Now Oscar meant for the technology to be a medical treatment to cure crippling injuries, but confronting what his work has been twisted into threatens to break his very soul under a weight of guilt and grief that a normal human just isn't meant to carry. I'm being intentionally vague because the realization of just what it was and what it means was incredibly horrifying for me and I want to preserve that impact for you dear reader.
Meanwhile, things have gotten worse on Hestia, which is saying something. Hestia was conquered by a cartel of mega-corporations generations ago using their money and influence to overtake them from within. Native Hestians are just serfs on their own world, not allowed to even grow their own food or make their own clothes. Because that would both deny the corps profits and give Hestians independence. Instead, they are exiled to slums deprived rural settlements and mining camps, and paid in company script. They are constantly forced into debt for basic services and goods on a scale that would make even Jeff Bezos tell them to tone it down (Bring on the coal wars! Resurrect the IWW and bring Mother Jones back from the dead! Which side are you on, boys? Which side are you on!? As an aside, this is how modern neo-imperialism works, but with countries. It was also how apartheid South Africa worked.).
Meanwhile, the offworlders live in gleaming cities that Hestians cannot even enter without special passes, shop in stores with real money, and generally grow fat on the looted mineral wealth of the planet (Ah, Elon Musk’s childhood…). Frankly, it's a setup that breeds revolution and insecurity. Even the Kabuki play of an elected government (of only preapproved parties) is only allowed to consider and vote on laws that are preapproved by the Hestian Corporate Councils. It's as if the US Chambers of Commerce was openly and outright vetoing laws and selecting the President while only allowing Chinese companies to vote. This makes them unlikely allies to the League of Sol and both parties are practically opening plotting to betray each other but the League needs Hestia as a safe place to test the technology and the Hestian corporate occupiers desperately need the technology to control the actual natives and rightful owners of Hestia.
To defeat these forces, a combination of compromise and willingness to say no is required. Captain Henry, who has practically abandoned himself to a pit of despair has to relearn how to stand up and make peace with his past. To reignite that spark of courage that has led him to stand up again and again against impossible odds throughout this series and say no, I will not accept this. Meanwhile, Tia is going to learn how to make compromises with people who want broadly the same thing, a free Hestia ruled by its own people, but who disagree with her ideologically. This is in a lot of ways the core arc of the book, when is it okay to compromise? Who is it okay to compromise with? When does compromise become surrender and when does refusal to compromise become self-sabotage? Mr. Stevens does a great job of exploring this subtly through very emotional character arcs (It’s always been a strength of his really. Complex emotional development with massive ensemble casts.).
These themes are also reinforced by the actions and character arcs of Miri and Yanik. Miri a former Coalition spy has to make decisions on what's more important, protecting the living or avenging the dead? Yanik has to decide how much he is willing to sacrifice to meet what he considers his divinely given responsibilities. Both of them are heavily scarred by their past decisions and their struggle to keep living lives they can at least not be ashamed of also means exploring how much can be compromised while maintaining your core values and goals. It's honestly well done to see how these inter-lapping arcs reinforce and play off of each other.
Of course, there's a lot more going on here. These arcs play out while the characters engage in firefights, daring jailbreaks, and desperate ship-to-ship battles for the highest stakes. Because if they lose, the very first steps to the path of complete and utter slavery of not just the body but the mind and soul will be set, and it will only be a question of who ends up holding the whip. It's an adventure that will lead you across neutral space and from the slums of mining worlds to the boardrooms of ultra-wealthy plutocrats.
Honestly, I enjoyed this book, although I feel Henry's breakthrough could have used more foreshadowing. Also as always, several characters ended up almost completely undeveloped. Piper for example has had next to no character development and Cera was frankly a very minor character throughout the series at best. It's to the point that I'm left unsure as to either character's goals or motivations. This is a reoccurring problem with Mr. Stevens' approach to having large casts; there's never enough space for all of them. Honestly, I think merging some of the characters or just cutting them completely would have helped with some things (Yeah, you can’t really develop everyone…).
However, the characters that Mr. Stevens was able to give focus and space to are wonderfully developed into people you could believe are real. With a variety of views, pasts, and ideas that help flesh them out and make them stand out from each other. Even the villains work well here, as each of them was fairly believable. Mr. Stevens even manages to give us a League villain that doesn't feel like a cardboard cut-out. Instead, coming across as someone with very real beliefs and convictions grounded in something besides ideological fanaticism. Add in exciting action sequences and political wheeling and dealing and you have a satisfying end to the series. As I honestly think this is the natural stopping point of Captain Henry and Tia's stories. Breach of Trust gets an A- from me.
I hope you enjoyed this review. This review was chosen by our ever-wise patrons if you would like a vote on upcoming reviews and projects (we’re actually discussing one for this one summer), join us at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads for as little as a dollar a month. Next week, The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad. Until then, stay safe and keep reading!
Black text is your reviewer Garvin Anders
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