The Accidental War

August 13, 2018
This capable military SF trilogy opener begins slowly, but Williams (Impersonations) delivers the goods in the end. Senior Captain Lord Gareth Martinez and Senior Captain Caroline, Lady Sula, of the Terran Fleet find themselves with little to do now that the Naxid Rebellion is over. Gareth founds a yacht racing club while Sula, as head of Clan Sula, becomes a member of the ruling body of the interplanetary Praxis. Politics, yachting, and high finance occupy them, but then bank failures ripple across the Praxis and the economy plummets. The less than scintillating financial intricacies allow Williams to set up all that follows: Terrans are scapegoated, then targeted by riots, and when a Fleet insider learns that all Terran Fleet crews will be removed and questioned in pursuit of a fictitious mutiny, Gareth and Sula gather as many Terran officers as they can and flee to the one base held by a Terran commander. Williams doesn’t lead with battles, but the groundwork that he lays ensures that this new war can carry several future volumes. This is a solid start to a series that military science fiction fans should enjoy.

August 1, 2018
The Accidental War begins seven years after the end of the Naxid War chronicled in Williams' Dread Empire's Fall series (beginning with Praxis, 2002). Captains Gareth Martinez and the Lady Sula do their best to occupy themselves with no cause to use their lethal skills, forcing them into the ancient, lockstep politics that punish innovation and reward status quo. When economic setbacks lead to strife, Terrans become scapegoats, and Martinez, Sula, and other series favorites find themselves leading a desperate fight for the survival of their species. Blending generational space opera and military battles in space, Williams slowly brings this pot to boil, with the added promise of greater feats of military derring-do in the next two volumes. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)