Gunboat Diplomacy by Jason Cordova and Jamie Ibson

Welcome to the final installment of Jimbo's Fifth Annual Memorial Day Weekend Event. Yes, this was supposed to be four books instead of five, Yes, it was supposed to have ended two days ago. Honestly, though, if you wanted someone who knew how to count and could have handled both of those issues...

Crap. I used to be a chem major and I'm actually good at math.

HELP! I NEED ANOTHER EXCUSE!!!

I should have stuck with chem, it would've paid better than the history degree I got instead.

Anyway, this is it for the Memorial Day thing until next year.  I purposely saved this book for last because today I get to honor two veterans instead of one. And, of course the only thing better than honoring one veteran is honoring two veterans. So I saved the best for last.

And for the record, yes, I know that Memorial Day is about the people who didn't make it back and not veterans but I have yet to find an author of Science Fiction or Fantasy that was killed in action.

Jason Cordova was a member of the United States Navy. He finished his service as an uhhh

Some kind of mate third class. He was a Cryptologic Technician and I don't have a rank table for that. He served in Israel and Greece and maybe some other places. *wink*

Jamie Ibson was one of our allies in the Canadian Forces Infantry. He joined in 1998 and was a corporal when he mustered out. He was in Bosnia on 9/11 and came home a few weeks later. Maybe someday I'll buy him a drink and find out about that one. The historian side of me is curious.

Two of his friends were killed in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device. It is my sad duty to recognize Sergeant Robert Short and Corporal Keith Morely for their sacrifices in service. Please pary for their families. This is a Memorial Day Event and they were our allies. 

He say he didn't get to play with many cool toys, just guns like the M240. I would like to point out for the record that the M240 sounds like a pretty cool toy to me. He has a few books coming out this year. We Dare: Semper Paratus, has been turned in and will be out this summer. He has a novel in the This Fallen World Series (which I totally intend to read. I already have the the first book on my To Be Read pile) coming out, to be title Pacific Shogun He is also planning a novelization of Myrmidons Inc. from an earlier anthology. 

Before I start the review...

This is a book in the Four Horsemen Universe. I am the Public Relations Officer for The Mercenary Guild: The Official Fan Organization of the Four Horsemen Universe. I'd like to think that I've been objective in this review. I'd also like to think that I'm a world-record holding Olympic athlete.

Oh, did someone say review?

Gunboat Diplomacy by Jason Cordova and Jamie Ibson is not your typical Four Horsemen Universe Novel. Not that there's anything wrong with being a “typical 4HU novel; I'm a huge fan,” but most of the series revolves around humans. This is, perhaps, to be expected when the series is written by a bunch of human authors. I still enjoy the change of pace when we get an alien centered book, and trust me, Gunboat Diplomacy is one.

If you know anything about the Four Horsemen Universe (and hopefully you've picked up at least a bit from your friendly neighborhood blogger) then you know that the Oogar are not the most diplomatic of species. They're a mercenary race and they're good at killing all the things, but they're not exactly what you'd call patient or tactful. I like that about them. I'm a bit on the blunt side myself.

Our main character, Hr'ent Golramm, is an Oogar. He is also a candidate to be a Peacemaker, which is officially the Galactic Union's equivalent of a police officer, while in practice being closer to a Texas Ranger. He is actually a bit on the patient side for his species, meaning that he only occassionaly tries to deconstruct a person's body for disagreeing with him. Yeah, he's got the Oogar temper, but also their toughness. What else would you expect from an ape analog. Of course, Oogar are purple and I could make a Grape Ape reference here, but that would be a cheap shot, so I'll leave it alone.

Hr'ent is far from the only alien in the book. I think I remember one human appearing in the book and someone being confused by what it was. I don't seem to remember anyone mentioning if it was a male r female. This is a totally alien centered story and I love that about it. Hr'ent is investigating things on a planet that is primarily populated by two other alien species: The Pushtal and the MinSha so we still get that outsider looking in thing to help clarify like Gene Roddenberry gave us with Spock and Data. 

Gunboat Diplomacy is a combination war story, diplomatic story and a mystery all rolled up into a bundle. There is seriously a lot going on here and I'm not sure how the authors managed to get it all straight but they did an outstanding job. The different aspects of the book are welded together so well that you don't really realize that you've just switched subjects. It's like going from history to speech to boxing without realizing you ever left your desk. Ibson and Cordova were pretty champion in their performance here.

It's also worth noting that they seem to have (at least to the best of my knowledge and belief: I haven't gotten to the whole series yet) created a culture for a species known as the Pushtal out of almost nothing. There is a whole backstory created, a method of governing debuted and some fairly serious consequences (to say the least) of a war lost all rolled up into a culture that feels real. I could see these aliens existing somewhere. This society lives, at least for now.

You also get a good look at the way the legal system of the Galactic Union works. Of course, it has it blind spots, but most do. But this is a type of government never seen in reality whose closest cognate in fiction is Michael Z. Williamson's Freehold universe. Law enforcement is minimal because the amount of laws is minimal. I find myself like this type of government, even if it would quite frankly horrify some people. Seriously, there is a statement in the book about not calling the Peacemakers if you have a piracy problem, but hiring some mercenaries to take care of it. That kind of personal responsibility is something that would never be allowed in the modern world.

The action sequences in Gunboat Diplomacy are on point. I kind of expected that from a book written by two veterans, and I wasn't disappointed. I would be willing to be that at least one of the authors has had some fairly intense hand to hand training (the book -and the military refer to it as “Combatives”) because I spent four years taking Tae Kwon Do from a guy who went on to win a couple of championship belts and they felt real. (Mr. Kazmikha won the belts, not me.) I will say this much though: These scenes are not for the faint of heart. I grew up on Freddy Kreuger and Jason Voorhees and I'm telling you at least one sequence made even me a little queasy.

Really? A rib? OUCH!!!

Read the book. You'll get it. And yeah, it was every bit as awesome as it was disgusting. Honestly, it was probably as awesome as it was BECAUSE it was disgusting, but ewwwww....

The reactions of Hr'ent's assistants, so to speak, are well thought out and believable too. They're people who got hired to do a mission and ended up doing a lot more than they thought they would. They're not happy. They're bounty hunters who got asked to do the jobs of mercenaries. At the end of the day, they do them well, but they're not jumping for joy and celebrating, at least till it's over. I would imagine that the celebrations at the end of the mission were legen -wait for it- dary. It's too bad nobody saved me a round. I could have used one too. Keeping up with Gunboat Diplomacy had me worn out, but in a good way.

Of course, whenever I read a book that's deep into a series I comment on whether it makes a good stand-alone. Gunboat Diplomacy is awesome dipped in awesome sauce on a stick, but I would not start the series here. There is a lot going on in the background and the relationships of these species to each other and to the galaxy at large are complicated. Ibson and Cordova really did do a good job of explaining the job of a Peacemaker though. All in all, I'd still start the 4HU at the beginning and come to this with some background of the universe the story is set in.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Magnesium Bars

Gunboat Diplomacy
Jason Cordova and Jamie Ibson
Seventh Seal Press, 2020

Gunboat Diplomacy is available for purchase at the following link: