Eagle Station
A Novel
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
“Dale Brown is a superb storyteller.”— W. E. B. Griffin
In this thrilling geopolitical adventure from New York Times bestselling legend Dale Brown, Brad McLanahan and the Space Force must fight to preserve America’s freedom when ruthless enemies forge an unlikely alliance to control not only the earth, but the moon and beyond
Because its enemies never stop trying to undermine the security of the United States, the men and women who serve to protect America must always be vigilant. Few know this better than warriors Brad McLanahan and Nadia Rozek. Newly married, the two are just beginning to settle into their life together when they are called back into action.
Though the Russians were badly defeated by Brad and the Iron Wolf Squadron in their previous bid for world dominance, they are back and doubling down on their quest for control of outer space. In addition to their cutting-edge weaponry, they have a formidable new ally: China’s energetic and ruthless leader, President Li Jun.
To protect America and the rest of the free world from the Russians and the Chinese, the Americans plan to mine the moon’s helium-3 resources, which will allow them to fully exploit the revolutionary fusion power technology Brad and his team captured from the Russians aboard the Mars One weapons platform.
But Russia’s minister of defense, Mikhail Leonov, and Li have devised a daring plan of their own. They are building a joint secret base on the moon’s far side fortified with a powerful Russian plasma rail gun that can destroy any spacecraft entering lunar orbit. If the heavily armed base becomes operational, it will give America’s enemies control over the world’s economic and military future.
As this latest skirmish in the war for space accelerates, Brad, Nadia, and their compatriots in the Space Force must use their cunning and skill—and America’s own high-tech weaponry—to derail the Sino-Russian alliance and destroy their lunar site before it’s too late for the United States . . . and the entire world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 2022, this exciting military action thriller from bestseller Brown finds American forces still in control of Mars One, the armed Russian space station that a space-borne commando raid captured in 2019's The Kremlin Strike. Since the Russians destroyed most of the U.S. reconnaissance satellites in the previous book, American ground forces are essentially blind, except for intel supplied by commandos who have taken over what's now called Eagle Station. The loss of a battle in space with the Americans persuades Marshal Mikhail Ivanovich Leonov, the mastermind behind the creation of Mars One, and Li Jun, the Chinese president, that the only way they will ever beat their long-standing foe is by combining forces and controlling the newest battlefield, outer space. The key to success is amassing the special fuel needed to fuel Russian fusion reactors, which is only readily available on the moon. As the Russian and Chinese forces close in on their goal, it becomes clear that only the ingenuity of Americans can save the day. Brown's spectacular future space weapons systems are utterly convincing. Tom Clancy fans won't want to miss this one.
Customer Reviews
Great!
Great read.
The slog of outer space enters the McLanahan series. 🌙😩
Previously, in my review of The Kremlin Strike:
I would love to see Dale Brown write an actual hard science fiction novel. With his military expertise and prowess for fast paced action, I have no doubt it would make for some interstellar warfare that’s actually interesting (because it often isn’t).
Previously, in my review of Planetside:
A lot of military jargon about what’s going on, who’s doing what, what they need to do, why they need to do it, what their next step is, and what will happen if they don’t. [...] Stop talking about some random attack, or the consequences thereof, or the danger of what’s to come, and let me actually see these events unfold.
Eagle Station gives you the slightest fraction of the former, but not before a near endless onslaught of the latter.
Starting with the ending, it's about 5 pages of awesome 👊. The type of climactic action you'd expect from Dale Brown, and on the freakin' moon no less 🌙. It's fast paced, explosive, and reminiscent of that CID action I've come to love (and did I mention it takes place on the freakin' moon 🌙?) The problem is that it's over so quick.
In the beginning the story takes on this vibe of political nuclear chess (I mean that in a good way). Pieces are being moved around, overtaking one another, and each side trying to stay a step ahead of the other in this newfound space race. Every tension filled move is coalescing and building to a crescendo. Then about halfway through everything comes to a grinding halt.
Dale Brown said "NOPE! 🛑 We're going to cancel this mission that the reader would've loved. I got a better idea for the next 200-something pages." And then continues with why they can't do it. What the enemy is capable of. What their options are. Here's something they can do, but not yet ☝️. Why? They need time to invent the technology to do it. While we're waiting on this technology, lets check-in on our bad guys. Oh, they're just gearing up and waiting because they know an attack will eventually come... eventually. But since we're here, let have them talk about all the things we already know, that'll kill some time. The technology is ready, YAY! Hold on, this is experimental technology, they only get one shot so they have to plan this out. Planning... planning... okay, now we're ready. 🎉
At face value, this actually seems like an okay structure for writing a story. But it takes so long for all of this to happen (no joke, this is literally about half the book). Trust me, the good parts are there, but dear god it takes forever to get to them.