- Title:
- Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army (The Earthman Jack Space Saga, #2)
- By:
- Matthew Kadish
- Pages:
- 663
- Rating:
- 4
After his heroic battle against the Deathlords on the Ghost Planet, Jack Finnegan is looking forward to arriving at Omnicron Prime, the capitol planet of the Galactic Regalus Empire -the largest and most advanced civilization in the universe.
Things are looking bright for Jack. He has his unconventional group of friends, his mystical spaceship, and the girl of his dreams -Princess Anna. Not to mention a secret mission that could save Earth and everyone he cares about.
But things get complicated when he arrives at Omnicron. Not only is Jack uncomfortable being thrust into the spotlight for his courageous actions to save the universe, but he soon finds life in the Empire isn’t everything he’d dreamed it would be.
His friends abandon him to pursue their own interests. Greedy and cunning politicians conspire to steal his spaceship. Even his relationship with Anna is strained now that she’s gone from being “the girl next door” to the most powerful woman in the universe.
But beneath all that lies a new and terrifying threat from the Deathlords. A threat that grows in secret, slowly spreading throughout the Regalus Empire like a plague, and it threatens to destroy from within the only thing powerful enough to stop the Deathlords and their malicious rampage throughout the galaxy -the Empire itself.
Worst of all -Jack is the only one who knows about this new threat, and no one will believe his warnings.
Suddenly, the Empire is no longer safe for Jack and his friends. Even the people they’ve come to rely on the most can no longer be trusted. As those he’s sworn to protect turn against him, how can Jack hope to save the day?
Fighting the Deathlords was one thing. Fighting the “good guys” is quite another. Will Jack be able to find the strength to be the hero the universe needs?
Or will he finally be defeated by this Secret Army?
Although unavoidably this didn’t have the huge impact of the first book, it’s still a gripping continuation of Jack’s adventures. The politics, especially toward the midpoint of the work reminded me a lot of the Galactic Senate from the Star Wars universe (what little of it I know) and the actual plot was fun to read. There were huge references to all sorts of sci-fi classics (including Dr who, which nobody does) so that was pretty nifty, and I must say I was impressed with Jack as a character because he’s just so fun to read about. It’s superb that Kadish has got things planned out, and I’m really looking forward to see where things go.