Still refreshing reading - Rated 
I love authors who manage to insert humor into their art. All too often it seems as though the fight between the good and bad is stuffed to the gills with seriousness. Not so with Mike Shepherd.
Kris Longknife is a heroine who fights for what she believes in (especially in staying alive around the Peterswald family). Her strength lies in getting people to want to help her by not being afraid of being on the front-lines herself. She does not take herself all that seriously and doesn't get in a huff when people don't treat her with the respect that one might think that a princess should have.
This is a fun read. Shepherd's style of writing is refreshing, while all the time remaining faithful to his characters. It must be awfully fun to be able to catch the attention of people the way he does.
Excellent military science fiction - Rated
After numerous assassination attempts, Princess Kris Longknife, a Lieutenant in the Wardhaven navy plans to do a little business and get some rest and relaxation on the planet New Eden. Almost as soon as she lands an attempt is made on her life and efforts to get assistance from her computer implant were jammed. This was thought to be impossible and the last time it happened her family's enemies were involved.
The attempt on her life makes it on the news and she learns after some digging that New Eden is not as productive and peaceful as it is supposed to be. New Eden journalists are forbidden from reporting negative stories, a large part of the population is forbidden to vote and there is much crime but nobody hears of it. She discovers Victoria is on the planet and she blames Kris for killing her brother. In the course of dealing with another assassination attempt, a large cache of weapons is found by Kris' troops. Something big is going to happen on New Eden and Kris will find herself, her marines and other allies in the middle of it.
Mike Shepherd is a fantastic storyteller who excels at writing military science fiction. His protagonist is a strong willed independent thinker who does what she thinks is best for humanity even if it means not adhering to planetary law. Human life is very precious to her and those people in her inner circle who play roles in the storyline. There is plenty of action and tension as this is a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience for science fiction fans. Also, if you missed reading Tino Georgiou's masterpiece--The Fates, go and read it.
she's a longknife not a lady - Rated
And don't we love her for it. Fifth in an ongoing series of military science fiction novels about kristine longknife, far future heroine, and her trusted sidekicks, battling the enemies of her family from world to world. Although this book almost stands on it's own the number of references to past events and the like do mean you'd be better off starting with the beginning of the series.
but those who have followed it so far will not be disappointed. Kris and her associates are sent to an old colonial planet seemingly for routine negotiations, but actually because there are bad things going on there. They investigate things, one member of the cast of characters giving away some hitherto unrevealed information about their past in the process, and a satisfying action finale results.
These books are good and readable because they have good prose and strong characterisation, and kris is not a perfect character, but one whom it's very easy to relate to and like. She'll be back next year in kris longknife: intrepid, the memorable final scenes of this setting up a new direction for the character. And I look forward to it.
The mixture as before - Rated 
If you liked the earlier Kris Longknife novels, you'll like this. It's not the best place to start, partly because there are so many references to previous books, and partly because the degree of suspense and the apparent importance of the conflict is not so good as Resolute or Defiant, for instance. Also, I think there were more typos then I've aver seen in a published book, to the extent that they really did get in the way of the content - lazy editing and proof-reading. But still worth reading, with background on Abby in particular.
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