The Pen and the Sword: Destiny's Crucible, Book 2

Joseph Colsco, known to his Caedellian friends and neighbors as “Yozef Kolsko” has been cast away on the human inhabited planet of Anyar. He has become a resident of the town of Abersford, a successful business man who has introduced many simple, popular and essential products into the local economy, and many essential products such as gunpowder useful in fighting off the Narthani Empire and its mercenaries. He has proven, helpful to the community, has fathered a child with a local woman and now fate will spread his influence to the attention of Hetman Keelan, leader of the Keelan Clan and a major Caedellian leader attempting to untie the clans against the Narthani Empire.Following a disastrous (for the Buldorians) Narthani influenced Buldorian raid on Abersford and St. Sidryn’s Abbey, fate has intervened to bring Yozef to meet Hetman Keelan. Keelan’s daughter, Maera Keelan, had previously met Yozef during a visit to St. Sidryn’s Abbey and now she and her mother considered whether Yozef would be a suitable husband for Maera. Hetman Keelan is more concerned whether Yozef can be trusted to help Clan Keelan against the Narthani.Soon, both questions will be answered as the Narthani move in force against the clans.In The Pen and the Sword the author writes an excellent and very intense description of a seventeenth century pitched battle between a disparate group characterized by chaos and lacking strong central leadership and a disciplined army. The reader alternately moans and cheers as circumstances twist and turn around a conflict that will mean life or death for the residents of Caedellium.The Pen and the Sword is a wonderful sequel to Cast Under an Alien Sun and one that is certain to be appreciated by anyone who loves reading action dramas. Because it is the second in a series, the reader should consider reading Cast Under and Alien Sun first in order to fully understand what is happening. Both are exceptionally well written and entertaining.

This Series, is a fascinating work. While it does follow the traditional earthling stranded in a less advanced world, and due knowledge and skills quickly advances to the forefront of society cliché.The story is actually quite well developed and quite more complex than the usual fare that follows that trope, it is quite the large novel, which is something I like as it does have meat and the pacing while quite sedate, is not glacial, the story does move forward quite effectively and it does provide a satisfactory and enjoyable read.The story does present us with several mysteries, and an steady development arc which are a joy to read, my only complaint would be that there are several points of detail in the story that are somewhat hard to swallow which to me detract from the amazing work Mr. Thorensen has done. Primarily that Caedelli are both too nice to be believable and too naïve to be believable, particularly for the setting that has been established. But that is a minor caveat in a thoroughly well written book.

This book was better than the first, focusing on the Main Character and the people he interacts with. There is still, from my point of view, too much time spent on scenes and character development amongst the "enemy" trying to subjugate the island the MC lives on. That said the story, characters, and environment around the MC are fascinating, original, and well written.

I usually read future sci-fi novels but my main authors all hit a slow release of new novels and the title and the book cover with some good reviews convinced me to give it a try. The beginning was a little slow but it really had good character developement and the writing gave very good reading of the thoughts and motives of the different factions. The bad guys weren't all bad and the good guys weren't all good. Each had their own motivations for the opposite sides which I liked. Lots of battle scenes toward the end with great description of the fighting. I could picture the positions in my head of the two armies and the action. I am looking forward to the next chapter of the war.

I liked this book a lot more than the first entry in the series. The structure is more organized, and the pace is more fluid. We get to watch as Yozef assimilates more fully into his new world, and resolves to come up with ways to protect his new life. This is where, for me, the book loses a few points.There are little pieces here or there that, frankly, make no sense. My favorite being him lamenting that they don't have matches on this planet because they haven't been invented yet. Well jeez, if only there were a CHEMIST of some sort who knew of such substances that might work?Beyond that is the simple fact of the level of military technology he shares with his new people. I know is unrealistic to expect him to start pumping out machine guns, but why stick with musket balls when you KNOW they were abandoned for the cone shaped bullet due to drastically improved accuracy and range? You'd think that, when faced with almost certain death, you'd set the bar a little higher.*phew* Okay that said I really did enjoy this book. It's still not perfect, and can be a little long winded, but it's definitely worth reading.