Cosmic Strife: Assault is a fantastic first entry into this sci-fi world. The story follows the lives of three siblings who are trying to live up to the Ragner family legacy. It begins with the world under possible threat from alien attack and how each of the three members of the Ragner family are preparing for it.

The biggest part of this book that stands out to me is how well the writer is able to describe a scene. Especially action scenes, which come up quite frequently in the second half of the book. The detail with which the aerial combat and maneuvering is portrayed made the scenes much more intense because there is no pause in reading to try and figure out how characters are positioned. These descriptions also make the villain extremely intimidating. He definitely feels like a terrifying presence who also outmatches the main characters, creating a strong underdog aspect, which I love.

I thoroughly enjoyed all three characters and was never disappointed when a new chapter began with a different character’s viewpoint. I was always excited to learn the next part of each character’s story. The character’s stories also weave together intricately. They each have an effect on one another’s arc. This can be a difficult style to write and Cosmic Strife: Assault does a great job with it. None of the characters could have completed their goals without the others, but none of the plot points felt contrived. Each course of action was completely believable. That’s the stumbling block that I see most often in writing. I believe that either the author had meticulously plotted this out, or knew his characters so well that he was easily able to chart what logical decisions they would be able to make.

The characters are all written very well, even the side characters. There are only two minor instances of plot where I felt that character development was rushed and maybe could have been slowed down to include those story beats in a later chapter or even the next book. The plot point that stuck out to me most was the romance. It is completely believable that the characters would have fallen for each other since they went through a traumatic experience together. This is such a classic way of setting up story romances because it happens in the real world so most of us understand the thought process. They go through the steps of romance very quickly, which could have worked, except that this is in the middle of a war where they are fighting against total annihilation. It’s possible that I’m mis-reading the section and there is much more time that occurs while this is happening, which would give them time to let their guard down. But there seems to be a matter of hours that this takes place in. I do like the story beat. I think it works extremely well for these characters. But slowing it down and setting it up for the next book would have flowed better. 

The worldbuilding is fascinating and I’m very much looking forward to the next installment in this series. The way the author is able to describe the universe feels very natural in the story. I was able to understand the different pieces of the universe as it is woven into the story. The different relationships that each location and species have to each other are clearly portrayed. This makes it easy to become fully invested in the different factions and the outcomes of each thread in the story. This is another area that the author really excels in. Having a story that expands to multiple worlds and even galaxies can lead to a lot of confusion. Especially when using exotic, made up names. Usually in this type of book, I would be referring to the glossary (or writing my own). But the way that each world and culture is introduced and, possibly more importantly, reiterated on throughout makes the relationships clearer and easier to understand. The book also spends a good amount of time on a storyline before jumping to another character perspective and this helps the information really sink in. The reader is able to digest the information while staying immersed in the scene. 

This book was one of the most fun reads I’ve had in a while. It reminded me slightly of older Timothy Zahn books or even some of the X-Wing series (and maybe a little Top Gun as well). It’s one that I would highly recommend for anyone interested in an exciting sci-fi adventure. I was very impressed that this was the writer’s first book, he showed a lot of writing skill. It’s clear that this world was very well thought out. Sci-fi can get messy if the rules of the created universe don’t connect well. Steve Gavin has shown that he has a lot of experience in this genre and a passion for the subject since these rules have been considered and planned carefully. As I write this, the Cosmic Strife story is probably the one I’m most looking forward to continuing.

-Patrick Jones