2019 Dragon Award Finalist, Best Mil SF: "Sons of the Lion"

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If you want to trim out (most) of the extraneous stuff, and just read a book review, you can go to Goodreads, which has already posted. The abbreviated review is also on Amazon. And you can vote on the Amazon review, as well, and if my review, or this book, touches your heart, I hope you will find it helpful.

Greetings to all my internet friends and neighbors, and for those of you who came here for the Dragon Award finalist review, here's the second and long-awaited review of one I have been cherishing since the beginning.  And for those family members who are wondering what in the heck is going on: this one, my sweet loves, is written with all of you in mind.

I need to get some personal stuff out of the way first.

Most of my family is half-Nigerian, via a smooth-talking man who came to the United States to get rich via various schemes. He was eventually deported, but that did not, and can not, and should not separate all the blood and cultural connections to the home country.
I am a born-on-a-dirt-road redneck, I have been FORCED to attend to some issues because of my love for and responsibility to my family. It has been my task to help those who wish to discover the connection, in such a way that they are not scarred by it. I have not had the luxury of ignoring things taking place in the continent of Africa; I have family living there.

And here some of them are:

This is my son Matthew on the left,

with his stepmother, bio-father, and little sister

And the two drop-dead gorgeous ladies on the left

are my daughters Tobhiyah and Jennifer,

with bio-father, stepmother, auntie, and sister.

Do you see why this book resonates with me?
Yes, it is primarily a good, old-fashioned, shoot-em up exploding spaceship story. Yahoo!
However, it is set in Western Africa, mostly in Liberia, and the poverty, corruption, cynicism, beauty, and steadfastness of that area are treated seriously in this book. It doesn't fall off the cliff of white guilt on the one hand, nor does it fall off the cliff of blaming everything on incompetent savages on the other side. I found it to speak the truth, based on my own personal experience and research.

Furthermore, the love of country, expressed primarily through the unmitigated patriotism of the protagonist, makes this book a special gift to me. Others may have a different experience. I challenge the reader who is inclined to blow off the book's serious examination of  a complicated situation to speak to primary sources, and to listen, listen, listen. Just as the author did: he listened.

And now, to the book.

We start with some insights into the Veetanho family structure, which pretty much makes most Human families look like paradise. Males are useless, except for breeding, after which they are murdered. Sterile females become something akin to sadistic harem mistresses, with the sole, declared intent to make life for those under their care to be the very worst imaginable. And it appears to me, that withing the creche, there is ONE dominant Alpha, and everyone else serves as prey, to be tormented to no end, other than to reinforce to the Alpha that they are truly the Alpha. I may have missed some subtleties, but that description hits the high points.
So: no wonder Peepo is a psycho. It's what she was TRAINED to be.

One who has (somehow) managed to break the mold a bit is Thorpi. A biological female, she passes herself off as a male; and how she got away with THAT, I don't know. She has found a valuable place as Logistics Officer with the Kakata Korps, a merc company based out of Monrovia, Liberia, and has totally escaped the demands of Veetanho society.

Until they want her back.

Senior members of her family have noted her place, and decide to use her influence with the Kakata Korps to persuade them to take on the role of enforcers for the Mercenary Guild, and then to serve as their agent-in-place. It's a tough position for her, because her loyaties are torn so severly.

The enforcement role is plausible on the surface for commanding officer Colonel Mulbah Luo, because Kakata Korps was NOT in the inner circles of the mercs, didn't know what was happening with the Four Horsemen, and they came back from a mission to find that there is an apparent rebellion against the Galactic Union. They are tasked to bring the remaining rebels to heel.

It's a nasty job, but on paper, it seems appropriate. There are, after all, records showing all the broken rules the Four Horsemen left in their wake as they abandoned Earth. It's a trap, of course, but it s baited with some sweet, sweet cheese. If the Kakata Korps takes the legal contracts given to them by General Peepo's faction, they will be rewarded with enough money to buy the best equipment first, and promises of influence a little bit later.

Here's where an understanding of some of the basics of African politics is helpful. In almost every case, the borders that define African countries were drawn up by EUROPEAN nations at the Berlin Conference of 1885. The reasoning had NOTHING to do with the political, religious, or cultural affiliations of the Africans, and everything to do with carving up land for colonialism without causing conflict for the Europeans.  From the beginning, the tribal structures extant were ignored, with the result that life-long enemies were thrust together and told to stop fighting. Not effective. Still causing problems TODAY, and so, into the future of the 4HU. 

Despite the mess, Col Luo LOVES his country, and hates the turmoil that the impoverishment resulting from hi-tech only available from the Galactics has brought to the people of Africa. So, the temptation he cannot resist: he is promised influence, if not actual dominion, over most of West Africa. It's not in him to turn down the chance to bring order to a region that has been unable to provide peace and a decent standard of living to its' people, despite abundant resources.

Of course, this brings him into conflict with the graft-collecting bureaucracy, and he anticipates having to stage a coup. However, a reform candidate has just been elected to the Office of the President in Liberia, a man with the same dreams for the future.

Now, ALL of that is the background. From here, you get into the exploding spaceships, which manifest in various ways. In addition to the allegedly 'rogue' merc units General Peepo sends him after, there are numerous psycho warlords who collect the very finest filth by the power of intimidation, forced drug addiction, and child enslavement. Think they can co-exist with the virtue Col Luo is attempting to bring?

And now, for The Question: Is "Sons of the Lion" a worthy candidate for the 2019 Dragon Award in the category of Best Military Science Fiction?

My wife is the most beautiful woman in the world. Do you think that I could be an impartial judge of a beauty contest if she were in it? Not a chance. She would win, hands down, if it were up to me. The same principle applies here. There is no way, given what this book means to me personally, that I can give an unbiased opinion. 

I regret that the publisher has two candidates in this category. It would be better for them if there were six, or only one, because that way, the vote-splitting wouldn't happen, and the excellence that they have come to represent in the field could be given proper recognition. 

And personally, it doesn't matter to me anyway. I know what this book means, and awards and honors have zero impact on that. For the author, I hope the proper accolades come in the form of green pieces of paper, with a preponderance of Mr. Franklin's picture (although President Grant is rather comely as well, if of smaller stature). 

Peace be on your household.