J.F. Holmes has started a new space adventure series, starting with the thoroughly entertaining and engrossing first book, Under A Different Sun.

Here’s the blurb:

In the near future, massive empires rule the stars, and west of the Reach, they are battling for control of new systems. In the no-mans land between the front lines, Captain Nate Meric and the crew of the privateer Lexington fight for prize money, and loyalty to their ship and their friends. Beneath it all, though, runs a hidden dream. To see America restored, and take her rightful place among the stars.

If you were to ask me what the overall theme of this book is, I’d have to use a line that kept popping up in my head as I read it – The light that shines in the darkness burns brightest. A crew of dedicated, hard fighting professionals fights to claim their next prize, keep each other alive, and work toward the restoration of their nation.  Through its pages, we meet Nathaniel Meric, captain of the Lexington and privateer in an interstellar war.  His crew, made up of humans from all nations and several people from other species, is well thought out and easy to visualize as you go through the story.

The plot is, well, space opera, but it grabs your attention and keeps at you until you come to the last page.  It’s an easy read, but forces the reader to think about concepts such as loyalty and freedom.  I’m also giving Holmes extra points for being the first space opera writer I’ve ever run across who didn’t go into detail about how the faster than light (FTL) drive works.

Holmes is an excellent storyteller, and Under a Different Sun is an entertaining, engrossing yarn. It mixes mil-scifi with space opera, and tells a quintessentially heroic, human story.  I definitely recommend it to fans of Heinlein, Drake, or Grant.