The Dark Crusade. Published 2004 (hardcover), 2005 (mass-market paperback); Tor Books.
A quarter-century of war against the implacable vuhls has changed the way humanity approaches the conflict, and a new leader appears on the scene to turn it in a different and more frightening direction. The climax of the war leads humans and their allies down paths that reveal the roots of ancient legends, and the truths (and fabrications) that underly them.
Reviews
"Like its predecessors, this latest entry in the Dark Wing series expands the bounds of military SF to touch on the philosophy and morality of war. . . Hunt continues numerous plot lines from earlier volumes, but he never tangles them. His prose stays transparent, even as it shifts to metaphysical planes where the war against the true enemy is being waged. The work shows a strong affection for the military profession, while still being aware of its tendency to slip from honorable combat to heedless slaughter." Publisher's Weekly. (Copyright ©2004 Reed Business Information.)
"Hunt has lost none of his knack for fast action, and his skill in characterization is growing as he highlights the ethical dilemmas that large-scale conflict generates. The saga now seems to be influenced by Weber, Herbert, and even Tolkien, which is to say by three of the most proven crowd-pleasers in speculative fiction of the last half century. Librarians, stock up." Library Journal. (Copyright © 2005, American Library Association.)
"Considering that these novels are Hunt's first published fiction, he shows surprising skill in keeping the complex structure, classic themes and inventive nomenclature of the novel from getting out of control. . . The series has demonstrated that Hunt is well founded in the genre's tropes and themes, with his more obvious influences ranging from the spac-opera 1930s and 1940s to the more recent military science fiction of writers such as David Weber to the Ender series by Orson Scott Card (and his obsession with the morality of xenocide) to TV shows like Babylon 5 to Tolkienesque fantasy quests . . . This novel could easily have become impenetrable, especially in the complex political maneuverings interestingly enhanced by having one of the players be an AI version of Niccolo Machiavelli himself. But Hunt keeps the narrative under control surprisingly well, and fans of military space opera will find this series of novels well worth reading." SciFi.Com. (©2005, Science Fiction Weekly.)
