Title: Renegades From the Time War
Author: Gordon Phillips
Genre: Romance/Sci Gi
LGBTQ+ Category: MM Gay
Publisher: Self
Pages: 104
Reviewer: Becky
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About The Book
Carl Obermeier, a cadet at the Time Corps Academy, discovers he has been admitted to his second year on Conditional status. This is due to his high “emotional liability.” He is advised to mediate and study the precepts and disciplines of the Corps. But on his first day back, his class is shown an example of Temporal Crime committed by the Time Pirates, enemy of the Ordered Society, and he is smitten by the pirate Armand’s beauty. Troubled, Carl remains true to the Corps when he is kidnapped by the pirates and meets Armand face to face.
Armand lives a free and easy life with the pirates … until he sees Carl, and realizes the cadet has fallen for him.
As the pirates deprogram Carl from the rigid tenets of the Ordered Society, the two men fall in love. But a pirate’s life is never safe, and when Armand fails to return from an Action against the OS Marines, Carl steps up to save him. Unfortunately the men are caught on either side of the Time War. Can they find their way out?
The Review
Renegades of the Time War is a sci-fi novella featuring a likable cadet, Carl Obermeier, as the main character, and a small cast of supportive characters. Readers are introduced to the Time Pirates, who are an enemy of the Ordered Society. With political undertones throughout the story, we soon discover the pirates are perhaps not quite the enemy the regime presents them to be.
While the narrative starts a little slow with the world-building, something though that is indeed necessary, once we get to the thick of the plot, scenes speed on by as Carl navigates his feelings for handsome pirate Armond. Readers also follow Carl as he journeys through his own sexual awakening and his personal identity until he reaches the point of acceptance.
The development, while fast, works for a novella-length story. The only downfall is that while readers have a fairly firm grasp on the main character, there’s little development for Armond. It made their connection a little challenging to believe in.
An easy, quick read. Great if you want an hour’s escapism.
The Reviewer
A supporter of indie authors and small presses, Becky lives and breathes literature. A full-time book editor and publisher, Becky and her team have edited well over a thousand books and have published over a hundred. Life is hectic and amazing, but there’s always time for “just one more chapter.”
