Book: Forged in Battle
Series: Command Decision #1
Author: Marc Alan Edelheit
Publication Day: July 25, 2025
Buy link(s): Amazon
Book Description:
After decades of war, the Union was starting to rebuild. But our allies betrayed us without warning, striking every ship in the system in a cowardly surprise attack. One destroyer remains—trapped far behind enemy lines, with no support and no way home.
Captain Jaxon Steele never expected his first command to throw him into the heart of a raging storm…
On a routine diplomatic mission, Steele’s ship is orbiting a war-torn planet when the entire system erupts in rebellion. Missiles smash into Ranger’s shields. Communications are jammed. Enemy warships are closing in fast…
Ranger is an advanced destroyer—fast, stealthy, and armed to the teeth—but she wasn’t built for heavy fighting and a rebel battleship would tear her to shreds. Steele will need all his trickery and tactical genius to survive the first strike.
But survival is not enough… A vast enemy fleet is lurking somewhere in the system. Only Ranger can locate it and prevent a catastrophic defeat.
Steele knows his duty… He begins a deadly game of hunter and hunted across the rebel system, knowing that any mistake will be his last. Can his leadership, daring, and resolve turn the tide of the war?
Marc Alan Edelheit writes a heck of a good sci-fi novel! In Forged in Battle, we meet Captain Jaxon Steele, recently given command of the Union’s newest destroyer, Ranger. He’s not sure why his ship was tagged for what seems to be a routine diplomatic mission. But when things go horribly awry and the diplomatic mission becomes a rescue and extraction, Steele realizes this is anything but routine, and Ranger‘s presence is entirely intentional.
An intelligence agent is one of the people rescued, and just as it looks like Ranger will make it safely out of harm’s way, he informs Steele of a new mission: determine whether the Protectorate has a fleet hidden in the Exclusion Zone, a wasteland of detritus from the final battle of the previous great war. Steele and his crew must navigate a multitude of hazards and avoid detection in hopes of helping Union forces prepare for what may be coming.
This is some good, old-school-style space opera, and I am here for it. Edelheit gives us a compelling protagonist in Jaxon Steele. He’s confident in his abilities and lets his very competent crew do the work they’ve trained and prepared for, but human enough that worries and concerns still seep through occasionally. He realizes he was given command of Ranger over others who thought they were better suited to the role, and he pushes to prove himself worthy of that command, knowing that this unexpected mission will subject him to questioning when they return safely home. And he perseveres.
We get a lot of jargon with the story, but Edelheit weaves it in so deftly that it’s pretty easy to figure out from context what things are. He also gives us a handy appendix at the end of the book that provides a lot of useful information on concepts and major players in the story.
A lot of time in the story is spent waiting – waiting as they travel slowly back into the heart of the Illidran system, waiting to see the outcome of probes launched, waiting to see if enemy forces pick them up on scans and blow their cover. But the story never dragged. We were waiting with tension, with bated breath, knowing something was going to happen any minute. And so it did. This was a hard book to put down, even knowing I had to get up and work the next morning.
There are more books to come, but this particular arc wraps up neatly, so there isn’t a huge cliffhanger even though you know there’s more to the story. I appreciate that! And the next book in the series is expected out early next year, so I won’t have too long to wait to see what happens next.
If you’re a fan of hard-hitting science fiction that makes you bite your nails and stay up past bedtime reading, pick up Forged in Battle. Happy reading!
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Second Sky Books. I didn’t have to leave a review. All opinions here are mine, and I don’t say nice things about books I don’t actually like.
About the author:
Marc is an avid reader and accomplished author that spends his days – and nights – dreaming and writing about all things fantasy and sci-fi. In 2015 he decided to make his dream a reality and published his first fantasy novel… the rest is history!
Marc has traveled the world, from Asia to Europe. He is the ultimate history fan and incorporates much of that passion into his work to bring greater realism to his fantasy and sci-fi books. In 2021, he moved his family to a cabin in the mountains to gain further inspiration from his surroundings and bring you amazing books!
More information about Marc can be found at http://www.maenovels.com
