And the Mighty Will Fall is the fourth book in KB Wagers' NeoG series of novels, a series which follows a 25th interstellar coast guard-esque military force, the NeoG, as they attempt to protect human space. I really loved A Pale Light in the Black, the first book in this series, and even did a weekly reread series on this blog about it (see here) as Wagers' prose and gifts for Sci-Fi action, dialogue and characters often really works for me and the first book featured a really great found family setup in an optimistically much better human future (that occurred after a societal collapse mind you). Notably, each of the books in this series features kind of a different vibe, if not subgenre, and time passes enough between each book that while some of the main characters remain the same (Max, Jenks, Nika, Sapphi, and Tamago are in every book), the characters' jobs and locations change between books and other major characters in the main crew come and go between books.

And the Mighty Will Fall is no different and it uses its new setup to tell a story that Wagers themselves describes as a take on "Die Hard", as Max gets caught on a space station orbiting Mars when terrorists take over the station and hold everyone hostage for mysterious and deadly purposes and must wage a one woman war to try to gain back control while the rest of the NeoG works to find some way to get up there to help her. And as an action novel, the novel is really well done so if you're looking for a die-hard esque book, you'll find that here for sure, but this book does quite a bit more than that. Indeed, the book deals with the traumas of a long running and seemingly now ending war, as well as even the trauma of necessary violence, in effective ways, and as such is well worth your time, even if you haven't quite yet been reading the NeoG.

Note: Each NeoG book is stand alone, so you can read this novel first, but I would recommend reading book 1 in the series first anyway for context about the characters and setting. Books 2-3 are also worth your time, but you don't really need them for this book as much as I think you'll benefit from reading A Pale Light in the Black first.

Plot Summary:
Commander Maxine "Max" Carmichael of the NeoG interceptor Zuma's Ghost does not love her current assignment: being the public face for the NeoG as it turns over the Mars Orbital Station (the "MOS"), the NeoG satellite ensuring peace and traffic control around Mars, to Mars Civilian Command. It's an important role, as it signifies the latest steps in bridging the divide between those fighting for an Independent Mars (such as Free Mars freedom fighters) and CHN/Earth forces and signifies the near-end of the conflict. But it's a task that relies upon her political skills and tact and well her reputation not just as the NeoG's 8 time winner of the Boarding Games but also as a member of the famous Carmichael family, the latter of which she is deliberately estranged from (except for a few choice siblings). Max would rather be out in the black helping people with her crew on Zuma's Ghost, but she knows she has a duty to be here.

But when terrorists claiming to belong to the "Free Mars" movement attack and capture the MOS with the help of traitors among the NeoG, Max finds herself thrust into a very different situation: alone on a station filled with hostiles and potential allies who might themselves secretly be traitors, all the while in possession of lock down codes that the terrorists themselves want for some mysterious deadly purpose. Max will need all of her physical and mental skills to survive, nevertheless to be able to pick off and take down the terrorists.

But when it becomes clear that the terrorists are not who they claim to be and have motives tied to the Mars-Earth conflict and beyond that make them willing to die and do monstrous things for their cause, it becomes clear that Max may not be able to do this on their own. And so Max's NeoG crewmates, aided by the Free Mars people who have long been their enemies, will have to find a way to provide her with support before its too late.....

If you know Die Hard - or even have just heard of it - you should have a general idea of some of the setup of And the Mighty Will Fall. Max finds herself on a space station taken over by terrorists whom she has to take down one by one and in groups in order to save the day and to try and save as many of the hostages as she can. Meanwhile, there will be a few particular terrorists on board who will prove real challenges, and the duel between them with up the ante in terms of danger. It's a setup that I enjoy seeing on film, but wasn't sure how it would translate for me in terms of reading: I have trouble with a lot of action scenes on page in visualizing (a me problem, not a problem for most readers I think), but Wagers wrote the action here really well so I never had a problem following. And well, given what we know of Max from prior books, she's honestly more believable as a one woman army than Bruce Willis in Die Hard.

That said, as I mentioned above the jump, this novel is far more than just Die Hard in space - for even more reasons than just that Max will need help in this novel from her teammates outside of the station in a way Bruce Willis never really did (in the first movie at least). For one, a major theme is the trauma that comes with killing and death, even when one is justified in one's reactions: so for example, Max finds herself getting more and more traumatized as she goes on, with full blown PTSD at the end, and it's appropriately distressing to read. Another theme here is how conflicts between sides, bloody conflicts, are so incredibly hard to end as people feel more and more that only blood can pay for blood and that even a hard won peace is not enough to make them okay with their grief. The main antagonists here aren't doing this for money, if I can say without spoiling, but are people who are caught up in the cycle of vengeance, and it makes them far more deadly and dangerous, even if their own actions limit the amount of sympathy the reader will have for them. It's rather well done, especially as the antagonists are contrasted by members of the Free Mars freedom fighters - terrorists in their own rights many would say - who are working with the NeoG to stop them and try to preserve the hard won peace.

It's not a particularly profound or insightful take on a theme that is pretty common these days in SciFi (For good reason, it's very relevant to the world today as well as the world in the past and the future), but it's done very well and it works extremely well alongside the Die-Hard like plot and the excellent cast of NeoG characters (plus a few new ones). Max, Jenks, D'Arcy, and others all make excellent characters who are easy to read about and care about and for readers who have read the earlier books, seeing how they've matured and grown is really something (especially for Jenks of all people). Not everything about this book is great - there's one subplot involving one character on the bad guys side that is both extremely generic tropey and requires you to believe that character was extremely dumb in not realizing what was going on when it is so so typical in stories like this and that kind of threw me from the narrative a little. But generally, this is another really successful installment in this series and yet another reason to get into the NeoG. Recommended.

this was a good book! It is such a scary thought to imagine being in space and not being able to leave. It was a good science fiction book with some action, thrill, and futuristic themes. I liked the writing overall, and it would make a good movie!

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

This is the fourth book in the series, and as such, it’s full of people and places with pasts and connections to one another that are hinted at, or summed up in in a sentence or two before the story moves along. And as someone who dives into a book character first, this … well, it hindered my enjoyment. For as well plotted as it is — and it is very well plotted — I struggled to fully invest my attention into it. That is not the book’s fault, or the author’s, but it did leave me more distanced from the book than I think it deserves.

Part of this is due to the many POV characters, all of whom know one another, have ties and connections and feelings towards one another that come across in a tell-don’t-show manner because one, there isn’t time to dwell on character motivations with so much happening, and two, it was all established in previous books, so there’s no need to re-hash it, here.

All in all there’s a lot to like in this book with a well structured plot, a great deal of action scenes with clever and intelligent moves made by characters and some interesting politics. Wile I did’nt connect to this book or its characters, I am interested enough in the world — and enjoying the writing style — to go back and pick up the first book in the series.

Maybe the second time I read this book with the weight of the series behind it I’ll have a better grasp of the characters. Thank you so much to Net Galley and the publisher for letting me have an ARC.

And the Mighty Will Fall, by K.B. Wagers, is an enjoyable, exciting, occasionally intense, adventure set in space in the semi-near future. Earth is still the center of human civilization, but it has numerous outposts. Mars was settled long enough ago to be on the brink of winning its freedom after a lot of struggle, pain, and deaths. The protagonists of this book are members of the Near Earth Orbit Guard, kind of like a space coast guard, dealing with terrorists who take over a large orbital platform in order to make a violent political point.

This is actually the fourth in a series, but billed as a stand-alone novel in that universe, and I thought that was quite reasonable. Information was given as needed to understand what was happening, and I had no trouble with distinguishing the major characters or following the action. I do take issue with descriptions of this book as "Die Hard on a space station" because that led me to expect a heist twist, which never happened — the terrorists really were terrorists, intent on sharing their pain and grief.

I was interested that in using a coastal-type guard that often focuses on saving lives, Wagers had their characters extend a few more chances for redemption to some of the terrorists than I would have expected if they had been serving in a more militaristic space navy or army. Most of the terrorists were intent on taking revenge for people they'd lost in the struggle for independence, but some were brought to see the futility and cruelty of their own acts, and to work to avert more tragedy.

Shaun Duke and I interviewed K.B. Wagers about their work recently on Shaun's Twitch network. This interview will eventually appear on YouTube and as a podcast, but for now, here's the Twitch link:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2308665562

This latest installment in the NeoG series is a huge leap forward and up in time, in intensity, and for our characters. The stakes are so much higher here but the journey makes perfect sense. I just thought I was hooked before!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.

This was... a lot. A great, high adrenaline novel for the NeoG series.

Content warning include: graphic death and injury, terrorism, mass murder, trauma, hostage situation.

I really enjoyed the NeoG series when I found it last year, and this new novel was no exception. While the first three books were never without action, this one raised it all on a whole new level.

From the get go, the book is way more serious than the previous ones. There is no relationship drama, and no boarding games - the entire book plays over the course of one day (possibly only a series of hours?) and against one massive, horrifying attack on a day that should lead to more peace.

There is a time skip between And the Mighty Will Fall, which is the fourth book in the series, and the previous books, The Ghost of Trappist. It's also been over a year since I read it. As such, I struggled a bit with recalling the massive cast of characters and their relationships and character dynamics. There is a cast list at the beginning of the book, grouping all appearing characters based on their factions/teams, but that admittedly didn't really help me. I did find my groove eventually, but I do think the series is best enjoyed when you have a deep understanding of the characters and dynamics, though it does still work when you just vaguely remember. I don't think it would work as a standalone, was there is next to no recap of anything that has happened before.

Something that really struck with me was Max's character arc, especially towards the end. While the book is full of personal tragedy, what is happening to Max, or rather how what she has to do in this book, is absolutely horrifying on an emotional level. It isn't really resolved at the end, which makes sense because my god it would take a lot of time, but I'm very curious to see how it will affect her in upcoming books - I have a feeling it's going to be a big plot point.

While the series has always excelled at having a huge cast of interesting characters, I enjoyed seeing so many of them working together here, and to see them all individually excel at their jobs. That was very satisfying to read.

I said before there is not much relationship-focus in And the Mighty Will Fall - the few relationships that do advance do so very subtly, and it's more groundwork that is laid for possible future developments. I enjoyed that, too, as the main plot is just so all-encompassing. But it makes me excited to see how these things develop in possible future books.

Overall a great, high adrenaline and fast-paced installment of the series!

Y’all we are SO back! The NeoG is back in business with a tense, well-plotted race against the clock as our familiar group gets separated and has to dismantle a highly politicized space station hijacking from within (Max) and without (everyone else but most notably Nika, D’Arcy, and Jenks with Sapphi, Tamago, and Chae reprising their supporting roles). While the chapters themselves are kind of long, they’re broken up into punchy little sections that serve to maintain relentless forward momentum while giving us action (so many good little fight scenes), political background, hostage negotiation, collaboration with a long-time enemy, and good old investigation.

While this one is technically action- and plot-heavy, it doesn’t lose the found family aspect as characters continue to check in with and support each other as the going gets tough - and we even get to see snippets of the hard work of recovery after that kind of trauma.

I’m very happy to say that I’ll just pretend book 3 doesn’t exist and continue to look forward to potentially more NeoG books in the future!

I enjoy a good sci-fi and can appreciate the action in this book.

I signed up for the arc because it's labeled as a standalone. However I immediately felt like I was missing out on a whole lot of backstory. There were so many characters and actions and labels going on I struggled to even attempt to catch up.

I feel like I need to start from the beginning to fully appreciate this work.

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. It isn't a bad book by any means - if you're a fan of the NeoG series, I'm sure you'll love it. Here we find the NeoG heroes engaged in a complicated political and terrorist situation above Mars as the orbital station/gateway to Mars is being handed over to Martian control.

But there's a problem here. The marketing for this book will tell you that the books of the NeoG series are stand-alones that are linked together, but this is absolute nonsense. If you do not know the characters (as I didn't) or the universe (as I didn't), this book drops you in the middle of a universe you won't understand and with characters you don't know. Very little is explained - it is assumed that you're up-to-date on the series, so if you're wondering what "boarding games" are...or who runs Earth...or what the deal with Trappist is (or WHERE it is)...or the situation on Mars...sorry - you're out of luck here. Or even what the difference between NeoG and the rest of Earth's military is. Yes, you're told in the blurb about how this is inspired by the Coast Guard and sure...I get that. Except that seems a stretch in what is going on in this book.

Moreover, there is so much backstory on the characters that you don't get (because, as I said, you're dropping in media res) I actually had to put the book down and look for summaries of the three prior books in order to understand anything. Max comes across as kind of a borderline "Mary Sue" if you don't know all that backstory (to be clear - she is not one...and I hate that term...but again...I'm reading this as the 'stand=alone' that it was labeled as). Same for other characters. You don't get the impact of the characters on different sides because you've never met them before. I don't know if this is a marketing fail or if the author really believes these are stand-alone novels. But it was incredibly frustrating.

The constant pronouns thing - look, I get it. And let me be absolutely clear - people should be called however they want...I have NO PROBLEM with they/them/their or whatever someone wants to be called. It is just so much in this books (and I assume the prior ones) that I found it getting in the way of the story. And the story itself is fine! I just don't understand why this is being marketed as a stand-alone when it clearly isn't. I probably never would have read it if it wasn't.

Sadly, my experience has probably meant that I'm not going to go back and read the back catalog. And that's probably a shame since there is some interesting stuff in the background here. I'm afraid 3 stars is the best I can do. As always, ymmv.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book - all opinions are entirely my own and freely given.

Have you ever wanted to read Die Hard set on a space station? If so this is the book for you.
Fourth in the NeoG series of good Space adventures with great characters.

I like K.B. Wagers but not all of K.B. Wagers. These NeoG books leave me cold. In this standalone we have treachery and deception in the handover of the NeoG station to Mars authority. It's ok but not what I prefer from this author.

The tenuous peace between the rulers of MARS and the NeoG organization is broken by a shocking act of terrorism and Commander Maxine Carmichael is smack dab in the middle of it. Forced to avoid and fight terrorists on a orbital space station. With politics playing a role, the situation spins out of control. Former enemies become tentative friends in order to ensure a peaceful end to the situation. All the characters from previous NeoG novels make an appearance, but in an older, mature way. I enjoyed this entry in the series.

I generally have liked K.B. Wagers but this series got off to a slow start for me. I didn't love the framing mechanism of the Boarding Games all that much but those, while still part of the background, have fallen away as a major thematic element during the series. By book four what is left is adrenaline laced, taut hostage drama, layered conspiracies and revelations, and a familiar crew of well drawn characters going on a traumatic roller coaster ride. Wager doesn't pull punches and is isn't afraid to harm familiar characters in service to a strong plot. Well done. Start at the series beginning for full impact (Boarding Games and all.)

1 star, Trigger Warnings Not Disclosed

AND THE MIGHTY WILL FALL
by K. B. Wagers

From the blurb, this looked like it might have been a good or great science fiction book. I was mistaken. The book's first character that's introduced has mental illness. Usually, a book starts disclosing mental illnesses further in. With this book, the sixth word describes the mental illness. I would never have requested this book if there had been trigger warnings disclosed.

I received a complimentary copy with no obligation to post a review.

#mentalillness #scifi #andthemightywillfall #triggerwarning @harpervoyagerus @avonbooks #netgalley

A great adventure for the NeoG and their fans. A word of warning: it picks up a few years after the last one, so a lot of stuff has changed. I absolutely went online and checked to see if I'd missed a book. There's a lot of twists and the action is well paced. I enjoyed this book and will continue to look for more from this author.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me.

This is just non-stop action from the get-go. You may suffer from whiplash due to the constant and rapid changes to the point of view, but if you can suffer your way through it you'll be most gratified by this book. All of your old favorite players are back, plus a few new ones. This is a book of action, adventure, conspiracy, and found family. Definitely recommended (although you really should read this series in order from the beginning).