Space Combat in the Valley of Fire

Brother and sister Wolf and Candice came to Kalimera as orphan children, fleeing Democratic People’s Republic of Solaria assassins who killed their parents and older brother. Years later, the DPRS is gone, destroyed by Emperor Chase, who rules the reconstituted Solarian Empire. Now adults, Candice is a trusted and decorated civilian citizen of the Kingdom of Iraklis, Wolf is an officer in its navy, engaged to Mariella, Iraklis’s crown princess.

Lock and Load (Valley of Fire, Book 3), a novel by John Van Stry, completes the story of Wolf and Candice, revealing their true origin. It follows Candice, Wolf, and Mariella as they participate in the war to bring down the Valley of Fire, a star kingdom that attacked Iraklis earlier. Now Iraklis is going to make them pay.

This book is set in Van Stry’s six-volume “Wolfhounds” series universe. The action involves the Kingdom of Iraklis, a three-star polity far removed from the Solarian Empire. It is also the third book in the Valley of Fire trilogy. The characters are fully mature in this book.

It uses the same assumptions. Starfaring societies depend on AI, complex computer programs to run the engines of industry and travel, including starships. Some humans have interfaces in their brains allowing them to directly control AI. The trait is genetic, passed from parent to child. The higher the interface, the more complex AIs they can control. This creates an aristocracy. Those with higher interfaces rule.

Interfaces drive the book at the macro and personal levels. Star nations are crippled if they lack the necessary individuals with interfaces to control AI or are without the industrial base to produce AI. Wolf’s and Candice’s origins are linked to the interfaces they inherited.

Lock and Load is well-written and entertaining. For those interested in military SF, it delivers the goods. Yet it is not a simple military SF tale. John Van Stry wraps enough political, romantic, societal and technological elements to give readers a story as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.

It might be better to start with the first book of the Valley of Fire series to experience the growth and development of the main characters in the trilogy. If you read Lock and Load first, and like it, you will almost certainly circle back to the earlier books. Yet it is strong enough to stand on its own as an individual tale.

“Lock & Load (Valley of Fire Book 3)”,by John Van Stry, Raconteur Press, February 2026, 374 pages, $15.99 (Paperback), $5.99 (E-book)

This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.