Heavier Than a Mountain (Destiny's Crucible) Paperback – August 13, 2019

When last we saw our hero, Yozef Kolsko, in The Pen and the Sword (Destiny’s Crucible, Book 2) he had returned home slightly injured from the major battle of Moreland fought between the Narthani aggressors and the Caedellian defenders; a battle victory claimed by the Caedellian clansmen, but with both sides understanding that a strategic retreat from a losing battle is not an ultimate victory. Now, the Nathani forces will seek to keep the Caedellian forces off balance with strategic attacks while the Caedellian forces strive to build their fighting forces and keep the Nathani guessing as to their real military capabilities. The stakes are rising as Maera gives birth and as the Narthani plot strategic treachery; but are the stakes high enough for the separate clans to overcome their independence and mutual animosity and work together to prevent their defeat by the Narthani?Heavier than a Mountain is a serious read for anyone who is invested the Destiny’s Crucible series and is cheering for Yozef Kolsko and the Caedellians in the face of an overwhelming enemy. It is well worth the loss of sleep and the midnight oil to see what will happen next. As with the preceding two books, the main characters continue to be developed into lifelike images with human emotions and fears. New characters emerge, both good-buys and bad. In any event, a satisfying story of nail-biting entertainment.Any lover of action adventures, war drama, political intrigue, or science fiction should do themselves a favor and check out the Destiny’s Crucible Series, beginning with Cast Under an Alien Sun, The Pen and the Sword…and now, Heavier Than a Mountain

This book has great character development, great believable action, and flows very well. Minus one star for the author maybe to have the story flow a certain way not having the main character plan for any type of navy with his advanced knowledge. He doesn’t even have a thought about it. I mean his napalm development is great; but it’s crazy not even thinking of using fast small ships to use it against wooden ships. Wooden ships; wouldn’t fire be their weakness. I mean it’s a thought. I still highly look forward to the next book.

Our protagonist understands how the enemy military works on the theoretical level, but can he get his clan and the neighboring clans to see what he sees and not fall into the honor trap? Many times in history a culture with a warrior tradition has found itself losing to a structured military force. Rome defeated every warrior culture they met for centuries until those still outside the empire learned their ways and turned those methods back against them. Can our hero get the clan leaders to do the same to the invaders, or will their belief in personal prowess and honor lead to their defeat?

A story of war, love, and family life set on a distant planet across the far reaches of space. Enjoyable story, enjoyable reading.

Heavier Than a Mountain continues where The Pen and the Sword left off. The events in the previous book shocked and gave the Narthani pause, allowing the islanders to enjoy relative peace for some time. This boon served as the perfect opportunity for a certain someone to go and convince Yozef of taking a more active role. After initially refusing and an attempt to push responsibilities and expectations away, he agrees and willingly steps into the unknown. As is the nature of his character, he begins to change everything and everyone he comes in contact with, while unbeknownst to him changing and growing himself. More memorable characters are introduced and some characters that we learned existed but who had not served an explicit purpose before come back to correct that. The circumstances the cast find themselves in and the gravity of their general situation provides the necessary motivation to move forward and great character development soon ensues. This is especially true for Yozef, who grows and changes in ways even he may not yet fully understand.

I really enjoyed this the 3rd book in the series, and I would highly recommend this series to anyone who likes science fiction, even though this is very different from your average sci fi book. There were a few elements that I would like to read more about in book 4, and by the way the author ended this book there is lots of action still to come. I really want to know more about the watchers and the eggs. Also this book finally explained how the beer was cold (thank god). I will recommend this series to all my friends and hope the author makes enough to upgrade his website.lol (that was a reference to the about the author section). This book did 2 things that all good books do 1st the author never annoyed the reader and 2nd it left me immediately wanting to read more of the story. Please finish book 4 in record time, Pre-sell the damn thing I will order it!

This the third book in the Destiny's Crucible Series is well worth reading if you enjoyed the first two books as much as I did. This book primarily focuses on building the support and logistics structure needed to win the war, so only about 10% of the book deals fighting. I'm glad the author took the time to cover these less glorious aspects of military conflict, since too many books fail to make the attempt, and it demonstrates a better them average understanding on the topic by the author.The book ended with an intriguing introduction of a new faction to the growing conflict, which leads me to speculate on what will happen next and wishing for the next book.I did have one minor problem with this book, the story cut back a couple of times to a previous time, leaving me momentarily confused. I feel like the time line could have been handled better. Four and a half stars.