Price of Vengeance is a military science fiction novel with a strong young adult feel, laced with paranormal dreamwalking, telepathic creatures, and a slow-burning romance. On the besieged planet Etrusci, Liam grows up as the adopted son of a city leader after chitin insectoids slaughter his farmstead family. As an adult soldier, he is still haunted by that night, volunteering for lonely border outposts and hiding from festivals and crowds. A massive, engineered attack, political betrayal from Councilor Licinious, and the ruthless alien mastermind Azurius rip the last safety nets out from under him. Liam is blown clear of a doomed outpost, teams up with a telepathic “bear lizard” named Swift Hunter, uncovers sabotage and assassination plots, and fights his way back toward his brother Randolf, the empathic high priestess Celinia, and a city under siege. The book builds toward a brutal final confrontation with Azurius and a hard-earned, quietly hopeful ending where family, faith, and love survive the wreckage.

What I enjoyed most was Liam himself and how author Kurt D. Springs lets his trauma bleed into everything he does. Liam is never just a badass sniper. Even when he is holding the line at Taho and choosing to destroy the portal rather than let the enemy into New Olympia, you can feel how much the little boy who survived the farm massacre is still inside the lieutenant. His guilt over Jorge’s death, his parents’ murder back in the city, and the way he replayed choices in his head felt painfully human. I liked that the military science-fiction side isn’t all shiny tactics and tech. The battles are loud and messy and sometimes unfair, and people die because of sabotage or politics, not just because the chitin are scary. The book’s title pays off: every step toward vengeance costs someone something, and Springs does not let Liam or Randolf look away from that.

The author’s choices around the “dreamscape” and spiritual elements surprised me in a good way. Celinia helping Liam reshape his nightmares instead of just banishing them was one of my favorite sequences, because it made healing feel active rather than magical. Their relationship grows out of that inner work, plus shared danger, instead of insta-love. The telepathic bond with Swift Hunter adds another emotional layer. Those campfire conversations about family, hatchlings, and the “Maker” gave the story a warm, almost mythic texture in the middle of all the plasma fire. I also appreciated that Azurius is not just a cackling villain. He quotes Shakespeare, respects skill, and genuinely tempts Liam with a chance to save lives if he will just compromise himself. When he dies, quoting Romeo and Juliet back and forth with Randolf, it comes across as sad and eerie rather than just “finally, the monster is dead.”

The writing itself is straightforward and clean, which fits the tone. Action scenes are easy to follow, with clear stakes and geography. The big set pieces – the fall of the Taho outposts, Liam stumbling injured across abandoned sectors, the sewer interception of Licinious’s assassins, the last stand around the Temple – all have that tense, cinematic feel. At the same time, there are quiet moments the book lets breathe: Randolf comforting a terrified toddler in a crib, Liam becoming “Uncle Liam” to Jorge’s twins, the wedding scene where the dead briefly appear at the altar. A few conversations explain ideas a bit more directly than they need to, but I’d rather have a science fiction novel wear its heart on its sleeve than try to be cool and detached when it is clearly about grief, faith, and choosing who you become after loss.

Price of Vengeance feels like a solid fit for readers who enjoy character-driven military science fiction that leans into emotion and spiritual questions as much as tactics. If you like the idea of a YA-flavored story where a small, scarred sniper wrestles with survivor’s guilt, bonds with a telepathic predator, falls in love with a dreamwalking priestess, and has to decide what kind of warrior he wants to be, this is worth your time. If you want an action-heavy, hopeful story about family, faith, and the real cost of revenge, Price of Vengeance delivers.

Pages: 309 | ASIN : B0CQ5QH3D6