Devon's Blade


Fiction - Science Fiction
169 Pages
Reviewed on 05/22/2016
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

Author Biography

Ken McConnell studied film making at the University of Central Florida and served with distinction as an NCO in the USAF. He now resides in Boise, Idaho with his wife and two sons. Ken works as a software build engineer by day and writes in his spare time.

A little known fact about Ken is that he's also an accomplished scale model builder. He designs and builds all the models used on his own book covers. You can learn more about his modeling hobby on his website. http://ken-mcconnell.com

    Book Review

Reviewed by Lit Amri for Readers' Favorite

When Commander Devon Ardel arrives at Kew, a primarily water planet where the Alliance’s remote 389th Tactical Fighter Squadron is based and very active with enemy contacts, she sees pilot fighters who have lost their will to win. They are being killed at an alarming rate and don’t have much hope. This is Devon’s mission on Kew, to turn the squadron around and get them back to being a productive fighter unit. Devon’s Blade by Ken McConnell is an action packed sci-fi novella where all the drama essentially takes place during the thrilling dogfights in the air between star fighters.

The plot is fast paced and the prose is straightforward. Military terms are extensively used in the narrative, but they are quite standard and easy to understand. The fighting scenes are thrilling and vividly described. All the characters are well developed, and even the secondary characters have sufficient depth to justify their roles in the story. Devon is easily a likable protagonist. Her determination to change the fighting tactics and the luck of the squadron is admirable, even when her pilots – and sometimes herself – doubted her optimism at first.

There’s a mystery element to the storyline as Devon and her squad try to figure out their worst enemy, who they called Red Ace because the Votainion pilot is more than just a ruthless fighter. All in all, Devon’s Blade is a solid sci-fi novella with an old school air combat appeal. It kept me interested from start to finish. I look forward to reading more of McConnell’s books.