Book Review: White Ops (#1), by Declan Finn

For an author dipping his toes into the genre, he hit it out of the park. It was Space John Wick meets the Intergalactic Bourne Identity with aliens.

Hey Space Cadets, it’s time for another epic JR Handley book review! White Ops is another book that I just read instead of cleaning up older reviews. In an effort to disclose things more fully, this book was written by a friend of mine and the host of this website. That’s right, none other than Declan Finn! Am I sucking up to the boss? You be the judge after you read my nuanced review!

Before I dive in, let me reiterate this for you guys. I’ve been Facebook friends with Declan for several years, and we met in person at Raven Con back in 2015 and 2016. He was fun; we clicked and have stayed in touch since then. Since I focused on my own genre for years, I never got around to reading his books. Then I found GameLit and knew there were hundreds of awesome books I was missing. Since I interviewed Declan about this series, I decided to indulge my curiosity and read his series. I didn’t know what to expect, but I bought the book and dove right in.

Okay, now let’s get to the novel itself. This novel and subsequent series is Declan’s first foray into science fiction. It was what I would call a space saga more than a space opera, and I liked it. This was an intergalactic romp through time and space, and it was amazeballs. We had action, adventure, and intrigue, keeping you on the edge of your seat for the entire ride. For an author dipping his toes into the genre, he hit it out of the park.

Published on January 18^th, 2022

The Story

At its core, this novel is a rollercoaster adventure set in intergalactic space as the medium we ride into the promised land. It took us along the paths paved during the Pharmakoi wars, where genocidal aliens rampaged across dozens of star systems. These upshot aliens took on the toughest races in the Galaxy in their campaign of conquest. But they are only the opening gambit in this romp through the stars.

During this novel, we meet Sean Patrick Ryan, someone who reminded me of John Wick with cooler plot armor. This character sees that another race is behind the Pharmakoi expansion, a race that wants to test our galaxy for weakness that someone else might exploit. To fight this shadow enemy, Sean puts together a strike team to light up the darkness— with nukes if necessary.

This was a fun story that was told by Declan Finn with some very conversational prose that was easy on the ears as I listened to the audiobook by Kevin Goff. The publisher, Tuscany Bay Books, has done an excellent job of putting together an extremely professional work that was a lot of fun to engage with. It was the standard light summer read, which is just what the doctor ordered for my easy listening.

The writing felt more like I was sitting in a bar with Declan the Bard as he told me a fun story with a massive scope. Some parts were hard to follow as we jumped from POV to POV, but it was so much fun that I didn’t care. Some of that issue could be my TBI, so your mileage may vary. Either way, I liked the style of Declan’s writing. It felt like Clive Cussler or Tom Clancy were telling one of their workmen-like style of meat and potatoes storytelling.

Another thing I noticed about this story was that the first novel spanned a long stretch of time on the calendar. I think that this first novel could have been many novels crammed full of details of the war with the Pharmakoi. Heck, that war could’ve been its own several-book series. Then, the second series could follow the man behind the curtain. But I say that because I was invested in this universe.

One note worth mentioning is that there were a lot of references to pop culture in this novel. I really enjoyed all of them, including the fun little Easter Eggs that Declan peppered throughout the White Ops novel. They snuck up on me and often had me laughing hysterically when I heard them. They were done in such a way that it didn’t feel like too much; he passed the Porridge Test because he got it just right! It was enough to amuse those who’re deeply entrenched in pulp culture lore and wouldn’t bother those who miss their significance. What it did do, it showed us how well read the author is!

Another fun aspect of this story was how he incorporated the SCA, or Society for Creative Anachronisms, into this world. It came out of left field, but when it was there it just felt right. It was part of the lore surrounding the Holy Order of Saint Patrick, another amusing tidbit thrown in for flavor. A master chef, Declan.

Speaking of Ole Saint Pat, that layer of Catholicism in this story was the tip of the iceberg. The author is devoutly Catholic, and it shows in his prose. There were layers of the Church in this universe, but it wasn’t so much that it felt gratuitous. Instead, it was written as a crucial aspect of the main character’s worldview. It was handled in a manner that allowed room for other characters to have differing points of view. We even saw alien species who had their own deities, and it was handled in a respectful manner.

And now to what I found to be the most amusing aspect of this novel. Declan wrote the main character as a devoutly Catholic Irishman in a world where the bad guy is pretty WASPish. It wasn’t a huge plot point, but given the times I’ve talked with the author about the history of the turbulent Troubles in Ireland, it struck me as funny. Your mileage may vary, but it was one of those chuckle moments for me.

Now, let me talk about how I “read” this novel. I listened to the audiobook while I was going on my daily walks. The narrator, Kevin Goff, kept me entertained and engaged. His voices and accents were on point and the pacing of the story was well done as well. On the technical side, this audiobook was professionally produced, and I have zero complaints. I would definitely read more books by this narrator, so if you like audiobooks, this is the one for you!

Oh, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the action scenes in this novel. There were plenty of those scenes and they were expertly written. The combat was easy to follow, and the fights were fun. Whenever we butted up against the John Wick-esq levels of overpowered awesomeness, instead of feeling cheesy, it felt like Declan leaned into the Rule of Cool. This isn’t some gritty war story, but in the campiness of the space saga or space opera, there was joy and hours of entertainment.

Finally, let me talk about how the story was written and paced. First, let me tell you that this story was well-written and paced. However, the pacing was one more in keeping with a saga like “The North and The South” and less like the space opera I normally read. There were whole places where I wanted to know more, but I always want to know more about the universes and franchises where I spend time.

I say that to say this. I prefer the space opera story structure to the space saga structure because I want all of the details, so the time jumps through the initial war felt flat for me. But it bears repeating. I enjoyed this story and will read the other books in this series. I am just surprised that I liked a story structured like this because it is not my normal preference. I know that this sounds negative, but I think that this is a testament to the skills of the author, Declan Finn. Seriously, his skills kept me engaged during the entirety of this novel!

The Characters

The main character in this novel is Sean Patrick Ryan, a larger-than-life superhero who is devoutly Catholic and wickedly smart. He was a slightly insane, happy soldier who reveled in his joy in combat. He is good, and he knows it, and moreover, he loves showing the bad guys that fact with fists and weapons. While this character was ridiculously overpowered, it felt like he still had challenges in the martial side of war that his intelligence allowed him to overcome.

One of the cool bits about Ryan was that he was orphaned and raised in a monastery to be a member of the toten’tanzer military order of Rangers who seek out and destroy evil in the galaxy. I liked that he felt like a sci-fi version of Aragorn of Lord of the Rings fame. Even the role that Ryan played in the story fit the ranger trope, and I was there for it.

There are other characters in this novel, including admirals, politicians, and aliens like the Renar. One of the characters that I loved was his friend Peter Sierra, a man who is the opposite of his fellow Ranger. The man is smart—smarter than Ryan, and he is a perfect foil to the main character. We don’t see a whole lot of him, but I get the feeling that he re-appears in later books, so I figured I’d mention that he was worth watching!

Another fun character we got to meet was Admiral Newcomb, the leader of the human forces in the war against the Pharmakoi. He was a brilliant tactician who fought a war on two fronts. He fought the enemy alien hordes and the evil politicians getting in his way. He is the sort of competent officer that everyone wants to have, but that seemed to be a once-in-a-generation level of rareness. Like Peter, this is a character who I expect to see more of in later books. He was well-written and felt very fleshed out for the amount of time he spent on the page. We even got to mourn with him for his dead wife, even though we never met her. He starts out as an intelligence officer, but through attrition, commands the entire armada and wins the war. His story alone could be another Horatio Hornblower in Space saga for the ages, and I hope Declan delivers it someday!

Another character that I loved to hate was the politician Douglas Wells. The man was evil and the stereotypical villain from every political thriller I devour. Instead, he was a bad guy who earned the title of evil, and we got to see that on the page. I wish I could say more. However, we don’t do spoilers here so you’ll have to read it for yourself to see why he’s the most hated guy in the galaxy.

There were more secondary and tertiary characters in this novel, but they didn’t get enough screen time to warrant a write-up here. I mentioned them to say that even the minor bit players felt real and not like cardboard cutouts; they weren’t merely to push the plot along. They were real people with real lives and real motivations, even though they might only get a few moments of the spotlight.

Overall, Sean Patrick Ryan will make you laugh, and he will make you shake your head at the killer with a life devoted to the Church. He plays into the trope of the Irishman, but he is self-aware enough to know that he’s doing it. He never breaks the 4^th Wall, but he comes close a few times, and those moments are some of the best in the book. He is smart and extremely competent, which gives him a somewhat of a Marty Sue vibe, except that there were hints of his training montage that happened off-screen. With those hints, you’re able to accept that he earned his skills and isn’t just good for the sake of the plot.

The World

The world where White Ops happens is an intergalactic setting populated by multiple alien races. This series starts pretty far into the future, where faster-than-light (FTL) is commonplace, and the technology is pretty amazing. There was cool tech, and weapons that were old became new again. In a world where everyone gets pew-pew space lasers, the main character, Sean Patrick Ryan, uses chemically propelled bullets. I like the trope of the old being new again, and I liked how this novel handled it.

During the course of this novel, we gallivant all over the galaxy and see a lived-in world. We got to hang out on the planet of the Renar race, conduct business transactions at Alexandria Station, and fight in spaceships all over the known stars. We visited long-dead planets with the withered husks of long-dead alien races, and finally, we see the earth of this future age, which serves as our tether to the oddities of the rest of this universe. Earth felt like the North Star, allowing us to enjoy the rest of the universe as we explore it through the lives of the characters in this novel.

Another cool part of this world was how real the alien races felt. They were all distinct, with certain racial traits that defined them. However, Declan doesn’t fall into the trope that all of the race has X traits, leaving room for nuance amongst the species. This approach always felt more realistic, and I love seeing other authors come to this same conclusion.

As an example of the varieties of species, there are dinosaurs like Touris and bugs like Soivans. We saw the human turtles known as the Renar, who ultimately outgrow their outer shells and look even more human as they age. These aren’t some Trekkie forehead of the week aliens, no, Declan made them cool and unique. We even saw one Stargate Atlantis-style Wraith aliens, who looked physically like a minotaur by the descriptions. They were so well thought out that I wanted more and would love to see these characters play a larger role in the story going forward. In the future, I would even enjoy a story written from some of their points of view. Are you listening to me, Declan? Are you taking the hint? Cause, you know, we want more of our precious!

As mentioned before, there are secret societies and religious orders that span the breadth of the galaxy. They play a large role in building this universe, giving the man raised in a monastery legitimate access to the entirety of the world. That is Sean Patrick Ryan for those keeping score at home. A lot of the world-building is focused on the Catholic Church, so it is no surprise that they spread far and wide.

There is more that I would love to say about the world where this story took place, but Upstream Reviews doesn’t cotton to spoilers. Trust me when I say you really want to read this to find out more! Nothing in this novel was groundbreaking; however, Declan expertly stood on the shoulders of past literary giants and gifted us a few hours of escapism in this chaotic modern world.

Politics

This novel is part political intrigue, part action story, so you will read politics. You will see some shades of real-world politics in here, but with a sci-fi twist and you can seamlessly read through it, no matter what your personal perspective is.

To be fair, I found the religiosity more in your face than the political angling. The politicians and big corporations are corrupt, but he didn’t dwell on it so much that it got preachy. This was not a “message” book; it was just the world where the adventure happened.

Content Warning

This story had wartime violence and some cannibalistic aliens, so the deaths were intense. There was a romantic undertone with some hints of physicality, but none of it happened on screen.

Finally, this novel has very Catholic themes and direct commentary throughout. If this bugs you, it’s probably not the novel for you.

But if you don’t mind that, this was an awesome adventure and well worth your time. And for the Englishmen reading, the main character is Irish and has a brogue… do with that what you will!

Who is it for?

First, this novel is for fans of Declan’s previous works. His voice is his voice, and it shines through, regardless of the genre he writes in. This is not in the military sci-fi genre that I love; it is more of a space opera or space saga.

It is part political thriller, part military adventure with lots of action.

It was Space John Wick meets the Intergalactic Bourne Identity with aliens.

Why buy it?

This book is for anyone who loves an overarching space opera told through the eyes of one main character with a large cast of supporting points of view. This is a broad-scope story with compelling themes of finding family and friends who remain at your side when life sucks the most. There were strong religious zealotry undertones from Sean Patrick Ryan, a man raised in the Holy Catholic Order of Saint Patrick. It wasn’t too much, but there was a lot of it there. It highlights the aforementioned values in a positive light, which is rare these days, and I was there for it.

This wasn’t a grimdark story but a hopeful one. If you like stories of good versus evil, with clear-cut delineation between the two, this is the novel for you!

If I haven’t sold you on this space opera novel, then I haven’t done my job. So, if you are intrigued, then click the link already!