Really intrigued! There were some issues with the text coloring in my copy of the ARC (incompatible with dark mode on my phone, perhaps), but I devour everything Myke writes so I'm going to get the finished copy in print.

This was my first Myke Cole and I really enjoyed it. from the disclaimer at the front about not explaining military jargon on page but instead providing a lengthy glossary. I was worried I had got myself into a very hard military sci-fi. This was a false impression, instead I was treated to a character focused book dealing with the loss of loved ones, family, found family and just life in general in an interesting setting.

Our MC is an older female 50+ with grown children, a satisfying and successful career. This was refreshing for a start as an avid SFF reader we get very little in the way of successful older female protagonists. She was very well written, her internal worries split between the family she had raised and the work she had done. She didn’t read like the lone woman stereotype either she was surrounded by other powerful female characters.

The plot was also surprising.The blurb doesn’t quite do it justice. We start off with a major twist which completely changes the objective of our MC and how she is tasked with staving off the first Lunar war is not quite how you think. We also get a bit of a found family aspect though the focus is firmly on Jane and how she is coping, staying professional and caring for here own family as well as friends also. It doesn’t seem action heavy but when we do get action it is exciting an varied, with further twists and turns.

The concept of the coastguard in space was a new one to me and an interesting one. I am not overly familiar with the US coast guard as an entity apart from my love of "boarder control" reality TV shows – seriously the number of weird things people try to bring into other countries with them is just fascinating, why would you bring 15 ears of fresh corn to Ohio!- but to see its role play out, with tensions between it and the Navy/Marines and that to take place in space just added a really fun dynamic.

What I also strangely liked but I think most would find frustrating is how open ended the book was left. Its not listed as being part of a series but as readers we were left to make up our own mind as to how things resolved for Oliver and the sixteenth watch. This just gave me the feeling of we got a three month glimpse into Oliver’s life and the rest will go on without us.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I have very little negative to say other than in Jargon loaded conversations the eBook format I was reading made it difficult and I would just kind of skip over them. i think this would also be difficult if you were to read this via audio format as I imagine that it would not have access to the glossary of terms.

To make this perfect I would have liked to get to know Oliver’s team a bit more. We only got a small fraction of their personalities and histories but it would have been nice to get to know them as she got to. I felt by the end of the book we still didn’t really get a sense of this found family.

it's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last because I really loved this one.
It's a great sci-fi novel that kept me turning pages as fast as I could.
Mr Cole is a great writer and he delivers an amazing world building and great characters.
The plot flows and it's both fascinating and entertaining.
An excellent read, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a digital copy of this in exchange for my open and honest review.


In Sixteenth Watch by Myke Cole, he again writes a modern military science fiction that is solid. Myke Cole is everywhere right now. He has put out multiple novels in the last few years, including The Sacred Throne series, which has The Armored Saint, The Queen of Crows, and The Killing Light. He has also written the non-fiction book Legion Versus Phalanx about the phalanx formation through history. Myke also has a sizable military fantasy series, Shadow Ops, which is a comfortable place for him. Myke is very good at doing a military fantasy that is believable, which is probably why Sixteenth Watch was so good.

“What do you want me to teach these guys to do?”
“We need you to get them in shape for this year’s Boarding Action. Commandant thinks if we win, it’ll give us the hand we need. It’s a major media event, watched by millions of Americans. If we win it, that’ll give us the leverage we need to stay on, and if we stay on, we can keep the Navy from turning quarantine-runners into a pretext for war. SPACETACLET came close last year…”
Oliver blinked. “We’re going to stop a war… by winning a game show?”

Sixteenth Watch follows the narrative of Coast Guard Captain Jane Oliver. Jane is a career captain coming to the end of a career and heading towards retirement. The temperament of the different armed service branches are very different. They have varying goals and needs in doing their duty. These differences are put in stark relief between how Jane conducts herself and her ultimate goals as a Captain and eventually Admiral in the Guard. The Coast Guard is a military division whose purpose is to watch the coasts of the US. They provide search and rescue, coastal defense, and ensure maritime law is respected and abided. In this story’s future, the United States and China are in a resource race for mining the Moon for a mineral called Helium-3. The tensions run high between the two powers, and border pursuits are often raised. Border tensions and following military law are, by definition, the purview of the Coast Guard. However, in this scenario, the Navy is handling border issues, which raises the tension between the two nations. Jane’s ultimate goal is to provide the proper support and training to get the Coast Guard out there protecting the border. To do this, Jane needs to train a team for a very public boarding competition between the different armed services. She has two months to get a group up to the level of other armed service boarding teams and win the competition. Thus ensuring that the Coast Guard receives the respect it deserves and is allowed to protect the border as it should have been doing all along.
This competition does not go as planned. The world at large and the military higher-ups make life difficult for her and her team.

Cole is a retired Coast Guard veteran. His military experience and familiarity with the Coast Guard shows. There is an authenticity to the way he wrote both the action scenes and the scenes involving regulation and code. Because of Cole’s experience as a Costie, you know that this scenario is entirely plausible in a future world. There is quite a lot of technical jargon used in the creation of this story. The jargon might be offputting to some readers, but frankly, I enjoyed the hell out of it. The real world jargon did not come off trite, and it put me into this story and kept me there. By the end, I learned what a border team was, different military ranks where, and parts of a ship.

The pacing was non-stop, and the ending was so breakneck that I had to put down the book and take a breath. Cole’s battle and boarding scenes where done with so much detail you could almost smell space and hear the plasma guns.

“Ma’am, with respect…”
“Nothing after the words’ with respect’ is ever entirely respectful, Wen.”
“With respect,” Ho carefully enunciated each word as he stood, walking to her keyboard. “It’s possible you’re being a little paranoid here. You’re the one who insisted on this school in the first place.”
“With no damn respect, I’m around a hundred years older than you and I have been at this game for my entire life. I am not misreading the situation here.”
Ho clicked the mouse to open the email. “Well, you’re right. You passed.”
Oliver gave an exasperated sigh. “I told you I was smart.”
“No, ma’am,” Ho said, “you told me you were old.”

Jane kicked so much butt as an admiral and a role model. She was at both times a military officer and a person. Cole effectively tempered the duties of a military commander with a real human spirit, one that is filled with thoughts, fears, and worries for her family. Much like his Sacred Throne series, he has once again excelled at writing a strong woman. I love Jane; I wish there were more Janes in commanding positions. I wish there were more Janes for little girls to look up to and emulate, and I wish there had been more Janes for when I was growing up.

“I need to... I know this sounds stupid, but I need to make your father proud again. One last time.”
Alice reached across and placed her hand on her mother’s knee. “He already is, mom. I know it.”

The story ends on a bit of a cliffhanger and is left open for a sequel. I hope that Myke keeps writing this world because I want to know what happens. Up until now, I hadn’t thought much about the Coast Guard as a strong military organization. I knew they helped stranded ships and provided border patrol, but there is so much more there that I didn’t know. I think for everything that this book offers in terms of character and narrative, shedding light on the Coast Guard and what it is capable of was the best part of reading this. That and how badass Jane is. We need more examples of obstinate women in fantasy and science fiction, and Admiral Jane Oliver and Sixteenth Watch is a perfect place to start.

Part near-future work of militaristic science fiction and part love-letter/homage to the women and men of the Coast Guard, Sixteenth Watch is an interesting read that’s both familiar and original at the same time.

Before I get into my review, I do have one complaint, although it’s more about the marketing and less about the writing. The cover blurb is a deceptive tease, focusing entirely on the opening prologue and the two closing chapters, while glossing over the bulk of the story. Even then, those chapters are less about preventing an “all-out war on the surface of the Moon” and more about postponing it, while Captain Jane Oliver is less “the only one who can prevent it” and more a woman in the right place at the right time.

Between those chapters, Sixteenth Watch is a training montage, a high-tech gameshow, and a public relations spectacle. With American and Chinese tensions simmering (apparently, they’re the only nations to have staked a claim, which seems odd) between mining settlers on the surface of the moon (why feuding nations have chosen to park on each others borders is never explained), the government is concerned the Coast Guard are the wrong force to maintain law and order and are proposing to usurp them with the Navy (it seems neither NASA nor Trump’s Space Force have a role to play). To do that, however, they must first win the tide of public opinion by pitting the forces against one another in Boarding Action, a military game show in a militarized prime time entertainment culture (a curious social evolution that’s a bit terrifying, but never really explored).

For me, there were three aspects of this that kept me reading, despite any misplaced expectations or unanswered questions. Number one is the freakin’ Moon! There’s so much science fiction out there focused on colonizing Mars, building orbiting space stations, and sending out huge generation ships, it was ridiculously exciting to go back to the Moon. It’s a simple setting, but Myke Cole makes the most of it, capturing the feel of low gravity, the silence of space, and the dangers of no atmosphere. The kid in me was smiling just as much as the science fiction geek.

Number two was the action – the intricacies of maneuvering, boarding, and battling in an environment where there is no up or down, traditional weapons either don’t work or don’t work as expected, the bulkiness of a spacesuit so easily disguises friend from foe, and a battle call . . . is like screaming silently into the void. I enjoyed the action, and felt Cole did a solid job of making it all sound professional and accurate, without weighing it down too much with acronyms or command structures. There were a few moments that left me scratching my head because of odd decisions or the lack of consequences for major mistakes, but nothing that had me rolling my eyes thinking something was over-the-top.

Number three is the characters, particularly Captain Jane Oliver and her XO, Wen Ho, whose friendly dynamic is what drives the novel. Not only is Jane a female action hero, she’s a mature female action hero, a woman with significant baggage and a troublesome reputation. Haunted by the death of her husband on a mission they led together, she is probably over-sensitive to how people see her, but realistically so. She’s not your typical protagonist looking to avenge a death or prove herself to the world – she only accepts reassignment back to the Moon because it means being reunited with her daughter. As for Ho, he’s the typical loyal sidekick, but he’s also the voice of reason who keeps Jane grounded.

The pacing here was decent, a little slow in the middle, but moving quickly enough to keep me reading. I was entertained and engaged, and anxious to see how the story would develop. Sixteenth Watch does end rather abruptly, however, first with the climactic battle that ends too soon, and then with the epilogue that leaves a significant plot point hanging.

Sixteenth Watch is the opening instalment in a brand new science fiction series from critically-acclaimed writer Myke Cole, and it didn't disappoint in providing an impeccably plotted story full of thrilling action and high-stakes danger. Jane Oliver is our protagonist and like some of the most engaging characters before her she is certainly a reluctant heroine who is thrust into her role by the circumstances in which she finds herself and gallantly (or foolishly) continues to forge onwards trying to prevent a spectacular war that would engulf much of the universe. Her reason for allowing herself to strive for this noble objective, I hear you ask? She feels she has nothing left to lose and may as well attempt to achieve something noteworthy rather than sit back and let the earth and perhaps a much more substantial area shatter into smithereens. This is essentially military sci-fi that takes place on the moon.

Granted, it is quite different from Cole’s usual but it's a refreshingly original idea of military sci-fi and is even more unique and awesome for the substantial role to go to an intelligent female rather than the norm; a male at the helm. Jane is fiercely independent with a strong moral compass and represents us women-folk beautifully as she attempts to save the world. There is a palpable sense of tension running throughout and it simply never lets up from the moment it begins; Cole instils a sense of urgency through his prose and he never lets you forget that the stakes are huge for both Jane and humanity. A highly entertaining, fun and exciting tale packed with heart-pounding incidents, plentiful action and enough twists and turns, peaks and troughs to keep even the most demanding sci-fi reader satisfied. Roll on the sophomore instalment. Many thanks to Angry Robot for an ARC.

I’ll be honest: up until now, I’ve rarely, if ever, given the Coast Guard much consideration. They’re just the guys who go out and rescue stranded boats every now and then, right? Perhaps they check up on fishing licences? They… just sort of exist? Are they even in the military or are they a state militia sort of thing? Well, Myke Cole has thoroughly shamed me for having given them so little credit – and thoroughly entertained me in the process, to boot! I walked away from this book with a whole new appreciation for our sailors in the Coast Guard.

Jane Oliver is a captain in the Coast Guard, stationed on the Moon. Her task is to secure and border and ensure peaceful relations between the USA and China on the Moon even as competing economic relationships cause tensions between the two countries to rise. Her husband is in the Navy, working in a similar capacity. When they find themselves working together on the same engagement, Oliver’s life is forever altered when her husband is killed in action. Following this, Oliver is put out to roost training new coasties back on Earth and on the water rather than in space. That’s the general background, which seems straightforward enough when you first start out. However, what the synopsis of this book fails to tell you is that this is set in a future where military SPACE SPORTS (caps are necessary here) are the Next Big Thing.

Yes, you heard me. SPACE SPORTS. Sports! In space! With the military! I was absolutely delighted to make this discovery, and it livened up the whole novel for me. This is bigger than the NFL now. Essentially, the different branches of the military compete against one another (in space!) to see who can do the best, most successful, and most dramatic boarding exercise against another ship. It’s great. I loved it. I need more space sports.

Oliver, of course, is brought out of retirement to lead the coasties’ finest into the fray. She’s the best damn teacher they’ve got, and unfortunately this group truly needs some help. All of them, Oliver included, are still shaken by the same horrific engagement that took Oliver’s husband and several of Oliver’s own crew. They’re shadowed by the memories of those they’ve lost, and struggle to understand that living up to their legacy doesn’t mean they have to become them. Although they’re all excellent individuals, they need Oliver’s help to come together as a team.

“What do you want me to teach these guys to do?”

“We need you to get them in shape for this year’s Boarding Action. Commandant thinks if we win, it’ll give us the hand we need. It’s a major media event, watched by millions of Americans. If we win it, that’ll give us the leverage we need to stay on, and if we stay on, we can keep the Navy from turning quarantine-runners into a pretext for war. SPACETACLET came close last year…”

Oliver blinked. “We’re going to stop a war… by winning a game show?”

The stakes are high. The Navy and the Coast Guard have been butting heads over who controls the borders on the Moon, and one misstep will almost certainly mean kicking off another World War. The Navy is gregarious, adversarial, and brutish; the Coast Guard leadership’s greatest fear is that they will kick off hostilities. The admiral backed himself into a corner during a cabinet meeting – whoever wins the space sports tournament will be considered the most suitable to control the Moon’s borders.

“The Navy has proven, for four years running now, in the highest-pressure and most public forum available, that we are the best equipped, the best trained, the overall best at boarding actions on the 16th Watch.”

Zhukov sputtered, his military bearing slipping. “You can’t be serious. That’s a game show!”

Donahugh looked at the senators now, still speaking to Zhukov. “If it’s just a game show, admiral, why can’t you win?”

The two most consistent themes throughout the novel were teamwork and deescalation. It was a pleasure and a joy to read military scifi that wasn’t focused on the more “macho” side of militarism; the emphasis on finding ways to take a high-energy situation and deescalate it into something diplomacy could handle was a fresh, engaging departure from the typical. Oliver has to push her team to become a cohesive whole such that they’re able to take control away from the Navy and other powers that be.

In some ways, Sixteenth Watch can be reduced to an incredibly specific wish-fulfillment fantasy. For some people, this may not work. For me, it clicked. I was right there with Cole, who himself served in the Coast Guard. The engaging, humorous cast pulled this book together into a cohesive whole. Oliver and her XO constantly quipping at one another, Pervez’s constant antics and rebellion towards authority… I laughed aloud, repeatedly, and caught myself smiling even more. Military sci-fi sometimes gets caught in the logistics, hanging itself out to dry. Cole’s writing does this opposite – these characters are warm, comfortable, and human. Their constant struggle in the face of long odds kept me on my toes because I cared about them.

“Ma’am, with respect…”

“Nothing after the words ‘with respect’ is ever entirely respectful, Wen.”

“With respect,” Ho carefully enunciated each word as he stood, walking to her keyboard. “It’s possible you’re being a little paranoid here. You’re the one who insisted on this school in the first place.”

“With no damn respect, I’m around a hundred years older than you and I have been at this game for my entire life. I am not misreading the situation here.”

Ho clicked the mouse to open the email. “Well, you’re right. You passed.”

Oliver gave an exasperated sigh. “I told you I was smart.”

“No, ma’am,” Ho said, “you told me you were old.”

Although there is a lot of military jargon interspersed throughout the book, I did not find this to be a problem. Cole includes a glossary, but let’s be honest here: I, personally, am far too lazy to use it (whoops). I was easily able to suss out the meanings of each of the phrases and acronyms based on their context, and when I couldn’t, they weren’t really important anyway. The key pieces of the story are clear without having to do any extra look-ups or research, though you may find an additional layer to the book if you do so. Anyone who has served in the military will likely have no difficulty whatsoever.

If you’ve ever been on the fence about military scifi as a subgenre, Myke Cole may be the right author to help tip you over to the dark side. He’s got characters you’ll love, a fun, light writing style, and a completely fresh take on the subgenre. I can’t recommend this book enough.

Following a tragic encounter between American and Chinese forces that results in the death of her husband, Coast Guard Captain Jane Oliver is readying herself for a quiet retirement when the Commandant of the Guard offers her a role she’s not prepared for, leading and training the Coast Guard’s elite SAR-1 unit in preparation for the annual Boarding Action inter-service wargames. But this is a game where the outcome could very well end up starting the first ever lunar war, a war that won’t stay confined to the moon’s surface.

The core premise of this book is that the US and Chinese military are playing a massive game of Cold War chicken on the moon, with the massively lucrative Helium-3 mining rights the prize for the side that wins. On the US side of things the main players are the Navy and Marine Corps, who seem to be going out of their way to up the heat and start a shooting war with the Chinese, which is where our protagonist, Captain Oliver, comes in. It’s essentially her job to show that the Coast Guard are the best branch of the military to perform border security and law enforcement, even on the high frontier of the moon.

Myke Cole is a Coast Guard veteran so it was only a matter of time before he turned his hand to writing about this oft-forgotten branch of the United States Armed Forces, and it has to be said he’s done a great job with this book. This is high grade military sci-fi that definitely draws heavily on the author’s own experience, dropping the reader into the world of the Guard from the start with a veritable sea of acronyms and military jargon that will have you flipping to the glossary every couple of pages. However, once you’re familiar with terms like CBDR and DIW you soon lose yourself in what is, essentially, a fantastically fun space adventure yarn.

The narrative itself is punchy and well-written, masterfully leading the reader through the story. The central characters, especially those from the Coast Guard, are well-rounded and distinct, though some of the Marines do come across as a bit two-dimensional at times. There’s also a lot of hand-wringing and self-pity floating around Oliver at times, but this is handled sympathetically and rings true to the character given the events that lead to her losing her husband at the start of the novel. Suffice to say that by the end of the book she comes to terms with the events of the past and steps up in good fashion.

This isn’t a book that’s going to shock you with hidden plot twists or out-of-the-blue developments, but it is a book that’s going to take you on one hell of a ride if you let it. If you’re a fan of military sci-fi or simply enjoy a tale with a hint of good old “boy’s own” charm then this is definitely one to look out for. I just hope there are more adventures for Captain Oliver and her crew in the future.

This was a really great character novel, but the plot was a bit repetitive for me. It tells the story of Jane Oliver, a Captain in the Coast Guard who is called up to train the CG team on the moon.

The Positives: The characters were superb in this book. It was so refreshing to read a story where the protagonist is an older woman in a position of power. Jane was feisty and unapologetic, but also had moments of real vulnerability and doubt. I also absolutely loved the relationship between Jane and Wen, her XO. It was dynamic and clearly stemmed from a place of mutual respect and warmth. In general, all of the characters here were well drawn and compelling in their own ways, which was great.

The Negatives: I think the plot was very formulaic and felt incredibly repetitive, which made the book feel really long. I also think that the ending was a bit abrupt and that the way things panned out was ultimately pretty unsatisfying,

Overall, I think this will work for people who want the nitty gritty of military life and also wants the great character interactions - but I do think you would need to want both to really love it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Military science fiction is hands down my favourite genre to read so I was really excited at the chance to read Sixteenth Watch. I mean, it's military sci-fi on the moon! Who wouldn't want to read that?

Honestly, I'm not sure if I have the words to tell you how much I enjoyed this book. It completely blew me away from start to finish and not just because of the non-stop action. The characters and backstory were really compelling, making me want to continue following them on their unique journey in lunar space. Plus, there were so many bad-ass women in this story, something we definitely need to be seeing more of these days.

One of the aspects I found most compelling about this story was the positioning of the Coast Guard. I'll fully admit that I didn't know as much about the Guard as I should have, but Myke Cole has certainly remedied that. His background within the Guard added a lot of authenticity to the story.

Even though the Moon was supposed to be a new start for humanity, it didn't exactly pan out that way. We are humans afterall. The moon is supposed to be a neutral zone and is not supposed to be owned or controlled by any one country but where there's money to be made, you can be sure that everyone completely ignores those rules. Because of the vast resources on the moon, countries are in a non-stop tense standoff over territorial rights, especially between China and the United States. As a result, military branches are near the breaking point against each other with the Marines and Navy seeming to be itching for all out lunar war.

In comes the Coast Guard! Their main objectives are to de-escalate and protect boundaries so it stands to reason that their mission statement is perfect for protecting Americans on the moon. I felt a little silly when this was laid out because OF COURSE they would be the ones best suited for this. Whenever you read about militaries in space it's always branches that are very "hoorah!" but really it sounds like we should be sending Coasties out there more often to prevent things from blowing up out of proportion.

With that in mind, you'd think the Coasties would have more power on the moon to handle the constant tensions, but nope, the big guns keep stealing the show. With the Coast Guard facing being made completely irrelevant on the moon, and at the cost of countless lives, it is up to our main character (one of those bad-ass women I mentioned earlier) to try to set things right. You follow the story thinking it'll pan out a certain way, only to have the final chapters hand you a big "NOPE" and take it in an even more exciting direction before its phenomenal conclusion.

If this was a standalone, I'd be happy enough with the story ending there. However, the ending does leave itself open for further installments and I am 100% here for it. Here's hoping this becomes my new favourite space series! For now, though, Sixteenth Watch by Myke Cole has earned itself a spot on my All-Time Favourite Reads shelf. Thank you so much to the author for writing this and thank you Angry Robot for giving me the opportunity to read it.

Humans have started living on the moon! So far only the Americans and Chinese have establised territories on the moon. The borders are patrolled by The US Coast Guard, The US Navy, and The PLAN (The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Navy). Now the tensions are rising between the US and Chinese and war seems imminent. Now it is up to the Coast Guard to try and prevent the first war in space.

I loved this book, Myke Cole has created one of my favorite female protaganists in Coast Guard Capt. Jane Oliver. She is not the typical bombshell, young heroine, instead she is middle aged, hard as nails, and takes no crap from no one. She is well balanced against her Executive Office Wen Ho her constant companion, and close friend.

The story starts with her running an mission with her husband who is a commander in the Navy, the mission goes wrong and her husband dies on the mission. Then she is assigned to lead SAR-1, a small boarding team, to win the Boarding Actions event, a televised competition between the Armed Forces. As the story progresses she has to face the past and learn to use it to help her and her crew.

The hardest part of reading this story for me was the use of the military acronyms. Thankfully, the author included a glossary to reference the terms you dont know. Other than that the pacing was wonderful there is plenty of action, people working theough difficult emotions, and a gritty realness that sucks you in and and keeps you reading.

I had a total blast reading this novel and would gladly read anything else Myke wanted to put in this story line. I really cant say too much more about it with out getting into spoiler areas, which I will refrain from. All in all, if you are looking for a fast paced, military action, Sci-Fi novel this is the one you are looking for.

I haven't read any of Myke's other books, which I believe are mainly military sci fi and military fantasy. However, I'd come across Myke on Twitter a few times and he seemed like a nice guy. I also liked the premise of this novel, about the Coastguard in space, so thought I'd delve in.

My rating: ⭐⭐ ⭐ ⭐4 stars (out of 5)


* Spoiler Warning*

I loved the idea of the Coastguard patrolling the Moon, but I had absolutely no idea how the story would play out.

When I first started reading I thought there was quite a lot of jargon (which I presume was coastguard terminology) and I was a little worried that my unfamiliarity with Coastguard and other military terms would take me out of the story.

I needn't have worried. The terms are all explained simply and quickly, and after a few pages I knew enough that I could focus on the story.

Captain Jane Oliver is a career Coastguard Officer hiding out on Earth, teaching, after a botched Lunar mission killed her husband and some of her shipmates. She is given an opportunity to return to the Moon to train a Coastguard team to compete in a popular reality TV show that pits different branches of the military against each other. The only catch is, the Coastguard team needs to beat the incumbent Navy team. If the Coastguard don't win, the Navy will take over the Sixteenth Watch on the Moon, which will certainly lead to war. The Coastguard team are still feeling guilt over the mission that killed Jane's husband, and the Navy team are incredible. Jane must convince the Coastguard team to stop blaming themselves for her husbands death, but can she stop blaming herself?

I really enjoyed the different layers to this story, from the emotional (both Jane and the teams journey) to the practical (they need to beat the exceptional Navy team to avoid a destructive war, while overcoming their own trauma). I also really liked how each of the characters, even if they had a relatively minor role in the story, still had their own story arc, their own character journey. It meant that the story had a lot going on (which I liked) but that you got a number of emotional payoffs at the end of the book. There's also a lot of action, with some genuinely tense confrontations. The final battle at the end I thought made an excellent use of three dimensional space, with a 'wow, i hadn't read that before' sequence which I thought was both nail-biting and innovative. Above all though it was the characters that drew me in, they are incredibly nuanced, nobody was all bad, or all good. Although I felt Jane slightly bordered on being too perfect, and too accomplished, but I still liked her as a character.

I definitely recommend this book if you fancy a sci-fi novel that's a bit different.

You ever read a book to check it out for someone else? That’s what I basically did for this one. My dad recently went to his 50th class reunion from the Coast Guard Academy, and when I saw the blurb of Sixteenth Watch I thought maybe he would enjoy it. So I’m going to review this book thinking about my dad as the reader, but also put in some of my own thoughts along the way.

Here’s the blurb:

The Coast Guard must prevent the first lunar war in history.
A lifelong Search-and-Rescuewoman, Coast Guard Captain Jane Oliver is ready for a peaceful retirement. But when tragedy strikes, Oliver loses her husband and her plans for the future, and finds herself thrust into a role she’s not prepared for. Suddenly at the helm of the Coast Guard’s elite SAR-1 lunar unit, Oliver is the only woman who can prevent the first lunar war in history, a conflict that will surely consume not only the moon, but earth as well.

Starting with a shootout between two groups of miners on the surface of the moon, one American and one Chinese, Sixteenth Watch is a book that does a great job mixing character building with action. Coast Guard Captain Jane Oliver is widowed as her Navy husband is killed in the skirmish. She returns to Earth to grieve and get back on the water where she is most comfortable. She settles into a job instructing Coasties in boarding actions. Oliver is good at it and it distracts her from the pain and regrets she feels. She’s even ready to slide into retirement, but she is asked to consider a new command. A command that would entail training in boarding actions in space, specifically to ready a Coast Guard crew to compete in a reality show contest against teams from the other services. This show is the most popular ‘sport’ in the world. (Ummm… this is was a bit of a stretch. But I went with it.)

Oliver decides to go back to the moon… to face her past fears and take on a new challenge. But before she reports to the new command, she takes a three-week boarding training herself. This is the thing I really enjoyed about this character. Oliver is an impeccable leader. And Cole gets this part of the book perfectly for me. Her head is full of feelings, the pressure to succeed, the sorrow for her husband, and the responsibility of her mission. And these reflections are almost perfectly placed throughout the book.

The part that dragged for me was the minutiae of the exercises the crew goes through. I understood and Cole even tells the reader in a note before the start of the book that there would be a great deal of military acronyms and other jargon. But it still got to me. Yet, on the flip side, my father is a big fan of military thrillers, add that to his time in the CG and I think this book would be perfect for him.

There’s a number of minor characters who are fun but ultimately forgettable… and the undercurrent of tension that is foreshadowed throughout the first half of the book, it a bit predictable in the second half.

In short, cool character who fights a number of inner demons in a plot that is a little too military-based for this reader, but may be just the thing for a former member of Uncle Sam’s Confused Group.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Angry Robot, and the author for an advanced copy for review.

I'm torn about this one... I'd read some other reviews which say it picks up after the first third, and sure enough: I hit exactly 33% and it started to click. Before that, however, it was quite hard going at times - I found it very hard to be invested in the book, and I can't quite put my finger on why. Was it the extensive military background detail (so many acronyms!)? My own dislike of action sequences? (I realise the irony of this, as someone who reads a fair amount of military sci-fi).
That said: The characterisation is brilliant - each character, even those who don't feature heavily, feels fully fleshed out. The dialogue is very zingy, and this also helps to create a clear image of each character in your mind.
This was a fun read, but there was some time and effort required to reach that fun. I was also taken by surprise by how open ended the conclusion was - I think if I'd had a bit more resolution, I might have rated more highly.

In the near future, the US and China have begun harvesting the Moon for precious resources. Rather than bringing the world together in Lunar exploration, this resource squabbling has mirrored the exact same conflicts that have persisted on Earth. Capt. Oliver of the US Coast Guard is in command of a mission on the Moon's surface that leaves two of her crew dead but even worse is the death of her husband who had been commanding a US Naval ship in the altercation. This horrible turn of events sees Oliver relegated back to Earth to train Coast Guard crews for "blue water" actions.
Three years later Oliver is recruited to train a squad for a reality show that pits elements of the various Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies against one another in simulated boarding actions. The Coast Guard wants this to be an opportunity to show the top brass that their peacekeeping mission should take precedence over the ever-expanding reach of the Navy's wartime preparations.
This was a great bit of military sci-fi simply for the fact that the main character wasn't spoiling for a fight the whole time. It was also nice to see an often ignored branch (USCG) get the spotlight for once. Cole is already known for his military writing and the storytelling is spot on. The only downsides were that the characters were just a little too one dimensional and some of the story was quite predictable.
I will definitely be looking forward to the next book in the series to find out what comes next!

This book really didn’t work for me. I’m not sure what it was. For some reason I had trouble getting invested in the characters, and while the ending was action-packed and fast-paced, it just felt like the book took a while to really find it’s plot. I was really drawn to the book for the premise, but it took so long to really get into it, that I just found I didn’t care at the end and was just reading to reach the end.

Overall, my biggest issue was the main character, Jane Oliver, for some reason so much of what she did just didn’t make sense to me, and frankly, the characters that surrounded her seemed like card-board cutouts, they didn’t really seem fleshed out at all. They just didn’t feel real, and considering how much of the book was centered on their interactions, I just couldn’t get into it.

The last part of the book was the best part for me, where there was a lot of action, and I sort of got invested, and I have to say, the way the book ended has definitely made me want to read the next one, even given how much I struggled to get invested.

Overall, I do think this will appeal to readers who are fans of military science fiction, so if that’s you, here’s me saying check this book out—other readers seem to have connected where I couldn’t!

(the above review will go live at the included link on February 25, 2020)

Sixteenth watch is a largely character driven novel that takes the difficulties faced by the US Coast Gaurd to the moon.

The technical detail was nice, something enjoyable for the people who love the science in their SciFi. I also enjoyed the lense of a novel focused on the Coast Guard. I have read books based on multiple branches of the US military, but this is my first from this perspective.

There were some parts of the novel that dragged, dialogue that had a bit too much bravado, and a few plot points which didn't seem to gel. Overall though, I enjoyed this one, and would encourage other SciFi fans to take a look.

I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley.

In <i>Sixteenth Watch,</i> Myke Cole has created a compelling, action-packed work of military sci-fi where United States settlers face off against Chinese interests on the moon--and the United States Navy and Coast Guard likewise face off, escalating an already hot situation into one that could go nuclear.

I trust Cole to get the military aspects right; I know the guy, and he knows his stuff. As a former Navy wife, I have some familiarity with the subject matter myself. The rivalry he writes about within the ranks here is absolutely plausible, on earth and the moon, and ratchets up the tension to a major degree. This is one of those books that is almost impossible to put down. You NEED to find out what happens next.

This isn't a thriller full of vapid action, though. At its heart are incredible, vivid characters that I came to care about. The protagonist is Jane Oliver, a Coast Guard veteran of decades who loses her sailor husband during an initial lunar flare-up between the US and China. Instead of taking a quiet retirement, she is invited back to the moon for a rather unusual challenge: to prepare an elite squad of Coasties for a reality game show that the Marines have dominated for years. This has not only impacted recruitment efforts on Earth, but also gives the Navy more power in the struggle for military dominance on the moon. Navy commanders are too keen on war, to Jane's thinking; the Coast Guard, carrying out a role on the moon similar to what they do on the ocean, is largely about deescalating tension and saving lives. It's awesome to see the Coast Guard be in the spotlight in a space setting because the role that they play (even without a literal coast to guard) makes absolute sense.

The reality show angle adds to the originality of the book, and again, I know Cole knows what he's talking about, as he is a reality show veteran himself. The stakes around the show feel realistic in this near-future setting, but hanging over everything is that threat of war with China.

This is a darn good book, and I hope it's the first in the series because I'd love to read more about these characters and this world.

I've been excited about Sixteenth Watch since hearing about it months ago. I've thoroughly enjoyed Myke Cole's other work, both fiction and nonfiction. This is probably my favorite. In an era of incessant genre trilogies, when my attention is being demanded over ever longer time periods, it is that much harder to make me want to follow deeper into the world being built. Sixteenth Watch absolutely left me wanting more. More of the world he's built. More of the characters. More of the sense of duty & camaraderie. More of the nonstop action. I want more.

Sixteenth Watch – Myke Cole

Military Science Fiction is a bit of broad church. Sometimes it just means ‘Shooty death in space’ , other times it’s actually about how real-world style military operations would work in a space-faring society. Sixteenth Watch is an example of the latter type of affair, a relatively hard-nosed look what happens when you take the USA’s Coast Guard (a military service) and apply its principles and methods to the Moon.

Set in the near-future, the US is experiencing a cold-war of sorts with its closest Lunar rival, the Chinese. Both nations are mining for Helium3, an element vital to power generation. Our hero is Jane Oliver, a decorated and experienced ‘Coastie’ who is nearing retirement when she’s called to serve on the moon. She has a complicated past; her previous assignment on the Moon ended in tragedy, changing both the face of US Lunar operations and Oliver’s own life forever.

As the novel opens, tensions between the US and China are rising, in part to the different ways the two nations handle their Lunar operations. Matters are getting steadily worse, partially because the US Navy lack the subtle touch of the US Coast Guard when it comes to border patrol. Alas, public perception wants the Navy to handle things, making war almost inevitable. A plan is hatched; Jane comes out of semi-retirement to train the next generation of Lunar Coasties. The catch is that it’s all tied into a reality TV show. Turns out that watching young, physically fit people go through military training and compete against other military types makes good TV in the future. Jane’s job is to win the TV show with her new team, and thus get the public support the Coast Guard desperately needs.

Cole’s writing is highly detailed; you can tell that the author has intimate knowledge of the US Coast Guard. This does make the story a little dry in places as the reader gets a lesson in US Military process. There’s bits of this novel where it almost salutes at you. (And it’s a crisp and perfectly executed salute.) However the central premise is a lot of fun and they actual story is suitably nuts so you keep reading. The characters are well drawn; Wen, Jane’s closest ally, is especially fun. It’s also nice to see the Navy as ‘sort-of’ villains here.

Sixteenth Watch is one of those novels that you really want to see turned into a Netflix series so you can binge it and pour the whole thing into your brain. Fun, if a little dry.