When I first saw a teaser that Myke Cole had written a science fiction novel about the U.S. Coast Guard in space I knew I wanted to read it. I’ve only read one other book by Cole, The Armored Saint, and I loved it. I was curious to see if he could recreate the same level of pathos present in that book in Sixteenth Watch, or if instead we’d get an entirely different feeling given the setting and plot. Either way I was excited to begin this read.

“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.” – Goodreads blurb.

If you don’t know anything about Myke Cole it’s important to note at the outset that he is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran. His experience and knowledge of the Coast Guard and the U.S. military definitely add to the detail and realism of the novel. There can be little doubt that his experiences played into the influences behind the book.

The plot centers around an inter-service rivalry between the Navy/Marine Corps and the U.S. Coast Guard over security of U.S. helium-3 mining operations on the moon with the added stakes of a shooting conflict with China. This is a conflict with the potential to go nuclear and spread to Earth. The Coast Guard sees itself as the service branch best suited to carry out this mission as it is currently more of a law enforcement action, but increasingly is forced to take a back seat to the more powerful and robust forces of the U.S. Navy and Marines. The Navy’s increasingly belligerent actions seem sure to bring the tensions with China to a head and the Coast Guard leadership feels only they can diffuse the situation, if only they can convince the American people and the political powers that be of the case.

Cole seems very aware of how little people really know about the Coast Guard or that they are actually a branch of the armed services. He knows most people probably see the Coast Guard as just a beefed up police force on the water. His characters are very aware of this too. This awareness is built into and at the heart the conflict within the narrative. This tension drives a lot of the plot as the Coast Guard and Navy keep butting heads.

The other major source of narrative tension stems from the event years prior that killed the main character’s husband, a lunar riot that got out of hand between American and Chinese miners where the military forces of both sides nearly got into a shooting war. The fallout and loss from that episode hangs over the characters and influences everything they think and do.

All of that intraservice rivalry and interpersonal dynamics in an inhospitable environment create what has the potential to be a powder keg ready to explode on the moon with the fallout descending to Earth. The book is set-up to be an action packed space story weighted with dramatic tension. And it almost lives up to expectations.

I’m a fan of military science fiction/fantasy and military fiction in general. When you go into this kind of read you do so knowing you may be getting a lot of military lingo, especially abbreviations and and acronyms. If you don’t like this in your reading be warned Sixteenth Watch is filled with it. Thankfully for me this isn’t a a negative at all but I know some readers really get turned off by it.

While I enjoyed the characters they were not very complex. We see everything through the point of view of Admiral Jane Oliver. She’s career Coast Guard, her husband was killed in action serving with the Navy, and only one of her children speaks to her. She constantly battles feelings of internal regrets and external political maneuvers while trying to prove more to herself than anyone else that she is capable to do the job she’s been given. Yet, for all that I didn’t feel like we get a deep dive into her character. Everything stays at a surface level or just beneath. I never felt the emotional tug with Oliver and her arc wasn’t developed very much.

Since it is a single POV story the focus is unsurprisingly on Oliver. While the other characters are diverse, Cole only scratches the surface on what drives and motivates them. And while I enjoyed some of the banter in the dialogue (especially between Oliver and her Executive Officer) there just isn’t a ton of depth to the characters. This means the book has to lean more on it’s pacing and action in addition to the plot to grab my attention.

The pacing and action were fine. I know that sounds almost negative so don’t take it that way. By fine I mean just that, not slow but not too fast, not too little and not too much. I never felt bored with the read and it kept me swiping the pages to get to the end. The action scenes were well written and there were no points in the book in terms of action where I was like “nah, that’s a bit much to accept.”

The plot was also fine. Again I don’t mean that to sound bad even though I know not raving about it tends to lend a negative vibe. In this case the idea of the intraservice rivalry with the weight of possible war with China played out on the moon with boarding actions and firefights in space is pretty cool and exciting and is what drew me to the book. But a few things detracted from the story. The first is that the event the characters are working toward and that drives much of the narrative seemed a bit contrived. I won’t reveal what it is here but I was like “eh…it seems a stretch this would work.” The second thing is that the notion the Coast Guard will best the Navy in their rivalry, both in deeds and in the minds of the people, seems like a little bit of wish fulfillment. The third was I knew early on how the plot would work itself out. Not every little detail, but the major plot points and the general context of the climax in particular. I also felt the book ended without seeing everything through to the end. Not a cliffhanger, but a plot hole left unfilled.

In the end I enjoyed Sixteenth Watch for what it is, something akin to a summer action movie. It contains action, thrills and pacing to keep you in your seat (turning the page) but without expectation of a deep exploration of character or theme. It’s a story you can count on to keep you entertained and will fill that need for a little science fiction action and conflict, but without emotional investment.

3 of 5 Stars

Sixteenth Watch is without a doubt a love letter to the men and women of the United States Coast Guard that draws inspiration from events affecting our world right now.

I was excited for Sixteenth Watch, although a little apprehensive. Myke Cole does a fantastic job writing military books, but his inside knowledge can mean that some of it goes over my head, add in sci-fi and I was worried. But he caters for those without any military knowledge with a glossary at the back to check out when required. I do like that he doesn't hold back though, he trusts that the reader will be able to figure it out and I found the best way to go was just jump in and I didn't look at the glossary once. I made it through and I think I understood a fair chunk of it. Although I didn't need to understand all of the military jargon to be touched by the characters and the way they were brought together, the way they became a family. I didn't expect for this book to punch me in the feelings as often as it did.

This is such a powerful and moving book, I couldn't put it down. It's over 400 pages and I read it in two sittings. It's fast paced, with plenty of action, political manoeuvrings and some wonderful characters who you can't help but feel close to. I was drawn to the human struggle, the frustration with those above in the chain of command.
I found the book eerie as it reflects on our current events.
Mostly I found the story heart warming, even at the bleakest times. Myke Cole loved these characters and he made me love them. If I ever meet a Coast Guard, I may hug them.

Myke Cole has some experience in the US Coast Guard which would explain why this often forgotten branch of US Forces is front and centre in his new military sci-fi book Sixteenth Watch. More than front and centre, the border protection and search and rescue functions of the service are put in stark opposition to, in this case, the gung-ho shoot-first-ask-question-later attitude of the US Navy. But while the role of the Coast Guard, in Cole’s universe, is de-escalation, there is plenty of action pretty much from the first page.
Sixteenth Watch opens on the Moon, some time not far in the future. Growing tension between American and Chinese Helium-3 miners has descended into conflict, drawing in the militaries from both sides. Captain Jane Oliver of the Coast Guards attends with her crew as does her husband Tom, a naval officer. But the intervention of the Navy exacerbates tensions and while war does not break out, tragedy ensues. Fast forward a few years and the Coast Guard is finding itself increasingly less relevant in lunar politics. The Service comes up with a PR solution – enter a team in the incredibly popular competition game show Boarding Party and beat the reigning champions (the Marines) to prove to the world that the Coast Guard can cut it. They bring Jane back to the Moon to train the team, giving her plenty of leeway in her methods.
And so quite quickly, the set up seems to be the standard: group of talented underdogs learn how to work as a team and win the big completion. But while there are elements of this, and Cole doubles down with some quotes about good leadership and teamwork, the narrative does not quite go this way, breaking left (or starboard?) when you think it is going to proceed in a near straight line.
Rear Admiral Jane Oliver is not the type of character you see often as the protagonist in this style of science fiction. An older woman with plenty of operational experience, dealing with loss and family, a principled leader with an extremely strong moral compass that often operates to her detriment when dealing with her senior officers. There is some joy to be had in Oliver’s constant breaking of the rules to try and push what she thinks is the service’s objective only to keep running into politics that runs well above her pay grade or knowledge.
There are plenty of recent scifi books set on the Moon – including Ian McDonald’s Luna series, Andy Weir’s Artemis, Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Moon. Most of them hinge on Helium-3 mining as the driver. Sixteenth Watch, Red Moon, sees this as just a new battleground in ongoing terrestrial tensions between the major powers. The biggest suspension of disbelief here is that anyone let the Coast Guard operate on the moon in the first place. This is kind of explained by there being a “border” (coastlines?) between Chinese and American interests, and there is the need for search and rescue missions to be carried out. But even trickier is, that some of the rules of the sea would continue to apply on the Moon. But the trick here is to just accept the premise go with it and then the rules, the jargon and the gung-ho-ness all make some kind of sense.
At its heart though, Sixteenth Watch is military science-fiction. With its strong focus on the military, and particularly tensions with China, this book could have been set in the South China Sea, but science fiction allows for an exploration of those tensions in a “safer” fictional environment, And if you know that going in, Myke Cole provides interesting (if occasionally fairly stock) characters and really well written action and combat scenes. And some seriously dangling plot threads that indicate that a sequel may well be on the way.

I turn to Myke Cole for a good action novel with a believable and understandable military bent. I was dismayed to discover that this particular novel is not for me.

I haven't read a ton of military scifi but I've read enough to understand command structure and the difference between tactics and strategy. At its best, this genre can take me on a fun space opera adventure that introduces me to interesting aliens, has flashy scenery and exciting fights.

I felt wrongfooted for most of the novel. The main character, Jane Oliver, commands a Coast Guard vessel that runs into a bad situation on the moon- union strikers and local police conflict is about to spark into a riot. I'm not clear on the Coast Guard's function in space, and that was probably the start of my confusion.

Anyway, Jane, in my opinion, doesn't act especially professionally during this engagement. She's more concerned with what her husband thinks of her, what her crew think of how she's interacting with her husband, and ultimately his safety than her own mission. I never felt like I could trust Jane's point of view and I didn't trust her ability to make a good decision either- not a great feel for your POV character.

Jane heads back to Earth after this initial scene setting. She's training Coast Guard search and rescue crew when she's tapped to return to the Moon to train crew there because she's famous now and the Coast Guard needs higher visibility and media cred so that it has more influence on the delicate situation on the moon.

Jane decides that she needs to undergo basic training with all the troops going up on the next deployment because that will make a good training montage, I guess. This rather out of shape middle aged woman expects to be treated the same as the young Marines who are doing training exercises. Of course she can't be or she'll wash out and be sent back to Earth in disgrace and that would be it for the Coast Guard's plan, but here we go anyway. I can totally see a commanding officer wanting a refresher for zero gravity maneuvers, but surely there's another way? This idea is bad for discipline and puts the training officers in a very awkward position indeed. Another decision Jane made that made me not trust her.

There are also some rather unbelievable things that happen like a trooper getting killed in a training exercise that results in no review of the incident or discipline of the person involved. At this point in the book, I'm confused because nothing that is happening is making sense to me and none of the characters seem to know how to work together like adults. Including our main character. Is she supposed to come to some sort of revelation? I very much fear that I'm supposed to agree with her decisions and I can't.

Maybe it's me and I just was unable to figure out what the author was doing, but I couldn't get into this book for all the reasons listed above, and I put it down for good

I really enjoyed reading Sixteenth Watch. It was a really, really easy read. I initially picked it up just trying to get the book started, and before I knew it I was 38% of the way through the book and I needed to sleep. This was just so easy to read and fall into.

The main character, Jane Oliver, is nearing retirement. She has been a member of the Coast Guard a long time, and is very good at what she does - leading boarding parties onto ships suspected of ill intent. Oliver also just lost her husband during the worst bit of fighting on the moon so far, and she saw it happen. She is hurting, and trying to find her place in the world again. And she has been given an opportunity to go to the moon, and a promotion.

This opportunity is two pronged. The primary goal, the reason she is being sent in the first place, is to win the new biggest sporting event in the United States. The Boarding Action is a competition "which pits space-based crews in a simulated boarding of a hostile vessel in zero-gravity." Oliver only has a few weeks to shape up the team fielded by the Coast Guard. They have to beat the Marines, who have won for the last few years running. Spectacularly.

But the real goal, the secret goal, is to prevent war with China. The hostilities are increasing rapidly, and quarantine jumpers are a daily occurrence. The action in which Oliver lost her husband was just one example of the way hostilities are going. Morale is low. And the Navy is itching to start a war. They're primed and ready to go at a moments notice. Winning the Boarding Action will give the Coast Guard room to present themselves as a viable alternative to policing the moon.

Overall, I really liked Sixteenth Watch. It was perhaps a too near future for me (war with China just feels a bit too close to home right now), being only about a hundred or so years in the future. I really liked the main character, and that she was an older protagonist, which I don't get to see often. And I really liked that she cared for her position - to prevent war, by any means necessary - so strongly. I just could have done without so many references to current things, like the USS Obama. Kinda just weirded me out.

There were also the character interactions. Oliver has a friend/assistant/fellow officer under her that does her bidding, and the interactions she has with him are just the best. They have the best relationship and chemistry that ISN'T sexual in nature and I just lived for it. Plus there were her interactions with her daughter and even her husband in the beginning. The relationships were just great.

And also there is that ending. Man, what an ending. I don't know if this is expected to be a series or what, but with an ending like that... it easily could be.

ARC received from Angry Robot on Netgalley. This did not affect my review.

A very original take on Military Sci-Fi that centers on Rear-Admirable Oliver of the US coastguard, their inter-agency conflict with the Navy and Marines over who should control the quarantine of goods on the moon, and of all things a game show. A this is set against the backdrop of an escalating conflict between the United States and China over mining of He3 from the moon. The game show, "Boarding Action", is to be used as a means to sway the President of which military branch should control the quarantine area, the Coastguard who favors deescalation with China or the Marines who favor the status quo. Rear-Admiral Oliver is put in charge of preparing the coastguard to win Boarding Action.

This book was full of action and tense moments. The last few chapters had my heart pounding. I simply could not put the book down at the end.

There is a lot of story here, and it isn't always that I think a book could use another 50-100 pages or more exposition, but this is one of them. I would have enjoyed anther viewpoint character that connected more with the politics of the relationship of the United States and China.

This book was given to me by NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This book sounded so interesting. I love hard sci-fi and this seemed like it would be reminiscent of 'The Expanse' series. I absolutely loved that series so I figured this book would soon join the ranks. However, I found myself extremely bored while reading this. So much so that I had to DNF it. The one really interesting feature of this book was the fact that the military forces in "Sixteenth Watch' were essentially the same as today.

Everything else I didn't like very much. The main character wasn't very likeable to me. There was no suspense, no stakes. It didn't capture me like I wanted it to. The action sequences didn't make me want to keep reading. I know some people will really like this book, otherwise it wouldn't be so highly rated right now. But this book just wasn't for me. Myke Cole is a good writer, I can tell by how this was organized and styled, but I just wasn't as enthralled as I wanted to be.

From Urban Fantasy to Fantasy to Science Fiction, Cole has proven he can write them all, and do it well. I can't wait for the next one.

A somewhat slow speculative novel about politics, workers' rights, and the Coast Guard--in space. Jane Oliver is tasked with leading a Coast Guard crew in an in-space competitive exercise, and must cope with this amid the travails of her daughter and the loss of her husband. The characters never quite felt real or deep, the stakes not terribly compelling, and ultimately, the book was flat and unexpectedly dull.

WHOA. This is a terrific book. I was lucky enough to have been granted an advanced copy of this by Angry Robot and it does not disappoint. If you like a brilliant military science fiction then you MUST get this one to read.

Coast Guard in space – why hasn’t it been done before? It is a brilliant concept. And the military technical language adds to the realism of the story.

I could absolutely image it being real (set not too far in the future) and the procedures, guides and mannerisms all invoke a long history of space travel, exploration, moon mining and opposing forces wanting control of a joint asset. What I really loved about it, was the link to modern times with the forced boarding competition between the defence forces, and the added twist of social media influence into the military mindset.

The action is gripping. The added element of instant death should a spacesuit be ruptured heightens this life and death struggle. If and when travel to the moon becomes more viable, I absolutely see this as a fallout. A little like Antarctica and the Arctic, the moon is a giant resource and governments are going to want to control it. Which means military involvement. Jane Oliver is a fantastic protagonist. Her motivations are completely understandable, and her devotion to duty and family cause natural opposing emotional stakes to propel the story forward. I loved Oliver’s XO and her team. I didn’t want the story to end.

This is very well constructed scifi. It's more nuanced then most a lot of military scifi, but has good action and battles. Lots of acronyms and really well crafted characters, and lots of aspects that feel real. This is my first M Cole novel and it's a good one, showcasing a lot of talent.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

Good book that refers to the moon and typical earth politics. It is little confusing at time but it is entertaining read.

What distinguishes Myke Cole’s new novel Sixteenth Watch from so many other military science fiction books written is his choice of protagonist. In choosing an older woman, one with grown children and a husband who has recently died, he’s already chosen something rarely seen throughout SFF.
Jane Oliver (NEVER call her the Widow Jane, unless she gives you permission) is preparing for a life of retirement with the Coast Guard. Her husband is in the Navy, and between the two of them lie decades of military experience and understanding. Their paths don’t cross often, but on one fateful day, an engagement at the Moon sees her husband die. From there, the trajectory of her life changes drastically, and she finds herself in charge of the Coast Guard team for a set of annual military games. No pressure, but the fate of the galaxy rests on her shoulders.
For all I loved Jane Oliver, I’m not sure this was the book for me. It’s well-written, and Cole clearly has a gift for creating characters that feel like actual people, rather than poorly sketched stereotypes. I’m just not sure I can ever be entirely sold on something that sticks so hard and so fast to military facts. This is, I think, a personal distinction, and not anything that the book does wrong. If that’s your jam, I honestly think this is probably one of the best books in the genre. I found myself tripping over all the abbreviations and technical terms. There’s a guide in the back, but it’s a little difficult to access on the Kindle. Not the fault of the author- it just didn’t port over well to ebooks, which my ARC was.
There’s still a lot to be excited about though. I’m not educated enough about military matters to determine if Cole’s SAR (search and rescue) games are a real thing (I suspect that they are) but never-the-less, the adaptation to space and the difficulties that would impose are well done and make everything feel fresh and new.
In short: Not the book for me, but perhaps it will be for you?
Thank you to NetGalley!

Thanks to Angry Robot for the ARC of this one.

I’ve read a lot of Myke Cole over the last few years. I thought his <i>Shadow Ops</i> modern military fantasy series was excellent, and the prequel trilogy was solid. His <i>Armored Saint</i> fantasy series was a departure from his comfort zone, with a truly awesome premise. The books didn’t quite live up to the premise’s promise, but the first two were still decent, and I look forward to reading the third in the trilogy. And I have a lot of respect for Cole writing outside of his comfort zone for the sake of pushing himself as a writer. A lot of writers have their own “voice” that’s pretty consistent across books: a Brandon Sanderson or Robin Hobb or Neil Gaiman book sounds like it was written by Sanderson or Hobb or Gaiman, as a rule. This isn’t a bad thing, but I respect Cole for pushing himself to break out of that mold.

<i>Sixteenth Watch</i> is both a return to form (in that it’s modern military) and a departure (in that it’s hard sci-fi rather than fantasy). The premise is that the US and China are both working to ensure they have access to Helium-3 on the Moon, and tensions between the two countries are rising. The US Navy has been muscling the US Coast Guard out of operations on the lunar border between American and Chinese territories. The protagonist is Coast Guard Captain Jane Oliver, nearing the end of her career. Her goal is to avoid a war, and as long as the Navy is dealing with border issues, every situation will be approached as a potential combat situation (because the Navy is made to fight wars, and when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail). The Coast Guard, while still one of the armed services and able to fight, is more of a law enforcement agency. The Coast Guard, in Oliver’s opinion (and the Coast Guard brass’s opinion) can manage the border without escalating things and triggering a war.

So that’s the premise. Oliver is put in charge of a PR mission to convince the politicians and the public that the Coast Guard can handle the job, and is working to assert the Coast Guard against heavy pushback from the Navy and Marines.

Now I have no problem with wish fulfillment fantasy. It can be both fun and rewarding to sink into a story of fun and adventure, putting yourself in the place of an awesome protagonist doing awesome things. But in reading <i>Sixteenth Watch</i>, I kept thinking this is the most specific wish fulfillment that I’ve ever read: the wish that the Coast Guard would get the respect it deserves from the other armed services, particularly the Navy. I have nothing but respect for the Coast Guard (though I will admit I don’t think about them much), but it’s not the easiest premise to relate to.

Cole himself is a Coast Guard vet, and it shows. He brings an authenticity to modern military fantasy/sci-fi that is usually a delight to read. But here, it was something of a drag. Reading about a team of Coast Guard operators training to prove that they can do boarding operations better than the Marines? That’s great. Reading about arguments between Coast Guard and Navy admirals arguing over whose interpretation of titles 10 and 14 of the United States Code is correct? Less great. Did you know that according to the 1972 COLREGS (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea), for both international and inland navigation, the right-of-way is given to the starboard vessel? Well, after reading <i>Sixteenth Watch</i>, I do.

So this book is highly recommended if you have served in the Coast Guard, or as a gift for a loved one who is serving or has served in the Coast Guard. I know I’m making fun here, but only mildly. It was just hard to shake the bemusement I felt while reading and thinking, “this is <i>awfully specific</i> wish fulfillment.” The book is well-written, and the main character is very compelling to read. I’m hoping there is a sequel – the story itself doesn’t need one, but there’s a rather big loose thread that I really want to see tied up. Between that and the protagonist alone I want more. But this is also a straightforward fun and exciting read.

Summary: Set twenty minutes into the future, so to speak, Sixteenth Watch is a solid military fiction book with scifi elements, more so than science fiction book proper, one that attempts to juggle a futuristic plot concept and wrap it around a core of familiarity with the present. The idea of trying to imagine how things in the military could be based on how they are now is intriguing, and the book definitely does its best when deep in the action or in the moments of political tension between the branches. I would like to see where the author could take the setting in the future, and the way the story ends makes me wonder if perhaps he is planning to find out. However, what makes the novel is also in some ways what threatens to damn it. The over-use of acronyms in particular is like to be off-putting for people not familiar with them, and might well dilute whatever enjoyment they can get from the book as having to constantly flip over to the end of the book just to understand what the hell the characters are saying is severely off-putting to say the least.

Prose: There were a few scattered typos, but nothing terribly obnoxious or pervasive. More troublesome than that is the fact I see no reasonable excuse for an epub to not have each instance (or at least the first instance) of every acronym linked to a definition in the glossary. Obviously, people familiar with the terms will not need them, but I'd hazard to say most people who pick up the book wont be familiar with the terms, and in a book so heavy with acronyms, expecting people to go back and forth manually seems like a gross oversight. In general, while I respect what the author was trying to achieve, I feel like overall they work against the story more than for it, but again that might just be because I have little familiarity with the Service. 3/5

Plot: I have mixed feelings about the plot. Or more exactly about the way the plot peters out in the end. On one hand, as mentioned, the overall concept is really appealing, and the execution of the latter parts of the novel in particular kept me well interested. Ironically, it is as the story progresses that it starts to feel more and more like the novel has forgotten its own plot. Like the author is simply meandering from here to there until he finds an arbitrary spot he likes in the regolith. I am fully aware this is an odd complaint, as the latter parts of the book are the more action-packed and generally speaking the ones I liked best, but meandering is ultimately unsatisfying, and the bits of action ultimately don't save the whole from the feeling of... 'what' when you suddenly stumble into an epilogue that feels like the end of a chapter more than a proper cliffhanger. 2/5

Pacing: I found the first 1/3 of the book to be both rather slow and really uninteresting in comparison to the rest of it. It felt like the author wasn't really sure of the best way to start off the story. He definitely didnt know how to end it either, but once pas the introductory bit, at least, things start picking up at a nice enough rate. 3/5

Characterisation: I generally enjoyed Jane's character, as well as Ho's. Their dynamic with each other is specially entertaining. The rest of the cast seemed much less developed, sometimes verging dangerously on flat. specially her team. None of them are particularly memorable or interesting, and could in most cases likely be encompassed with one or two words. 3/5

World-building: As mentioned in the summary, the concept itself is one of my favourite parts of the book. I hated the way the acronyms were presented, sure, and the acronyms were there partly to deliver a certain believability to the speech pattern of officers in the military, but thats more of a technical flaw they could easily fix, specially in the electronic version of the book. I also really enjoyed the little snippets we get at the beginning of each chapter, as they really do help to flesh out the peception we have of this slightly more futuristic earth. 4/5

Sixteenth Watch by Myke Cole- The first thing I thought when I started this book was, What is the United States Coast Guard doing on the Moon? Well, it turns out plenty. The Guard's main job is search and rescue, but when fighting between Chinese Helium miners and their American counterparts start over territory, it becomes a military action and lives are at risk on both sides. Enter Commander Jane Oliver of the U.S. Coast Guard. She's there to do her part, when she witnesses her Navy husband's ship destroyed during the fracas. She is shattered and no longer serves directly but rather spends her time teaching up and coming men and women the operations of the Guard. A new post is offered her, training the elite boarding squads for an upcoming competition between the other branches of the military to see who is the best. Along with it comes a promotion in rank that she can not pass up. So she's off to the Moon again and a difficult grueling task.
The author, Myke Cole, knows the ins and outs of the U.S. Coast Guard, being a Lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve as well as a gifted writer. He brings a lot of authenticity to the story and fills it with the walk and the talk of the U.S. Coast Guard. This is a very enjoyable kind of uplifting story that never strays from the duty that infuses the participants.

Disappointing. I'm a huge fan of Cole's work, but I just couldn't get into this one. The characters were uninteresting, and the pacing and action let the story down.

Sixteenth Watch is a standalone sci-fi novel from Myke Cole, whose blend of fast-paced action, detailed world-building and compelling characterisation we’ve enjoyed before.

The focus of Sixteenth Watch is the intra-solar Coast Guard. In the relatively near future, mankind has managed to make it to the moon. Mining teams are pulling helium-3 from the lunar landscape, using it to fuel an energy revolution on earth. But they’ve brought the same old conflicts with them as well. The US and China are both mining deposits, both depressingly near to each other. The surface is pocked with military installations, and the dark skies over the Moon are the depths in which naval boats from both sides silently swim. It’s a situation teetering on the edge of a blade. One wrong word, and someone’s going to start a war. Indeed, some are looking for an excuse to start one.

The world building here is absolutely top-notch. You can feel the razor’s edge of political events, both on earth and around the moon. The military training areas have the lived in feel one might expect, the slang is organic, plausible, vibrant. The hab units of lunar settlers, mining for their futures, believably utilitarian. The small lunar boats the Coast Guard uses are models of utility and craftsmanship. The world has an aura of authenticity about it; it feels real, and that makes you care about the consequences for the people who live in it.

The Coast Guard, while being a branch of the US military, is on the moon to save lives, not to start wars. That gives us an interesting perspective on events. As tensions ratchet up, as sabres move from rattling to being firmly grasped, the Coast Guard is there. Women and men doing a tough, demanding job, doing it professionally, and perhaps saving everyone from themselves.

So that’s the world. Complicated. Multi-faceted. Political. Focused on the Coast Guard, providing a sympathetic, nuanced view of the service, embracing service and duty and loyalty, while not glorifying conflict. It’s heady stuff. Interesting, thought provoking work, in a detailed, well-drawn world.

And into that world steps Jane Oliver. With this Coast Guard Captain, a survivor of the last brushfire conflict on the Moon, Cole expertly portrays a responsible, professional woman who is struggling with her own grief. The emotions moving across the page are raw and unconfined. They’re sometimes hard to read. But, much like the world Jane inhabits, they feel real. And in so doing, they give Jane an emotional weight and depth that you can feel while turning the pages. This is a complex woman, a living, breathing person, whose struggles, whose conflicts, whose rage and courage and love all surge up off the page, with serious heft behind them. It helps, of course, that Jane is likeable in her own right. Wry, sometimes cynical, funny, driven, a woman who genuinely cares for the people under her command and wants both for them to do their best and to help them become their best. A woman who believes in the broader mission of her service, who takes it seriously, who cares. Jane is a fantastic protagonist, one we can empathise and sympathise with, one we can cheer with when she kicks arse, and cry with should things go wrong.

Of course, Jane’s ably supported by a wider cast. There’s her own boat crew, who range from quiet, almost withdrawn, to fiercely angry. There’s senior officers, who manage to run the gamut from professionally helpful through personal warmth to cold fury, but also bring us personal notes that make them feel as much people, as much part of the world, as Jane herself.. There’s training commandants and their trainees. There’s people here on the page that you’re going to love, and some you’re going to love to hate, but say this for them, they’ll have your attention.

The story. Ah, well, no spoilers. But it’s probably not a surprise that in a detailed world filled with nuanced, well-crafted characters, the story is an absolute cracker as well. It’s got heroism in spades. It has the high-wire ratchet of tension which makes turning each page an act of anticipation – what will happen next? It has action sequences that are fast and brutal and visceral and deadly, which will grab hold of you and not let go until, again, you know what happens next. It has a story with the sort of intimate, personal stakes that seize the soul, and a story with the high-stakes, world shattering consequences that make it impossible to put the book down.

Basically, Sixteenth Watch is a brilliant book. It’s one you’ll pick up and read late into the night rather than put down. It’s thoughtful, it’s clever, and it kicks arse. Give it a try.

3,5 stars

I liked this book. It was good with pacing and characterization. There were times when most of action was told by dialogues with a lot of military words that I didn't understand and that left me a little confused. But people who like military science-fiction will probably love this! I liked that the main character was an older woman and that there was place for more people above 40 years old. It was my first novel by Myke Cole but I'm sure to check his other works.

Not your run of the mill MilSF - understands the military, but does not glorify it.

I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this book, and whilst I follow Myke Cole on Twitter, I hadn’t read any of his books before - after reading this book, I will be buying the rest.

I burned through this book in three sessions - it’s gripping, believable (the characters, the scenarios, and the science), and best of all, no bad guys/good guys, just people trying to be the best they can in shitty situations. I cared about the main characters, and felt for them when things went well/bad.

This reminded me, in parts, of the same style of MilSF as Marko Kloos’ "Frontlines" series - realistic, gritty, no unbelievable heroics, just good people in a bad situation.

The book leaves you on a bit of a cliffhanger, so hopefully there will be follow-on books (or at least one).