The Price of Valor

Executive Summary: This book combines the excellent military action of the first book with the political intrigue of the second book, making it the best book yet.Audio book: Richard Poe once again does an excellent job. He makes waiting the few extra days for Audible/Recorded Books to get their act together so I can buy it worth it. :)Full ReviewMy review for [b:The Shadow Throne 18657632 The Shadow Throne (The Shadow Campaigns, #2) Django Wexler https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1422248599s/18657632.jpg 26473563] is easily my best, and most popular. I'll likely never top it. Thankfully the same cannot be said for Mr. Wexler.I'm always stingy with 5 star ratings. Even more so for middle books in a series. This might be my favorite book of the year so far though, and that's saying a lot. Yet somehow it seems like no one is reading it. At least not in my circle of friends. I'm hoping it's simply the ridiculous number of July releases that have simply delayed people from starting.[b:The Thousand Names 15810910 The Thousand Names (The Shadow Campaigns, #1) Django Wexler https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355441268s/15810910.jpg 21536059] is a military action story with a touch of politics and magic. [b:The Shadow Throne 18657632 The Shadow Throne (The Shadow Campaigns, #2) Django Wexler https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1422248599s/18657632.jpg 26473563] is a political thriller with a touch of military and magic. In this volume however, Mr. Wexler found the perfect balance of military and politics and stepped up to magic to create his best novel to date.His characters are excellent. This is especially true for Winter, Janis and Raesinia. He seems to have more diverse and interesting female characters than just about anything else I'm reading these days, and that includes works by female authors. There are characters to love, characters to hate, and several you love to hate. Through three books, I still have no idea what Janis's motivations and goals truly are. I can't wait to find out!And if that weren't enough, the world building and magic is fascinating. The magic has been fairly downplayed in the first two books, mostly relegated to motivation for character action, with very little on-screen time. This still feels fairly low fantasy to me, but it's definitely stepped up from the last two.Flintlock Fantasy seems to be fairly popular lately, but most of the attention seems to be on [a:Brent Weeks 1370283 Brent Weeks https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1232012513p2/1370283.jpg]' Lightbringer series or [a:Brian McClellan 6524620 Brian McClellan https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1363389316p2/6524620.jpg]'s Powder mage. While I am enjoying both of those series, Mr. Wexler is quietly making his case as the best series of this particular subgenre.If you haven't given this series a try yet, I highly recommend it. Now to go back to waiting for what comes next..