A planet destroyed; a people wiped out. Only the sole survivor, Keill can avenge the death of his people and put a stop to a galactic-level threat who will stop at nothing to rule it with an iron fist. Can Keill stop him? Why did the Warlord kill the people of Moros? Come explore the stars with me as I introduce you to the Galaxy of The Last Legionary.

            While I admittedly haven’t read a lot of science fiction novels, let alone science fiction pulps, I stumbled on The Last Legionary series after finding the fourth volume of the series for free on a rack at the local library. To my pleasant surprise, I enjoyed the book much more than I thought I would. While I have my issues with science fiction as a genre that I will expound upon later, I would be remised if I didn’t at least walk off the beaten path and try this series, considering my love of pulp I was more willing to give this story a shot than I probably would have others and I am glad that I did. Hold on to your hats, buckle in, and prep for takeoff while I introduce you to the excellent series and galaxy of The Last Legionary!

“Then the giant attacked without warning. Keill was nearly trapped by the speed and power of the rush. But he managed to dodge one blow, block another, and spin away out of reach. Instantly Thr’un was upon him again-and-again Keill evaded the attack, twisting away.” – Galactic Warlord

            Keill is a legionary, Moros’s most skilled and elite warriors. He is prideful, smart and resourceful and at times to his detriment as he comes to terms with the destruction of his planet and people. This leads him to become arrogant and to reject the help offered to him by a group who have a vested interest in stopping the force responsible for the complete destruction of Keill’s people even after they saved his life. The book ends with a satisfying battle that, while a personal victory for Keill, reminds him that there is a lot more to be done and that the war is far from over and a lot of personal character development can be seen that makes him a likeable main character.

The galaxy of the book I find unique in that, it is set in a universe with little to no alien lifeforms outside of humans who, after developing space-travel, colonized the empty galaxy and developed distinct cultures and differences (The people of Moros for example, were skilled fighters and stronger than average due to the harsh conditions of the planet). I haven’t seen this type of world building in media outside of series like Battletech and haven’t read a science fiction novel set-in space that had a distinct lack of aliens, and it was refreshing to read and made me invest in the world-building of the story.

Galactic Warlord opens strong, and action oriented as most pulp does with an opening action sequence that wastes no time introducing us to the main character Keill, of the planet Moros who finds himself the last of his kind as a whispered evil is committing genocide against any who could potentially oppose them. The opening sucks the reader in and while at times it can slow to a crawl as the author is world building, it is worth it for the payoffs that happen later in the book.

            The middle is where the book starts to slow down as we get to learn more about what happened to Keill, who is responsible for destroying his planet and people, and what his next move should be. Combine this with a bit of a lore dump after the initial action-packed opening and I found myself kind of fading in and out as I continued reading and might put off some readers.

            With that being said, the middle does a bang-up job of setting up the end quite nicely when we see Keill confront one of the Warlord’s underlings and the one personally responsible for the death of his people. It was an excellent fight that didn’t feel drawn out and challenged Keill on every level, physically, emotionally and intellectually as the villain was clearly a formidable opponent that pushed Keill to his limits with a satisfying conclusion for readers.

                        Unfortunately, when I first picked up the last book in this series, I was disappointed by how difficult it could be to find a copy of the Galactic Warlord. It appears that this series is out of print and as such, the price has gone up a significant amount (As of this writing, the complete collection goes for a minimum of $105.53 on Amazon.”. While a thrifty shopper could probably find this book/series for a cheaper price, this maybe a turnoff to some that I wanted to take time to highlight.

            After review and an internet search, it has become clear that I can’t readily recommend this book for one reason, the price. The story itself I would rate an 8.5/10 and while some prints of this series can be found for roughly 20$ most prints are unreasonably pricey for a book that is over 30 years old (book 5, a prequal story is next to impossible to find). On the merits of story overall, as a story, there was plenty to enjoy about this pulp adventure. As my first real dive into sci-fi pulp, I found that this was an excellent introduction for those just entering pulp fiction, or those who want to branch out an diversify their bookshelf with a short but excellent pulp series (for those fortunate enough to find the books at a reasonable price). While the target audience of this series is disputed (some say it is targeted for young adults) I found it enjoyable as an adult as well as we follow for all intents and purposes an adult character with adult motivations for revenge. In short, if you can find the book series for a reasonable price, run don’t walk to pick up this book.