Flash Gordon: Crisis on Citadel II by David Hagberg

Picking up immediately after the events of book 2, "Flash Gordon: War of the Citadels", Flash, Dale, and Dr. Zarkov find themselves wondering just what side of the Citadel war they should be on. The android known as “Martin” has proven duplicitous so Citadel 1 seems like the bad guys now.  But Citadel II is now also showing signs of manipulating them for its own ends. Their galactic war has been going on for thousands of years now, run mostly by computers, and it would seem that perpetual war is the only thing that keeps them all going.

The third novel in this set of Flash Gordon books is my favorite so far. I’ve gotten used to this “new” style of Flash Gordon and I’m really starting to enjoy the action-oriented space opera plot. This one sees Flash on his own for almost half the book, away from Dale and Zarkov and I think that is good. In the first two books we didn’t get to see him as the hero as much as just one part of a group, often overshadowed by Zarkov who could use his intellect to get them out of trouble. He was the go-to guy for the first two books with Flash often relegated to just being the muscle. But this time around he is on his own much of the time and can display his own intelligence and creative solutions. That’s what this series needed. In addition, there were some important plot developments along with finally turning the corner on the Flash/Dale relationship.

All six books in this series are one long story so be sure to read them in order. Looking forward to book 4, "Flash Gordon: Forces From The Federation", even though the title makes it sound like a Star Trek novel.