PIRATE HUNTING PAYBACKLiam finished his training and all he got was one lousy rival. When he wouldn't play along with a fixed contest, the angry nobles sent pirates after him. But the joke's on them--hunting pirates is Liam's favorite pastime. He's been feeling rusty! With a new ship and an unprepared opponent, crushing these fools is just the warm up he needs!
There's an amount I honestly should hate Liam by now, especially as a perverted, unabashedly evil character, but... in this day and age, someone who even *accidentally* beats genuinely evil people (vs. the one who claims to want to see his people suffer but ended up massively helping them out when their country-or-whatever-region had actually hit absolute rock bottom when he took control) is sort of a breath of fresh air.
Like, Liam has actually made friends, and totally demolished the corrupt Razel's supposedly elite training school, besides taking down the "pirates" backed by another corrupt noble and helping out his other noble friend in a pinch. Liam's self-assessment of "evil" feels laughable in light of how his goals conveniently align with "actually somewhat decent." About all that's demonstrably "evil" is how he jacks up taxes to 60% under the guise of "planet pioneering," and even THAT feels like a low ball, historically.
Liam even comes across as uncorruptible, when certain women try to throw themselves at him but he ignores/dodges their advances. That's mostly from his distrust of anyone except his sex-toy robot, though, and even she doesn't seem to get much use in that way, though Liam *has* been off-planet for a few years.
I don't know. I like this more than I feel like I should, I suppose. This isn't a good starting point for newcomers, though, as with most single long-running story series, but it's a strangely fun read, for what it is.