Wholesale Slaughter Books in Order

Wholesale Slaughter is one of Rick Partlow's clearest pure-adventure series. Logan Conner is the son of a king, heir to one of the major star-dominions, and one of the best mech pilots around. Instead of staying in the palace and waiting for power, he walks away, takes a new name, and leads a mercenary outfit that fights pirates and raiders on its own terms.

That outfit is Wholesale Slaughter, and subtlety is not really the brand.

The fun of the series is the contrast between Logan's hidden identity and the blunt force of the missions. On one level, these are mech-heavy military adventures with contracts, firefights, betrayals, and a crew that knows how to hit hard. On another, they are stories about someone trying to outrun his inheritance while the galaxy keeps dragging him back toward it.

Because Logan comes from power, the books can move easily between cockpit action and royal politics. The pirate threat is real, but so are the rival dominions, succession tensions, and the question of whether a man can abandon leadership just because he does not like what leadership costs. That gives the series more backbone than a simple run of mercenary jobs.

If you want Partlow in a high-energy mode with mechs, princes, and frontier warfare, start with Wholesale Slaughter.