With the Lightnings (RCN I) – David Drake

I was put off from reading this for a full eight years mainly due to the horrible cover, but also some misgivings about David Drake. While I loved his Hammer’s Slammers, his writing has often been a bit wooden. The blurb just didn’t do it for me either. Well, I’m so happy to be proven wrong. “With the Lightnings” is quality military SciFi. The RCN series has been likened to the Hornblower books, However Drake himself says they are actually based on the Aubrey/Maturin books. Since those are in themselves inspired by the Hornblower series, I suppose both comparisons are apt.

Lt. Daniel Leary is an officer of the Republic of Cinnabar Navy. Cinnabar is a “great power” opposed by “the Alliance”. As in all good adventure fiction of this stripe, the Alliance is “evil” and Cinnabar is “good”. Leary is a supernumerary on a diplomatic mission to the planet Kostroma. Meanwhile, Adele Mundy, a Cinnabar information specialist in exile, has been hired to set up the ruler’s library on Kostroma. While they are there, the Alliance invades Kostroma. Leary and Mundy join forces and, with the help of a group of Cinnabar ratings, set about attempting to escape.

Swashbuckling action only begins to describe this book. Drake has adapted his technology and political/social structures to mimic the age of sail to a degree that would be ridiculous if it wasn’t such a good background for a story. Leary and Mundy are the perfect characters for this kind of thing. Daring, courageous and humorously cocky, yet by no means arrogantly sure of themselves. The locales are colorful, the characters engaging, the action furious and exciting.

The Belisarius Series – David Drake & Eric Flint

Military SciFi/Alternate history in which an evil empire appears in India in the fifth century. Famous historical general Belisarius receives a warning from the future and must counter the threat. This series goes deeper into philosophical and poetical tangents than similar works. Eric Flint’s classic wry humour pervades the prose. The books can almost be read as historical novels and contain quite a few interesting tidbits about the period. The series consist of:

  • An Oblique Approach
  • In The Heart of Darkness
  • Destiny’s shield
  • Fortune’s Stroke
  • The Tide of Victory
  • The Dance of Time

The sixth and final book, The Dance of Time came out over two years late and seems a bit of a late addition. It tied up all the loose ends neatly, even though the actual conclusion to the conflict was foregone by this time. However, the habit of the authors to show off their characters’s cleverness, while only a minor annoyance in the first five volumes, really grated on my nerves in the sixth book. Endless uses of “Why not?” and equally endless enumerations of “how cool are we” items both in the exposition and the dialogue are just plain bad style. Still and all, a satisfying conclusion.

The Inheritance Trilogy – Ian Douglas

These are sequels to the exciting Heritage and Legacy trilogies. As before, the focus is on the Marine Corps and its role in imagined future conflict. Note: Ian Douglas is a pen name for William H. Keith.

Star Strike

This is the first book in the third trilogy about US Marines. The story jumps ahead about half a millenium. The Xul still threaten humankind, but have been quiescent since the events of Star Marines. As per usual, the Marines are hindered by a misguided politician, then proceed to save the day and win a great victory. There is the usual boot camp training sequence with a new scion of the Garroway line.

While the plots are becoming somewhat formulaic, these novels are still of high quality. The action is gritty, the story is epic, and the books are real page turners. I was afraid that all the “future tech” would somehow make the story less relatable, but this is not so. Douglas manages to explain well how technologies like AIs, direct mind link to computers and virtual spaces change the way humans interact. He also infuses the book with a sense of history, and understands that political entities and priorities can shift dramatically over time.

Galactic Corps

The second book of the trilogy picks up the story about a decade after Star Strike. Once again, there is an annoying politician. The Marines now attempt a blow at the very heartland of the Xul, in the radiation saturated galactic core.

While the first half follows the usual formula, the second half, with operations in the core, is truly excellent. Very exciting and with many elements from “sense of wonder” stories like Ringworld and Rendevous with Rama. These are areas that military Scifi doesn’t usually touch upon but could and should more often. A very strong middle book and another page turner.

Semper Human

After a thousand year “break” in the macrostory, the Marines are back. Revived from a centuries long hibernation (de facto a kind of reserve status), they wake to a radically different galactic society, with a plethora of alien races, as well as new offshoots of the human race. The reason for their awakening is that the Xul seem to be altering reality by subtly influencing human minds through the spooky effects of quantum physics.

After the breakneck action of the previous two books, this one feels very slow to start. A lot of time is spent discussing the changes to galactic society of the past centuries. The usual “Marines are anachronisms” message, only more so, and to excess. Once battle is joined, so to speak, it doesn’t feel anywhere near as visceral as previously. The characters are dull and lack the compelling qualities of those in earlier installments. Douglas redeems himself a bit at the end with some excellent historical vignettes, but it is not enough. Unfortunately, the book becomes one long treatise about why Marines have always pulled mankind’s (and in this case Galactic Society as whole’s) chestnuts out of the fire. While I understand and even agree with the message, it is far too heavy handed. So this ninth, and possibly last, book of the saga unfortunately ends it with a sizzle where there should have been a bang. A big, big bang.

The Legacy Trilogy – Ian Douglas

This is the sequel trilogy to the exciting Heritage Trilogy. Set a hundred years further in the future, the books flesh out the backstory significantly and satisfyingly. The Marine Corps focused action remains, improved if anything. Douglas (a pen name for William H. Keith) writes about battles, troops and equipment with a gritty and realistic tone.

Star Corps

Descendants of the An, prehistoric overlords of Earth, have been discovered on a planet in a nearby star system. Suddenly, the delegation sent there is attacked by these “Ahannu”. The Marines send a relief expedition on a ten year voyage (one way) to regain control. This book introduces the Marines featured in the first two books of the trilogy, in particular John Garroway, descendant of the main characters from the Heritage Trilogy. The Ahannu are just a bit player in galactic terms, though.

Battlespace

After a ten year voyage back to Earth, the Marines are sent out again. Their twenty year absence has led to significant problems interacting with society, somewhat similar to what happens in Haldeman’s “The Forever War“. This time, the mission involves securing an alien stargate in the Sirius system, thought to be used by the “Hunters of the Dawn”, a very advanced race that destroys any life that could threaten it. At the gate, the Marines encounter another race, the Oannans/N’mah, which has been fleeing from and fighting the Hunters of the Dawn for millenia. After initial violence due to misunderstading, an alliance is formed.

Star Marines

The action now jumps forward a century and a half, but the main characters are still Garroways. The Hunters of the Dawn, alerted by the destruction of their ship and gate in “Battlespace”, have decided that humans are a threat. A Hunter ship appears in Sol system and attacks. Earth is devastatated. The Marines launch a Doolittle Raid on the enemy, trying to buy the humans time. By the end of the Legacy Trilogy things are still very much up in the air about the future survival of humanity.

 

While the “Marines rule” theme in these books can sometimes be a bit heavy handed, this is quality military SciFi. The back story, only hinted at in the Heritage Trilogy, is fully fleshed out and well imagined.

The Heritage Trilogy – Ian Douglas

The Heritage Trilogy is the first of three connected trilogies about Marines in space, and consists of:

  • Semper Mars
  • Luna Marine
  • Europa Strike

Three very good near future military SciFi stories, loosely connected at the micro level, with a deeper common background. My only small gripe is that Douglas does not concentrate more on the backstory of alien visitors in ancient times. Still and all, a very good read.

Note: Ian Douglas is a pen name for William H. Keith.

The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story – Stephen R. Donaldson

This is the first of the Gap series of five 5 novels, a grand space opera loosely based on the Nibelung Ring operas by Wagner (of which there is a synopsis at the end). A mere 184 pages, it is an idea piece that introduces three characters, and delves deeply into their psyche, especially that of the villain.

Donaldson’s space opera aspects are a constant mild annoyance, since he has taken the very worst of all clichés in the genre, without making even a token effort to be original. It’s like being inside a video game with similar thematics. The plot was barely enough to get me through this novelette length tale, as was the knowledge that it would soon be over.

Dhalgren – Samuel R. Delany

Considered by many to be Delany’s literary masterpiece, I didn’t get very far in this weighty tome. The story, as far as I could make out, is about a traveler to the city of Bellona, a place which has suffered a great disaster. A disaster so great, in fact, that space and time no longer work as they do in the outside world. Very literary, in all the bad ways.

State of Fear – Michael Crichton

This is the first Crichton novel I have had a hard time finishing. Somewhere in the middle, I just lost interest. It’s a decent story, but frequently disjointed and muddled. Very much unlike Crichton’s usual very focused style. Thankfully, it does pick up at the end, and Crichton is never really a bad author.

As with all Crichton’s novels, there is a central theme. This time it’s global warning. In an interesting twist, the author takes a dissenting opinion. While the views of characters should never be mistaken for being the same as the author’s, Crichton does make himself quite clear in the afterword. Put simply, he claims there is not enough research to prove global warming one way or another. Interesting. It should be noted that Crichton likes his scholarly afterwords and bibliographies. I have learned to take them with a pinch of salt.

The story revolves around an aging philanthropist, his young lawyer, and a large environmental organization. As the book progresses, it becomes clear that the environmentalist organization intends to influence public opinion by attempting to control natural phenomena. For example, they wish to create a flash flood to focus attention on global warming. Crichton writes characters and their interactions with each other and technology with his usual skill.

It is important to remember the title. I don’t think Crichton wrote State of Fear as a treatise on global warming. The point of the novel (apart from entertainment of course) is twofold: First, instill some healthy skepticism about accepting any “accepted truth”. Secondly, discuss how the “powers that be” need society to fear something in order to keep it in check. A central passage in the book deals with this explictly. With the media as a willing messenger, fear is brought home to the public. Current western society is as safe as it has ever been, and yet people are irrationally fearful of many things. Maybe that’s because they are constantly hammered with wall to wall coverage of murder, war, climate change and assorted doom. It’s not that the Cold War or Global Warming are only in our minds, but the way such phenomena are “sold” to us is full of hyperbole and fearmongering.

Be skeptical. Crichton subtly reminds the reader of this with the last tongue-in-cheek point of his afterword: “Everybody has an agenda. Except me.”

What I really liked was the sheer contrarianism of the whole thing. The environmentalists are portrayed as dissention squashing fanatics. The movement is anything but grass roots, but feeds on a vast mass of donations, much of it from rich but perhaps misguided individuals who need something to do. Those asking for clear, untainted evidence are hung out as traitors to the Earth. No matter how you feel about global warming, it’s an interesting read just for that. As a thriller, though, it is only fair to middling. Crichton has done better.

Prey – Michael Crichton

Crichton takes on nanotechnology in his usual “one-week story” format. Exciting and with some neat tech stuff but not particularly deep. This sort of thing has an irresistible appeal for a geek like me . Genetics, computers, nanotech, all rolled into one. Pity the book isn’t that good.

Timeline – Michael Crichton

A corporation has developed a way to send people back in time. Something weird has happened, so a group of scholars is sent back to investigate. Needless to say, Bad Things happen. Well researched and written, and very hard to put down.

Disclosure – Michael Crichton

You know it’s Crichton when the chapter headings are days (all in same two weeks or so). I keep coming back to Crichton despite his rather formulaic plots. The guy is a dialogue genius, and his dependency on describing what is, at the time of writing, cutting edge technology, is always good for nostalgia.

This book is way better than Crichton’s norm. Really quite a gripping page turner. The movie is pretty good too.

Sphere – Michael Crichton

It’s another BDO (Big Dumb Object) story! Not the best Crichton. An large sphere is found underwater. Divers are sent down to investigate. Strange things happen. Gee, wasn’t this plot copied for Clarke and Lee’s “Cradle“? Anyway, fun for the SciFi and Crichton buff, and probably ok for everyone else. On a side note, the movie is actually pretty decent. Scary in that Alien way.

Airframe – Michael Crichton

An aircraft encounters severe turbulence and one person dies. At least, that’s what people think happened. The novel follows the investigation by the manufacturer. A “bad” result could mean death for the company

If you are interested in aviation, you should definitely pick this one up. And even if you are not, it is good reading.As usual, Crichton shows how well he can describe corporate environments.

Congo – Michael Crichton

As usual, Crichton serves up a fast paced book in which the plot spans only a couple of days. The ideas are quite fascinating, from the long discussions about what are now very archaic computers to the insightful look into primate psychology. I enjoy Crichton’s work, but his books always leave me wanting more depth.

Forever Peace – Joe Haldeman

In the bleak future depicted in this novel, the USA and nations allied to it fight a seemingly endless low grade war against a loose coalition of other countries and organizations. Sound familiar? Terror and lies are the norm on both sides. The US uses “Soldierboys”, robots under remote control by soldiers that are “jacked in” (neurally connected) to them from a remote location. The concept of neural jacking is central to the novel, with its effects and side effects explored at length. The USA controls “nanoforge” technology, which allows very cheap manufacture of goods and food. This has created an economic divide not only towards non-allies, but towards the people of the USA. A quasi-socialist system where the populace need not work but then only gets the bare minimum has been instated. On the other hand, the draft is in place, and pretty much everyone has to do five years. The story itself follows one Soldierboy operator, starting with the battlefields of Central America. It quickly moves on from there, to the issues with his girlfriend, who does not have a neural jack. In the second half, however, the protagonist and others attempt to stage a coup in order to end war for good.

This is a follow-up, but not a sequel, to the more famous The Forever War. The Vietnam reaction present in that novel is clear here as well. However, instead of exploring the soldier himself, Forever Peace looks at the social construct of a state that has become an end unto itself. The military-industrial complex is all powerful, and religious and other organizations fight for control of the state, and thus the nanoforges and the people.

Unlike The Forever War and Forever Free, this novel was not nearly as well plotted. The first half is excellent, with a clear direction and a good evolution of the characters. The second half introduces a host of new characters and is too much chase when contrasted to the excellent first half. It is unfortunate, since the degeneration into action thriller does not serve well the excellent and intriguing concepts Haldeman uses to shape his world. A decent read, but I was disappointed with the second half. I was especially annoyed at the whole “saving the Universe” part, which was a cool concept to begin with, but by the end felt contrived and unnecessary.

Rising Sun – Michael Crichton

Thriller set in the corporate world of Los Angeles. A murder has been committed in the boardroom of a large Japanese corporation, just prior to a major deal. An old detective with “Japanese experience” is teamed up with a younger man to solve the murder. Masterfully told, if a bit dated due to the heavy use of old computer jargon and technology as plot points.

The Terminal Man – Michael Crichton

The table of contents reveals the traditional Chrichtonian day-by-day format, with the story laid out over four days. The plot is about a man who is implanted with a device that gives pleasure in order to control violent seizures. The man goes on a murderous rampage as he learns to control the pleasurable impulses.

It’s typical Crichton. Briefly entertaining. I find it a lot of fun to read about the technologies, even dated as they are. Crichton is heavily into using very contemporary gadgets and looking into their philosophical implications. So while his novels date fast, they provide an interesting insight into what concerned people at the time of writing.

The Andromeda Strain – Michael Crichton

Formulaic like pretty much all other Crichton books, but without the redeeming quality of page-turning excitement present in his later works. This story of a satellite falling back to Earth after picking up an alien, and dangerous, organism has aged very badly. I can forgive the aged subject matter. Unfortunately, and as opposed to other Crichton books, I didn’t care at all about the characters. There were times when I couldn’t even tell them apart. Still, having read his later works it was interesting to see how it all started. Hints of the author’s future style are discernible in the text. And since it is a very short read it wasn’t too taxing.

The Ten Thousand – Harold Coyle

Even though the premise is a bit unrealistic, I really enjoyed this. A German Chancellor who is something of an anti-nuclear weapon fanatic forbids an American division transporting nuclear arms to go through Germany. Said division has to fight their way to the sea. The military stuff is well done, and the characters are truly three dimensional. The title and story are based on Xenophon’s account of the “Ten Thousand” and their march back to Greece in 401-399 BC.

America – Stephen Coonts

Unusually for Coonts, there is almost no flying. This is a vaguely passable technothriller in Tom Clancy style. Still not as polished as it could be, and Coonts fails to make the last half as gripping as the first. Also, I had a hard time believing the motivations and actions of the bad guys. Having said all that, I didn’t want to put it down until the end.

The Intruders – Steven Coonts

Coonts used to fly A-6 Intruders of carriers. This makes him, per definition, a cool guy. Pity that he forgot to throw in a plot in this novel. If you like planes, you will probably enjoy it anyway. Coonts’ hero Jake Grafton meets his wife in this novel. There, I gave half the “plot” away.

 

The Deep Range – Arthur C. Clarke

In the future (as seen from 1957), submersible game wardens herd whales around underwater ranges. The whales are food animals which, along with equally farmed seaweed, have solved the world’s food supply problems. The story is about an ex-engineer on a spaceliner who suffered an accident and gets a new start as a warden.

This book has aged quite badly. While much of Clarke’s space based science fiction can be read with enjoyment today, this one is just plain tedious. So tedious, in fact, that I only got about half way through before giving up. The technology is not really fascinating anymore, but that’s not the problem. There just doesn’t seem to be a story here, and the characters are completely uninteresting.