The First Casualty (Society of Humanity I) – Mike Moscoe

The Society of Humanity, more or less representing the “core” worlds, is at was with the “rim” worlds, where political power is wielded by a ruthless dictator. We follow protagonists from both sides of the conflict.

While it has some interesting battle scenes and good characterization, the plot is scattered and weak. As in the early Longknife books, I was left reeling by a rich backstory which wasn’t adequately fleshed out. I had to pay real attention to seemingly throwaway comments from minor characters to fill in the social and political background. The book did serve as a decent introduction to the next two installments, introducing the main players.

Note: Mike Moscoe is more well known under the pen name Mike Shepherd. The Society of Humanity series is set in the same universe as the Kris Longknife books, but several decades earlier.


Mike Moscoe is more well known writing as Mike Shepherd. The Society of Humanity series is set several decades before the Kris Longknife books.

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