Insurrection

Rating:
Summary: Alienation and Inalienable Rights
Review: Insurrection is the first novel written by Weber & White in the Starfire series. However, it is the last in internal chronological sequence and should be read after The Shiva Option. It begins several generations after the Fourth Interstellar War against the Bugs.

The Legislative Assembly of the Terran Federation has long been dominated by the Corporate Worlds at the expense of the Fringe Worlds. Now the Corporate Worlds have devised a plan to reapportion the Assembly by merging with the Orion Khanate, thereby reducing the Fringe World power base. They are frustrated at the last moment by bad publicity generated when Oskar Dieter, a Corporate World leader, personally insults Fionna MacTaggart, leader of the Fringe Worlders. However, the leader of the Corporate World delegation, Simon Taliaferro, plots to assassinate Fionna in order to throw the Fringe Worlders into a fury so that they will resign from the Assembly. His plot works as planned, but the consequences are more that he reckoned with.

Terran Federation Navy Task Force 17 moves against Beaufort, Fionna's home planet, as a show of force, but it moves too slowly and the insurrection has started before it arrives. Admiral Forsythe is advised to go slowly and negotiate with the rebels, but refuses and plans on firing on opposed ships if necessary. This triggers a mutiny, with the Fringe Worlders taking or destroying all TF17 ships. As the word is spread, other ships mutiny and flee to the Fringe Worlds. Tenth Cruiser Squadron is too far within the Federation to flee, so takes the desperate gamble of raiding Galloway's World to destroy the largest Federation shipyards. Overall, the Federation loses approximately half of Battle Fleet, about 80 percent of the Frontier Fleet, and most of their shipbuilding capability for at least 6 months. This bad news forces the fall of the current government and brings Oskar Dieter to power as prime minister.

Dieter has been greatly changed by these events and feels much guilt over the assignation of Fionna. He takes the position of prime minister only to alleviate the damage done by the extremists. He continues to rearm while undermining the political power of the Corporate Worlds. He establishes clandestine communications with the rebels to keep them informed of the political situation.

Admiral Ian Trevayne is cut off from the Inner Worlds by the mutineers and forced to flee through Khanate territory to the Zephrain system. With the resources of the Gehenna R&D base on Zephrain A-III, Trevayne has new ships and weapons built for his fleet. An initial attempt by the rebels to take Zephrain is repulsed. Trevayne gains a very tentative channel with the Inner Worlds through the Khanate, but cannot send the new weapons data through that conduit.

The Federation consists of the Rump -- the Inner Worlds -- and the Rim under Governor-general Trevayne. The Federation has lost all the choke points between themselves and the Rump; only Admiral Trevayne's forces have been victorious over the rebels. Dieter is beginning to use the term Terran Republic, the rebels own name for themselves, in cabinet sessions. The situation is bleak.

This story is based on the political and economic situation between the British Empire and its American colonies prior to the Revolution. As with that situation, the Fringe Worlds are being economically exploited by the Federation mercantile class with the assistance of the Legislative Assembly. While Simon Taliaferro is not a king, he is just as mad as King George and just as dangerous to his own long-term interests. The ensuing military actions in this story are naval rather than military, but otherwise the results are much the same. Since the Khanate basically remains neutral, this story is greatly simplified compared to the Revolution by the lack of other major powers.

Of course, this plot has been used many times before -- i.e., the colonies breaking off from the mother world -- but a cliche is not necessarily a falsehood nor need it be trivial. For those that can't relate to the American Revolution, how many wars did England fight against France to establish its own sovereignty? After all, England was a colony of France after William the Conqueror, at least from the French monarch's point of view.

Von Clausewitz's On War is quoted several times in this book. The story reminds me of another axiom: "War is an extension of politics by other means". Politicians should be careful what they ask for; they may get it -- and choke on it.

Recommended for all Weber and White fans and anyone else interested in realpolitik, and warfare, as practiced in the far future.

Rating:
Summary: Alienation and Inalienable Rights
Review: Insurrection is the first novel written by Weber & White in the Starfire series. However, it is the last in internal chronological sequence and should be read after The Shiva Option. It begins several generations after the Fourth Interstellar War against the Bugs.

The Legislative Assembly of the Terran Federation has long been dominated by the Corporate Worlds at the expense of the Fringe Worlds. Now the Corporate Worlds have devised a plan to reapportion the Assembly by merging with the Orion Khanate, thereby reducing the Fringe World power base. They are frustrated at the last moment by bad publicity generated when Oskar Dieter, a Corporate World leader, personally insults Fionna MacTaggart, leader of the Fringe Worlders. However, the leader of the Corporate World delegation, Simon Taliaferro, plots to assassinate Fionna in order to throw the Fringe Worlders into a fury so that they will resign from the Assembly. His plot works as planned, but the consequences are more that he reckoned with.

Terran Federation Navy Task Force 17 moves against Beaufort, Fionna's home planet, as a show of force, but it moves too slowly and the insurrection has started before it arrives. Admiral Forsythe is advised to go slowly and negotiate with the rebels, but refuses and plans on firing on opposed ships if necessary. This triggers a mutiny, with the Fringe Worlders taking or destroying all TF17 ships. As the word is spread, other ships mutiny and flee to the Fringe Worlds. Tenth Cruiser Squadron is too far within the Federation to flee, so takes the desperate gamble of raiding Galloway's World to destroy the largest Federation shipyards. Overall, the Federation loses approximately half of Battle Fleet, about 80 percent of the Frontier Fleet, and most of their shipbuilding capability for at least 6 months. This bad news forces the fall of the current government and brings Oskar Dieter to power as prime minister.

Dieter has been greatly changed by these events and feels much guilt over the assignation of Fionna. He takes the position of prime minister only to alleviate the damage done by the extremists. He continues to rearm while undermining the political power of the Corporate Worlds. He establishes clandestine communications with the rebels to keep them informed of the political situation.

Admiral Ian Trevayne is cut off from the Inner Worlds by the mutineers and forced to flee through Khanate territory to the Zephrain system. With the resources of the Gehenna R&D base on Zephrain A-III, Trevayne has new ships and weapons built for his fleet. An initial attempt by the rebels to take Zephrain is repulsed. Trevayne gains a very tentative channel with the Inner Worlds through the Khanate, but cannot send the new weapons data through that conduit.

The Federation consists of the Rump -- the Inner Worlds -- and the Rim under Governor-general Trevayne. The Federation has lost all the choke points between themselves and the Rump; only Admiral Trevayne's forces have been victorious over the rebels. Dieter is beginning to use the term Terran Republic, the rebels own name for themselves, in cabinet sessions. The situation is bleak.

This story is based on the political and economic situation between the British Empire and its American colonies prior to the Revolution. As with that situation, the Fringe Worlds are being economically exploited by the Federation mercantile class with the assistance of the Legislative Assembly. While Simon Taliaferro is not a king, he is just as mad as King George and just as dangerous to his own long-term interests. The ensuing military actions in this story are naval rather than military, but otherwise the results are much the same. Since the Khanate basically remains neutral, this story is greatly simplified compared to the Revolution by the lack of other major powers.

Of course, this plot has been used many times before -- i.e., the colonies breaking off from the mother world -- but a cliche is not necessarily a falsehood nor need it be trivial. For those that can't relate to the American Revolution, how many wars did England fight against France to establish its own sovereignty? After all, England was a colony of France after William the Conqueror, at least from the French monarch's point of view.

Von Clausewitz's On War is quoted several times in this book. The story reminds me of another axiom: "War is an extension of politics by other means". Politicians should be careful what they ask for; they may get it -- and choke on it.

Recommended for all Weber and White fans and anyone else interested in realpolitik, and warfare, as practiced in the far future.

Rating:
Summary: Good first effort
Review: Insurrection was the author's first effort, and it shows. There are a few flaws here and there. The plotline revolves around a VERY bloody war of secession between the Fringe Worlds and the Corporate Worlds of the Terran Federation. The characters tend to be fairly flat, and the author's solution to a lot of issues is to go charging off to another bloody space battle.

Fortunately, they learned, and their subsequent works (both solo in their own worlds and in tandem for this universe) have continually improved.

One reviewer noted that this was a retelling of the American Revolution in a science fiction context. True. The authors are both Americans, and they do have both a lot of love for their country and a great deal of respect for those who serve their flag (whatever flag that may be). My suggestion for those who may be offended by such sentiments is to go read something else.

Rating:
Summary: Space Opera at its best
Review: Space battleswith gigiantic fleets, actual tactics and strategy, insterstellar policis but it's all humaity versus itself no aliens in the war. Weber writes amazing books and this is simply his first effort.

Rating:
Summary: Space Opera at its best
Review: Space battleswith gigiantic fleets, actual tactics and strategy, insterstellar policis but it's all humaity versus itself no aliens in the war. Weber writes amazing books and this is simply his first effort.

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: The Fringers upset with unfair representation and after centuries of contributing to a military that refuses to acknowledge there sacrifice rebel in bloody fashion. The Core will not simply not tolerate this insolence and send one of their crackerjack admirals to assess the situation and salvage what he can.

My impression-Being from the region of the country that I am I have always been a sucker for books about lost causes. I Found this book much easier to read then other books situated in this universe such as "In Death Ground". The characters had more depth and the plot lines were more easily established. You saw the loyalists not as bad guys, just people doing what they thought was right in a tough situation. I particularly liked the character of Admiral Ian Trevayne sort of a reverse Admiral Nelson and apparently the only innerworlder that exhibits any kind of thing approaching common sense.

Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: The Fringers upset with unfair representation and after centuries of contributing to a military that refuses to acknowledge there sacrifice rebel in bloody fashion. The Core will not simply not tolerate this insolence and send one of their crackerjack admirals to assess the situation and salvage what he can.

My impression-Being from the region of the country that I am I have always been a sucker for books about lost causes. I Found this book much easier to read then other books situated in this universe such as "In Death Ground". The characters had more depth and the plot lines were more easily established. You saw the loyalists not as bad guys, just people doing what they thought was right in a tough situation. I particularly liked the character of Admiral Ian Trevayne sort of a reverse Admiral Nelson and apparently the only innerworlder that exhibits any kind of thing approaching common sense.

Rating:
Summary: Future of the StarFire Universe
Review: The Terran Federation of the Starfire Universe has split into civil war. The Fringe (Outer) worlds leave the Corporate and Heart worlds behind. Similar to the American Civil War with most of the Terran military coming from the Fringe Worlds vs. the industrial might of the Corporate and heart worlds. This is the first effort of the current 3 novels in the StarFire universe. It also breaks new ground in the universe not in the original board game. The next 2 novels, "Crusade" and "In Death Ground" are covered in the game so I knew how they ended. This one I did not. If you are a Star Fire gamer you are required to read this. If you are new to this universe, read "Crusade" first and then "Insurrection" to become familiar. The only nitpick is the absence of alien interactions. The Khanate of Orion and the other major powers seem to have disappeared. I find it hard to believe that someone would not consider grabbing real estate against a divided and weakened Terran Star Fleet

Rating:
Summary: My first space opera!
Review: Well, this was my first space opera, and I have to admit I enjoyed it. The book doesn't take long to get rolling, and there is plenty of action for the fan of space combat.

First, a quick word about the universe. This book is set in the universe of the tactical space wargame Starfire. I've never played the game, in fact, I'd not heard of it until I saw it mentioned on the cover of this book and did a little research. There seems to be an entire history behind this game, and I'm thinking that a fan of the game might have been able to get a little more out of this book than I did. The authors don't really go into this backstory very deeply, and the reader might have a hard time following along. A quick search for Starfire on the internet took me to a few sites where I was able to get a little information, but I still felt like this book was written for someone who knew a little more about the universe. Maybe this won't bother some people. It's just something I noticed.

The writing started out a bit weak. It seemed like the author was trying too hard to be writer, if that makes sense. Once the action began to roll, the writing seemed to come together, or else I was caught up in the story enough not to notice the feeling that I'd had earlier.

I've seen reviews of this book where they come down on the authors for tying the storyline too closely to the American Revolutionary War. The similarities are obvious, but I didn't really have a problem with it. In a universe where the enemies of humanity are stereotypical enemies ripped right from the pages of other sci-fi works, borrowing a historical event and moving it into the future seemed like it would make for a fun story, which it did.

To sum up, if you are looking for a fun space opera with action galore, this book is for you. If you are looking for great prose, deep plot, or interesting characters, you might want to keep going, but I think if you have even a slight interest in space operas, you'll find this book hard to put down.


Rating:
Summary: A modern Space Epic
Review: Well, what can I say...If you are looking for a series of books that will keep your interest and keep you turning pages this is it. You WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PUT IT DOWN! Weber take Heinlin into the modern age. This is a must read. Enjoy the whole series...In Death Ground, Insurrection and Crusade.