Rating: 
Summary: Good blend of SF, history, & military tradition.
Review: "First to Fight" (ISBN 0-345-40622-2) by David Sherman and Dan Cragg is the first book in the series dedicated to the infantrymen who will risk their lives on the battlefields of the future. The authors use their personal experience as infantrymen, David Sherman in the United States Marine Corps and Dan Cragg in the United States Army, from boot camp to actual combat and the technical advances to project one possible future of the ground forces of the world. With the advances of space technology the people of Earth have expanded to over 1000 worlds forming the Confederation. The first 500 settled worlds' form the core of the Confederation, with over 500 more worlds that are at various stages of settlement or are being explored for future settlement. During this expansion the Confederation has three main military branches that help hold the worlds together and they are the Army, Marines, and Navy. Each service has traditions, histories, and roles that can be traced back to military forces of Earth. "First to Fight" focuses on the Confederation Marine Corps, with a history, tradition, and role that can be traced back to those of the United States Marine Corps and the British Royal Marines. When trouble occurs on a world the Confederation's first choice is calling in the Marines. The book "First to Fight" focuses attention on Staff, formerly Gunnery, Sergeant Charlie Bass, Ensign Baccacio, Private First Class Joe Dean, Fredrick Douglas McNeal, Rackman Claypoole, and other members of the 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team (FIST) L Company Third Platoon of the Confederation Marine Corps based on Thorsfinni World, a snow world on the frontier of Confederation space. Further, the book brings out how the people in a military unit react to the dangers encountered on the battlefield. The 34th FIST is sent to the world of Elneal on a humanitarian mission. Elneal is a backwater world that has one important natural resource needed in the construction of starships. A charismatic leader, of Elneal's most powerful warrior clan has stopped all mining operations and caused a worldwide famine. The Marines of the 34th FIST L Company Third Platoon find that they have more than one challenge to face on this mission.
Rating:
Summary: Taking Sci-Fi to the next level...
Review: A die hard Star Wars fan, for years I've been hard pressed to find anything not related to the series I truly enjoyed. When I ran out of Star Wars books to read, I was distraught. They just stopped coming out fast enough for me to always have something to read. In the book store one day, looking for something that would catch my eye, I spotted in the "staff recommendations" section a book that looked to match everything I was looking for in a good read. That book was First to Fight, and boy was I right. The book is extremely well written, and the character development is top notch. The action is of a caliber only people with true military experience could achieve, and Sherman and Cragg possess that. Now on book IV of the series, I find it safe to say that the series just gets better from here. Don't hesitate, buy yourself a copy of this great novel today. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Taking Sci-Fi to the next level...
Review: A die hard Star Wars fan, for years I've been hard pressed to find anything not related to the series I truly enjoyed. When I ran out of Star Wars books to read, I was distraught. They just stopped coming out fast enough for me to always have something to read. In the book store one day, looking for something that would catch my eye, I spotted in the "staff recommendations" section a book that looked to match everything I was looking for in a good read. That book was First to Fight, and boy was I right. The book is extremely well written, and the character development is top notch. The action is of a caliber only people with true military experience could achieve, and Sherman and Cragg possess that. Now on book IV of the series, I find it safe to say that the series just gets better from here. Don't hesitate, buy yourself a copy of this great novel today. You won't be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, but cover a little deceiving
Review: A good book, but the situation outlined on the back cover doesn't take place until hundreds of pages into the story. Not good for fans of the 2nd Amendment, though...
Rating: 
Summary: Best read in SF military
Review: An excellent storyline, equal to if not better than anything David Drake has put out. Hard hitting and believable in a way not found often enough. I wish the next volume would come out so I can dive into it.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost pure story setup - No more for me
Review: Be warned that the action in this first book of the series starts on page 272. That's right, page 272 of a 378 page book.I almost gave this book 1 star because as I read towards the end of the book I thought the authors were going to leave a cliff-hanger. Luckily that was not the case and I gave them an extra star. The first 272 pages of story setup reads like a manual. These authors certainly didn't subscribe to the "show, don't tell" school of writing when they wrote this first book. This apparently has been a succesful series because they are on about book 9 now I think. This will be the first and last for me, however. There are just too many good books out there to waste on authors that are this poor at mixing setup with story. On the other hand, if you are in high-school and considering a career in the Marines, you may not be too bothered by the 272 pages of "Marine manual" at the beginning. Í've never been a Marine but the authors appear to have captured some authenticity for the culture, ranks, and boot-camp experience. Too bad they were not more skilled at weaving this authenticity into a good story.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent combat writing wrapped in a cozy cliche blanket
Review: Cragg and Sherman have obviously "been there, done that." Packed with every military cliché and stereotype imaginable, the personal military experience of the authors' clearly rings through in "First to Fight." Unfortunately, so does the conservative military tradition of imagining the future as better so long as things remain essentially the same as they are today. The pseudo-science and generic high-technology splashed through this book to earn it the classification as "science fiction" do little to mask the writers' avoidance of the more complicated process of imagining how society and conflict may actually change (for better or worse) in years ahead. A great book for sci-fi fans. Not so terrific for those who distinguish between sci-fi and science fiction. Sci-fi readers should thoroughly enjoy the fast, crisp combat writing and will snicker at the idea of backwards tribal nomads who attempt a cavalry charge into the guns of modern Marines. Science fiction enthusiasts will no doubt pick up on the authors' underlying ethno-centric cultural bias and not-so-subtle sexism. On Cragg and Sherman's future battlefield, tribal nomads emigrated from Earth by starship will sacrifice their lives in ignorant droves, for some reason surprised at the effectiveness of the modern Marine Corps' hi-tech weaponry. And women won't be around to confuse things in the heat of combat. With the exception of one young Marine's mother (who stoically says goodbye to her son, then conveniently and quietly dies of some ailment or other while he is away) and an interstellar journalist who has for some unknown reason given up her career for a position as the sex-puppet/political advisor of a desert nomad, all other women mentioned in this book are either prostitutes or bar-maids. As a Marine, I'm hopeful a few young men will read the Starfist books and be inspired to join the Corps. Once they get to me, however, I'll hand them a copy of "Ender's Game" and "Starship Troopers" in hopes of stimulating their ability to imagine and think for themselves, and then I'll break it to them that they'll be serving side-by-side with Marines of the female gender.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent combat writing wrapped in a cozy cliche blanket
Review: Cragg and Sherman have obviously "been there, done that." Packed with every military cliché and stereotype imaginable, the personal military experience of the authors' clearly rings through in "First to Fight." Unfortunately, so does the conservative military tradition of imagining the future as better so long as things remain essentially the same as they are today. The pseudo-science and generic high-technology splashed through this book to earn it the classification as "science fiction" do little to mask the writers' avoidance of the more complicated process of imagining how society and conflict may actually change (for better or worse) in years ahead. A great book for sci-fi fans. Not so terrific for those who distinguish between sci-fi and science fiction. Sci-fi readers should thoroughly enjoy the fast, crisp combat writing and will snicker at the idea of backwards tribal nomads who attempt a cavalry charge into the guns of modern Marines. Science fiction enthusiasts will no doubt pick up on the authors' underlying ethno-centric cultural bias and not-so-subtle sexism. On Cragg and Sherman's future battlefield, tribal nomads emigrated from Earth by starship will sacrifice their lives in ignorant droves, for some reason surprised at the effectiveness of the modern Marine Corps' hi-tech weaponry. And women won't be around to confuse things in the heat of combat. With the exception of one young Marine's mother (who stoically says goodbye to her son, then conveniently and quietly dies of some ailment or other while he is away) and an interstellar journalist who has for some unknown reason given up her career for a position as the sex-puppet/political advisor of a desert nomad, all other women mentioned in this book are either prostitutes or bar-maids. As a Marine, I'm hopeful a few young men will read the Starfist books and be inspired to join the Corps. Once they get to me, however, I'll hand them a copy of "Ender's Game" and "Starship Troopers" in hopes of stimulating their ability to imagine and think for themselves, and then I'll break it to them that they'll be serving side-by-side with Marines of the female gender.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: Enjoyable reading for anyone who likes a good combat book. The characters were very likable and the story engrossing. When is the second coming out?
Rating:
Summary: Military sci-fi at its finest!
Review: First off, I'd just like to say that, as a former military manmyself (Navy, not Marines), this book sticks pretty durn close to whatactually goes on (with the exception of the plasma weapons and chamelion suits, that is....) in the military. The comraderie, which the reader is immediately drawn into, the joking and prank-pulling, the immediate shift to serious professionalism when the situation calls for it, yup, Dave Sherman and Dan Cragg have definitely "been there, done that!" The storyline itself is amazingly addicting. I admit I was a bit leery when buying the first book, but was hooked after the prologue. The characters are complex, but not too much so, and you really begin to find yourself sympathyzing with them as the plot unfolds. You get this intense hatred for "military intelligence" from the start, and that doesn't let up through the three books I've read so far! The authors do a superb job of explaining the relevant parts of history and technological breakthrus leading up to the present situations, cleverly disguised as mission briefs instead of a few paragraphs taken out of the general flow of the tale in order for the author to explain. I liked that. Maintains continuity. On a down-note, there are a few places where the action seems to jump, such as a patrol heading into a combat situation, then the scene changes, and when we get back to the patrol, they're cleaning their guns and checking for survivors. In most cases, this felt like a cheezy crop-job by the editors in an effort to cut out "needless and redundant violence"...which is one of the better parts of the story! This doesn't happen often, though, so I decided not to lop off the fifth star in the rating. Overall, an excellent series, well-worth the money and shipping time! The universe in this series is huge and complex, so I can't forsee an end to the series....thankfully! I eagerly await the next installment. END
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