Rating: Summary: Nothing New, but Nothing Bad Review: It's science and military fiction that has been told many times before. A young recruit joins up, is trained, and goes into battle. However, these authors do a very good job of building character, moving plot, writing believable enviornments and enemies and allies. Is it mind candy for the sci-fi crowd? Yes, it is, but is is tasty. I stayed up late to finish it and ordered the next two volumes.
Rating: Summary: Nothing New, but Nothing Bad Review: It's science and military fiction that has been told many times before. A young recruit joins up, is trained, and goes into battle. However, these authors do a very good job of building character, moving plot, writing believable enviornments and enemies and allies. Is it mind candy for the sci-fi crowd? Yes, it is, but is is tasty. I stayed up late to finish it and ordered the next two volumes.
Rating: Summary: Stick to military SF, leave PC out of it Review: Starfist lived up to the expectations of exciting and action-packed military SF, right up to page 198, where the authors chose to pontificate on their anti-2nd-Amendment political views, and at the same time take a public dump on another SF author. They should stick to military SF and keep their poltiical correctness to themselves. They don't have the skill to blend both.
Rating: Summary: A great Military SF Heros in action Review: The action builds and comes to a power packed ending.. I've been looking for the next book it won't get here fast enough.. loved the story the characters are great.. I need More of this....
Rating: Summary: Not as good as it could have been. Review: The authors should have concentrated more on the mission, or more on the training than writing a little about each. Two books could have been written allowing for more character development, better background introduction, and less repetition of the character's thoughts and feelings. The story line was okay , but could have been much better with some careful writing.
Rating: Summary: Excellent and Involving Story Review: The best way to explain how I felt after reading this book: I came here looking (In Vain) for another in the series. The next in the series won't be printed soon enough for me. The book drew me in and had me riding on the shoulder of Sgt. Bass and his three dimensional band of leathernecks. Please don't wait on number 2!
Rating: Summary: Fantastic book,great reading Review: the book kept me all night,I really enjoyed this book. the action in it was great. the characters in the book really kept me interested. I couldn't hardly wait for the next one to come out.
Rating: Summary: A good book, well writen. Review: This book was a pleasure to read, the information about the different cultures was well reserched. The way the characters were written made me feel for them, almost as if I knew them. I have personally read the book TWICE, and I will shirly read it again. It is said that is the mark of a good book, that you can read it over and over again and not get tired of it. When will the next book be out and what is the title?
Rating: Summary: D'Nam and Somalia meet SF Review: This is a good read for a long flight - it killed a lot of time on my C-17 flight to Africa. It does a good job of illustrating Heinlein's comment that "If you give the soldier weapons that are too complex, his enemy will kill him with a stone axe while he's trying to read a vernier." Despite the "fiction" disclaimer, I could give you a name for most of the principal characters, and set dates for many of the situations. In many ways, the story is a retelling of the Somalia situation, set a few centuries in the future and on another planet. The best part of the action concerns a patrol, given up for dead, that has to walk across 200 klicks of bandit infested desert. Their high-tech advantages start failing immediately, and it's low-tech survival skills to fight their way back from the dead. I guess my main complaint was that many of the technical problems are current - I'd hope that we'd have learned to solve those problems by the time of this story...on the other hand, the more things change, the more they stay the same. This book won't go on my reference shelf, but it was definitely worth the purchase price.
Rating: Summary: More realistic than Starship Trooper and smoothly written Review: When it comes to writing military SF the combined talent of David Sherman and Dan Cragg is hard to surpass. The writing and plots are virtually seamless with no flip flopping between unrelated materials.In First to Fight we are treated to good background information without being bored. We learn about the main characters backgrounds and what drives their motivations. Such as the Joe Dean who came from an Army household and his motivations for going into the Corps. We Get to understand why SSgt. Bass mistrust the UPUD's. There are glimpses into what future military boot camp might be like. Almost every detail in this book tied into something else and nothing stood out as frivolous. The book begins a year or so before the main story, on the introduction of a new piece of military hardware and the problem associated with it. With that background in place we move onto the main story. Part one includes the story of a young man's desire to perform military service and his trials through boot camp. This part sets up the training and function of the Corps. and the mindset. Part Two is the new private as he intereacts on his first duty assignment and how the newbies are brought into the fold by the old salts. To some this might seem boring but it gives some insight into the traditions binding together a band of warriors and how it affects them. Part three begins the mission of providing humanitarian aid on an alien world and the requirements needed. This section like the rest concentrates on the people involved and not the science or the logistics. It provides a glimpse into how humanitarian missions or other non combat missions might turn into combat. Part four is the resolution to this crisis and how all the previous parts come together. Sorry if this seems vague but I don't want to give the story away. All in all David Sherman and Dan Cragg are outstanding in this series. It brings to SF another aspect of the future. This series doesn't concentrate on spaceships, giant robots, single heroes/heroines that can do everything or unrealistic ground warfare. The setting could be placed in any modern warfare arena because the tactics are real and practical. The interactions make sense and I cannot think of any other writer who can bring the futuristic elements of ground combat better than these two authors.
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