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The Apocalypse Troll

The Apocalypse Troll

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Highly Enjoyable, Definitely Worth Buying
Review: I bought this book mostly because I'd heard the Honor Harrington series was really good, but I didn't have time to start a series. I enjoyed this, and I will probably enjoy his other works too. His space battles actually feel like tactical combat. I haven't found a description of space combat like this since the X-Wing series. After that start, the book switched tracks entirely. It became all about two downed pilots, affiliating themselves (or creating their own affiliations) and trying to affect the Earth.

The opening battle was well plotted, and so was the Ludmilla vs. Troll conflict. If you accept the basic premise of the book- technologic xenophobes vs. the scrappy inventive humans- then the Terminator 2-like ground skirmish was easily justified. David Weber didn't really back up any of his 25th century tech with hard science, but nothing really required proof.

If you want plot where all characters' actions are carefully explained, and everything has proof that technology -could- work out that way, you might be a little frustrated. If you can accept that sometimes things don't need to set up and unwind like a soap opera, then you can probably handle this. This book is light enough in tone to be fun, despite some of the subject matter (e.g. white supremacists), and it holds up even on rereading. It rates five stars because it does what its supposed to do- keep you busy and happy for a plane ride when you want something a little less down-to-earth than Tom Clancy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It's Not Honor Harrington, but it's good.
Review: I bought this when it first came out and read it over that weekend. While I am a Great Fan of Weber's Honor Harrington series, I have enjoyed many of his other books. This is one of those I have really enjoyed.

The battles in Space and the one with the Naval Task Force were riveting and enjoyable. While the Troll Hunt seemed to Drag. It was interesting to see the Troll learn about the Earth and formulate his plans for it's conquest. I found this aspect of the story to very believable and well thought out. The Troll was very much the unseen malovent Master pulling his puppets' strings and building his power base. Hidden from us and described in only vague terms, makes it even more monsterous and evil in the telling.

The Political considerations to the storyline are thought out as well. The slow and careful building of the Troll Hunters, is something that you would expect to be done in real life. The plot twist concerning a unexpected security risk factor, determining who could and could not be told about the Troll didn't help the story, but didn't really hurt it either.

I have re-read this book several times since buying it and I still enjoy it. If you like Weber's writing then you won't be disappointed with this book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Solid, exciting adventure from the creator of "Dahak"
Review: I found it hard to believe that the author of the last three "Honor Harrington" novels could finally pry himself loose long enough to write a readable, exciting story. This one starts with a jolt of adrenalin in the first few sentences and never lets up, right up to one of the most moving endings I have ever read. I've been through this one three times, and enjoyed it every time.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A good book, but it seems to go on and on.
Review: I found this a rather good book. However, it really seemed to go on and on. There was so much action, but it wasn't that exciting

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: I just finished reading this book tonight. With it's intriguing intro, it was hard to imagine what a treat it really was. Perhaps the main thing that contributes to this story, is that once it moves into a near future timeline, the plot is very very believable.

And the barbs at the wackos on both sides of the poltical aisle were great!

The characterization was good and the plot was pretty tight. Unfortunately, this book has left it wide open to be carried on, so now I'm dying to see where this one goes. So what really is going to happen when a prepared humanity meets the Kangas now???

I have read virtually everything by DW to date and haven't been disappointed yet.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Very good story, page turner - with flaws
Review: I picked this up at Borders, and got involved. Like the guy says below, it's not a bodice-ripper. It's a military sci-fi story, and it's quite good. It's got his usual clearly monstrous bad-guy critter(s) that nobody would have any problem killing.

Like much of Weber's stuff, he has excellent battle scenes, and as long as the scene makes sense as a decision that seems reasonable, it's great. Only thing is, that at critical points it doesn't seem reasonable. The final battle scene - well - given the setup, it would have been handled differently. Wouldn't have been an infantry battle. Would have been 1, maybe 10 nuclear missiles instead. I just can't believe anyone would make that decision, because of the risk.

But it's a good story. I'm just a stickler for authenticity of details at all levels.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fast and Fun
Review: I picked up "Apocalypse Troll" to see if I liked David Weber. That is, this was a test run before I jumped into his Honor series. The result: I have already picked up "On Basilisk Station".

"Apocalypse Troll" begins with a riveting battle which runs for the first 65 pages or so. You won't want to put the book down for a break during this period. The story then slows down for a while before building to the climax. The book is well paced and rarely boring. It is not deep and thought provoking, so don't expect "Dune". But it is fun.

The book begins in the far future, where an alien race in mortal combat with humans is on the brink of annihilation. In an effort to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, the aliens take a desperate gamble to jump back in time and destroy the human race well before they develop any technologies. It some aspects, this reminded me of Star Trek's "First Contact" movie.

Through the heroic efforts of Battle Division 92 from the future, and a U.S. Carrier group from our present day which finds itself in the middle of the battle, the initial attack is thwarted. However, one part of the alien's forces, nicknamed a "troll" by the humans of the future, survives and begins a plan to carry out his original mission, and maybe more.

But a human from the future named Colonel Ludmilla Leonovna, a fighter pilot with decades of experience but a young hard female body that sci fi writers love, also survives. Now Ludmilla, along with a veteran Navy SEAL from present day, must begin the plan to defeat this Troll before he can destroy mankind.

Not a deep novel, but fast and fun.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Entertaining, and not quite what the blurbs have you believe
Review: I picked up The Apocalypse Troll at a used book stall for a school fundraiser, and didn't look too carefully at it. When I got home to peruse my purchases, I wasn't at all sure that I'd gotten something I'd normally find worth reading. The back blurb promises that our hero "has his hands full of an unconcious, critically wounded and impossibly human alien warrior who also happens to be a gorgeous female"; the inside cover starts "My People are as human as you are! (said the beautiful space alien)"--you get the picture. And, true, there are moments like this in the book, but it isn't primarily a sci-fi bodice ripper, thank heavens, nor done as clumsily as this. Mostly the book is a very entertaining sci-fi/military adventure. Although I'm no expert, the jargon seemed authentic and the story, given the standard dose of disbelief most sci-fi needs, quite credible.

The story is quite a bit like Star Trek: First Contact, except that Weber's version of the Borg, instead of being sluggish robots you can tiptoe around, are vicious, vigorous supercyborgs which literally wipe out or assimilate anything in their path. They make much better villans than Picard's nemeses; so much so that they actually make it back to Earth in the past and have to be hunted down by their only surviving opponent. It's a fun read, not particularly deep but not at all pretentious, either.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Entertaining, and not quite what the blurbs have you believe
Review: I picked up The Apocalypse Troll at a used book stall for a school fundraiser, and didn't look too carefully at it. When I got home to peruse my purchases, I wasn't at all sure that I'd gotten something I'd normally find worth reading. The back blurb promises that our hero "has his hands full of an unconcious, critically wounded and impossibly human alien warrior who also happens to be a gorgeous female"; the inside cover starts "My People are as human as you are! (said the beautiful space alien)"--you get the picture. And, true, there are moments like this in the book, but it isn't primarily a sci-fi bodice ripper, thank heavens, nor done as clumsily as this. Mostly the book is a very entertaining sci-fi/military adventure. Although I'm no expert, the jargon seemed authentic and the story, given the standard dose of disbelief most sci-fi needs, quite credible.

The story is quite a bit like Star Trek: First Contact, except that Weber's version of the Borg, instead of being sluggish robots you can tiptoe around, are vicious, vigorous supercyborgs which literally wipe out or assimilate anything in their path. They make much better villans than Picard's nemeses; so much so that they actually make it back to Earth in the past and have to be hunted down by their only surviving opponent. It's a fun read, not particularly deep but not at all pretentious, either.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Ever seen The Fifth Element?
Review: I still have a hard time believing David Weber, who's been responsible for so many books I enjoyed, wrote this book. The plot is lifted directly from Luc Besson's The Fifth Element. The name of the main female character is even taken from the lead actress in the film.

I generally don't mind finding a lifted plot or character. I've read excellent rewrites of the Odyssey, The Brother Karamazov, and Les Miserables over the years. For that matter, Weber borrowed liberally from Forrester's Hornblower and the history of Nelson to create his Honor Harrington series. Unfortunately, this was poorly done. If you catch the plot similarities in the first few chapters, you'll know everything else before it happens.


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