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The Last Legion

The Last Legion

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Bunch's solo military SF debut
Review: I've been a massive fan of Chris Bunch (and his co-conspirator Allan Cole) since I got ahold of their fantastic 'Nam war tome, A Reckoning For Kings, back in 1988. I was surprised one year later to stumble across the now-famous Sten saga in 1989, and avidly read the entire Sten series as a result.

The first thing I will say right off the bat is that Bunch w/o Cole is not as good as Bunch with Cole. The same can be said for Cole w/o Bunch, as I have read both authors' solo works. The collaborating minds of Bunch and Cole are capable of putting together some of the finest true-grit war stories I have ever read. By themselves, neither author has been able to capture me in quite the same fashion as when I first read the Sten books or A Reckoning For Kings.

Having said this, Bunch's The Last Legion is a competent piece of military SF and a great start for what is obviously going to be an arced series. The arc itself has its highs and lows, but the first book is quite good in my opinion. Like other reviewers it was impossible for me to not be reminded of the Sten novels, but I think this is just Bunch's general style carrying over, not a knock on the plot, and I would recommend this book to any reader fond of military SF--regardless of whether they have read any Sten or not.

Hard SF readers are sure to be distracted by some of the scientific faux pas that crop up in the book. Bunch seems to confuse solar systems with galaxies when discussing the scope of the Legion's parent government, the Confederation, while at the same time he employs a very generic Hyperspace drive that is never fully explained nor expounded upon. Both no-nos in the land of Hard SF nitpickers.

But The Last Legion is a great entry-level SF book just the same. One that I would put in the Christmas stocking of any teenager or college student, especially if he or she was already hooked on a television or film SF franchise like Star Wars, Baylon 5, or Star Trek. Young SF readers are not born in a vacuum after all, and The Last Legion and its other companion books in the series would be an engaging break-out read for someone ready to graduate beyond media SF. Lord knows the Sten series was a huge break-out read for me, in the days when my entire SF diet was composed almost exclusively of Star Trek. Thanks to the Sten series I started reading other and different SF besides Star Trek, and pretty soon my tastes advanced and I was reading Card, Niven, Bear, Asimov, and other greats.

In summary, The Last Legion is not perfect, and it is not the best I have seen from Bunch, but it is classic Bunch just the same and anything Bunch writes I will read.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: How the Vietnam War SHOULD Have Been Fought
Review: Mr. Bunch is the VietVet of the Bunch&Cole duo and in this book he gives his views of how the Vietnam War should have been fought. Although his character development and plot lines are simplistic and predictable, the battle scenes/descriptions are superb and, as usual, he is very sound on why men (and women) fight. I found the book to have many (too many?) similarities to the Sten series but maybe thats why I purchased it: I was buying a known product. Anyway, who reads this stuff for the complex character development anyway?

I heartily recommend it to any Sten fan. Mr. Bunch certainly does know what makes good guerillas and good SF types tick.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: How the Vietnam War SHOULD Have Been Fought
Review: The Last Legion: Book One is the first book I've read by Chris Bunch, so I really can't compare this to his other works. However, standing alone, this is an average piece of SF. Things are said and never brought up again. Yes, I understand that the Book One part means that there will be more, but there were too many questions left dangling. The writer's style makes this book very easy to read, so I found myself reading it very quickly. None of the characters grabbed me though. If I see Book Two on the shelves, I may pick it up. But I won't be waiting with baited breath.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Average
Review: The Last Legion: Book One is the first book I've read by Chris Bunch, so I really can't compare this to his other works. However, standing alone, this is an average piece of SF. Things are said and never brought up again. Yes, I understand that the Book One part means that there will be more, but there were too many questions left dangling. The writer's style makes this book very easy to read, so I found myself reading it very quickly. None of the characters grabbed me though. If I see Book Two on the shelves, I may pick it up. But I won't be waiting with baited breath.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Interesting plot
Review: This book was ok. I liked the premise and the plot. But the characters were a little thin. I never really found much to identify with any of them. Also, the slang and culture in the book seemed to made up and forced. Because of this, it was hard to read at some points. I'll probably read the next one in the series, but if there isn't much improvement, I might stop there.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Interesting plot
Review: This book was ok. I liked the premise and the plot. But the characters were a little thin. I never really found much to identify with any of them. Also, the slang and culture in the book seemed to made up and forced. Because of this, it was hard to read at some points. I'll probably read the next one in the series, but if there isn't much improvement, I might stop there.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Eerie Similarities
Review: This is not the sort of book I would normally choose. I'm a bit of an anomally as I am a mature woman who always has loved sci/fi. But my favorite sci/fi authors didn't have new books out so I thought I'd branch out.I'm glad I did.This book is action packed the heroes are both truly heroic yet human.The descriptions of querilla style warfare ring true.Usually I skip battle scenes but his were absorbing. At one point I had to flip back to check the copyright date.He seems to have foreseen the type of terrorist and terrorist acts we are up against now.I don't want to give away any plot lines but the last part of the book is truly eerie. Oh, and the sex is fun.


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