Rating: 
Summary: Brought me into a new type of fiction
Review: I've always read a lot of science fiction, but I've generally stayed away from military fiction of any kind since such books tended toward a lot of sex or pointless violence or else played up the soppy/sentimental guilt end of it.Although these books (by which I'm referring to the whole series) are not "great literature", they are entertaining and do manage to hold my interest. I cannot judge the military tactics involved since I was never in the military (though I came close). However, this author makes the tactics clear so that I can understand them and even understand why some things work or do not work. The weapons are good. I might occasionally wish for something more advanced, but I can understand these weapons, and the author was brilliant in explaining the limitations of shuttle landings! My faults are few. I get annoyed when characters get wracked by guilt, especially in this type of story. He manages to avoid it in the first book, but as time goes by, the character begins feeling more and more guilt, even second-guessing his career. Although this doesn't become overwhelming, it annoys me. Overall, I'd call this a good book (and good series). It has started me reading other military novels. I still find the trash (sex/excessive violence), but I've realized that there are good books like this one also.
Rating:
Summary: MIL/SF Popcorn
Review: If you've read all of David Drake, and S.M. Stirling, and David Weber ... then start in on Shelley. CADET looks like the beginning of a series. If LIEUTENANT is the next volume, Shelley may permit the central character a personality this time. The mercenary-world theme, while not original, is well done. The best characterizations were the squad members. The worst literary trick was the medic tubes; Come on, Rick, if you have to kill off a character, at least let him die!
Rating: 
Summary: Light military SF reading
Review: Need a break from complex plots, political intrigue, and hundreds of characters? Still want to read about SF military training and campaigns?....Try this book. A definite quick read, but I found it enjoyable nonetheless. One thing that seemed refreshing was the focus on ground warfare...flanking, intelligence/counter intelligence, and just plain luck. Made the novel tie into current and historical battling (civil war, vietnam, desert storm). The projectile-type weapons (few lasers, etc), however, seemed a little odd for a 29th Century military unit.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Sci-Fi yarn
Review: Not much of a novel. The small unit tactics and combat were interesting to this former infantryman. However, there wasn't much plot, the progress of the story was dully predictable, there was never much sense of danger to our hero, and the enemy was bland and distant. Try another series ... like the Starfist series or Honor Harrington.
Rating: 
Summary: A Tactical Manual, But Fiction?
Review: Not much of a novel. The small unit tactics and combat were interesting to this former infantryman. However, there wasn't much plot, the progress of the story was dully predictable, there was never much sense of danger to our hero, and the enemy was bland and distant. Try another series ... like the Starfist series or Honor Harrington.
Rating: 
Summary: A Long Job Interview
Review: Officer-Cadet is the first novel in the Dirigent Mercenary Corps series. Lon Nolan is willingly expelled from the North American Military Academy on trumped up charges, but pursues his military vocation among the DMC. In this novel, Lon becomes an Officer-Cadet in the Second Squad, Third Platoon, A Company, Second Battalion, Seventh Regiment of the DMC. He will be nothing but a glorified grunt until he has survived combat; after that, he will be either discharged or given a commission. In the meantime, he being rotated around the various staff positions when not training with the rest of his unit. After a few months, Second Battalion is sent on contract to Norbank to put down a rebellion and to train the colonial militia. The available intelligence is woefully inadequate and, after arrival, found to be very much out of date. The rebels have obtained military grade weapons and are resolute but relatively unskilled fighters. The colonial militia is greatly outnumbered, poorly armed, and besieged in the capital city, so they expect the DMC troopers to do most of the fighting. The DMC, however, concentrates on training the available colonial manpower to beef up the city perimeter and to support any offensive initiated by the DMC. The Third Platoon has made initial contact with the Norbanker HQ in the city and therefore is tasked with bringing out a company's worth of barely trained men to rendezvous with shuttles outside the city to obtain their arms and equipment. The rest of the battalion creates a diversion as they are brought out. At the LZ, the battalion provides a quick briefing on using the weapons and then moves further away from the city. There the battalion digs in for a while and provides the Norbankers with two hours of concentrated training on their weapons and simple tactics. The intent is to infiltrate the Norbankers back into the city that evening, but enroute the battalion gets into a firefight with the rebels forces. This novel is about ground combat in the colonial worlds of the 29th century. It is relatively low-tech compared to the military forces of Earth and the older colonies of that period and the DMC space forces function primarily as transportation and overhead intelligence. Recommended for Shelley fans and anyone who enjoys ground combat in a SF setting.
Rating:
Summary: Officer Cadet
Review: Overall not a bad book. I have to agree that the weapons of the future seem somewhat limited, but the tactics and general pace of the story make it readable. If you can overlook the lack of science in this book it you should enjoy it. Just take it for what it is... a military book that takes place in the future. Nothing more nothing less.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT story, a MUST buy for SF readers of all types!
Review: Rick Shelley has captured me from the very first book I've picked up, which was Officer-Cadet. Since then I have read and bought almost everything single book in the DMC setting. Although I lack the kind of, in depth, knowledge that Shelley most certainly has. I feel his writing has inparted within me a slice of what military life can be. Not just the technical, tactical, or technolgies aspect, which plays a great part in all of the DMC books, but a feel for the men and their leaders. The only thing I would say is a drawback, in the ENTIRE sersis, is the jumps in the time-line between each book. Though it's easy to look past. You do start to wondering what you missed in those jumps. Heck, besides that Officer-Cadet is a great start to a life of a soldier on the futuristic world of Dirigent in the DMC, set in the 28th century. So if you enjoy SciFi with a Military twist, but novels that don't skip out on the action and adventure, than pick up Officer-Cadet and be prepared to Q-space away!
Rating:
Summary: GREAT story, a MUST buy for SF readers of all types!
Review: Rick Shelley has captured me from the very first book I've picked up, which was Officer-Cadet. Since then I have read and bought almost everything single book in the DMC setting. Although I lack the kind of, in depth, knowledge that Shelley most certainly has. I feel his writing has inparted within me a slice of what military life can be. Not just the technical, tactical, or technolgies aspect, which plays a great part in all of the DMC books, but a feel for the men and their leaders. The only thing I would say is a drawback, in the ENTIRE sersis, is the jumps in the time-line between each book. Though it's easy to look past. You do start to wondering what you missed in those jumps. Heck, besides that Officer-Cadet is a great start to a life of a soldier on the futuristic world of Dirigent in the DMC, set in the 28th century. So if you enjoy SciFi with a Military twist, but novels that don't skip out on the action and adventure, than pick up Officer-Cadet and be prepared to Q-space away!
Rating:
Summary: A Good Sci-Fi yarn
Review: Rick Shelley has done a good job with this story, I just hope we get a little more out of the characters. The idea for the story is fantastic and the world he creates is also very good, but it is a tad predictable.
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