Rating: 
Summary: soldiers
Review: a good read - enjoyed the mixture of story lines. along the lines of honor harrington by weber
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Dalmas specialises in military SF, and has written several convincing stories, where he depicts soldiers, usually infantry, in future wars, on other worlds. Typically, those wars have been against other humans. In this book the opponents are a horselike race from distant stars, in a massive armada, facing a mostly demilitarised humanity, that sprawls across many light years. Some branches of mankind have kept up their martial traditions. The humans desperately train infantry and build up virtually from scratch a navy.The scenes in the book of the boot camp for infantry would be familiar to readers of military fiction, and not necessarily science fiction. (Think Full Metal Jacket, for example.) Dalmas adds nothing new here, but the character depictions are competently done. But much of the book is spent in boot camp. The actual infantry battle scenes are relatively late in the book. What I found lacking were the space battles. ... the descriptions of the battles were flat, ... The book feels as though it was originally meant to be several volumes, given the slow plot development throughout most of it. Skip this book, unless you are a diehard fan of Dalmas.
Rating: 
Summary: Had some major flaws
Review: I liked this book but really it begins to deteriorate after the first three hundred pages. It has a great cast of characters but I had trouble keeping track of them all. Perhaps it would've been easier had there been more "Bobs" and less "Quanshuks." The book suffered most of all from the authors tendency to kill off interesting, good characters suddenly and for no apparent reason other then to kill them off. The only other problem I found was that humans were supposed to be so uneven but they never really suffer and great losses. The fighting doesn't even take up half the novel.
Rating:
Summary: Had some major flaws
Review: I liked this book but really it begins to deteriorate after the first three hundred pages. It has a great cast of characters but I had trouble keeping track of them all. Perhaps it would've been easier had there been more "Bobs" and less "Quanshuks." The book suffered most of all from the authors tendency to kill off interesting, good characters suddenly and for no apparent reason other then to kill them off. The only other problem I found was that humans were supposed to be so uneven but they never really suffer and great losses. The fighting doesn't even take up half the novel.
Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed it while I was reading, but. . . .
Review: Several thousand years ago, after 'The Troubles', humanity reached another plateau and decided that war was not acceptable. As time passed, the only government 'forces' became a very small group of trained personnel and ships that were used for intervention against an occasional pirate. Into this empire came the Wyzhnyny, Seventh Swarm, invasion fleet. A race whose racial history demonstrated that their only chance of survival required the total destruction of any other race they came into contact with. Surrender is not an option, and if Humanity cannot embrace the idea of war or produce the millions of soldiers necessary, the Terran Commonwealth wouldn't even be a note in Wyzhnyny history. - Exciting future combat that keeps you turning the pages. The time sequencing is rather disorienting though, with months passing during space 'flights' while in a form of suspended animation, combined with 'instantaneous' communication.
Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed it while I was reading, but. . . .
Review: Several thousand years ago, after 'The Troubles', humanity reached another plateau and decided that war was not acceptable. As time passed, the only government 'forces' became a very small group of trained personnel and ships that were used for intervention against an occasional pirate. Into this empire came the Wyzhnyny, Seventh Swarm, invasion fleet. A race whose racial history demonstrated that their only chance of survival required the total destruction of any other race they came into contact with. Surrender is not an option, and if Humanity cannot embrace the idea of war or produce the millions of soldiers necessary, the Terran Commonwealth wouldn't even be a note in Wyzhnyny history. - Exciting future combat that keeps you turning the pages. The time sequencing is rather disorienting though, with months passing during space 'flights' while in a form of suspended animation, combined with 'instantaneous' communication.
Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps John Dalmas' Best Book Yet
Review: SOLDIERS is not, as one might think, a military science fiction book, although there's a lot of that in the story, with enough action and plot twists to keep one turning the pages. The most interesting and important part of the story is the cast. One develops a real affection for many of the characters, and the wrap-up lets the reader find out what happened to them after the main story is concluded. It's rather like being able to stay in touch with old friends. I do think that the book was poorly served by its cover, which gives no hint of the quality of the writing. I observed that this might be Dalmas' best book yet because as a writer he continues to grow.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps John Dalmas' Best Book Yet
Review: SOLDIERS is not, as one might think, a military science fiction book, although there's a lot of that in the story, with enough action and plot twists to keep one turning the pages. The most interesting and important part of the story is the cast. One develops a real affection for many of the characters, and the wrap-up lets the reader find out what happened to them after the main story is concluded. It's rather like being able to stay in touch with old friends. I do think that the book was poorly served by its cover, which gives no hint of the quality of the writing. I observed that this might be Dalmas' best book yet because as a writer he continues to grow.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't Bother
Review: Sorry. If I could give less stars then I would have. I was very disapointed and had to look at Mr. Dalmas peers in the field to see why I didn't like it. First, There is a very large gap of technical knowledge in this book. Cyborgs called Warbots? How are they armored? How are they powered? Can their sensors be disabled, What does a bottled Person think about? What are the capabilities of a warbot? What are the weapons fired by a trooper? What exactly is a pulse? Is this a sonic distruptor or plasma weapon? You have Heavy gravity worlders traing on a lighter world then their own and the drill instructors are also from a weaker world. What problems did it cause? What about hand to hand combat? This book just never lived up to its potential and if I can save anyone from wasting their money on it all the better. In fact I'd be more than will to give you my copy to ready so that you can see what I mean.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Bother
Review: Sorry. If I could give less stars then I would have. I was very disapointed and had to look at Mr. Dalmas peers in the field to see why I didn't like it. First, There is a very large gap of technical knowledge in this book. Cyborgs called Warbots? How are they armored? How are they powered? Can their sensors be disabled, What does a bottled Person think about? What are the capabilities of a warbot? What are the weapons fired by a trooper? What exactly is a pulse? Is this a sonic distruptor or plasma weapon? You have Heavy gravity worlders traing on a lighter world then their own and the drill instructors are also from a weaker world. What problems did it cause? What about hand to hand combat? This book just never lived up to its potential and if I can save anyone from wasting their money on it all the better. In fact I'd be more than will to give you my copy to ready so that you can see what I mean.
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