Cld: Collective Landing Detachment

Rating:
Summary: Military SF with an *extremely* hard edge
Review: A lot of this book seemed very familiar to me, but I was reading Sven Hassel's novels about the 20th Panzer Penal Unit in World War II years ago. In general, this book is even more of a downer than a lot of Hassel's work; these future-soldiers do their work in a society and army so degrading that Hell itself would be preferable.

Rating:
Summary: Sven Hassel did it first, and better, IMO
Review: A lot of this book seemed very familiar to me, but I was reading Sven Hassel's novels about the 20th Panzer Penal Unit in World War II years ago. In general, this book is even more of a downer than a lot of Hassel's work; these future-soldiers do their work in a society and army so degrading that Hell itself would be preferable.

Rating:
Summary: Military SF with an *extremely* hard edge
Review: This is one of the grimmest pieces of Science Fiction I have ever read. I found it to be well written and funny (in an extremely brutal and nasty way). I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys military SF.

Rating:
Summary: Makes David Drake seem jolly by comparison
Review: This is probably the darkest, most brutal novel I've ever read. It's the story of a futuristic penal unit used as canon fodder by a brutal totalitarian regime, and then left for dead on a hostile alien world after the invasion of it goes wrong. It's extremely grim and depressing, but the story is very good, and Milan does a good job of bringing the characters to life. Highly reccomended.

Rating:
Summary: Makes David Drake seem jolly by comparison
Review: This is probably the darkest, most brutal novel I've ever read. It's the story of a futuristic penal unit used as canon fodder by a brutal totalitarian regime, and then left for dead on a hostile alien world after the invasion of it goes wrong. It's extremely grim and depressing, but the story is very good, and Milan does a good job of bringing the characters to life. Highly reccomended.

Rating:
Summary: Vivid & Grisly
Review: This isn't a happy ending, enjoyable sort of book - far from it. But after reading a lot of military SciFi, this story sticks tenaciously in my mind, whereas many others quickly fade, and to me, that by itself makes it a noteworthy accomplishment. If you aren't squeamish, and can enjoy a gritty, grisly story about an group of criminals force-drafted into a vicious, bottom-of-the-barrel military outfit, who are abandoned during a botched invasion on a hostile planet, look for this one; otherwise stay away. Personally, I wish the author had written more stories about the CLD.

Rating:
Summary: Vivid & Grisly
Review: This isn't a happy ending, enjoyable sort of book - far from it. But after reading a lot of military SciFi, this story sticks tenaciously in my mind, whereas many others quickly fade, and to me, that by itself makes it a noteworthy accomplishment. If you aren't squeamish, and can enjoy a gritty, grisly story about an group of criminals force-drafted into a vicious, bottom-of-the-barrel military outfit, who are abandoned during a botched invasion on a hostile planet, look for this one; otherwise stay away. Personally, I wish the author had written more stories about the CLD.