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Rating: 
Summary: Battle of Midway in Space
Review: BErserker Fury was a space version of the Battle of Midway, but the real battle was less confusing. Time seems to have no meaning, as your point of view changes in both time and space, like a bad Doctor Who movie. Sometimes I don't know what character I am reading about. I happen to be a great fan and even sent him e-mail once, but this book could of been A LOT better if somebody else had gone over it with a magic marker and helped him cut out parts that were not needed.
Rating: 
Summary: unbelievably turgid, slow, and weak.
Review: Fred Saberhagen holds the distinction of being both the best and the worst author I have ever read. He's either great or terrible on any given piece - with nothing in between. When Saberhagen writes a good story, it's very tight, adventurous, and thought provoking. Good examples are his Berserker short stories, A Century of Progress, and The Dracula Tape. When Saberhagen writes a dog it's plot is shallow or nonexistant has little action, and gives the impression that he and the characters just don't care what's going on. Examples of his dogs are Merlin's Bones, Dancing Bears, The White Bull, many of the novels in his Swords series, A Question of Time, and (of course) Berserker Fury.Saberhagen hasn't written anything realy good since about the mid-80's, and most of his REALLY good work was done in the 60's and 70's. Fred Saberhagen desperately needs an agent and a publisher who will tell him when he's churning out worthless drivel, and then will ride him like a drill sergeant until he starts turning out the gems he's capable of.
Rating:
Summary: ...could have been so good....
Review: I don't mind the "Battle of Midway" angle. I do think it could have been concealed a little better, but maybe the author wanted us all to see it. I actually got some entertainment out of seeing how he would work in certain historical events. The side-story about our opening-scene protagonist was so-so. I could take it or leave it. Mr. Saberhagen's done better, and I've read worse. Here's my main beef. This book reads like he wrote 10 pages at a time, and then just randomly shuffled the sections together. We haven't even fought the battle yet when we read about the analysts' thoughts on the outcome. Kinda makes it hard to even pretend you don't know what's going to happen at that point. That's just one example. We constantly read about characters referring to things that they won't find out about for another 20 pages. And other nonsense along those lines. It made for very infuriating reading. Mr. Saberhagen needed someone to read through his computer print-out and move a couple pages around.
Rating:
Summary: ...could have been so good....
Review: I don't mind the "Battle of Midway" angle. I do think it could have been concealed a little better, but maybe the author wanted us all to see it. I actually got some entertainment out of seeing how he would work in certain historical events. The side-story about our opening-scene protagonist was so-so. I could take it or leave it. Mr. Saberhagen's done better, and I've read worse. Here's my main beef. This book reads like he wrote 10 pages at a time, and then just randomly shuffled the sections together. We haven't even fought the battle yet when we read about the analysts' thoughts on the outcome. Kinda makes it hard to even pretend you don't know what's going to happen at that point. That's just one example. We constantly read about characters referring to things that they won't find out about for another 20 pages. And other nonsense along those lines. It made for very infuriating reading. Mr. Saberhagen needed someone to read through his computer print-out and move a couple pages around.
Rating:
Summary: Sorry I bought this.
Review: I have hear good things about the berserker series and was hoping that the reviews were wrong. How *wrong* I was. This book is terrible. It is written in a detached, all-knowing, third-person perspective, with almost no character development. In fact you don't find out much of anything about the characters till the last 1/4 of the book. Nothing is ever explained, it reads like a bad enclyopedia. This book not even worth the shipping I paid for it.
Rating:
Summary: The pain, the pain...
Review: Relax, pitiful humans. You're a long way from a universe dominated by planet-sized killer robots raging for your blood. Humanity has a lot going for it; we robots can't wipe you out as long as you write such interesting books. Even though Saberhagen seemed to drag a bit in this outing, his Berserkers are still a fresh and original concept in the cluttered field of SF. Relax for now, humans...but keep your guard up.
Rating:
Summary: A big "Zero" for originality
Review: Saberhaen has developed in "Berserker Fury" a complete, yet bland parody of the famous WWII Battle of Midway. Although the setting takes place far in humanity's future, the novel makes parallels so blatant that anyone who has read or seen the movie "Midway" has no difficulty in the associations. The principal battle location is a space island 'atoll' called Fifty-Fifty -- another moniker for Midway? The combat space vehicles are called 'carriers', 'battleships' and 'cruisers'. Beserker fighters are called 'Voids' - a moniker for 'Zeros'. The pricipal human commander is Admiral Nuguance, while at Midway he was Admiral Spruance. The battle for Fifty-Fifty is set up through the breaking of the Beserker combat codes. And the parallels go on and on. Saberhagen even goes so far as to strand a shot down human pilot in the middle of the Beserker fleet who is able to watch the entire battle unfold, much like the original scenario. The parallels are so obvious that this novel cannot be taken as a serious work by the talented Saberhagen. Let us hope that any future Beserker stories, to which we have all come to love, are not of like ilk.
Rating:
Summary: The pain, the pain...
Review: You may or may not be annoyed that Saberhagen is lifting much of his plot from WWII- let's face it, Jerry Pournelle and many others are guilty of the same crime. What is more frustrating here is the author's stunted, wooden writing style. Often, he finds it necessary to repeat the same facts over and over again, as if he's straining to fill up space. Plot and characters aside, the actual use of the language itself is so frustrating that the book is unreadable.
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