Keith Laumer Books

The book deals with the concept of parallel universes. The concept is relatively well thought out by Laumer and given to us in more detail then I expected he would do in such short novels. The story deals with the conflicts played out between the worlds of these parallel universes and how they impact each other both knowingly and unknowingly.

Overall I thought this was a really good read. The pace of the story was fast and what one would expect of a tightly written story. It always amazes me how much thicker today's science fiction novels tend to be versus those of 30 or 40 years ago. Could it be as simple as the art of tight writing and a strong editor are lost today?

The characters are not that strongly developed and this seems to be the sacrifice Laumer makes to keep the stories to the point. The characters are developed only as absolutely necessary to the story so of course the only character we are attuned to is the single main character.

I recommended and if you enjoy the genre at all I think you will enjoy the novel as well.

The book deals with the concept of parallel universes. The concept is relatively well thought out by Laumer and given to us in more detail then I expected he would do in such short novels. The story deals with the conflicts played out between the worlds of these parallel universes and how they impact each other both knowingly and unknowingly.

Overall I thought this was a really good read. The pace of the story was fast and what one would expect of a tightly written story. It always amazes me how much thicker today's science fiction novels tend to be versus those of 30 or 40 years ago. Could it be as simple as the art of tight writing and a strong editor are lost today?

The characters are not that strongly developed and this seems to be the sacrifice Laumer makes to keep the stories to the point. The characters are developed only as absolutely necessary to the story so of course the only character we are attuned to is the single main character.

I recommended and if you enjoy the genre at all I think you will enjoy the novel as well.

The book deals with the concept of parallel universes. The concept is relatively well thought out by Laumer and given to us in more detail then I expected he would do in such short novels. The story deals with the conflicts played out between the worlds of these parallel universes and how they impact each other both knowingly and unknowingly.

Overall I thought this was a really good read. The pace of the story was fast and what one would expect of a tightly written story. It always amazes me how much thicker today's science fiction novels tend to be versus those of 30 or 40 years ago. Could it be as simple as the art of tight writing and a strong editor are lost today?

The characters are not that strongly developed and this seems to be the sacrifice Laumer makes to keep the stories to the point. The characters are developed only as absolutely necessary to the story so of course the only character we are attuned to is the single main character.

I recommended and if you enjoy the genre at all I think you will enjoy the novel as well.

The book deals with the concept of parallel universes. The concept is relatively well thought out by Laumer and given to us in more detail then I expected he would do in such short novels. The story deals with the conflicts played out between the worlds of these parallel universes and how they impact each other both knowingly and unknowingly.

Overall I thought this was a really good read. The pace of the story was fast and what one would expect of a tightly written story. It always amazes me how much thicker today's science fiction novels tend to be versus those of 30 or 40 years ago. Could it be as simple as the art of tight writing and a strong editor are lost today?

The characters are not that strongly developed and this seems to be the sacrifice Laumer makes to keep the stories to the point. The characters are developed only as absolutely necessary to the story so of course the only character we are attuned to is the single main character.

I recommended and if you enjoy the genre at all I think you will enjoy the novel as well.

The book deals with the concept of parallel universes. The concept is relatively well thought out by Laumer and given to us in more detail then I expected he would do in such short novels. The story deals with the conflicts played out between the worlds of these parallel universes and how they impact each other both knowingly and unknowingly.

Overall I thought this was a really good read. The pace of the story was fast and what one would expect of a tightly written story. It always amazes me how much thicker today's science fiction novels tend to be versus those of 30 or 40 years ago. Could it be as simple as the art of tight writing and a strong editor are lost today?

The characters are not that strongly developed and this seems to be the sacrifice Laumer makes to keep the stories to the point. The characters are developed only as absolutely necessary to the story so of course the only character we are attuned to is the single main character.

I recommended and if you enjoy the genre at all I think you will enjoy the novel as well.

The book deals with the concept of parallel universes. The concept is relatively well thought out by Laumer and given to us in more detail then I expected he would do in such short novels. The story deals with the conflicts played out between the worlds of these parallel universes and how they impact each other both knowingly and unknowingly.

Overall I thought this was a really good read. The pace of the story was fast and what one would expect of a tightly written story. It always amazes me how much thicker today's science fiction novels tend to be versus those of 30 or 40 years ago. Could it be as simple as the art of tight writing and a strong editor are lost today?

The characters are not that strongly developed and this seems to be the sacrifice Laumer makes to keep the stories to the point. The characters are developed only as absolutely necessary to the story so of course the only character we are attuned to is the single main character.

I recommended and if you enjoy the genre at all I think you will enjoy the novel as well.

The book deals with the concept of parallel universes. The concept is relatively well thought out by Laumer and given to us in more detail then I expected he would do in such short novels. The story deals with the conflicts played out between the worlds of these parallel universes and how they impact each other both knowingly and unknowingly.

Overall I thought this was a really good read. The pace of the story was fast and what one would expect of a tightly written story. It always amazes me how much thicker today's science fiction novels tend to be versus those of 30 or 40 years ago. Could it be as simple as the art of tight writing and a strong editor are lost today?

The characters are not that strongly developed and this seems to be the sacrifice Laumer makes to keep the stories to the point. The characters are developed only as absolutely necessary to the story so of course the only character we are attuned to is the single main character.

I recommended and if you enjoy the genre at all I think you will enjoy the novel as well.

The book deals with the concept of parallel universes. The concept is relatively well thought out by Laumer and given to us in more detail then I expected he would do in such short novels. The story deals with the conflicts played out between the worlds of these parallel universes and how they impact each other both knowingly and unknowingly.

Overall I thought this was a really good read. The pace of the story was fast and what one would expect of a tightly written story. It always amazes me how much thicker today's science fiction novels tend to be versus those of 30 or 40 years ago. Could it be as simple as the art of tight writing and a strong editor are lost today?

The characters are not that strongly developed and this seems to be the sacrifice Laumer makes to keep the stories to the point. The characters are developed only as absolutely necessary to the story so of course the only character we are attuned to is the single main character.

I recommended and if you enjoy the genre at all I think you will enjoy the novel as well.

This book is a compilation of short stories by different authors. What I found uniqe was the fact that all of the short stories take place on the same planet. A look at the future of AI and future applications in war. The star of the books, of course, are the Bolos. A self-aware robotic tank with a long distinguished history. Some of the story lines move to fast, so as to not be developed to my taste. But I assume that is the problem with short stories in this series....

I am sure that the Bolos books were a good read. It is unfortunate that I happened to begin with the dregs of short stories written by different people. This is obviously an attempt to captialise on what must have been a good series.

This book does not stand on its own. As far as I can tell the Bolos are just very big tanks that can do a bit of thinking for themselves. After that it's a case of bang bang flash, ten year old kid's stuff with ray guns. No characterisation, no empathy with the characters, who they defend or the "dreaded" enemy. Nothing. This is cheap thin cardboard and is just the kind of rubbish that should not be published.

Whoever the editor and publisher are - shame on you. There are too many good books waiting to be published to put this trash on the shelves. Go hang your heads in shame.

There is so little substance in this book, it is impossible to really attack it. How can you attack something without substance. I want my money back!

Time changes all things, and the latest installment in the multi-author universe of the Bolos is no exception. As the books have become either more popular or more prized, a certain sense of community seems to have developed between authors: all of the short stories in this book, unlike its predecessors, are woven together by tales of the same planet, and the same conflict.

This has obvious advantages and disadvantages- first and foremost, the line between authors has blurred. Part of the fun of the series was recognizing the times and places each author chose to put themselves in, usually by creating an entirely new conflict in which they make the rules of the plot. However, with the setting concretely agreed upon, that freedom was lost. Also, by creating a singular time in which to play, the authors didn't have a chance to tinker too much with the machinery or sentience of the Bolos themselves- which, aside from the Bolo soul, are the essence of the stories.

That said, the book was, to me, enthralling. I'm a Bolo finatic, what can I say? And the connectivity of the plot did make the anthology feel much more like a novel than previous editions- but all in all, my favorite Bolo book remains undisturbed as Book 3.

I enjoyed the three stories contained in this book. having not known that before I read the book, it was interesting to discover it. I believe the stories gave an impression of the flow of war, and that Bolos provides protection, or at least a menance to the Concordiate's enemy on all fronts.

The Bolo's and their commanders see alot of action in and around the Delas system by a horde of attacking Kezdai - creatures that resemble bird-like reptiles. Hellbores away! Infantry, tanks, and and full scale battles rage over the planet systems. And the book shows that Bolos should be left alone to do their jobs - to protect humanity.

The book earned a 4 stars instead of 5 stars because the first story - seems like it was cut off. 3 characters were introduced, and two at great length, but each had no impact on the story's ending. It seemed the story was cut off. In the second story, a Concordiate Officer ignores his Bolo, and the result is death and and some destruction to a Concordiate task force. The commander, supposedly academy trained, is told to "just forget about it" and to get back into the war because "he did a good job" because he came up with a good idea prior to his terrible orders. Only one sentence was givin to a possible court martial. I wanted the character to be punished, not patted on the back. I believe the first two stories dragged a little when they went into the Kezdai personal worlds, except for one plot line.

The third story, the shortest - was marvelous. And the final moments of the the battle should have been made into artwork for the book cover with the vivid descriptions of the battle.

Readers of the previous books in the series, take note: you may be disappointed. I was. Much of this book may not be up to the standard of quality that you're used to. Be prepared for weak storylines, relatively shallow development of human characters, a lack of character development in the bolos themselves, a *striking* (and very irritating) lack of consistency with previous books, a weak understanding of the setting, and, well, grammatical errors (sigh). This is not one of those books that's hard to put down; if anything, it's hard to pick up again. Earlier books in the series accustomed me to the casual, easygoing excellence of authors like David Weber, Linda Evans, Mercedes Lackey, David Drake and others. I don't know what happened to this book, whether it was the authoring or the editing, but much of it just doesn't "feel" like the quality work I enjoyed in the previous books. The major exception is the last story- kudos (and thanks!) to William Kieth, author of the last story (and, incidentally, author of two complete bolo novels), for the only story that reminded me of previous Bolo books. If you're a bolo fan, I'm not recommending that you not buy this book; I'm simply recommending that you be prepared to be a bit disappointed.

The novel serves up great futuristic battle action with the immense, self aware, and incfedibly powerful Bolos. With Space engagements, ground engagements, and Bolos slugging it out against other run amok Bolo's - its a thrill. We even see a Bolo of the Line committ a mercy killing of another Human. It is a very engaged reading with constant action.

The ending? It fell apart at the very end. Otherwise it would have earned a 5 star.

colonized during the Concordiat age. Cut off during the Melcon Armageddon the planet was absorbed by the Aetryx, an alien race who believed they were a race of Gods. The humans of the Cofederation Mobile Army Corps decide to launch an invasion to free the enslaved populace. But there seems to be a few problems. One, many of the people of Caern seem to be loyal towards the Aetryx. Two, the Aetryx seem to have Bolos within their ranks who are just as loyal. Three, the Aetryx may really be GODS!

The book is packed solid with good battle action, with savage space combat and lots of Bolos fighting on their own. Yes, sometimes the humans get in the way, but without humans the Bolos have no reason to fight, to reach for victory and to overcome their own limitations. Anyway the Bolos spend a good first-third of the novel on their own, fighting for their lives, before the humans even make land-fall. THEN things really get rough!

If there was no human element in this book, it might be 4 stars. It has a slow start. The star of the book,is Victor a Bolo Mark XXXIII of the 4th Regiment, Second Brigade, First Confederation Mobile Army Corps, in the vanguard of an all-out Bolo strike against the planet Caern. The enemy is the Aetryx, shadowy, unknown beings who enslave other species with nothing less than the promise of immortality. As a savage interstellar war begins, Colonel Jon Streicher prepares to lead Victor and the rest of his reigment in a planetary invasion. But the landing falls into a trap. They find themselves stranded and desperately attempting to survive the hellfire chaos of modern warfare as Bolo faces Bolo-human hybrid in a cataclysmic showdown that will uncover unexpected truths, reveal hidden secrets, and even call into question the loyalty of the Dinochrome Brigade itself. Should have only had the Bolo elements in this book.

Being as longtime fan of the Bolo books, I was disapointed. The central third of this book needed severe editing. While it could have stood as a novel on its own- the endless feminist angle did not fit, nor did the extensive sociology (and again overly pressing a feminist viewpoint) just does not belong in this book. Nor does some of the somewhat obscure human relations (like the whole brother in law thing was a waste of my time).

The Bolo books are getting slightly stuck in a rut, but good lord, can we be spared this please and at least have someone write that has some military sense? Or an editor that understands the series and has the guts to chop out the amazing-astoundo-female-hunters-that-are-the-savior-of-their-race-but only when allied with human females who are of course much smarter then men due to their sensitive nature? My, how original. I sense a Star Trek script here.

There were some interesting concepts here, that could have made a great addition to concordiat history, but it was blown in this context. And yes, I do feel gyped for my $... Did anyone actually read the final text before agreeing to run it as a Bolo book? or did an editor OK it on an outline?

I give it two stars only for the first story which is the typical stuff we can expect, and the one or two interesting ideas in the second. Sadly, they were not well explored in a military SF way.

Maybe nmext time I will wait til the books hit the used stores.

Keith, oh why have you forsaken us?

How can you argue with a 32,000 ton Mk XXXIII Bolo Planetary Siege Unit? Veeeerrrry Carefully. Action, adventure, drug abuse and recovery, are there any bases Keith hasn't covered here? Well worth the read.