David Sherman Books

Great book, part of a great series. I've read them all and loved them.

KINDOM'S SWORDS(5/2002) is the 7th book in the STARFIST series of Military SciFi stories, which follow the exploits in the 25th century of a company of Space-faring Marines.

This book has a couple of intertwining story lines... the main one involving hard fighting on the religious outpost planet "Kingdon", where the Marines meet up with the "skinks" again... the second and third story lines are somewhat lame, and involve Captain Coronado's court martial, and his wife's exploits while he is gone... this is really "part I" of two books, and you will need to read Book VIII in the series to finish what this book starts.

The technology in this first "post 9/11" offering from the STARFIST series is only slightly better than in the first books in the series, but there still is a lot to be desired in a book that supposedly takes place 400+ years in the future. I find these books enjoyable... but, I notice that nobody else has reviewed this particular book since 2002 (this review is written in 5/2008)... so, the idea that the technology in these books has gone somewhat "stale" appears to be a new concept in these reviews.

I really enjoyed the book. Although, I will have to wait for the next book to conclude my opinion on this book. The cliffhanger is kind of weird since the whole story of the book doesn't seem to end.

Also, for the first time, the authors tried to do more than one storyline and it feels kind of weird. One of the storyline brings nothing to the actual story or the 34th FIST Marine. This could explain on why they did not conclude the story since they had already too much.

Overall, it is still a good StarFist book. Different from the previous one but this is what bring the joy in reading :o)

More of a 2 1/2

I enjoyed this book, but did not think it was up to the previous in the series. The main problem was that it was disjointed in its plotting and pace. It felt like they had the basic book together and then created a separate plot line (or two) and wedged it in there. It broke up the main story and created a lack of cohesion that was bothersome. Sherman and Cragg have pulled off parallel plots before with great success, so I know they can do it. They just seemed all over the place in this one.

(Minor spoiler alert)This is also the first book where the major campaign was not completed. I'm not adverse to cliffhangers per se, but there wasn't really any true build up and the termination seemed arbitrary.

I still loved the characters and the writing itself is as exciting as usual. I hope these fine authors can get back on a more cohesive track with the next volume.

In the previous volume of this series, HANGFIRE, readers were set up for some nastiness by the "skinks" without ever finding out just what they were up too. All we knew was that it would not be good for humanity or the marines. We learn more in this book and it is not good for either.

Once again, Sherman and Cragg demonstrate a liking for pursing widely variant plotlines simultaneously. They did an adequate job of this before but their skills are improving in this one.

The main plot involves the committal of the 34th FIST to action on the world of Kingdom. They think they are headed in to suppress a peasant revolt but it turns out that it is the skinks who are the cause of the problems and they are major problems. To make matters worse, Kingdom is a theocracy and the marines must face a local government that is as potentially dangerous as the real enemy. Just to keep the pot stirred up, there are also dissident elements at work within Kingdom that have a strong desire to hurt the marines, the Kingdom government, the confederacy and anyone one else who disagrees with them. To make matters worse, many do not believe in the aliens the marines are fighting and believe it all to be some sort of convoluted plot.

The second plotline concerns Captain Coronado, CO of L Company. A few volumes back he was involved in a hush-hush operation dealing with another alien sentient species. In that book, he did the right thing, against the cruel and inhumane orders of the scientific leader of the post, and is returning to earth to face court martial. This puts strains on his family situations in ways recognizable to anyone who has ever tried to serve both a family and the military. Needless to say, the gallant captain has his own adventures along the way and improvises, adapts and overcomes....just the way a good jarhead is expected to do.

This is actually probably the best book in the series so far. There are a few surprises and new twists. Its going to take at least one more book and some significant reinforcements to get the marines out of this mess.

Gideon Welles once said that the Porters were all liars and braggarts. This massive volume by David Dixon Porter goes far to proving it. As history, it is lousy, heavily biased, and one-sided. However, for the serious historian, there is a great amount of administrative detail that cannot be found elsewhere. A good source, if its limitations are properly recognized.

Porters perspective of the navel operations gives the reader a rare view of history. written some years after the war to set the record of other navel histories of the day, straight. I find the detailed reports by participants and commentary by porter to be both informative and entertaining. Bias? Yes... but he gives his opinion in a straight forward manor and gives credit (both good and bad) where credit is due.

First of all, I haven't fact-checked Porter's narratives and orders of battle. However, much like Churchill's WW2 histories, a politically biased account by an actor in the history can be an invaluable resource. And, like Churchill, Porter's writing style has that high style that makes for a refreshing change (in small doses) from today's more pedestrian prose.

Most books on the ACW afloat are narratives, this has a lot more 'meat' due to Porter's participation in a number of the actions and his insights behind the scenes in the USN. I recommend this book, but not as an unimpeachable source.

Osprey Publishing has sent me a copy of one of their latest releases, this one on the Sherman Firefly tank. The British army took delivery on hundreds of U.S.-built Sherman tanks and outfitted them with a massive 17-pound gun. This innovation finally allowed British forces to match up with the imposing german firepower that had dominated the Western European Theater of Operations for so long. Veteran author David Fletcher, the historian at the Tank Museum in Bovington, UK, had penned an interesting and detailed account of the history of this conversion, exploring the people and methodology behind the development of the Firefly.


Fletcher's writing style is perhaps unusual and a bit too folksy for my American taste, but his content is outstanding. He offers a thorough look at the history of the Firefly. As with all Osprey books, this one is profusely illistrated with period photographs (from the collection of the museum the author works for) and lavish full-color (colour for my British friends!) drawings and sketches.

Number 141 of the New Vanguard collection, this newly released book is certainly an authoritative look at this powerful weapon of war. At only 48 pages, it is a short and easy read, but is chock full of interesting information of value to the wargamer, WWII buff, or tank enthusiast. Fletcher examines the successes (and failures) of this tank destroyer, which was in high demand and short supply. They were allocated among various units, usually no more than 1 or 2 per unit.

I purchased this book right away when it became available, a couple of months after buying Stephen Hart's book "Sherman Firefly vs. Tiger" (Normandy 1944).

The chapters are as follows:

Introduction
The 17-Pounder
Developments at Lulworth
Designing the Firefly
The Conversion Programme
Ammunition
Concrete Busters
The Firefly in Action
The American Angle
Supply and Demand
What's in a Name?
Index

The strengths of this book by David Fletcher are the detailed information on the development, design, and conversion of the Sherman Firefly. If you like detailed specifications on the Firefly, Fletcher does a good job of providing this info. All the different variants of the Firefly are briefly described. Tony Bryan does an excellent job in his colored illustrations.

However, the main deficiency in this book is the sparse info provided about the combat performance of the Firely in the European theatre. Fletcher does not even mention the pivotal battle in St. - Aignan (Aug. 8, 1944) where the British Fireflies destroy the Tiger tank and the legendary career of notable Tiger tank ace Michael Wittman. I can't believe the author would make no mention of some of these pivotal battles.

Therefore, I liked Stephen Hart's book much more. It provides the essential development and design info on the Firefly but it describes the combat performance in much more satisfying detail. Hart describes briefly each pivotal battle against the Germans, and gives the reader a detailed synopsis of how the tankers on each side operated in battle. Hart even describes the notable tank aces on both the Axis and Allied sides.

If I were to pick one "Sherman Firefly" book, I would pick Hart's book instead of this one. Hart's book has the added bonus in providing the design, development, and combat info on the legendary Tiger Tank. It's like getting two books for the price of one. Hart's book contains 79 pages of script while this book only contains 48 pages.

If you buy this book, consider purchasing the Hart book as well, to augment the section on the combat performance.

The amphibious DD tanks was one of the more interesting weapons to be used in World War II. Tanks are interently heavy and dense objects, so making one float is clearly a major engineering project. The British response to the need for floating tanks to support amphibious invasions was an interesting if clumsy technological solution.

This book is a standard Osprey New Vanguard treatment of the subject: background, technical description and operational overview, with excellent color plates. After reading the book, I had a good understanding of how the DD tanks worked, how it was used in combat, and what were its limitations.

WW2 marked the first use of tanks being used to support a force attacking from the sea. The Allies had to develop ways to get tanks ashore to support their troops, especially in Europe where the threat of a counter a attack by German tanks was always present. This book is not one of my favorite of the Osprey Vanguard series. This book is flawed by too narrow a focus and too much extraneous material. The proper title should have been "British Swimming Shermans in Europe". All the material is about the British attempt to develop and use the Duplex Drive version of the "Sherman" tank. This book goes into detail about the process of developing and training British tank crews on the DD tanks - starting with the developments based on a British "Valentine" tank. Later there are accounts of several British units use of the DD "Sherman", but very little on the US Army's use of the same equipment, and no mention of the fact that the US built 350 DD tanks using plans provided by the British. There is NO mention of the US use of DD tanks in Southern France or the Rhine crossing. There is also not even passing mention of the US developments in floating tanks ashore. There is a lot more to the DD story, from both nations, that was omitted. This book does provide information on the original engineering of the project, but little else in the way of new material.

A WORLD OF HURT (2004) is the tenth book in the STARFIST series of Military SciFi stories, covering the exploits of a company of Space Marines, who are sent to various planets to put down local rebellions, alien invasions, etc.

This book avoids a lot of the absurdities of the first books, but it also is missing much of the nonstop action... additionally, the off-duty life of the Marines get overly re-hashed in this book.

There are some new twists inserted, involving the Skinks... and the silly "We're Here!" military is worth a few laughs - but, other than that, there is little new in this story, that we haven't already seen in the previous books in the series.

Wow. This series has culminated (so far) in the best plot line yet. Not only do the authors give the reader a genuine feel for war, but they also give the reader a professional analysis of current strategies in current wars we could name. Since both are Military vets, their opinions count for much more than pogues whose ideas of strategy originated the term "cluster-fu*k", which is what is going on right now (in real life). A damning accessment, and an accurate one, not to mention an action packed, edge of the seat adventure with our favorate characters, and new ones that deserve what they get. I have every book in this series, and will buy any new ones as soon as they are published, they are really that good! Meanwhile, anyone who is currently overseas must read this whole series! Then Vote!

On a whole I really liked the Starfist series but I guess every series has its clunkers, this is one. There are times when reading the series I find that one of the characters figure out part of the plot and they just ignore it in the context of the story. Example is the Skinks don't show up on well Infrared scans. Well, that info just sits around and none of the marines seem to tell any of the other marines that very important info. Leaving them to discover it on there own. Also along that line with the presumed technology why not use ultra violet or some other light wave sensors? This plot point ignorance come to a peak in this tenth installment of the Starfist series. Near the beginning of this story about a quarter the way in they tell you what they suspect might be the cause of the "Skink" like attacks. But the authors have the charters never revisit or do anything about it until much later in the book, even when it is extremely obvious to the read what the cause is. It seems the authors just want us to have blinders on to the plot point they revealed early on in the story and act like the obvious reason should be ignored.
Bottom-line this book was a bore and the only reason to read it is that it continues on the series story line. A very poor effort, poor plot, poor editing. One that you can skip.

Overall this series is quite good. As a former Marine, I've found that the authors do a bang-up job of recalling long-forgotten memories of service and sacrifice. They've managed to combine snappy action and plotting with well-realized characters. Characters (such as Charlie Bass) who's fate we deeply care about.

That being said, "A World of Hurt," the tenth and latest in the "Starfist" series is a distinct disappointment. After the last two books in the series, "Kingdom's Fury" and "Lazarus Rising," we had the chance to really get to know several of the main characters: Charlie Bass, Lew Conorado, Brigadier Sturgeon, Cpl. Doyle, etc. They really came alive and of course there was the entire subplot with the supposed death and disappearance of Bass on Kingdom.

This was a major story arc, with the Marines grieving terribly at his "loss." However, his return from the dead is barely mentioned or explored in this novel. His promotion to officer status was similarly glossed over. It would have been quite interesting to have seen the reaction of the Marines to his return, rather than the matter of fact acceptance of his miraculous, "Lazarus" like revival. Or failing that, I would have enjoyed seeing the internal conflicts that Bass experienced as he assumed his new role of officer rather than enlisted man. They were hinted at in some of the throwaway lines in the book but nothing more. The Bass storyline is but one example of many that could have been fleshed out in this book.

Overall, it seems that the authors simply phoned this one in. Especially telling is the excruciating detail with which everyday activities are described. For Heaven's sake! If readers have been with the Marines of the 34th FIST to this point then they don't need to read the line "fast ride on a rough road" one more time. Ugh.

Here's hoping that the next installment serves to advance the overall story rather than serving as a placeholder.

It seems like the skinks are back and the men of the 34th will have to face them again so they ship out ready to rock and roll. Things are not, however, as they seem. If I said any more, I'd be giving away vitals so I won't. There is, however, an additional enemy.

We are introduced to Admiral of the Starry Heavens Orange, the supreme naval commander of the We're Here! Navy. We're Here! is a bush league planet settled early on by a bunch of hippies. His supporting characters include Admirals Toke, Head and Crashpad. Captain Happiness is also along for the ride. Admiral Orange gets it into his head that he needs to go to war with another planet and, not incidentally, the Confederation Marines. It's a comic opera that is hilarious in its ludicrous nature.

It's a relaxation break in the series.

TECHNOKILL(Aug/2000) is the fifth entry in the STARFIST "Space Marines" military SciFi series, about a Company of 25th Century Marine Infantry, who get into numerous battles, skirmishes, and "police actions".

This is another fun story, which involves the Marines having to put down a group of pirates/poachers who are selling arms to alien beings who have the equivalent of 15th-century technology, which threatens to completely disrupt the cultural development of the, as yet undisturbed, alien world.

Unfortunately, the book suffers from the usual two main problems: 1) Uncreative character names, and 2) Uncreative technology.

1) The 70's Philadelphia Flyers characters are all back (despite numerous dead Marines, the Flyers characters are NEVER killed off). Additionally, there are other absurd character names: Piggot Thigpen (Fat Senator), and Tweed (Boss).

2) Well, in this story, the UAVs are called UAVs again... the authors having bought into the fad in 1999 to call UAVs RPVs in the last few books in the series. Again, the authors have very little creativeness, when it comes to invisioning new weapons technology - their stories become archaice(tech-wise) just a few years after they get published. For example, our current 2008-era UAV technology is way ahead of the UAV tech described in these older books from the series.

Other than the character names and tech, the stories are usually great fun, and I will continue on with the series... I noticed the authors have ramped up production of the books in this series to once every 6 months, from once a year - lets hope the quality doesn't take a downturn with the increased output requirement.

Fans of rough and tumble action should look elsewhere. The back of the book says "the toughest fighters in Human Space confront their fiercest battle." which is stretching things quite a bit. Basically out of 346 pages there is a 6 page fight with the aliens (who use clubs and 22-caliber rifles!) and a 13 page assault on a spaceship. The whole spaceship sequence was really a dissapointment as the setup was great: a desperate band of pirates, a heavily modified ship with unknown defenses, but with the exception of the bridge the whole ship was taken in 4 pages - and this is most of the big climax to the book!

Obviously the focus of this book in the series is not on combat. It is much more about the characters and the aliens, who are well fleshed out and believable. I tend to prefer action stories which may be why I am harsh on this one, but I also like happy endings with the good guys winning..which makes this one tough for me...I'm trying not to give away too much here, and although it may be more realistic, the whole ending wasn't satisfying to me. The issue with the scientists never was resolved, the issue with Captain Coronado wasn't resolved to my satisfaction and the issue with Corporal Doyle - a very interesting character sure didn't sit well with me...but then I prefer Disney'ish happy endings..so take what I say with a grain of salt.

With all that you may think I didn't like it at all.. not the case, it was a good read, just slower than others, and a lot more info about the universe around the marines, the government, the lives of the pirates and especially the aliens. It wasalso cool that it was specifically a believable sequel to Book 4, with everyone still wandering around wondering about the aliens in that book.

But my interest is primarily action and fighting with cool futuristic weapons. I want my heroes down on the ground slugging it out with the bad guys. Here the Marines don't arrive at the planet until page 148 and really, the whole problem could have been resolved with a couple of knock-out gas bombs - which I would imagine the 25th century Marines have. I'm hoping the next book in the series will have more action....

After reading the first four books of the series and encountering a universe where humanity is the only sentience, until the last volume, it was surprising to find more aliens in the very next installment from a completely new planet. It was surprising but nicely handled.

This time the jarheads are sent to an ultra secret planet to fight smugglers. The existence of this planet is known to only a few at the highest levels of government because the natives there are intelligent but very far behind humanity in terms of development. Think in terms of nomadic hoards. There is a sort of "Prime Directive" at work in which the decision has been made to let the culture develop naturally. There are a few problems with this. The natives produce some extremely valuable gemstones which makes smuggling worthwhile and the head scientist is doing nasty experiments on the natives. When the marines are sent in to stop things, they have their hands full.

Instead of being action packed, this book spends more time on story development. That didn't bother me but those who don't want the shooting to cease may be a bit disappointed.

I would have given this book a fifth start where it not for one thing. It seems in many places to be temporally disjointed. There is a perception that some of the narrative is out of order. Sometimes it was a minor matter of the difficulty of telling two simultaneous stories. Other times it was more distracting in that I thought I was reading of subsequent events when actually I was reading of prior ones.

I love good military sci-fi as much as the next starship trooper, but this isn't it. Part of my problem may stem from the fact that I started with this book in the series and there are many parts that I found difficult since I had no prior knowledge of what had happened in the first 4 books. But my real problem came from the style of the writing and characterizations. I thought that the people were more like cut-outs borrowed from "Tour of Duty" than real characters. None of them really resonated. The alien species were particularly humerous in how far I had to suspend my disbelief to accept them. The constant changes in the time-frame of the narration made it very hard to know what was supposed to be happening before what. Add to that the constant political lectures and the book quickly lost my attention. I found the diatribe about the evils of the Japanese and their empires particulrly disturbing in a book written after the 1950's. While the marines were interesting in potential, and the story about the evils of interfereing with indiginous cultures well taken, I fear that I will not be reading another book in this series.

My hat's off to co-authors Dan Cragg and David Sherman for not taking the easy path. This series has been building an ever-greater following, and the thing most authors would have done would have been to stay in the groove and keep re-writing the same book over and over again. With volume V, Cragg and Sherman have certainly kept the basic themes and characters, but they've also taken chances by pushing the envelope and reaching (successfully, in my book) for ever-greater creativity. I found the picture of the alien world the most intriguing I've read in many years--it took me back to my youth and the great age of sci-fi, with writers like Heinlein, Asimov and Company. Other reviewers have gone over the basics of the plot, so I'll keep this short and not re-hash it. But this book revitalized my interest in the series--because there's more to life and conflict than just raw combat, even in a troubled, war-torn future--and because it is, in this reader's view, a marvelous work of the imagination. I hope the series continues for many more volumes, and I suspect the audience will continue to grow. In the meantime, I just passed this volume to my brother, who also remembers the golden age of fictional speculation. Very well done!

A first stab by David Sherman (Starfist, Demontech, Nightfghters) into the the world of vampires. The story opens with an introduction to our Hero? Rocks, a stoic, quiet, focused Vampire who hunts other Vampires. We are dropped into the scene of Rocks moving across southwestern United States on one of his "Hunts". A Volenteer for this excursion, the story unfolds as he trys to keep track of his latest prey.

The Multithreaded story moves in a solid method, from hunter to prey, providing details that open up the how, the why, the who, the when and where of the interaction between Rocks and the group he is after.

The group Rocks is chasing is an interesting bunch, they get themselves into situations that are not for the faint of heart. The scenes are very graphically described. There are five members of the group, three women and two women, they are sexualy involved, both with each other and their victums, be warned this is also described very graphically.

The characters are developed as you move into the story, which makes for a very easy read. The balance from end to end also keeps you moving, with little chance for stall. The backstory is filled out in sufficient detail, that you can easily identify with the characters.

I have read, withstanding his nightfighter series (havent got them yet), most of David Shermans tomes. I enjoy his style, he has a great way of balance with all his stories from begining to end that make you feel fullfilled when done, a rarity in this day of mediocrity. A great deal of books on the market build up these giant stories and ramrod you to the end, and then within a few pages of the end, just slam-bang, conclude.

I am, overall, not a fan of Vampires, or the genre. I liked this book because of its different approach. The stigma's of the vampire's of legend were clearly explained away, and believable, within the context of the story. Rocks, his prey, and supporting cast ARE Vampires, expect nothing short of that, just in a different light.

The rating of three stars and not higher is only on a couple points. The violence I expected, its a vampire book. The sexual content was a little rough, and in some cases was a minor detractor to the story. I believe it could have been toned down a tad. A couple of the longer victum scenes I think could have been shorter, giving way to more action on "the Hunt" portion, but again this is minor.

A solid, balance, enjoyable effort!
Thanks David!
Fairday,
Roger Mihalko

I just recently got into the StaFist universe after discovering them at the local bookstore. I have obtained and read all the books in the serie's and they all are well written, fast paced, and fun reads.

Backshot is a a great read, because your start right off in a mission with the Marine Force Recon helping the Confed Army. Your introduced immediatly to what their all about, what they do, how they do it, and how well they do it.

This opening scene really sets the rest of the book up, your immediatly at home with the 4th Force recon and cant wait to turn the page and meet the rest of them as the story unfolds.

New weapons, new craft, new worlds, new well developed characters, thrown into a multi-threaded mission of the highest security nature!! The story moves along as two teams from 4th Force Recon beset upon the Agricutural World of Atlas. You meet the President of the most powerful Nation State on this world, Jorge Lavager.

The two teams of Marine Force Recon go about their missions in the fast past nature of the other Starfist books. Never a dull moment as they move toward achieving their separate objectives, and the authors treat you to some new twists and turns they hadnt done in the other books in the series.

From the "Queen of Killers: Bella Dwan, to LT Tevedas and his team, to President Lavager, and the Central Intelligence Organization's vile, agenda driven, leaders, the story moves along, grabs ya by the collar and just wont let go.

This is a welcome addition to the StarFist Universe and highly reccomended.

Be Well,
Trang

This is a fast moving futuristic Marine Force Recon tale where poor politics puts people in positions that they shouldn't be in. We have corrupt political people trying to take down minor planetary heads of state for some reason (we're never really told why, all we know is that the head of the Intelligence section believes that Atlas if unified may try to take control of it's sector but not real proof is given). Fortunately the writers moved from their poor political piece to their strong suite, the military (for those not familiar both writers have a good military background). In this case, their foil is a Force Recon platoon that goes to find out if the Cucumber Patch is set up for military operations and if the leader needs to be killed.

Rating wise, this is a 3.5 star book. It's fun and fast, but there's to much that isn't believable. First that the Force Recon troops are so much better than the regular Army troops. Will our Force Recon troops are very good at what they do, our Army also has some units that are very good at doing what they do. Having said that, all things remaining equal, the same should be true. Second, when the Force Recon troops hit the Cucumber Patch they're wearing their chameleon suites to enable them to blend into the background and not be seen. However since they have a nice big firefight with the local troops, the local troops should be able to figure out that they're not fighting troops from their world since the uniforms and weapons don't match anything from the other governments. Very poor job Mr.'s Sherman and Cragg. The final telling part is when the writers tell us that the Force Recon troops didn't do a decontamination prior to landing when the local authorities always require it. This is critical since it totally shows that the big government wasn't really concerned on hiding that they'd been there. Given that, why send in the Marines on a stealth mission.... Enough said. It's light, it's fun, since I said 3.5 stars and Amazon says only whole stars, I'll round it up because I was in the mood for a light fun book. That having been said, it could have just as easily been a 3 star book (maybe lower) if I wasn't in the mood for a light fun book.

I have the complete StarFist series and looked forward to a new spin-off. This was so dull I don't remember half the plot. It was chock full of military jargon and protocol to the point where it seemed like more of a protocol manual than an action book. Almost as if the authors needed a quick cash infusion and pumped out something with manuscript notes.

The book is a good read, though it does seem to lack some of the quality of the main StarFist series.

Backshot (2005) is the first military SF novel in the StarFIST: Force Recon series. Second Platoon, Fourth Force Recon Company, Fourth Fleet Marines, is tasked with the penetration of enemy positions to perform special missions. Recon platoons are smaller than initial strike force platoons, consisting of two sections, each with four squads with four men each. The Force Recon units are also equipped differently, having chameleon suits that provide virtual invisibility.

In this novel, Sergeant Jak Daly and his squad are sent to the 104th Mobile Infantry Division, Confederation Army, on Silvasia to find and fix the headquarters of the Silvasian Liberation Army. The 104th had been seeking this headquarters for seven months, without success.

The SLA is maneuvering within deep forest, but the Navy does not have any warships or sensors overhead to locate the enemy. Army recon units can locate the enemy, but always have to break contact or be defeated in place while the rest of the 104th is deploying to their position. By the time the main force arrives, the SLA headquarters has moved elsewhere.

The commanding general calls for help from the marines. Although he doesn't expect the marines to be any more successful than his own troops, their failure will take some heat off his shoulders. He is totally surprised when the marine recon squad successfully completes its mission.

In this story, after the return of Sergeant Daly and his troopers, the Second Platoon is tasked with an Ultra Secret Eyes Only operation by presidential special order. Something unusual is happening in the Union of Margelan on Atlas. The Central Intelligence Organization has reported signs of a secret weapons project being conducted at the "Cabbage Patch" facility and suggests an assassination of the President of the Union of Margelan.

Later, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommends the drop of a full corps on the site. President Cynthia Chang-Sturdevant soon discards that suggestion with a little assistance from General Anders Aguinaldo, Chief of Staff of the Marine Corps, who had been involved in the disastrous Diamunde operation. The President decides to send in the marines-- i.e., the Second Platoon -- in a covert sneak and peek with a sniper backup plan.

This story depicts J. Murchison Adams, CIO Director, as an aristocratic buffoon with a patrician attitude and a self-serving agenda. He promotes sycophants into the higher CIO ranks and demotes or retires dedicated professionals -- such as Anya Smiler -- from critical positions. He isn't interested in the truth, but in the power that well manipulated information can bring him.

In contrast, President Jorge Liberec Lavager -- target in this assassination plan -- comes across as an honorable man. A former general who has raised the Union of Margelan to political prominence on Atlas, Lavager is concerned with the well being of the citizens of his nation as well as the future of his daughter. He has enemies, both within his own nation and among the other countries on the planet, especially South Solanum, but he is fairly patient until his troops and citizens begin dying.

Like the original StarFIST series, this novel conveys some sense of the political processes that generate the orders for these troops. It tells of maneuvering among higher levels of the Confederation and particularly examines the degeneration of the Confederation CIO under a series of selfish and maladroit directors. It emphasizes the adverse effects of this incompetency upon the armed forces.

Recommended for Sherman & Cragg fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of corrupt officials, political maneuvering and special operations.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I read frantically through a number of books in anticipation of reading this one, only to be majorly disappointed. It truly is one of the worst entries in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and I'm hoping it's the last the authors collaborate on. Although their military knowledge is clear, it shows through in trite ways and generally detracts from rather than adds to the narrative.

The characters are recognizable in name only. The dialogue is so inappropriate for the characters it's almost laughable. Soldiers in the field say "bro" and Anakin becomes almost as whiny as his son. It's unreal how much the speech missed the mark.

The action never really picks up to a level worth reading, and although the scale of the battles are epic, you never get the feeling that more than a handful of people are fighting.

It's amazing how so many words can say so little, and at the same time detract so much from what should have been an excellent concept.

Beware of reading this book, as it may spoil your affection for the series for a while.

I couldn't finish this book. I've read other Star Wars novels that I wasn't particularly fond of, but this one I found to be particularly egregious. It was a whole lot of boring military strategy and bad characterizations. When Anakin started thinking that his shiny new mechanical arm was so nice that perhaps he should have his other arm replaced I stopped reading. I understand its my own personal taste, but I would prefer my Star Wars fiction to not read like a dramatization of historical battles. If I wanted that, I'd re-read Dune.

This book has no redeeming qualities about it, whatsoever. Character development was horrible, and not believable. Don't waste your time on this book, it is the worst SW novel I've ever read (I've read close to 30)

The Black Fleet Crisis was bad. The Cestus Deception was not outstanding. I found Triple Zero lacking (especially compared to the exceptional Hard Contact). The Jedi Quest series took almost the entire series to make the journey worthwhile. But all these books pale in comparison to what I would call the worst Star Wars book (I have read almost all of them except for the newest ones).
First off, Nejaa Halcyon was the biggest reason I started reading this book. I read of him in I, Jedi and longed to know more. I should have made up my own story since the authors don't really do much with him. He could have been any Jedi; there was nothing that made him exceptional.
Next, the authors have a weird view of what people want. They seem to think that we, the audience, would love to read pages of insignificant, brainless, unimportant characters with terrible names, strategy, and the like and not detail important things like Anakin and Nejaa's marriages (the whole interchange, which could have lasted half a chapter with Michael Stackpole as the author, takes up half a page), lightsaber battles, and real character development.
Other pet peeves:
1. I was unimpressed with the juvenile writing style.
2. I could care less for the whole mercenary angle and the Rodian mercenary (both of whom did not stay consistent throughout the story). They felt like blank characters with not much depth.
3. Odi and Erk, Erk and Odi, them getting married...gag me! Please! I groaned when I read "And now by the powers vested in me..." at the end! How could anyone end a Star Wars novel in such a hokey marriage. I would have omitted their entire story from this novel and given that time to Anakin and Nejaa.
4. Asajj Ventress on the cover and not in the book (to my knowledge).
5. Super motherly woman who is about to die. And she reminds Anakin of Shmi. Do I sense a billboard or something?
6. Ponith, the scary banker with purple teeth from all that tea he drinks. And we are supposed to fear him why?
7. I never really believe the whole mission was important. If this station was so important to interstellar communications, how did this happen in the first place?
Just so I don't sound too negative, the end picked up a bit. The action was a bit better. Also, some inclusion of clone troopers (but nothing compared to Hard Contact).
7.99 is about 7.98 too much for this book. Buy used or borrow. In fact, don't bother. Just skip. Watch the Clone Wars animated shorts for Anakin's real trial. And spend the 7.99 on Hard Contact for a much better Clone Wars novel.

The battles were very cool but everything else could have been better. I was dying to see Anakin's Jedi Trial. To see what exactly a real Jedi trial is. But we don't get to see it even thought its all Anakin talks about. Obi Wan is sent on a mission without Anakin so Anakin gets a new master temporarily in Jedi Halcyon. I was very interested in seeing how this played out. Anakin having a master who wasn't Obi Wan and one who was a lot like him. Considered a maverick or wild card of the Jedi. They have a lot in common including having a love one even though its against of the Jedi Order. They would have made for an interesting team and yet they weren't. They were more boring then I ever could have thought.

I've read all the "Starfist" books. None was up to the first one and it was no better than 2 stars. "A World of Hurt" is, by far, the worst of the lot. Part of this one even denigrates into the comical.

Note to authors, you should pour a little nuoc mam on this and eat it. That way someone gets something out of it. Quit playing games with readers patience and intelligence.