Steve White, co-author with David Weber of the New York Times best-seller The Shiva Option, joins with Charles E. Gannon to carve another notch in the Starfire adventure saga. A resurrected star navy hero attempts to keep a fragile interstellar alliance together while battling an implacable alien adversary.
Steve White, Vietnam vet, long-time David Weber collaborator and co-author, with Weber, of the New York Times best-seller The Shiva Option, joins with Analog contributor and military SF scholar Charles E. Gannon to carve another notch in the Starfire adventure saga.
An implacable foe with telepathic cohesion in battle, near-immortality, and eons-advanced engineering skills threatens to wipe humanity from the galaxy. What’s more, they’ve overcome their one weakness–no faster-than-light travel–and have followed humanity through our star gates and beyond. But humans are the master of adaption, and have got a counterpunch of devastating proportions in reserve. Now a hard-bitten and brilliant admiral must face down renewed alien attack and somehow communicate to the enemy that if he is forced to use his ultimate military option, galactic civilization itself may come to a fiery end.
-
Posted on
-
Product ReviewFirst let me say that this book would get a four star rating except for my final point.
The reason it would is that the action is well thought out, though not terribly complete or detailed. The character development is relatively good even if it isn't up to the same standard as when Weber was coauthoring these books and the aliens are well thought out and interesting mirror or certain traits humanity shares.
However... for me I could not get passed the multiple times this book sounded like an Eastern religion recruitment book. Ultimately, it praises everything from Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, to (oddly in this context) aesthetic humanist philosophy.
The only time other human religious and social thought is mentioned (in a book largely predicated on religious and social discussion) is to mention that Roman Catholicism died out several generations before.
In a book where the meaning of life, eternity, and religion all played a central role, treating the topic in this manner came off as biased and preachy.Posted on
-
Product ReviewIt was a disappointing book. The sample chapters were great but the later chapters were a let down.
Aliens are shown to be dumb, murderous, always fighting duels with each other to settle political differences (which we humans gave up 100 years ago), unthinking creatures who are of course defeated easily by we smart humans. I think mankind has a incipient megalomaniacal superiority complex.Posted on
-
Product Review
Posted on
-
Product Review
Posted on
-
Product Review
Posted on
-
Product Review
Posted on
-
Product ReviewBest new aliens of the year. Perfect blend of exposition and action.
Posted on
