DEFEAT WAS NOT AN OPTION

The war wasn't going well.

The mind-numbingly alien Arachnids were an enemy whose like no civilized race had ever confronted. Like some carnivorous cancer, the "Bugs" had overrun planet after planet . . . and they regarded any competing sentient species as only one more protein source. They couldn't be reasoned with, or even talked to, because no one had the least idea of how to communicate with a telepathic species with no recognizable language . . . and whose response to any communication attempt was a missile salvo. No one knew how large their civilization—if it could be called a "civilization"—actually was, or how it was organized, but the huge fleets they threw against their opponents suggested that it was enormous.

The Grand Alliance of Humans, Orions, Ophiuchi, and Gorm, united in desperate self-defense, have been driven to the wall. Billions of their civilians have been slaughtered. Their most powerful offensive operation has ended in shattering defeat and the deaths of their most experienced and revered military commanders. The edge in technology with which they began the war is eroding out from under them and whatever they do, the Bugs just keep coming.

But the warriors of the Grand Alliance know what stands behind them and they will surrender no more civilians to the oncoming juggernaut. They will die first . . . and they will also reactivate General Directive 18, however horrible it may be. Because when the only possible outcomes are victory or racial extermination, only one option is acceptable.

The Shiva Option

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  1. Product Review
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    I kind of disagree with the book. No intelligent race must be exterminated. After the outer planets of the last system containing the bugs have been conquered, they could have been quarantined and jailed in that system. They have proven themselves to be innovators and who knows what innovations they may have contributed in the future, if they had not been exterminated to the last one and having conquered them once they could be kept bottled there easily instead of being exterminated. Are we humans so blood thirsty that we want the blood of an entire species on our hands? By the way, shankar is another name for the god shiva. Shiva is the most peaceful god always doing meditation. But when angered he becomes Rudra who will dance the dance of death and destroy the entire universe and recreate it.
    @bradley If you are referring to the bugs eating human babies, whats the difference between that and humans eating the babies of lots of other species koreans even eat dogs (which are considered intelligent). I am a veggie but even I eat a lot of other living things like plants. Life is food. I do not object to killing other species but wiping them out entirely may deny us future advantages they may have given us.
    This website software is a piece of shit software for forum usage. I have given up trying to get baen to update it. They are deaf to customer requests to upgrade the website. I cant even subscribe for notifications from favorite authors.

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    I can't emphasize enough how much I LOVE "The Shiva Option" and its predecessor "In Death Ground," which should be read in that order. The space battles are fantastic, the sense of fear is palpable, the enemy is diabolical, ruthless, and immensely evil. I literally could NOT STOP reading, as every page kept me on the edge of my seat through every facet of the war. Easily my favorite Weber collaboration, and I've read them all - this one several times!

    In response to Shankaranarayanan's review and objection to exterminating an intelligent race, did you pay close attention to the ENTIRE book? ;)

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    Great book. Keeps you on edge of your seat the entire time I read it. Great follow on to the first one.

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    Great space opera, each battle bigger than the last. Like the old video game Space Invaders, no matter how many waves of alien ships you destroy, they just keep on coming.

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    Loved it. Expected no less and was not disappointed.

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    Great series..... any chance for more?...... Soon?..... PLEASE!......
    I am desparate....... I am heading for the west coast to pickup some bug candy they have at Pismo..... consider it pay back ....

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