Customer Reviews

Allies and Aliens

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Interesting aliens, realistic space combat, interesting characters. You must remember that the book is two within one, so the second starts slightly overlapping the first book. Its the plot itself that seems to come from a 50's space opera. Wars HAVE been fought because of revenge and greed, but still it feels like a simple battle of good vs evil. A group of evil racist imperialistic humans with superweapons vs a group of good honorable freedom loving humans with old time naval traditions.

First, a technical note for those who may not have noticed on their own: This book was written by Roger MacBride Allen, not Thomas B Allen as Amazon lists it. Further, this is actually a republishing in one volume of Allen's first two novels, "The Torch of Honor" and "Rogue Powers".

That fact that these are first books for this author goes a long way towards explaining why they did not ruin what turned out to be a long and prolific career. The basic plot line revolves around a mysterious and relentlessly bitter splinter colony of humans that returns to attack the federation of planets they left behind. In the right hands any plot can be made to work, but that doesn't happen in these two books. Instead we get caricatured villains who might as well be wearing swastikas and a hero who is described as square jawed recruiting poster material, combined with prose that makes the whole adventure seem more like an eighth grade book report than a published book.

There are numerous logical fallacies as well, some of them quite distracting. First, and typical of science fiction from the sixties, is the almost complete absence of computing as we know it. This isn't really a fair criticism, I know, but in better written sci-fi from this era I am usually able to ignore it. In this case I wasn't. There's also the incredibly inept planning of various generals and fighters; is there really any reason to suspect that a few thousand troops would be able to fight an entire invasion? Is there any reason why a flotilla of ships couldn't simply move out of the way of incoming asteroids, or detect them on radar as they came in? A dozen small nitpicks like this add up to a book that is constantly interrupted by thinking "I can't believe he expects me to believe that!"

I picked this book up because I'm a fan of schlocky old science fiction, but even on that front it disappoints. I recommend avoiding it if entirely.

The first part of the book deals with the reconquering of a Finnish colony by the League of planets. The invaders have achieved complete surprise and will be hard to boot out. Fortunately there are always unsung heroes to take care of those situations :) This story makes a parallel about the obsolescence of battleships at the end of WW2. As you can see on the cover of the book, the aircraft carrier is going down.
The second part is about First Contact with a very different species that ours. Those aliens are dragged in the war between the two other factions and humans might be on the brink of extinction. I thought this story a little better written that the first one. As with any good story, it made me imagine a lot of things. The characters are not that fleshed out but you get the point.

The story is complex, intense, and exhilerating. There is plenty of action, romance, mystery, suspense and excitement. You won't be able to put it down and will have to read it twice just to satisfy your craving.

This book was a great read. I couldn't put it down. There is plenty of action, and it is gripping. His writing makes you want to skip ahead to find out what happens. The aliens are really alien for a change, instead of just being intelligent earth animals, like in most Sci-Fi. The aliens also have different subcultures, which is also missing from most sci-fi. Mr. Allen shows great imagination and writing skill with this one and I look forward to all his books.

Allen, in his prefatory notes explains that this is compilation of two previous works. He is also careful to point out that he has polished the earlier works with acquired skills as a writer. Had I had the misfortune to encounter those earlier works, I can guarantee I would have avoided this book. The plot is interesting, but the characters are flat and contrived, plot devices appears as afterthoughts and undeveloped inventions, and the style is plodding. Still, one hopes this author matures in his talent. Occaisionally the flash of style is there, yet fades too quickly.