Customer Reviews

The Blackcollar

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

 

 

This and the Spinneret book are Zahn's best (he eventually lost me in the Cobra series & Coming of Age). This is action-packed and suspenseful. The Blackcollar, with their super-human reflexes were man's last hope against the alien invaders. This is the story of their guerrilla war against that enemy - and their human nemesis, Galway, who is attempting to prevent the Blackcollar from doing greater damage to mankind than has already been done by the aliens. Excellent.

If you enjoy science fiction mixed with martial arts, as well as a book with plenty of action, this book is for you. It's companion novel, "The Backlash Mission", is also a worthwhile read. After re-reading the novels for the -nth- time recently, I'm ready for the (long awaited) third novel in the series!

This was a good book. A fun book. UNfortunately, it doesn't quite live up to Zahn's potential. Everything else of his I've read has a lot of gray areas. Not this one. It's just Blackcollars good, alien conspirators bad. This was still a fun book, and I highly recommend it, it just didn't have that great sense of balance that his other books, like Cobra, or Angelmass have.

The Blackcollar marks the beginning of Timothy Zahn's career that would culminate in the creation of the best Star Wars trilogy on the market. As he is my favorite author, I couldn't miss out on this one.

Plot:

Allen Caine is a part of a rebellious faction that wants to unseat the Ryqril from the Terran Democratic Empire. He is sent to Plinry to uncover the location of 5 starships and recruit a select group of former warriors, the Blackcollars, to help him in his mission.

Good:

If you want action, this is definitely your book. Not ten pages into the book, Allen Caine must flee Earth because his cell has been compromised. From there, he goes to Plinry and is quickly involved in a Blackcollar plan to escape from the Plinry system. Escapes, attacks, reconnaissance, this book holds your attention (especially during the explosive spy revelation at the end!).

Timothy Zahn clearly spent a lot of time thinking about the blackcollars, their fighting style, and their culture. This effort is well-placed as the blackcollars are a convincing military unit.

Some of Zahn's characters, most notably Prefect Galway, are well-fleshed out and given unusual and unique perspectives. Also, Caine's reaction to his birth is very interesting.

Lastly, I was intrigued by Zahn's brief mention of the loyalty conditioning. I was amazed that the characters that possessed it remembered it and wished Zahn had spent more time on this concept.

Bad:

While a great action/adventure novel, this lacks Zahn's depth of character seen in later novels. Allen Caine, Damon Lathe, and others are 1- or 2-D. Further, there is some confusion as the novel starts out from Caine's perspective and quickly moves to Lathe's. This is not bad, but I was led to believe that Caine was the protagonist, not Lathe. As I continued to read, Caine moved to unimportance and Lathe returned to the forefront. When the view returns to Caine, the transition seems clunky and irrelevant.

Some of the situations that the blackcollars are able to pull themselves out of with minimal or no casualties is beyond belief--even with their chemical-induced youth and strength. Zahn also fails to detail exactly what makes the Ryqril bad. I get the impression that they kill others for not listening, but what exactly did they change about the government (besides that humans no longer govern themselves)? And the conclusion is decidedly lackluster--especially after the breakneck pace of the chapters prior.

Finally, and this is more the publishers fault that Zahn's, the back of my book insinuated that the whole book would detail Caine's attempt to find the blackcollars. In the actual book, he does this in about 50 pages. The rest details finding the spaceships.

Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:

Dialogue includes da**, he**, b****. A woman tries to seduce Lathe. Violence includes the use of martial arts, kicks to the head, the use of nunchaku, paralysis darts, and the like. Some mentioning of beheading, disarming, and the like (not for the squeamish).

Overall:

A good first start at the one who would launch the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Once you start, you won't be able to put it down. If you want science fiction action/adventure, this is your book. If you are looking for deep characters, go to Zahn's later novels.

The Blackcollars were a legendary outfit of warriors, spies and
saboteurs, with superhuman skills and abilities. Earth is under control
of aliens, but rebels still exist.

One of them, the protagonist in this book, wants to be free. To do
this, he pins his hope on finding a lost blackcollar unit to aid the
rebellion.

All, however, is not as it seems, and the truth about the blackcollars will shock him.

This book (and its sequel) exemplify Zahn's ability to connect disparate characters and settings into a cohesive whole; weaving a tapestry of danger and comeraderie into a fast paced thrill ride. The downsides are that the story begun in this book and continued in the sequel are not finished--there are at least two more books needed to cap this plot.