Customer Reviews

A Call to Arms: (#1) (The Damned)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked this book up off of a desk somewhere during a former job. It was late, I was bored and the cover looked interesting. The book was a bit slow to start, but interesting once the pace increased. I found myself disappointed when I reached the last page because the job's library didn't have books two or three.

What I liked:

The characters were engaging:
The Weave aliens behaved in an unexpected...but entirely understandable way to their new "Allies" the Humans. The "Bad Guys" in many ways mimic many of the loathesome qualities of many fictitious, and real life, antagonisitic forces all the while giving the overall impression of being beneficent.

The struggle was believable and understandable:
The "Bad Guys" seek to assimilate and redirect every species they encounter to the "Purpose". This is a common theme for a reason; humans are, by and large, fiercely individualistic. The Borg, the "Body Snatchers", Vampires, Zombies all have the underlying, if not primary, purpose of "Making you one of Them".

Humans were not portrayed as weak or inferior:
Though not superior in any given area, other than warfare and ferocity, humans were considered better than all of the allied and enemy races in that humans were exceptional, even the aged humans, in all of the desired areas (strength, reaction speed, endurance, eye sight, hearing etc). It was refreshing to not read about "Puny Humans".

What I did not like:

The Main Character:
Though this may seem like a fatal flaw, it really isn't. What I didn't like about the Main character were his seemingly endless crys that humanity wants peace...even when the evidence of our blood thirstiness is staring him in the face. Now, I am all for peace, don't get me wrong, but I accept a few basic things about my brothers and sisters; we only really do two things REALLY well, kill each other and make babies. Were I put in the position of the main character, faced with probable genocide because Humans just couldn't cope with the rest of the universe's outlook on civilized behavior, I am sure that I would cry that we COULD learn to be peaceful, too.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book, I have read it at least twice, and recommend it.

A very good book, one of my all time favorites. Although, I somewhat disagree with Fosters recurrent theme of humanity's violent tendencies (presented a bit simplistic or naive in a way) it didn't keep me from enjoying this book. It is a great start to the series, and by far the best of the trilogy.

There is also a little twist in the first contact theory. Humans carry some advantages that aren't often represented in most scifi stories. I also enjoyed the switching between POVs during the initial encounters, judgments that are made about each side.

I'll be honest. Some of the ideas in this book are silly, such as Earth being tectonically active alone among thousands of inhabited planets, like one reviewer already pointed out. Never mind how the aliens are completely ignorant of tectonics despite all of their other wonderful science.
The main reason I like the book is because it panders to biased view of humanity as princes among carbon-based lifeforms. I like the vision of humans being the strongest, fastest and most vicious species in the stars, and Foster did a good job of portraying the shock of the other races at this.
I see more and more flaws in the plot as the years go by, but I gave it four stars because it's kept me thinking about the subject for such a long time.

The Amplitur are a race of four-legged, tentacles-on-the-head telepaths that are out to get humanity and everything and everybody in the galaxy to serve the Purpose. They're locked in a centuries-long war with the Weave, a diverse coalition of free races who are opposed to being genetically re-engineered into leading Purpose-driven lives. Go figure.

Enter humanity. When the Weave's exploratory ships discover Earth, they're amazed at our violent tendencies and capabilities. You see, most of the Weave's races - and the Amplitur and the allies too, for that matter - are incapable of violence or just very bad at it. So lucky us - we can be their new foot soldiers.

Now, A Call To Arms isn't the first or the last to portray humans as having a small talent for war, but I think it has a fresh quality to it. The story is well-paced; it's a natural page-turner. There's little pseudo-scientific jargon. The author makes no attempt to introduce esoteric weapons or describe battle after battle. In fact, there's very little combat "stuff" until near the very end of the book.

So it's difficult to categorize the book. It isn't one of those military science fiction novels like Weber's Insurrection where you're dealing with extensive battle descriptions. It's far-better written than Ringo's A Hymn Before Battle which is another military-focused intergalactic war novel. It's little like the Kzin stories or Saberhagen's Berserker fiction. Hmmm...

How to determine if you'll like it? I don't know. I do think if you're seeking a novel containing plenty of combat with unique weapons lovingly described in detail, along with a battle every thirty pages or so, this is not it. It is, however, a story very clearly told, about how humanity's strength and competitive edge is also its weakness and burden.

I enjoyed reading it, particularly if you're seeking some conflict-driven story without wanting to go to some starship soldier boot training indoctrination. I'm trying to say that young adults and up can get into this without feeling they have to keep their laser pistols handy.

This was the first of Foster's books that I have read. I enjoyed it very much. Foster does a great job of illustrating the hypocrisy of modern man through the eyes of aliens. I was really surprised to see the change that Will undergoes after Caldaq leaves Earth, this was certainly an interesting twist. One word of caution I would offer to those that are thinking of reading this book is that it does not really end. It just sort of stops. It is part of a three part series and it seems that in order to find any resolution, the whole series is required reading. However, I found the book entertaining enough to warrant the reading of the next book, and would have no problem recommending it to any science fiction fan.

I must have read this book six times and I never tire of it, Alan dean Foster's best book by far and I still haven't read a book by him that I did not like. His way of showing humanity from alien point of view is great and the design of the culters of these aliens and mental make-up is wonderfull.

I'm truly surprised someone hasn't made a movie on this story. It's got everything an epic adventure needs.
It was a page turner from beginning to end. Suffice it to say that by the end of the novel, neither the Weave, the Amplitur, nor the Earth, will ever be quite the same again.
I'm off to pick up the second volume to see what happens next.

I must say I loved the heavies, the Amplitur. Surrender to them is a fate worse than death as you'll find out in the novel. I think they were definately used as a model for future villain races in Star Trek and Bab5.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story the plot, the varied and interesting characters were well done, I think I enjoyed reading the Alien view on what humans truely were, to all the pacifists out there, my apologies, but I tend to agree that humans are bloodthirsty and violent as individuals and as a group, our history proves that. The Alien point of view is enlightening maybe we should embrace our violent nature, and stop being in denial, but then again who would want to live in a utopia type setting, sounds boring!!!

The idea that Earth's humanity is an inferior life form (physically and/or mentally) to other intelligent or aggressive types pervades science fiction and fantasy, yet there is no reason to presume that this would be the case. It is equally possible that humanity would be superior in many ways to other forms and this attitude has seldom been explored. Foster explores it in this book. Although exactly what is "superior" and what is "inferior" in moral terms is left open to question, the author leaves no doubt that humans are definitely unique to all other known forms in making war successfully. In addition, they appear to be stronger, more versatile and faster than the other intelligent types that are present. It's an interesting idea that should have come to maturity many years ago and finally has

I am not typically a science fiction fan, but this series of books was suggested to me by my lifelong friend. After reading the entire series I have to say that in a addition to just being a good, fun read, it was refreshing.

In this book there is the stereotypical conquering race, in this case a race of psychics who can bend others to their will, who want to conquer the universe. The lone force that stands in opposition to them is called the weave. The weave is your stereotypical multi-species federation that has banded together for numbers. All-in-all the basic outline presents a pretty cliché setting.

The real difference between this series and other sci-fi stories is that unlike other stories where humans are typically outmatched in every way and only manage to hold onto their lives by sheer, dumb luck. In the series, The Damned, with the exception of obvious space faring technology, the human race meets or exceeds the abilities of the alien races in every way.

In this series, humans are the weapons that turn the tide of battle. They are stronger, faster, more durable and completely resistant to mental control. Furthermore, human physiology is apparently very simple to repair to the sort of damage the alien weapons cause.

This complete reversal of the "puny human" phenomenon that is so common in this genre provides for an endless supply of unexpected humor. There is one scene in the final book in fact, where an alien is being chased by a human. This race is typically considered one of the fastest in the universe, but is unable to shake the human. At one point it looks back and sees the human "bearing its teeth" and is so terrified by the presence of the human that it loses control of its bowels. It takes a moment in its terror to try and understand the cultural significance of the human bearing its teeth and then it remembers the human is smiling. It realizes this death machine is toying with it and it almost dies of fear.

I highly suggest this series for someone who likes action filled sci-fi and wants to see humans finally get a little bit of retribution on those alien jerks. Also, keep in mind, this is the guy who wrote Stargate.