Cobra Strike [Paperback]

Timothy Zahn (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Baen; First Printing edition (February 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671655515
• ISBN-13: 978-0671655518
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,250,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Timothy Zahn is the Hugo Award-winning author of more than a dozen original science fiction novels and the bestselling Star Wars trilogy Heir to the Empire, among other works. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Second in the "Cobra" military SF series, December 23, 2011

By 

Marshall Lord (Whitehaven, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cobra Strike (Paperback)

This 1986 military science fiction novel was the second book in the saga of the cybernetically and biomechanically-enhanced "Cobra" soldiers, and therefore the middle volume in the first of two trilogies written a quarter of a century apart.

The first trilogy consists of:

1) Cobra, published 1985, story begins in 2403
2) This book "Cobra Strike" published 1986, set a generation later
3) Cobra Bargain, published 1988, set in 2474.

Much more recently Zahn has revisited these stories to produce a second set of three books known as the "Cobra War" trilogy, which is set another generation later (the heroine of "Cobra Bargain" is the mother of one of the main characters in the Cobra War books). This consists of

4) Cobra War Book 1: Cobra Alliance
5) Cobra War Book 2: Cobra Guardian
6) Cobra War Book 3: Cobra Gamble (Due for publication in 2012).

"Cobra" and "Cobra Strike" were also published together in one volume as "Cobras Two" and the first three books are also available in one volume as the Cobra Trilogy.

As the first book in the series begins, some four hundred years in the future and many light years away on the frontier of human space, a group of human colony worlds are under attack from an aggressive alien race known as the Troft. The first planet they attacked was over-run in only three weeks. In a desperate attempt to stop the invaders, the Dominion of Man creates the enhanced "Cobra" guerillas: the name stands for COmputerised Body Reflex Armament.

The Cobras are indistinguishable from a normal human from the outside, but with a whole host of computer-controlled weaponry and enhancements built into their bodies and their very bones. These soldiers are deadly in combat but the process of turning a normal human into a Cobra is irreversible - which means that those who survive the war will have all manner of problems returning to civilian life afterwards. The novels examine some of the personal and social consequences of turning people into supermen - have they given up their own humanity to save humankind?

"Cobra Strike" begins a few years after the conclusion of "Cobra" and continues the story both of the world of Aventine, now cut off from the rest of human space, and of the next generation of the Moreau family. The first book told the story of Jonny Moreau who was one of the first generation of Cobra solders: the main character of this one is his son Justin, who follows him into the Cobras, and one of the supporting characters is his older son Corwin, who follows him as one of Aventine's leading politicians.

At the start of the book, an astonishing request comes from the alien Troft, who the Cobras were originally brought into existence to fight. They ask the Cobras to assist them in dealing with a world called Quasama which they say may be a threat to Troft and humans alike - and they offer Aventine five more worlds if the Cobras can deal with that threat.

It seems too good to be true: but are the Troft making a sincere offer, or playing a dastardly trick ?

This book and the other two novels in the original "Cobra" trilogy are reasonably well-written, entertaining, and exciting. Having been published in the eighties during the early days of Timothy Zahn's writing career, I don't personally feel that they are in the same league as the best of the brilliant novels which he has produced over the following decades.

If you read the first three Cobra novels expecting anything like "Warhorse," "Deadman Switch, "The Icarus Hunt" or any of the "Grand Admiral Thrawn" books set in the "Star Wars" universe, you may be disappointed.

Nevertheless if you are into Military SF it is extremely likely that you will enjoy these books, and you will also find that some of the ideas in them appear to have inspired a number of more recent books by other popular SF writers.

3.0 out of 5 stars Back Cover Description, September 10, 2006

By 

HCL (South Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cobra Strike (Paperback)

If anyone had told Jonny Moreau the Cobras would one day take roders from the alien Troft, he would have laughed without humor. He'd lost too many friends during th Troft war, though the Cobras triumphed in the end. Now, though, the Troft were trading partners... Jonny Moreau's son Justin would carry the Moreau name to danger...

0 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book!, July 2, 2000

By 

John Hanson (Pueblo, co USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cobra Strike (Paperback)

This is a great book that I enjoyed immensely