Customer Reviews

Cross The Stars (Special Limited Edition)

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Drake captures the spirit of the Odessey and retells this classic myth in a delightful setting, every bit as strange and facinating to its readers as anything that Homer came up with.

The PBS character Wishbone, takes classic stories and applies them to modern life. Drake takes a classic myth and applies it to the future with wonderful results.

If you want to sneak one of the classics into your teen's reading, this is the book to do it :-)

_Cross the Stars_ by Davide Drake is an offshoot of his popular Hammer's Slammers series of stories. In _Cross the Stars_, we follow the adventures of an ex-Slammer as he attempts to return home to a remote planet.

Along the way, our hero meets with a fair number of obstacles, and this part of the book seemed really slow to me. However, once the main character gets home the story picks up and it is beautifully written. There is a scene where an old remote-controlled war machine is reactivated in the middle of a crowd, and only two people in the crowd understand why it was reactivated and all the implications and ramifications of that. It's been over four years since I last read _Cross the Stars_ (which is also why I unfortunately can't remember the main character's name), but I can still remember that scene clearly, as well as the final confrontation between our hero and villain in the assembly hall.



In an afterword to the novel, Drake said _Cross the Stars_ was a retelling of Homer's Odyssey. Each of the obstacles encountered on the path home had a parallel in the Odyssey. Just as Ulysses slipped into his own household in disguise so he could ascertain the true loyalties of his wife and find a way to defeat his enemies, the hero of _Cross the Stars_ comes back to his home planet in disguise so that he can find out the loyalties of a long-lost love and find a way to defeat the man who usurped his family's position.

David Drake is one of my favorite authors. I originally liked his storylines and characters most of all, but as I read more of his works, I started to truly love his ability to describe people, his gift for describing the emotional struggle in a conflict, and his historical knowledge. In the afterword of this book, Drake explains how his experiences in the Vietnam War and his studies in classical history and Latin have affected his writing style. Just that alone makes this book worth reading.

I agree with another reviewer who said this book is an excellent way to sneak the classics into your teenager's reading list. But be warned that Drake's battle scenes are well-written and sometimes very grisly because of that. The description of the aftershock of a plasma bolt reducing a dozen henchmen to life-size ash statues was a bit horrific, as was reading about the assembled parliamentarians walking through the piles of ash to leave the assembly hall.

(On a side note, I also found the middle of the Odyssey very slow reading, so once I read that _Cross the Stars_ was based on Ulysses' journey, my dissatisfaction made a lot more sense.)

All in all, a VERY good book.

I never thought I could like this type of military sci fi adventure. Being a fan of Star Trek and it's book series, never thought I would like this. What a surprise! Not only are the characters more real, the situations and action come at a mile a minute. If you like science fiction and action; read more Baen books by David Drake. He doesn't waste his time with over wrought descriptions. Like Harlan Ellison, he cuts to the chase and the action of the moment to make for entertaining reading.

david drake is a master at the specialized form of military science fiction. this is one of his must read books. It is the continuation of hammers slammers and is about one soldier in that army and the taking of his proper place on the family throne.

Cross the Stars (1984) is a SF novel in the Hammer's Slammers series. It takes place after Alois Hammer becomes President of Friesland. One of the officers in the unit resigns to return home. This novel tells the story of his adventures on the way.

In this novel, Donald Slade was an armor Captain within the unit. Don grew up on Tethys as the grandson of the retired ruler. He joined the Slammers to get away from his father and his twin brother. He still loved the woman who married his brother.

Marilee Slade is the widow of Tom, the twin of Don. She has a single son.

Edward Slade is the son of Marilee and the nephew of Don. Since his father was killed, Teddy is feeling entangled in his mother's apron strings.

Beverly Dyson is a peer of Tom and Don. Bev didn't get along very well with Don. He still has a scar on his head from a wrench wielded by Slade.

Danny Pritchard is a former officer in the Slammers and now the heir to the throne. He also retired from the unit, but stayed on Friesland with Hammer. He is married to Margritte.

Terzia is the human-like avatar of the planet Terzia. All lifeforms on the planet -- both flora and fauna -- are a single entity.

Risa is a young woman on Elysium. She is the daughter of Onander and Nan.

In this story, Danny comes to Alois with a request. Marilee has asked about the whereabouts of Don. Danny has tracked Don's travels and finds that he was last seen on Terzia.

Since then, Terzia has denied landing privileges to the tramps that usually stop there. Danny wants to have his wife use the Stadtler Field to query Terzia. Hammer gives his permission.

Margritte calls Terzia and talks to Terzia. Within the Stadtler Field, the avatar is an individual. She loves Don, but Margritte convinces her to let the man go home. She also gives the avatar several military reasons for his release from the pleasant prison.

Terzia gives Don an unused lifeboat to fly to Elysium, a nearby hidden world. The boat works well until hitting the atmosphere. Then one of the three thrusters fails and then the boat runs out of fuel. Then the parachute of the escape capsule is hit by the falling lifeboat.

Don is saved by four young women in aircars. They dive after his escape capsule and grab the streaming shroud lines. They lower the capsule to a safe landing.

Risa takes Don home with her. He meets her parents and is given some clothes to wear. Then he is taken to the dining hall to eat with the family and their neighbors.

After dinner, Don is invited to tell his adventures. While relating a cleaned up version of the events, the Elysian natives monitor his mind. The community has two opposing views on these incidents.

Meanwhile, Dyson is pressuring Marilee to marry him. He has already pushed a resolution through the council to declare Teddy as too young to vote his father's shares. Now he is trying to have himself declared as Teddy's guardian.

This tale is a future version of the Odyssey, with ships of space rather than the seas. Don voyages with a group of released mercenaries to various worlds and finds many dangers. Eventually, he is stranded on Terzia.

Later, Drake wrote a version of Jason and the Golden Fleece featuring Don's nephew. As with this volume, The Voyage has been greatly modified in the details while preserving the spirit of the ancient tale.

Recommended for Drake fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of alien cultures, hidden dangers, and practical soldiers. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

If you haven't yet discovered David Drake, this is an excellent book to do it. Mr. Drake's ability for creative problem solving is unique and inventive. How many times he leads his characters into difficult problems, only to present thoughtful and realistic solutions. Almost never does he rely on a deus ex machina, rather human solutions to often inhuman problems.

Once hooked, be prepared to venture further into the works of David Drake. Well worth the investment.