Customer Reviews

The Dark Wing

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am not a fan of military SF, but I enjoyed "The Dark Wing." The space battles have a good balance between "bullet by bullet" action and glossing over the details in a paragraph.

The characters are well imagined; the humans are, for the most part, honorable and duty-bound, but there are shades of color in their personalities, and many of the on-ship details and persional add depth to the characterization.

The zor are believable and intriguing; I especially liked what was revealed of their religion and mysticism. Their psychology is human enough that the reader can understand it, but does have an alien touch that makes their mindset inhuman.

The plot flows along smoothly, despite neccessary shifts of location, and the plot and subplots reveal themselves nicely.

I am looking forward to further volumes of the series.

These 4 books - The Dark Wing, The Dark Path, The Dark Ascent, and The Dark Crusade - exhibit many of the standard space opera devices. There are the winged and in many ways admirable aliens, the remorseless insectoid alien adversaries, the hidden powers attempting to manipulate human fates, and the sprawling and somewhat corrupt space empire. There is also more than a touch of mysticism with events mirroring myths of the winged alien species. Nor can it be said that Hunt has done anything particularly novel with these devices.
Nonetheless, Hunt is a more than competent practictioner and these books are a decent read. Hunt does quite well with reasonably tight plotting and characterization. His integration of the mythic elements is better than average. These books are better, for example, than David Weber's very popular books.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The story is well written, with well-developed characters. The plot woven with so many threads of personal and political agendas, I couldn't put it down. The Zor are painted as such a unique and completely different race, I am very fascinated by them, and want to know more. After reading this book I find myself thinking about the characters (especially Stone) and wondering when the next book will be forthcoming. Walter H. Hunt needs to look no further for a day job. This -- his first book -- shows he is an excellent author and storyteller, and should continue to write. I will definitely be watching for the release of the next, in what I hope will be many volumes. Long live the Solar Empire!

This is a real treat for hard SF fans: an excellent, well imagined space opera that isn't afraid to tackle big issues like total war, how far to push self-defense before it turns into a massacre, whether genocide can ever be justified, and necessity for knowing one's enemy. It's also refreshing to read military SF that doesn't spend page after page after page explaining the hardware/political system at the expense of the characters and the story.

A very, very good beginning, with plenty of hints about sequels. If the rest are even half this good, we're looking at the start of a major career.

The first chapter of the book will hook you up! You will want to read the rest more enthusiastically to find out what is going to happen once the war with the Zor has re-started. Since I only have time to read 3-to-4 books per month, I usually read well established authors and usually best sellers. Dark Wing is the first not-a-classic-yet book that I have read in a long time and I am not disappointed. I will not be surprised if this book becomes a classic in its genre. I could not put it down during the last 150 pages. You wanted to know what is going on with the energy bursts, etc., and all the political intrigue and spionage, etc. The author managed to write an entertaining story while exploring deeper issues regarding human nature... genocide, etc,. The author managed to write and intellectually appealing science fiction story that could be used in an ethics course. I have given 4 stars to books that are considered classics and best sellers already, but I believe that Dark Wing deserves 5 stars. If I could not put it down, what else can I give it? However, if you are looking for shallow starship dog fights and duels, this is not a book for you. Since my budget is limited, I have to wait for the softcover of the Dark Path. As soon as the softcover is out I'll buy it without thinking about it twice.

For decades, humanity has been at war with the Zor. Despite losing every major campaign, the Zor violate every truce, attacking and attempting to eliminate the entire human race. In desperation, the Emperor calls on a retired Admiral, Marais, to take command of the human forces. Marais, having studied the Zor, believes that the only solution is to take the path of the destroyer from Zor mythology--the Dark Wing--and to eliminate the Zor forever. When he embarks on his counter-attack, his subordinate commanders, and humanity back on Earth, must face the ultimate decisions. Although Marais seems completely in charge, someone, or something, is pursuing a different agenda. The mysterious Agency back on Earth has its fingers in many pots. Worse, the Zor believe that another enemy, another race, threatens both human and Zor.

Combining the philosophical questions of Xenocide and solid space action, THE DARK WING can be seen as a sort of combination of ENDER'S GAME and HONOR HARRINGTON. Author Walter H. Hunt has written a novel that is both exciting and thought provoking. Marais is an interesting character confronted with the moral decisions of whether to commit Xenocide and how to protect his soldiers from the reaction back on Earth. Hunt skillfully uses secondary acters as point-of-view characters to maintain a high level of suspense.

Although the Zor problem is dealt with, humanity's place in the universe is not assured. I hope to see a sequel to this fine novel to see what happens next. Note: ignore the truly awful cover. This 1950's retro artwork is not representative of the well thought-out story.

By the twenty-fourth century, Earth has met other species and are forming colonies. However, one alien race, the Zor, feel the earthlings are an inferior breed and for over half a century, battles between the Zor and the earth colonies have occurred usually resulting in the Homo sapiens tasting defeat.

In 2311, the Zor decide to exterminate the vermin forcing the earth leadership to not only take notice, but to counteract. Desperate, Emperor Alexander appoints Marais, a self-proclaimed expert on the Zor, to take command of the Space Navy, normally run by wealthy aristocrats. Marais believes that peaceful coexistence cannot happen because the Zor will fight to the end. His plan is to take the war to the Zor and exterminate them. When Commodore Sergei Torrijos and his crew begin to win battles for the first time, the earth-bound politicians accuse Marais of genocide. Still even with their first victories, the future looks bleak for both races if they fail to find a common ground of peace.

THE DARK WING is an exciting interstellar military science fiction thriller that remains at hyper speed throughout the novel. The story line is fast-paced and the earth and its colonies seem authentic due to the varying reactions of individuals to the crisis. Though the Zor are not developed enough or shrouded in mystery to accept them as a challenge to humanity, readers will relish this strong futuristic entry and want debut author Walter H. Hunt to provide more tales set in this intriguing environment.

Harriet Klausner

I have just finished reading THE DARK WING, and am of very mixed feelings about this book. This is indeed a page-turner, a book you don't want to put down, in order to find the answers to the variety of puzzles that crop up over the course of the story. Unfortunately, there are precious few surprises along the way, and many of the resolutions are telegraphed well in advance. The main problem, however, is this: Some parts are beaten to death by the author--we are told, and told, and told again what is happening or what will happen, and then it does. On other occasions, the story simply skips ahead days or weeks into the future, and we get only the most brief explanation of what has happened. An example would be the fate of Admiral Marais. We are told what his likely fate will be, then told about it again, and then again, so that when his fate actually plays out, it can only be met with a yawn. This book also tries to be too many things at once, and can never quite decide what it wants to be. A space-battle shoot 'em up? Not much after about the first hundred pages. A conspiracy tale? In some places, but only rarely, with little development. A sociological look at an alien society? For about the middle third of the book, maybe, but then that goes out the window, too. A trial drama? For a few pages, with no surprises at all, really--and including yet more rehash of what we've already been told over and over. In sum, this is a book with numerous enjoyable moments, that simply does not hang together well as a whole. Coupled with the mostly shallow characters, the book on balance disappoints. Here's hoping THE DARK PATH, which looks to be a bit shorter, will also be more focused and developed.

First-time novelist Walter H. Hunt is surely a writer to watch, writing credible space opera that harkens to some of the finest I have seen from the likes of Gordon Dickson and Jerry Pournelle, to name but a few. Although Hunt isn't nearly as gifted a stylist as both venerable science fiction authors, he does a magnificient job in reviving time-worn space opera in his literary debut "The Dark Wing". This is a spellbinding tale of a scholar and military officer, Admiral Lord Marais, who becomes mankind's savior in the latest war against the zor, an ancient race of bird-like aliens. Marais seems to be the only one capable of understanding zor psychology and religion, which he uses effectively against the zor in a brilliant campaign after a zor sneak attack on the Solar Empire's key outpost of Pergamum. I liked Hunt's depiction of the zor and the internal conflict within their government as they realize that Marais thinks of himself as their destroyer, "The Dark Wing". Hunt does a fine job in creating several intriguing characters along with Marais, most notably the senior naval officers Torrijos, Hudson and Bell. With this novel, Hunt has established himself as a superb writer of military science fiction, with sufficient political and religious intrigue that is similar in scope to J. Michael Straczynski's "Babylon 5" television series. Anyone expecting to read a thin rehash of routine "Star Trek" fiction will be disappointed. But others, including myself, should look forward to Hunt's future efforts in military science fiction and space opera.

Many of us cynically oversimplify our existence into the basic pragmatics related to earning a living and building a family. The empowerment of larger-than-life perspectives we shrug off as "mystical mubo-jumbo" and "hand-waving". Here in the context of a desperate struggle for human existence our soul-scorched efforts for survival meet the trophy of galatic peace in the context of alien religion. The nobility of the humans to embrace this spiritual dimension ultimately wins the war for humanity and saves the lives of the brave men and women who sacrificed their careers for a people who did not deserve them. READ IT!