Customer Reviews

The Defenders

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

 

 

Although others seem bothered with the way this story was told, I feel that it follows with the rest of the series quite well. From what I can tell, the entire series is based around world war 2, and there are many good transitions in the series from history to story. I don't read Baldwin's books looking for any deep insight, I read them to be entertained. I thought that this book met that expectation quite well.

I HAVE READ THE OTHER BOOKS IN THE HELMSMAN SERIES AND FOUND THE DEFENDERS TO BE AS FINE A READ AS THE PRECEEDING BOOKS. THIS IS NOT "HARD" SCIENCE FICTION, BUT A GREAT EXAMPLE OF THE CLASSIC "SPACE OPERA". THIS BOOK IS FUN TO READ! THE ONLY SAD THING ABOUT THIS OR OTHER BALDWIN BOOKS IS THAT FOR WHAT EVER REASON YOU CAN ALMOST NEVER FIND THEM IN YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE. IF YOU ARE NEW TO SCIENCE FICTION OR JUST LIKE A GOOD STORY WITH GOOD PLOT GIVE THE DEFENDERS A TRY

#5 in a series of 7, reputedly going to be 8 any year now, the book is somewhat predictable but still very enjoyable. Modeled after the early portion of WWII,
the Evacuation of Dunkirk, The Battle of Britain, etc. All in all, enjoyable.

Go Bill
As always...he comes with the action and the ladies the helmsman.
Continuation of the previous series with similar results most of you Bill fans will know the plot without thinking too hard but hey it is a good yarn and worth a wander through.
Good yarn well worth reading and having a chuckle
Note this is the return of the lovely Cartier with the legs
Enjoy!!!!

I waited to start this series until I had the first 7 books. I thought I had something after reading the first one. Not so. Brim was a great character to start with but goes down hill after book 1 I guess Baldwin turns him into what Baldwin secretly wants too be, a Lothario who gets all the beautiful, big breasted women including wives plus the action becomes very predictable and unvaried. Brim flies, fights, takes a lot of damage, kills a lot of bad guys and a lot of his crews.
Very uneven, poor continuity, terrible morals. I will not be buying the new book coming out this year.

The fifth Helmsman book finds Wilf Brim as commander of the space port over the capital planet Avalon. As in the past book, Brim finds many adventures to get into with the help of his friends, the Emperor Onrad, and his enemies in the 'League'.

As part of the continuing series, I felt this one was the weakest. As a thinly plotted remake of "the Battle for Britan" the rescues and adventures are somewhat tired and predictable. As an author, Baldwin has succumbed to the hazards of writting a series. However, that does not mean that it fails to carry the plot to a conclusion that leaves room for the next book in the series.

This book is predicatable to anyone who has read the series. But it does carry the story of the Helmsman on to the next with Baldwin's usual mix of technical and piloting skills. Perhaps more interface with politics and the Emperor could have spiced the story line up a bit

Baldwin takes the battle of Britain and rehashes it in space with "Starfuries" replacing Spitfires. The empire replaces the British empire, etc. etc.
The thing that made me throw the book down in disgust was when "emperor" plagiarizes the famous Churchill speech. Enough Already!

And although I really liked the others in the series before this, I'll never buy another Bill Baldwin book again.