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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not as good as it seems, October 11, 2000
This review is from: First to Fight (Starfist, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
I was disappointed with this book, contrary to the majority of reviewers, it seems. It's not that the basic premise was bad, although it's certainly been done several times before. It's not that the combat scenes aren't exciting -- clearly the authors have some personal knowledge of the subject -- but the technology is really quite simplistic: personal direct fire weapons, squad "automatic" weapons, APCs, radio-equivalents, etc. I think a civilization that has interstellar travel would be far more advanced than this, and a good author with an eye towards future technologies could make things far more believable and interesting. This led some reviewers to point out that the basic story tracked the situation in Somalia in the early '90s when a Recon unit was pinned down in Mogadishu. Well, it's not, folks: real battles aren't settled by single combat, and modern war is not nearly as clean-cut and heroic as it's portrayed here. If you want to know about Somalia, read Black Hawk Down. If you want good combat sci-fi that doesn't read like a "veteran's romance novel," where Marines are good and tough and the enemies are easy to identify, culturally backward and somewhat stupid, look elsewhere.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Jarheads Never Change, June 4, 2005
This review is from: First to Fight (Starfist, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
As military science fiction goes, this one is very readable. It is not crafted as tightly as some others, Weber's Honorverse comes to mind, but it is a good read that will provide several hours of enjoyable entertainment.
The story concerns a group of marines. These are not US Marines but are their ideological descendants. In the first part of the book, we a treated to the life of a recruit from his initial enlistment through boot camp. He is then assigned to an infantry unit which gets deployed to a backwater planet on a peacekeeping mission. Through the medium of best wishes, the high brass decide that a peacekeeping mission does not rate a full complement of combat equipment so the unit is somewhat at a disadvantage when it hits the fan. Under the tutelage of the more experienced men around him, the young marine gets his first taste of combat.
This is what Melville called a "potboiler". It may not stick in long term memory as a great work of literature but it was well worth the effort. I look forward to reading the next installment in the series to see what happens.
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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Military sci-fi at its finest!, March 31, 2000
This review is from: First to Fight (Starfist, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
First off, I'd just like to say that, as a former military manmyself (Navy, not Marines), this book sticks pretty durn close to whatactually goes on (with the exception of the plasma weapons and chamelion suits, that is....) in the military. The comraderie, which the reader is immediately drawn into, the joking and prank-pulling, the immediate shift to serious professionalism when the situation calls for it, yup, Dave Sherman and Dan Cragg have definitely "been there, done that!" The storyline itself is amazingly addicting. I admit I was a bit leery when buying the first book, but was hooked after the prologue. The characters are complex, but not too much so, and you really begin to find yourself sympathyzing with them as the plot unfolds. You get this intense hatred for "military intelligence" from the start, and that doesn't let up through the three books I've read so far! The authors do a superb job of explaining the relevant parts of history and technological breakthrus leading up to the present situations, cleverly disguised as mission briefs instead of a few paragraphs taken out of the general flow of the tale in order for the author to explain. I liked that. Maintains continuity. On a down-note, there are a few places where the action seems to jump, such as a patrol heading into a combat situation, then the scene changes, and when we get back to the patrol, they're cleaning their guns and checking for survivors. In most cases, this felt like a cheezy crop-job by the editors in an effort to cut out "needless and redundant violence"...which is one of the better parts of the story! This doesn't happen often, though, so I decided not to lop off the fifth star in the rating. Overall, an excellent series, well-worth the money and shipping time! The universe in this series is huge and complex, so I can't forsee an end to the series....thankfully! I eagerly await the next installment. END
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