Customer Reviews

Galactic Corps: Book Two of the Inheritance Trilogy

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This series is, by the way, the second-best thing to come out of Ancient Astronauts (the first being the Stargate series).

Galactic Corps is the second novel of the Inheritance trilogy, featuring the continued struggle of humanity, spearheaded by the Marine Corps, against the Xul, incredibly ancient aliens that slaughter any emerging sentients to avoid competition. This trilogy follows the exploits of the First Marine Interstellar Expeditionary Force (1MIEF) as it takes the fight to the Xul in a desperate attempt to keep them from attacking human worlds. This installment sees the 1MIEF and its allies (the mathematical octopi Eulers, primarily) fighting the Xul and hatching a daring plan to hit the Xul in the very center of their strength.

The fights are very vividly portrayed, and are quite enjoyable. Also enjoyable is the author's use of known astronomical phenomena into the plot, such as why the suspected supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy still can't be detected. The author includes a brief timeline at the start of this novel, to help the reader.

Some areas were problematic, though. Once again, we have more political maneuvering that seems set to destroy the Corps. This gets old after a while, and really should be left out for the next book. Also, the Xul are portrayed as a bit more hapless than you'd think they'd be. Granted, the portrayal has stayed roughly the same for the last three novels, and the humans really need to have a fighting chance...but you'd think a thousand mile-long warships would be more than able to deal with a human task force before it could run.

All in all, though, a quite enjoyable read for any mil-SF fan. If you haven't read the previous seven novels, you'll want to read those first.

I've read all the books up to and including this latest. While I like the alien encounters and technology advancements they take too much of a backseat to a few things that take up nearly every book.

1) Training of Marines. I don't want to hear about it and read it for the 8th time.

2) Fighting on the ground - Boring and the same in every book. The fighting decisions from the ships are more interesting.

3) XUL - Why just focus on them. We've met other races ... took their technology and now we don't include them? Boring. And the XUL are just too easy considering their technology.

These could be all great books but he puts too much repetitive filler in each one of them.

The second in the Ian Douglas's Inheritance trilogy is well written and quite enjoyable. As in his previous novels he continues to write very detailed battles while introducing advances in miltary technology that he weaves throughout the story. He gives very detailed descriptions of astronomical phenomana relevant to the plot though at times it seemed to slow the the pace of the book. He introduces a new view of the Xul which seems like a nice segway into the next book. The development of the main characters has given more depth to the series and helps to propel the story. Overall, a solid piece of military sc-fi.

At this point I'm deep into this book after having completed all its predecessors. I'm beginning to get space-combat fatigue. Here's why:

1) Character development. There ain't a whole lot of it. Some 800 years into the extended story (going back the first book set on Mars), all of the characters are virtual clones of their ancestors. Nothing changes, not their feelings, not their expressions, not their relationships. Yeah, we get that the Marines are dedicated. But would it be too much to ask to have some conflict between the various Marines? And, for once, would it be too much to ask for human villains who aren't French/Quebecoise/Chinese/Muslim? I thinks the author's prejudices are a little too obvious here.

2) It's getting harder and harder to believe that the Xul haven't just wiped out the humans once and for all. The "the Xul are conservative" argument is wearing a bit thin.

3) Conversely, it's 800 years on and we haven't yet engineered a computer virus to take down the whole Xul empire? Doesn't the author know any Bulgarian programmers?

4) I realize that in a series, the author needs to address the needs of those readers who have not read the previous series. However, the author demonstrates a total lack of finesse in doing so. There's way too much cut-and-paste here from previous books and even from previous chapters. This might be the single most annoying characteristic of this series. The best science fiction respects the reader's memory and intellect and doesn't beat the reader over the head with the same declarative explanations.

My bottom line? I'm losing interest. If nothing different happens by the end of this novel, I seriously doubt I'll be reading the next one.

Not sure if I'll buy the next book in the series - they seem to become repetitive as a band of plucky marines continues to save the day against all kinds of nasty things...again.

I've bought and read all eight of the very well-written books from this series. As a physicist and sci-fi fan, I give it two very big thumbs up. As a former Marine (never ex-Marine), I love the characters.

BUT, as a Christian, I take exception to the condescending and twisted view that the author has of faith. It is not that he simply slides in an unintended reference to his own atheistic (or naturalistic?) viewpoint; he goes to great lengths to first create his own alternative story of creation, and then use his fictional history to prove the idiocy of those who believe in a Christian God. He does also explore the beliefs of wickens and other pagan belief systems, but those, he seems to feel, are reasonable in that they make the character feel good about their world.

I don't expect science fiction to support or encourage belief. This author, though, consciously ridicules belief and presents a corrupt and twisted church. As a scientist, I am often amazed at how many "intellectuals" assume that science disproves Christianity, or even that to pursue science requires one to first deny the existence of God. Yet I know so many physicists, biologists, and engineers who are among the most brilliant men and women I know who are convinced our faith and scientific pursuits are totally complimentary.

Why then, do I still give the book four stars? Because it is a very well-written space opera.

Mr. Douglas has earned his rent with the writing of this installment in his "Marines - In Space!!!!!" series.

Unfortunately, that's about the most you can say about this book. The heroes are heroic, the enemy is the enemy, and the technologies are technological. Also, the politicians back on Earth are typically venal and have once again lost faith in the Marines.

/Yawnnnnnnnnn.....

If it weren't for the splendid descriptions of the new astrological discoveries then you'd be unable to tell this book from the ones which preceded it nor the one that comes after it.

If however, you're looking for a bit of mindless "popcorn" to absorb the time it takes to read - like when you're stuck in an airport terminal waiting for a flight - then you could do a lot worse.

For pure escapism within the military Sci-fi genre the three trilogies by Ian Douglass are at the top of a very short list. Why I say short is because other authors fail to bring real physics (as we know them today) and weave them into the story line. Excellent work may he write many more!

Lance

Received via Whispernet for my Kindle, this book is well above average in an overall sense. Story line is excellent and the continuity is very good. An excellent sci-fi read, especially since it is part of a series and if you are into space sci-fi like I am you will enjoy this book and the series

The first book was more or less okay so I decided to get the next book in the series.

unforunately, it read like a second draft. There is way way wayyyy too much backstory in this book about the great Marine Corps. Seriously, we are a thousand years into the future and it felt like 20% of the darn book was an ode to the 20th century Marine corps. So much so, that I started just flipping through all of that back story which he brings up about every 15 or so pages like clockwork.

This book should have been better. He had all the ingredients for a decent Space Opera: Super powerful galactic aliens, out numbered Earth space force, political intrigue, decent characters...

But somehow, the soup didn't mix together right. Too much backstory in the broth. Also, there seems to be a lack of focus and the story meanders in places.

Overall, I just can't help but think that the story should have been better than it was. Again, all the ingredients are there, begging to be used together to produce a great story, but it just feels like the author undercooked this a bit. I think the editor rushed this one through and that it should have had another revision.

Remove about 80% of the Marine Corp back story (didn't you cover that in the first book), focus more on the main characters (perhaps pick a main character to focus on), and keep the reader more in the here and now and I think this would have been much better.

Anyways, I did like the story and I managed to finish the book. I'd recommend book 1 but I can't recommend book 2 as I think it needed another revision.