Customer Reviews

Insurrection

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4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Insurrection (1990) is the first published novel in the Starfire series. However, it is the last in internal chronological sequence and should be read after The Shiva Option. It begins several generations after the Fourth Interstellar War against the Bugs.

The Legislative Assembly of the Terran Federation has long been dominated by the Corporate Worlds at the expense of the Fringe Worlds. Now the Corporate Worlds have devised a plan to reapportion the Assembly by merging with the Orion Khanate, thereby reducing the Fringe World power base. They are frustrated at the last moment by bad publicity generated when Oskar Dieter, a Corporate World leader, personally insults Fionna MacTaggart, leader of the Fringe Worlders. However, the leader of the Corporate World delegation, Simon Taliaferro, plots to assassinate Fionna in order to throw the Fringe Worlders into a fury so that they will resign from the Assembly. His plot works as planned, but the consequences are more that he reckoned with.

Terran Federation Navy Task Force 17 moves against Beaufort, Fionna's home planet, as a show of force, but it moves too slowly and the insurrection has started before it arrives. Admiral Forsythe is advised to go slowly and negotiate with the rebels, but refuses and plans on firing on opposed ships if necessary. This triggers a mutiny, with the Fringe Worlders taking or destroying all TF17 ships. As the word is spread, other ships mutiny and flee to the Fringe Worlds. Tenth Cruiser Squadron is too far within the Federation to flee, so takes the desperate gamble of raiding Galloway's World to destroy the largest Federation shipyards. Overall, the Federation loses approximately half of Battle Fleet, about 80 percent of the Frontier Fleet, and most of their shipbuilding capability for at least 6 months. This bad news forces the fall of the current government and brings Oskar Dieter to power as prime minister.

Dieter has been greatly changed by these events and feels much guilt over the assignation of Fionna. He takes the position of prime minister only to alleviate the damage done by the extremists. He continues to rearm while undermining the political power of the Corporate Worlds. He establishes clandestine communications with the rebels to keep them informed of the political situation.

Admiral Ian Trevayne is cut off from the Inner Worlds by the mutineers and forced to flee through Khanate territory to the Zephrain system. With the resources of the Gehenna R&D base on Zephrain A-III, Trevayne has new ships and weapons built for his fleet. An initial attempt by the rebels to take Zephrain is repulsed. Trevayne gains a very tentative channel with the Inner Worlds through the Khanate, but cannot send the new weapons data through that conduit.

The Federation consists of the Rump -- the Inner Worlds -- and the Rim under Governor-general Trevayne. The Federation has lost all the choke points between themselves and the Rump; only Admiral Trevayne's forces have been victorious over the rebels. Dieter is beginning to use the term Terran Republic, the rebels own name for themselves, in cabinet sessions. The situation is bleak.

This story is based on the political and economic situation between the British Empire and its American colonies prior to the Revolution. As with that situation, the Fringe Worlds are being economically exploited by the Federation mercantile class with the assistance of the Legislative Assembly. While Simon Taliaferro is not a king, he is just as mad as King George and just as dangerous to his own long-term interests. The ensuing military actions in this story are naval rather than military, but otherwise the results are much the same. Since the Khanate basically remains neutral, this story is greatly simplified compared to the Revolution by the lack of other major powers.

Of course, this plot has been used many times before -- i.e., the colonies breaking off from the mother world -- but a cliche is not necessarily a falsehood nor need it be trivial. For those that can't relate to the American Revolution, how many wars did England fight against France to establish its own sovereignty? After all, England was a colony of France after William the Conqueror, at least from the French monarch's point of view.

Von Clausewitz's On War is quoted several times in this book. The story reminds me of another axiom: "War is an extension of politics by other means". Politicians should be careful what they ask for; they may get it -- and choke on it.

Recommended for all Weber and White fans and anyone else interested in realpolitik, and warfare, as practiced in the far future.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I have read all of Weber's sci-fi works, and thoroughly enjoyed each. The writing in Insurrection is very good. The tempo of events keeps one on the edge of your seat waiting, or dreading, what comes next. The characters are normal people caught up in the most exciting and terrible events of their lives, and trying to do the best they can according to their sense of honor. The reader doesn't have the "god view" big picture knowledge of events, merely the same one the characters have similarly to Harold Coyle's military fiction books. The battles are believable, the technology consistant throughout. I highly recomend this book to readers of science fiction, and the militery genre both.

The fourth book by Weber and White, I found this one to be by far the least interesting.

At first the book has much promise: political intrigue, mutinies, space battles and rebellion. However, the flare quickly dies down.

The Fringe Worlds, often economically subjugated by the Inner (Corporate) Worlds, finally have enough after their political leader is assasinated. When the government sends a naval task force to quell any unprising, it instead ignites it. For those that have read the other three books (Crusade, In Death Ground and The Shiva Option), this comes as no surprise because of the tension always felt between the two. It was inevitable.

The characters quickly lose their zest, not changing and not doing anything that surprises you. They are quite bland in their actions, and it is hard to sympathise with any of them. Nearly all the characters have the same driving force: they were thrown into a higher political/military position than they ever imagined, and it's up to them to make a stand or lead their troops. "Yadda yadda yadda" is a pretty good summation. It might have worked for the first three books, but by now the idea is exhausted, and the characters tiring.

Much of the characters the first half of the book focused on take a back seat or are a no show for the second half, leaving you to wonder why they were used if only to be cast aside. And the personal tragedies don't always work. One character who is injured has something taken away from her she held dear, but with her tiring attitude and persona, it's hard to feel sorry for her in any way. This is pretty much the case with all the characters.

There are really no twists and turns to this book, and the technological surprises Weber and White like to have one enemy throw at another are limited in their quantity and interest. There are some side plots here and there, but nothing that can save the book from the long periods of boring character interaction and inactivity. Unlike the three before it, Insurrection has a lot of filler, and nearly every time momentum is gained, a boring character interaction chapter is added. And not all the time is it relevant to the story.

The first word that comes to mind for Insurrection is dissapointing. The three books preceeding this were never short of interest, but this just seems like a lax effort in comparison. There were times I actually had to force myself to read the next chapter because so little had happened, and frankly by mid book I was hoping all but one main character would meet their end so they could not possibly show up in a sequel.

Insurrection is not of the battle heavy grand scale that are In Death Ground and The Shiva Option, nor does it have the plotical, moral and personal intrigue of Crusade. Instead, it is more like a space soap opera. It's not horrible, but it's like a hollywood sequel that didn't need to be made.

"Insurrection" is a collaboration between two masters of military science fiction, David Weber and Steve White.

The book explores the causes and progress of a civil war between parts of a Terran Federation originating from Earth and then bound together in the crucible of war against a merciless alien race. The story of the Fourth Interstellar War against the Arachnids is told in other books of the series. "Insurrection", while written first, is chronologically at the end of the series. It highlights that democratic legitimacy is ultimately grounded upon the consent of the governed.

Weber and White succeed by incorporating insights with clear parallels in Earth's military, diplomatic and political history. The rebels of the Fringe most nearly approximate the American rebels who split from Great Britain within a generation of winning the French and Indian Wars. United in conflict against an external enemy, they are divided by economics and mutual disdain.

"Insurrection" follows key rules of the space opera and military science fiction genres, so will be familiar to the typical reader. Yet, it succeeds in executing the formula very well. It takes a good historian to tell this type of story in a believable way. It requires imagination to teach similar lessons in the new circumstances of space combat. Weber and White deliver both. Heroic sacrifice in the course of combat by rebel and loyalist alike echoes the graduates of West Point split apart by America's Civil War.

Each of these authors have other books that I like as well or even better, yet it was "Insurrection" that hooked me and so it holds a special place in my collection.

Insurrection was the author's first effort, and it shows. There are a few flaws here and there. The plotline revolves around a VERY bloody war of secession between the Fringe Worlds and the Corporate Worlds of the Terran Federation. The characters tend to be fairly flat, and the author's solution to a lot of issues is to go charging off to another bloody space battle.

Fortunately, they learned, and their subsequent works (both solo in their own worlds and in tandem for this universe) have continually improved.

One reviewer noted that this was a retelling of the American Revolution in a science fiction context. True. The authors are both Americans, and they do have both a lot of love for their country and a great deal of respect for those who serve their flag (whatever flag that may be). My suggestion for those who may be offended by such sentiments is to go read something else.

I recently reread this book, and was even more impressed than the first time I read it. Realizing that this book has a copyright of 1990 means it's the first book in the series that includes Crusade, In Death Ground, and The Shiva Option; it sets the stage for the other books which, though having later copyrights, occur chronologically earlier in time. What I hadn't noticed when I first read the book is that it is the last in chronological time. This adds even more impact to the book, realizing that it follows the crusade against the bugs, detailed in In Death Ground and The Shiva Option. That means that Weber and White set the stage for the other 3 novels in this one, and fleshed out the details later. It's great space opera, and shows signs of Weber's political awareness, that come out with even greater impact in the last Honor Harrington adventure, War of Honor. The machinations of the Corporate Worlds in the Federation Assembly as they attempt to squeeze more and more profit out of "the Fringe" with total disregard for the consequences should be a warning to ALL politicians. In this book, the battles are classic Weber/White, the strategies planned by both sides are fascinating. While some of the characters may seem a little "flat" (which is typical of space opera), others (notably Admiral Han Li and Oskar Dieter) are not. And the influence of weapons development on the struggle is well-done.
If you're a Weber/White fan, buy this book; I believe you'll enjoy it. But be sure to read it in the proper order in the series.
I also enjoyed the "trivia" Weber and White bring to their books. How many readers are aware that Admiral Analiese Ashigara is named for a Japanese heavy cruiser from the World War II era?

I am not a big fan of most David Weber work, as it mainly consists of upstanding people who always do the right thing, and never die because they choose heroism. Likewise, the villains are generally obviously evil people who get what's coming to them.

This book is different. It follows the rebellion of "fringer" worlds from a democratic government that denies them equal representation. There are few bad guys, and upstanding characters exist on both sides in abundance. Characters die as a result of their heroic, but dangerous choices.

Another big focus of this focus of this book is weapons development, and communications. As the war progresses, each side develops new weapons, and immediately after seeing a new weapon, work on ways to counter it. Also being able to get information on the enemy, and to friends often makes the difference between victory and defeat in this war.

This is book is great, and is a part of an excellent series. "In Death Ground" and "The Shiva Option" are two other outstanding books in the series. "The Crusade" is not quite as good. If you are looking for a space military book that is more "realistic" and less bogged down with hero worship than the typical space opera fare, this book is for you.

"Insurrection" is OK space opera set in Starfire universe.

The story is a melange of the American Civil War and WWII-type, Pacific-style, naval actions. In this case, the frontier worlds break away from the center of Terran power. In the process they rend the fabric of the Federation Space Navy.

The characters are not real 3-D, but in space opera who cares? There are a tad more of them then I believe the authors are technically able to handle. I suspect the authors harbor a secret desire to write the sf version of "The Winds of War".

Good stuff for those looking for a content-free shoot-em-up.

I enjoyed reading the book, but I did had a hard time placing it into the series. As a stand a lone novel it was interesting and fun. Insurrection is suppose to be part of a series, but it doesn't connect with previous book in the series.

Insurrection takes place in the same universe as IN DEATH GROUND and THE SHIVA OPTION about a generation after the events of the latter. Humanity has been at peace but that doesn't stop nasty politicians from trying to do nasty things to people. Finally, a time comes when the people will take it no more and the result is civil war.

This book makes clear that there are honorable people on both sides of the conflict but the horrors of war are such that innocents are bound to suffer. Like the other books of this series, the action sequences are well though out and well written but the main lessons come from choices faced by the protagonists. Weber and White are good at writing about space battle. They are even better at writing about political issues and human choices.