Janissaries [Paperback]

Jerry Pournelle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 1985

Some days it just didn't pay to be a soldier. Captain Rick Galloway and his men had been talked into volunteering for a dangerous mission -only to be ruthlessly abandoned when faceless CIA higher-ups pulled the plug on the operation. They were cut off in hostile territory, with local troops and their Cuban "advisors" rapidly closing in. And then the alien spaceship landed...

--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ace (July 15, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441382908
• ISBN-13: 978-0441382903
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,518,345 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I write science fact and fiction. Themes range from trivial amusements to how to save the world. In 1980 I predicted that by the year 2000 anyone in Western Civilization would be able to get the answer to any question that can be answered; that happened a bit faster than I thought it would. My column in BYTE is the longest running column in the computer industry.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alternate history / Galactic Background, February 11, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Janissaries (Mass Market Paperback)

The true motivation for this series of books (so I believe) is not the superficial one you can read about in the other reviews. Jerry Pournelle likes to experiment with "what if" notions of military history - on the planet Tran you find a mixture of Roman legions, Celts, medieval knights, mongol hordes etc... plus the newly added American mercenaries. Thus what you get is essentially a series of battles between armies that could never have faced each other historically - and it makes fascinating reading. If you like this kind of thing, see also Pournelle's "King David's Spaceship".

The book has quality beyond the military element. I particularly liked the "historical" accuracy of the characters suffering from saddle-sores, poor water, and worrying about their teeth without any knid of modern dentistry. I liked too the way they resort to getting the idea of germ theory across to the natives - there are tiny demons in the world that can be purified with the ritual washing using boiled water.

Over and above this world, there is an important sub-plot. This world of colonists is part of a black market drugs business by certain powerful alien interests - and it could become vital as there is a debate going on that the earth should be sterilised before the feral humans get out of hand... so Tran could become the last outpost of humanity. However, the American mercenaries realise that Tran has been periodically bombed back into the Stone Age... so at the same time as fighting their wars, they endeavour to prepare for a nuclear assault as best they can. The only thing that might ultimately save them are human sympathisers who work for the aliens.

The series goes on for 3 books so far - alas with declining quality... but still enough to be engrossing. I join the call for a 4th book - I desperately want to see how this story concludes.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kidnapped by aliens!, February 8, 2005

By 

Andrew W. Johns "ResQgeek" (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Janissaries (Paperback)

Upon opening the book and discovering the illustrations, I was prepared for a cheesy space opera, especially since the story starts with space aliens abducting a group of mercenaries from the jungles of Africa. However, from this rather pedestrian opening, the author has developed an intriguing story.

Set against a backdrop of an old and large galactic civilization that uses humans as administrators and servants, this is a story of survival. One race of aliens is illegally kidnapping humans and transporting them to a secret planet to cultivate periodic crops of an intoxicating drug. The mercenaries are dropped, with their equipment, into the middle of a human culture trapped in the middle ages. Can they gain the control and cooperation of the exisiting human society and produce the drugs required by the aliens? Should they even try? Can they use their twentieth century knowledge to help the humans prepare for the impending climatic shifts?

This book includes interesting analyses of military tactics from various periods of human history, together with a unique setting and a plausible science-fiction story. It also provides interesting food for thought, especially regarding the proper uses of military power and the use of advanced knowledge to improve the human condition.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unweird, believable science fiction., January 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Janissaries (Mass Market Paperback)

Facing almost certain death at the hands of Cuban military forces in the civil war in Angola, Captain Rick Galloway and his small band of mercenaries are suddenly given the opportunity for life -- by the intervention of a alien spaceship. Rick and his band eventually end up on the planet Tran where they discover the reason for their rescue. When I read this book on its first publication in the 1970's, it was great. I recently obtained a new copy and find it's still a great science fiction story, well worth the $5 or $6 monetary outlay and two or three evening investment in time. If you like unweird, believable (within obvious parameters) science fiction you'll probably like Janissaries. P.S. I discovered Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven as writers in their classic end of the world tale, Lucifer's Hammer. Forget about Armegedden and Deep Impact! Lucifer's Hammer was one of the first comet hits world stories and is still one of the best.