Customer Reviews

For More Than Glory (Legion)

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For More Than Glory (2003) is the fifth novel in the Legion series, following By Force of Arms. The initial work in this sequrnce is Legion of the Damned.

In the previous volume, during the retaking of the Clone World BETA-018, Legion First Lieutenant Antonio Santana commanded the anvil forces in a battle and his commander, the Ramanthian Hakk Batth, led the hammer forces. When the attack drove out Thraki females and cubs from the defensive positions, Santana is ordered to fire upon them, but refused and was relieved of command. The subsequent court of inquiry reprimanded Hakk Batth for poor judgement and demoted Santana for disobeying orders.

In the vicinity of Arbulla, the Confederacy infiltrated the Sheen fleet and disabled the Hoon. When the Thraki admiral refused to believe that the Sheen had been neutralized and attempted to launch "the twins", the Confederacy vaporized the ship carrying these weapons. Although the Thraki attacked the Sheen anyway, they encountered no resistance and finally accepted the situation after destroying some of the Sheen warships.

The Battle of Arballa, as the press called it, was followed by extensive negotiations that eventually included the Thraki as members of the Confederacy. The Hudathans had proved themselves as allies in battle, so their home world was opened to commerce with the Confederacy; individual Hudathans had taken a liking to the Legion and remained in service. The Clone Hegemony, however, had withdrawn all its soldiers from the Legion.

In this novel, Legion renegades from the mutiny have formed the Syndicate and are raiding commerce among the Rim Worlds. General Booly leads a raid on Syndicate Base 012 in search for the cruisers Ibutho and Guerrero. After fighting their way in, they discover that the warships had departed only a few hours before their attack.

On the planet Hive, the Ramanthian Senator Alway Orno returns to report to the Queen that he has negotiated successfully for the additional planets needed for the tricentennial hatching, but that he was unable to obtain the ships required to transport the five billion hatchlings to their new homes. When queried as to how such transportation would be provided, Orno stated that they would steal it.

On the planet Hudatha, Hasa-ba is installed as the third member of the Triad and accepts the acclaim of the populace. Unknown to the other Triad members, Hasa-ba is plotting with Orno to steal warships from the mothballed Sheen fleet.

On the planet LaNor, Legion Second Lieutenant Antonio Santana arrives on the tramp freighter Rim Queen. First he reports in to Captain Seeba-Ka, the Hudathan second-in-command, at the Legion barracks in the Foreign Legation compound adjacent to the Imperial City of Mys. Captain Seeba-Ka is fully aware of Santana's prior record and performs an attitude adjustment prior to covering his future duties. Then he informs Santana that his former superior, Hakk Batth, is commander of the Ramanthian detachment in the Foreign Legation.

This novel interweaves the four major plots noted above and numerous minor ones. The main story, however, is the most inconsequential in terms of galactic history. Based on the Boxer Rebellion, it involves a large scale rebellion against a corrupt, yet locally powerful empire ruled by a Dowager Empress. One of the tenets of this rebellion was the pollution of the local religion by foreign ideas and this leads to the slaughter of foreign missionaries and their local converts. The Foreign Legation comes under siege by both the rebels and the imperial troops.

The Boxer Rebellion is one of many smaller conflicts in American and European history. The rebels were numerous but usually poorly armed and trained. The imperials were also numerous and better trained than the rebels, but were not as determined and were not as well armed as the Westerners. The fighting was fierce and bloody, with heavy casualties among the rebels and imperials. The final outcome changed China forever.

This story is a striking portrayal of ordinary people in a crisis that demands more from them than they have ever given before. Even the veteran soldiers are staggered by the situation, despite their familiarity with war and bloody death. The garrison troops soon become veterans or casualties. The civilians quickly learn to strip away the nonessentials of life and to think like soldiers.

Highly recommended for Dietz fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of daring and courage in a SF setting.

-Arthur W. Jordin

For More Than Glory is the fifth of William C. Dietz's Legion of the Damned novels, and it marks a change of direction and in some sense a rebirth of this thrilling military science fiction series. Much has changed since we were first introduced to a futuristic Legion of soldiers evolved from the historical French Foreign Legion. The decadent Terran empire has been overthrown, Earth has taken a leading role in the interplanetary Confederation of Sentient Beings, two massive wars against the militaristic Hudathan race have been won, a far-reaching conspiracy temporarily succeeded in overthrowing the Earth government, and the Confederacy has managed to survive a dire threat from a powerful new alien race called the Sheen. While the cyborg legionnaires who served as the focus of the first novel continue to be important elements in the story, war and diplomacy have long ago taken center stage in Dietz's unfolding of Confederation future history. A fascinating side note to this novel, which the author alludes to in a note at the back of the book, is that Dietz molded, to some degree, the chaotic set of events on the planet LaNor on the Chinese Boxer Rebellion of 1900.

While several of the main characters from previous books retain an important place in this story, For More Than Glory is largely built around a refreshingly new cast of characters. Legion Second Lieutenant Antonio Santana emerges as the new hero on the block. His checkered past of disobeying certain direct orders of a certain superior officer in the previous war cost him a star and secured his posting on the interplanetary backwater of LaNor. This little planet soon takes on great significance, however, as a complicated planetary revolution threatens not only the lives of diplomats and legionnaires on the surface but also, albeit indirectly, the very solvency and future of the Confederacy itself.

An assortment of races has been incorporated into the Legion by this point, including the bug-like and always suspect Ramanthians and the once-hated Hudathans. No one trusts anyone else, and for good reason. On LaNor itself, the vain empress seeks to hold onto power in the face of two powerful threats, one by a revolutionary terrorist group and the other from a royal nephew who wants to guide LaNor into Confederation membership. The diplomatic teams serving on the planet find themselves increasingly in the cross-fire of conspiracies and dangers that reach far beyond LaNor's small region of space. Unbeknownst to their "allies," the Ramanthians are preparing for a new hatching of some five billion new citizens - to allow for this upcoming population explosion, they need dominion over additional planets and a means of transporting their hatchlings to them, and they will stop at nothing to get what they want.

This story proceeds very well indeed in describing the rapidly deteriorating conditions on LaNor. Santana is a wonderful character, a true and honest soldier trying to take care of his men and protect as many innocent lives as possible. Highly ambitious diplomat Christine Vanderveen complements Santana very well, as she is quite willing to exceed her diplomatic powers in order to get to the bottom of things and knows what to do with a gun in the heat of battle. Legion captain Seeba-Ka completely steals the show in my opinion, though. Until now, the Hudathans have appeared as bloodthirsty, hateful creatures, but Seeba-Ka boasts a well-developed, remarkably subtle sense of humor and an unprecedented commitment to the Legion.

A number of thrilling rescue missions take place, but the best action occurs when the Confederate forces and diplomats are faced with an extended siege of their section of town. The descriptions of military conflict are awe-inspiring, while the roller coaster of political intrigue takes the reader for a wild ride indeed. Surprisingly, it is the small section of the book featuring characters well-known to readers of this series that flounders. Legion General Booly is working on eliminating the small number of mutineers still roaming the Outer Rim, but the manner in which he goes about this really doesn't ring true to my ears. This subplot stood as a significant speed bump in the road of this reader's satisfaction.

The conclusion of this novel is somewhat open-ended, setting the stage for at least one more novel in the series - I don't have a problem with this, but those readers seeking to have all their answers provided in the pages of one book alone should be aware of this fact. I rarely bring up matters of an editing nature, but I also have to mention the fact that the hardcover edition is simply riddled with typos, missing letters, extra words, and other glaring mistakes. I do not blame the author; but it is an unfortunate truth that the extent of the problem in this regard does take a little something away from the reader's enjoyment of the novel - this is a real shame because For More Than Glory is by and large a very engaging, exciting work of military science fiction.

For More Than Glory is a well written piece of Military Sci-Fi. It lacks some of the development of Dietz's former works. Some parts of the book seem rushed. Such as the Ramanthian prespective, which is touched upon, but could have been expanded upon greatly. Then ending seem to just come, it paves the way for another book, but leaves many small questions unanswered. For More Than Glory lacks the completeness and detail of the previous books in the Legion series. This may be due to the failure of Dietz's DeathDay and EarthRise novels. Prompting him to push out another Legion book, due to the previous success of the series.

Although a new main character is introduced in addition to Booly. Dietz's characters seem to be canned. Their great duty to honor is universal, and in this book, so predictable that it's borring. Though Santana has a few black marks in his history, none of them are substantial, and the character could just be another Booly from a previous book.

If you're new to the Legion series, this book may be confusing. Events in the previous books, and even the technology itself isn't explained for those who might not have read a previous Legion book.

This isn't a good book to start the Legion series with, I recommend you start at the beginning with Legion of the Damned. By the time you've come to this book, you'll read it anyway, no matter how negative the reviews are. Just like all the other Legion fans out there.

It's a good book, just not Dietz's best.

Characters, story flow, ideas...all make this a fun read. But the repeated, glaring editing problems stick out and taint the experience. It's as if nobody actually read the last proof - there are no less than 50 typos and some other simple errors that you would not expect to see in a major hardcover release. Dietz is a very gifted writer, he just needs someone to proofread before publishing.

The latest galactic war is over and the Confederacy of Sentient Beings is at peace. However, the Ramanthians, who engineered the war with the Thrakies, plan to take two of their planets in reparation and steal the Sheen space fleet to fly five billion new hatchlings to their new planets.

A Hudathan leader works with the Ramanthians to steal some of the fleet for themselves since their navy was taken away from them. In order to bring their plans to a successful fruition, both races will have to destroy the heart of the Confederacy. If the plan is successful it will bring about another interstellar war.

On the planet Lanor, the sentient races have embassies located in the city of Mys. Also represented is the Confederation, which is protected by the Legionnaires, a fighting force second to none. They are the last lines of defense when the Empress's Imperial Army and rebel forces try to destroy the city. This volatile situation occurs because the representatives of various species strive to further the goals of their homeworlds without concern what will happen to the natives.

William C. Dietz is one of the leading authors of military science fiction and FOR MORE THAN GLORY is his best work to date. The trouble on Lanor is a microcosm of the interstellar picture and the sentient species seem so believable that readers will wonder if the author used a time machine to go into the future and is recording his findings on the pages of this book. Life hasn't changed very much in the far distant future where political treachery and local hostilities are the norm.

Harriet Klausner

Dietz has become my go-to pulp-fiction, space opera choice. The unread volume of his works will last me some years. I've followed his 'Legion of the Damned' mega story and don't really know what installment this one is but it must be #4 or #5. I do know that on completion of this installment, I started the next one the same day.

Dietz uses linear time quite cleverly to bring continuity between installments. This installment has a curious and savage familiarity. Dietz offers the insight at the end. The story line is influenced by the Boxer Rebellion of the 1900's albeit it in a galaxy far, far away and with alien races and factions rather than the Boxers, the Dowager Empress and foreign diplomats.

Dietz does a superlative job in this book's fluid narrative through topics of interesting minutia to war college level strategy and tactics. This is the best installment so far.

Great stuff! Dietz is a master of military Sci-Fi. Lots of political maneuvering, backstabbing and action as well.

Dietz changes his style of writing in this latest Legion novel. Although the main characters from the previous books are still in there, the main story is about a new character, a Legion officer, with little connection to the main story line.
Still, the book is well researched (as expected from Dietz), with first rate tactical battle scenes (and a theatre based on the Chinese rebellions of the previous century).
If you liked the series so far then reading this one is a no-brainer - keep going.
I wouldn't suggest starting with this book, however. The book attempts to be a stand-alone, but there are just too many concepts and background for a first time reader to understand.

I have enjoyed all of the Legion Series so far and this is my favorite of the series. The basis of this novel is the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, which has always been a fascinating subject.

The politics of the Confederation and the continuation of the Ramanthian threat was excellent. Continuing with the theme of including Hudathan's in the Legion was very well handled in this story. My favorite character in the book was Captain Seeba-Ka.

My only complaint about the book was some of the back stories, the Ramanthian plot was a good addition but the sections on the Syndicate seemed like filler to me.

With that said I would recommend this book to anyone who has read the other books in the series.