Customer Reviews

Officer-cadet (Dirigent Mercenary Corps)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I purchased this because it was one of those "others who bought this book also bought" links so I thought I'd give it a try. Its got goods and bads but overall a easy-to-read enjoyable book.

The people are decently done and the hero, Lon is not a cardboard cutout invincible no-fear type...he worries about things, gets sick, etc.

The scenario is pretty small, essentially a couple of armies running around in a section of forest, skirmishing and encountering each other. No big complex story here. The battle descriptions are well done, and I felt like I was really in the thick of it. There wasn't an inordinate amount of acronyms or tech talk.

The biggest dissapointment I had was the technology. Perhaps it was because of coming from another series with more advanced technology, but I was surprised at the tactics and tech involved. It read pretty much like something from the Vietnam war, Although they were never described I got the impressions they were shooting M-16's. The smell of gunpowder and fixing of bayonets seemed out of place 800 years from now. The most sophisticated weapon wasa grenade launcher..there was mention of "beamers" but nodescription and only some of group had them for an unknown reason. They were nearly overwhelmed by rebels with bolt-action hunting rifles! Perhaps because they were mercenaries rather than an army, but the background tactics seemed poor, there was little arial recon, no landing zone, they were constantly running out of ammo because they couldn't land the shuttles, they had no machine guns, no tanks, no powered armor, no armored vehicles except some shuttles that could deliver a bombardment but couldn't handle a handheld rebel rocket. An awfully primitive-sounding elite merc army of the future.

On the plus side, the lack of tech meant that you are right there as they creep through the forest waiting for a sniper to put a shot through you...and this part of the story is where it really shines, following along as the squad creeps toward a suspected enemy position, our hero wondering if he will wilt under fire,etc.

All in all a good read, just don't go in expecting cool high tech weapons or a big complex story.

Officer-Cadet (1998) is the first novel in the Dirigent Mercenary Corps series. Lon Nolan is willingly expelled from the North American Military Academy on trumped up charges, but pursues his military vocation among the DMC.

In this novel, Lon becomes an Officer-Cadet in the Second Squad, Third Platoon, A Company, Second Battalion, Seventh Regiment of the DMC. He will be nothing but a glorified grunt until he has survived combat; after that, he will be either discharged or given a commission. In the meantime, he being rotated around the various staff positions when not training with the rest of his unit.

After a few months, Second Battalion is sent on contract to Norbank to put down a rebellion and to train the colonial militia. The available intelligence is woefully inadequate and, after arrival, found to be very much out of date. The rebels have obtained military grade weapons and are resolute but relatively unskilled fighters. The colonial militia is greatly outnumbered, poorly armed, and besieged in the capital city, so they expect the DMC troopers to do most of the fighting. The DMC, however, concentrates on training the available colonial manpower to beef up the city perimeter and to support any offensive initiated by the DMC.

The Third Platoon has made initial contact with the Norbanker HQ in the city and therefore is tasked with bringing out a company's worth of barely trained men to rendezvous with shuttles outside the city to obtain their arms and equipment. The rest of the battalion creates a diversion as they are brought out. At the LZ, the battalion provides a quick briefing on using the weapons and then moves further away from the city. There the battalion digs in for a while and provides the Norbankers with two hours of concentrated training on their weapons and simple tactics. The intent is to infiltrate the Norbankers back into the city that evening, but enroute the battalion gets into a firefight with the rebels forces.

This novel is about ground combat in the colonial worlds of the 29th century. It is relatively low-tech compared to the military forces of Earth and the older colonies of that period and the DMC space forces function primarily as transportation and overhead intelligence.

Recommended for Shelley fans and anyone who enjoys ground combat in a SF setting.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Need a break from complex plots, political intrigue, and hundreds of characters? Still want to read about SF military training and campaigns?....Try this book. A definite quick read, but I found it enjoyable nonetheless.

One thing that seemed refreshing was the focus on ground warfare...flanking, intelligence/counter intelligence, and just plain luck. Made the novel tie into current and historical battling (civil war, vietnam, desert storm). The projectile-type weapons (few lasers, etc), however, seemed a little odd for a 29th Century military unit.

This is the first book I've read by Rick Shelley and I was immediately struck by the realism that he creates in this tactical military novel. You really get a sense of what it would be like to be a new recruit going into live combat for the first time. Shelley does an excellent job of explaining tactics and combat situations. One thing I found intriguing was that as I was reading this, I forgot I was reading a sci-fi novel. The level at which the conflicts were examined, from the perspective of the ground troops, would apply to any war. The futuristic weapons and equipment are kept to a minimum.
My only complaint was that the character of Lon Nolan didn't seem to exactly fit that of the first-timer going into battle. Lon reacts cooly and professionally with only a minimum of anxiety. Once the action starts he acts like a seasoned veteran. Maybe Shelley is just trying to show that Lon is a natural in the arts of warfare. Anyway this is a minor quibble and doesn't knock this down from a five star rating. Highly recommended if you're into grim and gritty military combat.

I liked this book and the second in the series "Lieutenant." As a military retiree I can see the place for military units other than those of a government. Further, I see that with a fair standard of ethical and moral conduct that troops employed as a free lance military can have a beneficial effect on the governments that employ them. Rick Shelley is a good author, I also recommend his trilogy of the 13th Spaceborne ("Until Relieved," "Side Show," and "Jump Pay").

I write this review rougly five minutes after growing disgusted with Officer-Cadet and flipping it across my room into a dusty corner. Some day I'll take it to a used bookstore so someone else can suffer this litterary landmine for less than the cover price.

I am a huge fan of run and gun scifi. My preferences run from David Drake (my favorite), to the StarWars novels, to Honor and her ilk and beyond. A cover depicting a space marine and a plot about mercs is usually enough to snag my attention and make that last payment on my credit card a few dollars more and a few days further away. Officer-Cadet had the picture and described the plot...but there was nothing between page 1 and 279 to even keep me awake. There isn't much plot to speak of and what plot there is, is propped up by every niggling cliche in the book (forgive the pun).

I only hope Rick Shelley's other books are better, though I seriously doubt I'll spend the time or money to find out.

I've always read a lot of science fiction, but I've generally stayed away from military fiction of any kind since such books tended toward a lot of sex or pointless violence or else played up the soppy/sentimental guilt end of it.

Although these books (by which I'm referring to the whole series) are not "great literature", they are entertaining and do manage to hold my interest. I cannot judge the military tactics involved since I was never in the military (though I came close). However, this author makes the tactics clear so that I can understand them and even understand why some things work or do not work.

The weapons are good. I might occasionally wish for something more advanced, but I can understand these weapons, and the author was brilliant in explaining the limitations of shuttle landings!

My faults are few. I get annoyed when characters get wracked by guilt, especially in this type of story. He manages to avoid it in the first book, but as time goes by, the character begins feeling more and more guilt, even second-guessing his career. Although this doesn't become overwhelming, it annoys me.

Overall, I'd call this a good book (and good series). It has started me reading other military novels. I still find the trash (sex/excessive violence), but I've realized that there are good books like this one also.

Not much of a novel. The small unit tactics and combat were interesting to this former infantryman. However, there wasn't much plot, the progress of the story was dully predictable, there was never much sense of danger to our hero, and the enemy was bland and distant. Try another series ... like the Starfist series or Honor Harrington.

I found this entire series to be very enjoyable. Some have complained that the series lacks a "big-picture" or and real plot. While it is true that the seires lacks these elements that we expect from any good book I think in this case it was intentional on the part of Shelly. This series lets us see what its like for the soldier at all the various levels of command. You can fell his fear and danger in the first few books as he is in the trenches. Later as he becomes a higher ranking commander we fell him struggle over command decisions. I think this series does a wonderful job of showing us war from the average soldiers point of view. The plot his his life, and as the series progresses the story and plot become more and more a part of the books.

While in general I like this sort of military sci-fi, I find myself a bit bored with the lack of a bigger picture. Shelley is good at setting the stage, but in the end, it is all about a few guys fighting as mercenaries. No context, no good vs evil, no real reason. Just war. I want to know why people are fighting and dying, not just that they are doing it.