Customer Reviews

Onslaught (Demontech, Book 1)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Onslaught (2002) is the first novel of the Demontech series. On a world elsewhere in the multiverse, the human inhabitants share the planet with little folks and other magical beings, whom they call demons. In Jokapcul, Lord Lackland, the Dark Prince of Matilda, calls upon the demons to bring him knowledge of war and is answered with a stack of US Army Field Manuals. On the same night, in Frangeria, a philosopher calls upon the demons to show their existence, but his pronunciation is bad and the demons think he is asking for leadership, and is answered with a US Marine Gunnery Sergeant in full dress uniform.

After the magicians of Jokapcul comprehend the contents of the field manuals, they undertake the invasion of New Bally, a freeport adjacent to the Duchy of Bostia. There they encountered the Frangerian sea soldiers called Marines.

Haft and Spinner are having port liberty when they are awakened in the night by very agitated women who insist that they must leave NOW. When Spinner learns that the Jokapcul have invaded, he takes Haft with him out into the night. As they cautiously move toward the sounds of battle, they find a unit of Jokapcul light infantry with prisoners, one of which is Rammer, their lead sergeant. Before they can think of a way to free him, Rammer silently mouths the word "Go".

Haft and Spinner then sneak to the docks and board their ship, take weapons, equipment and the manual Lord Gunny Says, and then return to the town. There they note the strength with which the prisoners, including their fellow marines, are guarded and reluctantly conclude that they will not be able to free them. Then they encounter an old man who is a former Frangerian Sea Soldier called Tiger. He feeds them and shows them a concealed way to get to the forest outside the walls. As they leave, they promise him to return with an army to free New Bally.

Haft and Spinner must return to Frangeria to warn them of the invasion, but to reach their nation they must travel across the continent and then over the Inner Ocean. As they walk through the tunnel that is the first leg of the journey, Spinner wonders why he has promised Tiger to return.

This novel is, in an entertaining way, a demonstration of the large difference between information and knowledge. US Army field manuals contain general information that should be taught to every soldier, but US Marine Gunnery Sergeants contain additional knowledge learned from their own predecessors as well as actual field experience. While the Jokapcul have read the books, the Frangerian Marines have been taught by a man who knows his trade thoroughly, including the parts that never get into the books.

This novel is similar in plot to the Mardukan March series by Weber & Ringo, a trek across land and sea, and some of the characters are also similar to Haft and Spinner, but the details are greatly different since there are only two marines, not a company. Thus, as another reviewer pointed out, this is an escape and evasion story with elements of a loooong range patrol returning with vital intelligence, much like most of the action in Saberhagen's The Broken Lands in the Empire of the East series.

The characters themselves were obviously chosen to be as fully opposite in personality as would be allowed in a military service. Haft is the impulsive one who acts before thinking very much and Spinner is the pensive one for thinks too much before acting. Haft thinks Spinner is too proud of his brains and Spinner thinks Haft is too proud of his muscles. However, they make a good team, often correcting each other's mistakes, but it is fortunate that Haft's first reaction to dangerous surprises is a hard stroke of his axe.

Recommended for Sherman fans and anyone else who enjoys infantry combat in a fantasy setting.

I like this book a lot. It's an entertaining read that manages to capture the essence of the military without bogging you down in the minutia of military life, its customs and traditions.

Not to mention the beginning of the book is hilarious.

The main characters are a likeable duo with strong remniscience of Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser. The wit is supplied by The Golden Girl, whose attitude (I feel) should have gotten her ears pinned back at least once. The careful replacement of weapons of war with magics of war was entertaining to see, and a delight to try to out-guess.

I am interested in seeing where a couple of the characters develop - I am interested in knowing more about Wolf, for instance, and wonder where the rest of the Marines could be.

The only nit-pick I have is that, considering how important The Golden Girl felt her musician to be, I wonder why neither he nor she tried more stringently to get back together once one or both of them had been freed.

This is a nice Sci-Fantasy that you'll romp through with enthusiasm and delight, if you're looking for an adventure story. If you want drama, tragedy and deep-seated psychological thrillers, look elsewhere. This book is a nice bit of fun.

VEEDMEE!!!! Lord Gunny Says "Del Ray this is a darn fine tome, what are you thinking keeping my marines stuck far away from Frangeria???"

A Great story, with Great Characters on a running trek that keeps you turning the pages fast as you can read!

Lord Gunny is summoned to Dave Sherman's fantasy setting, and creates a corps of sea solders called "Marines". The story opens right up when two junior Marines land in the port city of New Bali and discover it has been overun by evil doers. They are forced to escape the city and seek aid from others. This small chore sets them on an adventure across the lands of Bostia, Skragland, and beyond. They encounter magics, mayhem, demons and destruction.

Dave Sherman's Demontech has an interesting twist on Magic. Demons are subdued, conjured, and summoned to be used in various magical tasks. Healing, Warding, Hiding, Destroying, Laboring, and more are some of the tasks they do.The way he employes them is very fun, along with the "demonspeak" they use.

"Veedmee" a demonspeak request, or even demand in some cases that the demons stop their tasks, asking to be fed before they continue.

Haft and Spinners adventures grow as they trek along avoiding the Dark Prince and his minions that are rampaging across the continent.

The Lands, the characters, the battles are all well defined and developed, you move thru the story fast and furious, left wanting.

As Lord Gunny says,"BUY THIS BOOK" you cant disobey orders!! and you wont be disappointed!

When I ran across this book, the premise behind this novel was intriguing - demon 'magic' and Marines? An odd combination so I bought it and read it in a day. I returned to the book store and purchased the other two novels in the series thereafter. An entertaining story line by an author who has obviously been where the bullets fly. I recommend this to any military Sci-Fi fan.

The Demontech series is a gripping tale of two marines put in a situation where they must excel or die. Trained in the tradition of the USMC somehow in an epic fantasy setting, these marines rise to heroic proportions. Del Rey has decided not to publish further volumes in the series. If enough people try this book, they will buy the other two written and hopefully Del Rey reverses their decision.

This series is based on a slightly new concept. It takes place in a fantasy realm but it does so with the help of the USMC. The army actually has a small part as well.

The situation is this. On a fantasy world, a wizard is trying to conjure a powerful weapon. What he actually gets is a large stack of US field manuals. These prove to be difficult to decipher and understand but they also prove to be the key to changing the dynamics of this world. The head bad guy is out for world dominion and the insights he gets in terms of strategy and weapons is fearsome.

Half a world away, some academic type magicians are gathered for a conference where one of there number wants to demonstrate a theory about the summoning of demons. What he gets is not what he bargained for. He summons one very surprised and irate US marine gunnery sergeant. The gunny makes the best of it, however, and before long he is Lord Gunny and has remodeled the sea soldiers of the country in the fashion of the USMC.

All of the preceding is preliminary.

Two of the marines are caught in a foreign port aboard their ship when the bad guys invade. As far as they can tell, they are the only ones to escape and they are trying to find their way somewhere where they can catch a ship back home. Along the way, they help out others and develop quite a following of camp followers and other armsmen whose countries have been overrun. They use their marine training to stay one or more steps ahead of the bad guys.

The title of the series comes from the supposition that most technology is based on demons. The control of demons is what drives the development of weapons. The hand grenade analog is a phoenix egg. When it is broken open, the phoenix incinerates those in it's immediate surroundings as it takes off for the heavens. What I would call a recoilless rifle (bazooka) as a "demon spitter". The tube houses a demon who spits destruction. So on and so forth.

The book is an interesting read but is a bit disappointing in its conclusion. It is clearly setting the reader up for the next book in the series and a first rate adventure takes place but there is the sense that something is missing. It seems to be all subplot and the main plot is hardly advanced. Still, I am interested enough that I will keep on reading.

This a good read with the kind of adventure and skull splitting action that kept me turning pages but... It is not a complete book! It has NO ending. I know Dave Sherman is starting a new series here but it is not fair to the reader to sell a product as a complete novel when it is not. There is no attempt to wrap things up and conclude the immediate story line. A single teaser paragraph on the last page about what they did next is more an advert for the next book than any sort of conclusion. At least each of the StarFIST books has an ending that allows the reader to put it down with a feeling of satisfaction and an honest yen to look for the next one. Instead, with Onslaught, you turn the last page with an intesne sense of dismay and frustration. Now, while this says something about the quality of the story it does little credit for the publishers who have decided to use this ploy as a means to sell more books. I don't blame the author as this unfortunate tactic is becoming too widespread to be just his fault. Come on guys! Be fair to the reader. A book should have a beginning, a middle, and an end so that it can stand on its own. When he finishes it the reader ought to be able to say 'That was good! Where is the next one!' Not 'Gee, where the hell is the rest of it?' In conclusion I DO recommend Onslaught, but ONLY if you can pick up the second half... I mean the second book in the series at the same time. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that that one won't have a similar non ending. Still, the series has promise.

What an interesting concept. Magic is created by demons, control the demons and you can perform powerful magic. If you get really good at it, you might even be able to take over the world.
The demons in this book don't seem to necessarily be good or evil, but they do tend to demand a lot from their handlers. You have to learn how to use them and then you have to treat them right. No wonder most people don't bother with them. But if you were up against them in a battle you'd be at a definite diadvantage.
The characters are just as interesting as the concept. Haft and Spinner are well defined and stay true to themselves as they develope. Once you get to know them you enjoy their different takes on the situation. The other characters they collect through their journey to safety are also well defined and fun.
I'm looking forward to how they will all interact in the next book.

Niven's Law states: "Any sufficiently advanced Magic is indistinguishable from Technology
First off, let me say, that if Louis Lamour wrote sword and sorcery...this is the kind of story he'd write.
The plot line is pretty standard...an alternate world where Magic is becoming advanced enough to resemble Technology. The eternal War of good and evil has come to a stalemate. The leaders of each side look for help - and the capricious pagan gods of this universe decide to have a good joke. The forces of Evil seek Knowledge of War...and so they recieve a US Army Field Manual Library. The forces of Good ask for Leadership...and they recieve a Gunnery Sergeant of the US Marines.
Two decades pass - and the bad guys make their move - a classic blitzkrieg, they sweep across the land like an unstoppable juggernaut. Two young Marines are cut off in a captured city, avoid the swarming evil hoardes, and make their way home, a classic escape-and-evade story. Along the way they destroy a nest of slavers, rescue a Golden Girl from durance most vile, and start collecting the nucleus of an army.
And so you say, I've seen this plotline before...why buy this one?
Well, David Sherman is a fellow that's been out there in the bush, and he can tell the story. He's been out there, playing hide-and-seek with live ammo, and he knows the people and situations that he writes about.
Spinner and Haft are fully fleshed out characters - their spirtual brothers are walking the high deserts of the "-stans" right now. Silent - the quiet giant who lives to fight and wander and see new things - I knew a guy like him in Boot Camp. The under-equipped magician, cursing the cost-cutting bureaucrats that sent him out without the proper weapons or decent intel - yep, just about every GI knows that situation...
And I really like Alyline, the Golden Girl. They find her as a slave dancing girl and rescue her, but she isn't a fairy tale Princess - she doesn't automatically fall in love with her rescuer...turns out she's some kind of aristrocrat back home, more interested in a musician, and kind of annoyed that this boorish young prole won't get the message and keeps on trying to hang around her. She's an interesting character with a whole lot of deep seated issues, traumas and emotional baggage - in short, a real person.
As an aside, one of my complaints about this genre is that most male authors in S&S treat women characters as either side characters, or "Chicks in Chainmail" - male characters with a thin veneer of female traits. The three female characters in this book, Alyline, Doli and Zweepee - all show strength and character. I've got the feeling all three will be central to the series.
I've been reading David Sherman's work for 17 years now - he was the first one to write Viet Nam fiction that rang true to me. The Starfist series is some of the best Mil-Fic you can lay hands on, in my opinion...and DemonTech? Well, my only complaint is, where's the next book!
Write, David, Write!

I have tremendously enjoyed this series. I highly recommend it to anyone enjoying sci-fi fantasy with a true military twist.