Customer Reviews

Prisoner Within

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

 

 

Captain Lannat returns.
The world is a better place for it.
Betrayed by his politcal leadership, Captain Lannat, one of the heroes of "With Full Honors"(the precedent book), Lannat is handed a true hydra of a bad situation.
He prevails.
McQuinn's story of how Lannat prevails has the depth of shakespeare, on several levels, and the military insight of Hackworth's "Steel My Soldier's Hearts."
Damn, this man is good.
A wise friend of mine, who has experience at a very high level in governance, said the answer to a problem - any problem - was to send in a Marine Colonel.
Bet McQuinn made Colonel (in the Old Corps) - he is THAT good.
Going to Quantico?
Get this book, and read "With Full Honors," first.
This book should be on the Commandant's Reading List for Officers....

Sequel to "With Full Honors" continues the saga of Captain Lannat with the same high level of character development, compelling story and exciting action which are McQuinn's hallmarks. Highly recommended.

Don McQuinn is an amazing storyteller weaving a tale of resonant reality, even set in worlds of the mind. Witch and Wanderer have McQuinn's same magic, although they're quite different tales. I am four books through the author's catalog and highly recommend McQuinn if you enjoy books that will keep you up long after the embers have died.

Captain Lannat is falsely accused of betraying the Emperor and convicted. But he and the emperor have a common enemy: Etsalou, who is responsible for the dishonored state of Lannat and who is threatening the empire with his mind though experiments to produce ultimate, non-fearing soldiers programmed to obey. Emperor Halib arranges the escape and smuggling of Lannat to the planet Hire to kill Etsalou. But the resistance movement wants Lannat's experience in return of their favors. His warfare and recon skills force him to engage in battles to overthrow the regime. He must also save his love, the doctor of of Lumin religion, Nan Bahalt; niece of Etsalou. Lannat faces enormous task to redeem his good name. Is he up to it?

The society is a mix of galactic dictatorship led by autocrat emperor in multiple generations, faster than light travel, and medieval sword fighting. The warfare technology is quite conventional with railguns, electronics surveillance, eltrucks and elbusses. Everything propels towards the inevitable: the fighting and guerrilla scenes, blowup of power plants and into one last big fight with the army of Etsalou. The religious powers of Lumin and its opposing Seeker Cult are in the curtains that send only waves through few pages. The is book 2 (last) of the Lannat series. The prequel is With Full honors.

Two (2) stars. Written in 1998 by the U.S. Marine Corps veteran, this book will best appeal to action genre of military SF reader. The words honor, glory, duty, respect for the emperor with no questions asked, are affirmed and exemplified and made clear as crystal. The military lingo is the meat of the book and the expectations of the close combat scenes are met. Other than that, the surrounding politics, the empire, the Emperor, his spynet, the shrouding Astara (god) are mostly introduced only to keep the theatrical coulisses erected for the story. The combination of sensitive man and steel soldier in Lannat doesn't quite match and depth is lacking from other figures as well. His love Nan Bahalt is a distant character. The story arch is set in stone from start to finish: send a soldier to a mission, arrange resistance, face arch enemy and win. The ultimate predictability is what infests the reading experience most. It's difficult to find any sensation of thrill from the pages in form of: "I didn't see that coming". Only for poker enthusiasts that play even if almost all cards are face up (five-card stud).