Customer Reviews

The Sagittarius Command (Tour of the Merrimack)

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

 

 

"Make me laugh; make me cry; make me wait." I'm not sure who said that but I have heard it over the years in regards to good fiction, and R.M. Meluch does all three in her 3rd installment of the Merrimack series. Usually I can figure plot directions out pretty early in a book but not so with Sagittarius Command. Meluch leaves a clear and intriguing trail to follow without giving away what it's made of or where it will end up. At just the right moment in the story she connects the dots (or pretzel crumbs)bringing the reader to a satisfying conclusion that wasn't really expected but more fitting than my best guess. Of course she doesn't give it all away and creates more questions for us to ponder until the next book comes out (please make it soon). As for laughing and crying--oh yeah. She got me more than once with a cast of characters fighting a war that appears futile. Well, actually not quite futile. Not with John Farragut, T. R. Steele, and their mighty Marines--heroes made larger than life by their humanity presented so intuitively by the author. I am as anxious to catch up with all the characters, even Numa Pompeii and Augustus (who has more facets than a chameleon has colors), as I am to savor all the well-crafted elements of each successive book. R.M. Meluch has that rare gift of being able to write a series without resorting to repetition and contrivance. Just when I think she is leading me toward one destination, I find myself landing very smoothly on another path of the story, and yet confusion is absent. Better yet, I can read these books again and again and enjoy them as much each time, as well as catch something I missed the last time. As always R.M. Meluch delivers a great story and strong characters that indeed make me laugh, make me cry, and make me wait with happy anticipation...for the next book and the next. I know I'll re-read the first three at least once between now and the next publication. Hoo Rah!

As a Meluch fan I gotta say this was pretty awesome. The half man half machine known as a patterner because he can use the machine parts to calculate and his human parts to comprehend is a great notion. How Augustus takes the climax of Sagittarius Command is super cool. The Myriad is touched on again but not in great detail. I'm sure if you have been reading from book one you must be wondering when that time slip is gonna be fixed....

I am reading strength and honor right now. After that Meluch has released another book in the series. Who knows how it will go.

Also if you like the merrimack series I would HIGHLY recommend checking out two other books by her. War Birds(epic!) and Queens' Squadron (Also epic)

I'd also like to give a big thanks to the Author for writing and sharing these stories. Yeah.... I am a fan of her writing.

This is the 3rd book but you could read this one first and be fine. I would read all three books if I was you. Well worth your money.

I felt this book started slow and then went into an up and down sort of pacing where it never really could hold its own. The tense working relationship between the US and Rome made for most of the excitement in the story since one didn't know if they could trust the other, while the rouge inventor storyline felt like it was partially recycled out of Westworld. After a while, I was reading for the characters rather than the story in this one.

Third in the Tour of the Merrimack series, Sagittarius Command brings new sub-plots to light while remaining faithful to the overarching storyline. The characters remain dependable and true to their "roles", as well do the general constructs of this particular "space opera". I think the science gets further-fetched and the storyline flounders a bit here and there, but overall, this is another solid and entertaining read. I don't think it's one of the "greats", but it's definitely another fine installment in an engaging series, and I just couldn't seem to put it down.

Something I've missed the opportunity to remark on in my two prior reviews (of this book's predacessors) is how the "silent" or dormant Roman culture sub-plot is kinda neat. Meluch uses this in different ways, such as to type cast certain characters, making them caricatures of themselves, thus outlining some irony or truth. At other times, she takes a brief moment to graze the surface of some very true and interesting historical fact about Roman or human history, and thus keeps prodding the reader with the underlying idea that this is part pulp, but also written by an educated woman who knows her history.

A brief look at the author's bio reveals her scholarship with regard to Roman history, and it's no wonder she has incorporated this sorta neat-o idea of a dormant Roman culture persisting through and beyond the modern day. It's part "enemy among us" and part Da Vinci Code or Freemasonry-type conspiracy. Like I said, the supporting factoids make it all believable enough. For instance, ever wonder why Latin has persisted? Sure, it's a dead language ... but in the Church? In law? In medicine? ...all rapidly changing entities these days, yet medicine adopts techno-speak rather slowly. Law remains so cryptic that lawyers have trouble reading it now ... Perhaps there's a sub-culture; a hidden influence left over from Ancient Rome biding it's time to rise again...perhaps by exodus to our first colony planet... I know, it's a little formulaic, but the basic idea is still plausible enough (if the Da vinci Code is, it is) to sort of make you grin and buy in...

I begin the next book shortly, and I have high hopes for Strength and Honor, the final installment of John Farragut's Merrimack, and all the characters I've grown fond of thus far. With any luck, Colonel Steele will bag the cutie for good this time, the space monsters will die, and Earth and Roma Nova can make nice and be friends once it's all over...or maybe not! :-)

Suspend disbelief and let yourself be dragged along by the fast flowing story. It's an enjoyable yarn but not up the likes of Niven or Weber. I could do with less interplay between the characters and more space battle but your tastes will vary.

Third in the new series and just as good as the first two. Exciting space opera. This series is unusual in that the personalities of the characters are well developed, not only the main but the lessor ones too. I cannot recomend this enough and will have the author next on my buy list. But a new reader should read the first two in the series to get the full effect. I do have a few questions that maybe the fourth book will answer
Although Kerry Blue got plenty of action, the captain's love life was neglected this time.
Have the swarm been cleaned out?
What will the status of the new Roman Empire be?
All-in-all, a buy and read recomendation.

This book offers an interesting, although implausible storyline concerning a futuristic conflict between the USA and an apparently stealthy Roman Empire. You will likely enjoy it if you don't mind incomplete sentences. Apparently the editor couldn't be bothered to fix such problems.

Meluch has brought together a Star Trek problem solving style and Robert Heinlein grittiness to create The Sagittarius Command. The plot is fast paced and humorous, allowing the reader to read rapidly through the story. Fans of Star Trek and Heinlein alike will enjoy the story. Because Meluch provides enough background without getting too deep into prior novels, a reader can pick up this book without having read the first two, and still enjoy it.

Fans of Star Trek and Heinlein alike will enjoy the story. Because Meluch provides enough background without getting too deep into prior novels, a reader can pick up this book without having read the first two, and still enjoy it. This was true for me. I had not read the first two books, but now I'd like to go back and read about the genesis of Farragut and the men and women of the Merrimack, having enjoyed this space epic so much. While you will become invested in the story and the characters, your emotions will not be toyed with, nor will any great philosophy be preached at you. R. M. Meluch tells a great story of space warfare and the triumph of the human spirit against insurmountable odds in The Sagittarius Command.

The old Roman Empire never really died it just went underground placing its people in positions of power. When mankind colonized the stars, the Roman Empire now called the Palatine Empire broke away from Earth's control and established a new empire that became an implacable enemy of Earth especially America. When the Hive; an alien life form who knows only hunger begins eating away at Roman Colony planets, Captain John Farragut of the Merrimack negotiated the Subjugation.

Roman forces are under the command of Farragut for as long as the crisis lasts but the Hive is a formidable opponent eating everything on a planet until that orb can no longer support life. It is discovered where the Hive is and the human life form that lies safely on one of the planets in the Sagittarius sector is believed to be an enemy of Rome who thought they destroyed him. He resonates on the Hive harmony and is directing them to planets he wants them to devour. Farragut hopes to find out how he is doing it and destroy the Hive before any more planets full of people are destroyed.

R.M. Meluch is a creative writer of outer space military fiction. The action starts in the first chapter and never lets up until the last page is turned. The cast is fully developed especially those characters on the Merrimack so readers obtain a character driven military thriller that takes place for the most part aboard the space ship. The third book in this exciting series, THE SAGITTARIUS COMMAND continues to fascinate as audience will thoroughly enjoy trying to figure out what the Hive actually is.

Harriet Klausner