The Scoundrel Worlds (Star Risk #2) [Mass Market Paperback]

Chris Bunch (Author)

Book Description

Series: Star Risk | Publication Date: August 5, 2003

Skyball is popular, challenging, and violent. In other words, the greatest sport in the universe. The mercenary team of Star Risk, Ltd. has been hired to watch it...closely. Two opposing worlds are neck and neck, and lately the game's been a real killer. Riots, murder, a real madhouse for loyal fans. It's up to Star Risk to keep it galaxy-friendly. Good luck to them. They don't stand a sporting chance.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In the new Star Risk novel, the protagonists--former military personnel who left the service for the service's good--are now mercenaries. Being few in number, they are, however, more police and detectives than soldiers. The abundant action begins with a prologue in which Star Risk is hired to protect the referees at an interplanetary skyball festival, at which the fans have progressed from riotousness to homicide. After being paid, the Sky Risk crew undertakes to prove the innocence of a man condemned for treason, whose case has ramifications that read, probably deliberately, like pastiches of current media features. The element of wish fulfillment in the novel is undeniable; also pleasurable, for who hasn't felt like obliterating a stupid politician or obnoxious mediacrat? Lightweight action sf that sometimes reads like a novelized TV script (no surprise, given Bunch's TV background), this should hold the series' present audience and attract others who want to see the media skewered. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Star Risk, Ltd...a charming bunch of rogues who obey no laws but their own. (BookBrowser) Intelligent action science fiction. (Booklist) Bunch knows how to mold heroes...and how to create exciting scenes of battlefield mayhem. (Publishers Weekly) The books of Chris Bunch...are well-written books with complex plots, intrigue, and great descriptive narratives. (SF Site, feature review)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Roc (August 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451459369
• ISBN-13: 978-0451459367
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #534,077 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Action action and more action, August 5, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Scoundrel Worlds (Star Risk #2) (Mass Market Paperback)

Trimalchio IV is the home base of Star Risk, Ltd., a mercenary outfit headed by Friedrich Von Baldur that takes on unusual cases and political hot potatoes. Von Baldur went AWOL from the military arm of the Alliance to escape his court martial. Other members of the group include Jasmine King (an operative who might be a robot), Grok (a Chewbacca looking alien), and Riss (who quit the Allied Service after squaring off with her lecherous commanding officer).

The former premier of the Planet Dampier hires the team to free an intelligence officer accused of selling state secrets to the Torguth homeworld. Both Dampier and Torguth claim the Belfort worlds even though the former currently controls them. The ex-premier believes that there is still a highly placed mole in the government and he wants Star Risk to catch the culprit. Once they arrive on Dampier they are immediately caught up in the politics and espionage shenanigans of the planet and must hire mercenaries to guard their own backs if they want to live to free an innocent man and catch the traitor.

The members of Star Risk are a lovable bunch of misfits who use self-deprecating humor to keep from taking themselves too seriously. Though some supporting items seem familiar such as the skyball game they play seems Harry Potter like and Grok the Chewbacca intellect, these elements are actually fresh and different once the reader clears the surface. The world of Dampier is a treacherous place, particularly suited to the battle-hardened mercenaries who meet force with even more force. Chris Bunch is one of the top authors of military space operas.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars not very well developed, June 18, 2004

By 

P. D Huang "happy reader" (chula vista, ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Scoundrel Worlds (Star Risk #2) (Mass Market Paperback)

Star Risk, the first book in this series introduced a handful of characters that seemed to provide a good foundation for an entertaining space series.

Unfortunately Scoundrel Worlds departed from what made the first Star Risk book interesting and glossed over much of the development in the plot. Good story lines, just not well executed.

I was left with many why's in this book and it didn't seem to flow. The main characters seem to blend together and the story ended in a whimper.

I hope Bunch goes back to the drawing board and reworks the plots to develop the characters and flesh out the battle scenes.