Customer Reviews

Semper Human: Book Three of the Inheritance Trilogy

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

 

 

If you are reading this review, odds are good you read the preceding eight books in this series, and are now wondering if the various questions and problems posed in the previous works all finally get resolved, or if rather more books will follow in the series.

There comes good news and bad. Yes, this book sums up all that came before it, both in the series and in the real history of the U.S. Marine Corps. It finally elaborates on both who and what the Builders are/were. It sums up who the Xul are, what the Fermi Paradox truly means, and where Humanity is headed after this final encounter with the Xul.

The problem is that once again the novel follows the same formula. Devious politicians want to close/misuse the Marines for their own ends, and only a canny Marine can solve the problem. Of course, in doing so more problems emerge, and those problems also become resolved in the final battle against the Xul and the following chapters. All in all it sums up everything that came before and all the questions surrounding it very neatly, almost to neatly in my mind.

While this book finishes the story of the Marines and the Xul, and probably the series, it does not do it with the strength of writing that was present at the beginning of this nine book arc. Three stars but with a caveat. While you may enjoy rereading the previous books, this one will probably leave you let down and wishing for a better or simply different resolution.

This is the first Amazon review I've ever submitted, so please excuse the style if it sees unsuitable.

Ian Douglas' first trilogy, specifically 'Luna Marine' was one of my first exposures to the genre of military science fiction. I've been reading this saga off and on through the years, and have found it mostly enjoyable. I was looking forward to seeing how it all ended...

...and I've been rather disappointed. While I find the author's extrapolation of technological advancements to be fascinating and, generally, very plausible, there are certain parts of the story and characters that leave much to be desired.

Among the most obvious, we know that the main characters are never in any real danger. If one of the main character's commanding officers is mentioned repeatedly, or if they have a love interest, we can be fairly certain that they're a red-shirt. One of the reviewers I think mentioned we never get a physical description of the characters, which is something I didn't really recognize until I read it. Some of the only real development in any character in the series is when one of them in 'Star Strike' seems to develop PTSD after his lover is killed. This is a believable, human response, and it's shockingly rare in the 9-book series.

What I took great issue with, however, was the Xul "secret weapon" at the end. The big, bad Xul, who decimated Earth and who have for 10 million years been the terror of the galaxy, are reduced to ALTERING MARINE TRAINING SIMULATIONS TO AFFECT MORALE?

Really? Not only was that scene ridiculous and drawn out (gratuitous, even), but I really don't think that the various heroes of the Corps would find it that great of a fictional use of their deeds. I had enjoyed his minor explanations of Marine history in the series up until this point.

Not to mention that the general makes a comment that "it won't work because Marines have their own reality". So their big weapon, which isn't really that cool, won't work anyway? And then the AI Socrates tells everyone that they can stop the Marines' attack on the Xul quantum generator from being too big on collatteral damage by BELIEVING it? Where's the hard science in that?

I do like the way he writes future combat, the way he ends with the Builders, and the overall series. Read it just to finish the saga if you've read the others. But this is not his best in the series, not by a long shot.

While this book is well written, it was "phoned in" and not really a great plot. There was never really any suspense over the outcome. The last three books of this series have been average at best. This was a real disappointment given how well the series started out and this book is clearly the worst of the lot. At least this book dropped the need to go through basic training yet again.

I've read all the other books as well. I agree with many that at least we didn't have to go through the formula of basic training for the 10th time.

However this books spends far too much time on stuff that is completely predictable and not relevant to the XUL.

Then when the ending comes it's like he made it out of nothing - I won't ruin it but let's just say that there is no hint at all or anything to lead up to the conclusion which appears out of thin air.

Just don't buy it.

I'm giving this book, and series, three stars mainly because this satisfactorily wraps up the nine book series but I have to admit that the last three books have been a little disappointing. It's possible Mr. Douglas grew tired of the series but was professional enough to craft an adequate response wrapping it up.


In any series there is the potential that the author will grow tired of the whole endeavor. Harry Turtledove and his whole WWII alternate history series come to mind. The last book in the many threads that endeavor spawned was just horrible.

Mr. Douglas misses that opprobrium; he answered the questions.

My most serious complaint would be the page after page of in-depth, detailed descriptions of fictional technologies from the earliest incantations to the end results millennia later. I'm sorry but that was just....painful.

It's smacks of some fanzine articles I've seen in other series when semi-talented fans grab a small, frequently obscure device/technology the author writes to pull the story together and then expands on it ad nauseum to the delight of the other "in the know" fans but just boring to the general reader. Some of the spin offs of "1633" comes to mind.

Minor complaint. Is there some precedent to call female officers "sir"? I never heard of one and I spent 28 years in the service and while there were a few lady officers who could be mistaken for a man, they were never called anything but "ma'am".

Finally, I don't know if this is a "criticism" or a failure on my part to "think big" but it was hard for me to relate to heroes/family members with other characters in the other books of the series - or even in the same book, "Garwe" "Garroway"- primarily because of the enormous time span of the last series.

I like the earlier books and have reread the first two series at least once. They were well-crafted, good action and I could related to characters and usually their descendents in another book; the time lines were tighter and talking about a great, great grandfather was easier to get my mind around probably because I remember my own grandfather talking about his father fighting in the Civil War.

I wish Mr. Douglas well. He is a talented writer and a gifted amateur historian with a demonstrable passion for his subjects and I look forward to fresh endeavors of his.

In addition, I am a military romantic and in 28 years of service had occasion to avail myself of Navy Corpsmen, truly a unique group of men.

RetiredE9

Across the galaxy, all hell has exploded with many colonial planets and other orbital habitats in jeopardy; billions could die. The Galactive Associative has tried to maintain the peace and prevent internal hostilities from destroying much of humanity, but the leaders recognize they failed especially after the Xul Incursion in 4004. One year later they call for desperate measures to prevent the beginning of the end as rebels are springing up seemingly everywhere. They awaken General Garroway and his Star Marines from eight and a half centuries of deliberate cybernetic-hibernation sleep; a super squad who chose cybernation in 3152 in case they were ever needed again.

However, the almost millennia induced coma has left Garroway and his United States Marine Corps warriors unprepared for a society in which the rules of engagement they adhered to are considered obsolete by self interested politicians who have plans on manipulating the reanimated marines for personnel power gain as the common good is superseded. Still Garroway and his corps begin the counterattack only to realize the greater peril is not from within or even just the invincible Xul, though great threats to the well being of mankind. A hazard so insidious the past, present and future are simultaneously in danger of being eradicated by the unbeatable Xul and the Great Annihilator whose plan is eliminate any trace that humanity ever lived or lives.

This is the exciting finish to the Inheritance trilogy with the third book (see STAR STRIKE and GALACTIC CORPS) of the third saga (see the novels of the Heritage trilogy and the Legacy Trilogy). The story line is fast-paced and resolves much of what has occurred in the last twelve centuries; answering the key questions in an exhilarating way. Garroway and his unit are terrific, but Ian Douglas continues to show his scorn of politicians as once again cowardly politicos get in the way of the heroic marines so long term fans will finish the saga with the thoughts of well written and very entertaining, but a nagging sense of deja vu.

Harriet Klausner

As a former Marine and a scf-fi fan, I enjoyed this series quite a bit. I have to agree, this was not the best of the bunch though. i am glad it was wrapped up, but seemed to be formulatic.

For pure escapism within the military Sci-fi genre the three trilogies by Ian Douglass are at the top of a very short list. Why I say short is because other authors fail to bring real physics (as we know them today) and weave them into the story line. Excellent work may he write many more!

Lance

Received via Whispernet for my Kindle, this book is well above average in an overall sense. Story line is excellent and the continuity is very good. An excellent sci-fi read, especially since it is part of a series and if you are into space sci-fi like I am you will enjoy this book and the series

Like many of the other reviewers here, this book was a bit of a let down from the prior 8 in the series. While more of the same from a plot perspective (not that it is necessarily bad), I found the "side story" introduced in the final confrontation to be boring and ended up just skipping past those pages as they drug on and on.

If you have already read the previous 8 you are going to be compelled to read this book, but be prepared to skim through it until you reach the final conclusion of this universe.