The Sharp End [Import] [Hardcover]

David Drake (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Baen Books,U.S. (October 27, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555940609
• ISBN-13: 978-1555940607
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

More About the Author

The Army took David Drake from Duke Law School and sent him on a motorized tour of Viet Nam and Cambodia with the 11th Cav, the Blackhorse. He learned new skills, saw interesting sights, and met exotic people who hadn't run fast enough to get away.

Dave returned to become Chapel Hill's Assistant Town Attorney and to try to put his life back together through fiction making sense of his Army experiences.

Dave describes war from where he saw it: the loader's hatch of a tank in Cambodia. His military experience, combined with his formal education in history and Latin, has made him one of the foremost writers of realistic action SF and fantasy. His bestselling Hammer's Slammers series is credited with creating the genre of modern Military SF. He often wishes he had a less interesting background.

Dave lives with his family in rural North Carolina.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent first time, gets better each reading, February 3, 2003

By 

firewallbill "firewallbill" (Midland, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sharp End (Hardcover)

David Drake's work is more subtle than a first reading would suggest. If you were to read just one Hammer story, or one Belisarius, you might think he was rubbing your nose in the blood and gore like so many of today's movies do, just to get a gut reaction and celebrate the carnage. However if you read the books a second, and a third time, and reflect on some of our recent history, you begin to understand that while the characters entertain the background of blood and gore reflects the brutal reality of human conflict the characters must act in, and survive. War is ugly. The characters that evolve and survive are forever affected by this ugliness. A tremendous amount of history is created in conflict. We are a product of that history and that brutality - David Drake wants to make sure we remember that and that we don't forget the human nature of the people who undertake the most brutal of human occupations. I would recommend his books to anyone who wants to serve their country, or who wants to be responsible for sending sons and daughters to war. There is a rough side to that business, and David Drake does an excellent job of reminding us of the ugly, the profound - and most of all the human sides of war. And,
it's a rollicking good read!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wouldn't miss this book if I were you., February 8, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sharp End (Mass Market Paperback)

The Sharp End is an absolute classic. It had believable
characters, a fast paced and well thought out story, and it's a
reflection of the Slammers at its height. Heroes are -men-,
and not a conglomeration of ideals.

If you want military action, adventure, and an attention to
detail that could only come from someone who's been there,
then don't miss out. Expect everything you've come to know
about David Drake to come out at its best.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's in the Hammers Slammers Series, what more do you need?, February 11, 2002

By 

Jim Bryan (Cedar Park, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sharp End (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved it, it my favorite from the series! I've been waiting to find out more about the egnimatic Major Joachim Steubben for ages. This book is also the only one (so far I think) in this series that is only 1 book, as the others are a collection of stories.