Customer Reviews

Star Risk Ltd. #1

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

 

 

A fair offering from the Author who brought us The Last Legion series. I myself have been reading Chris Bunch since the 80's when the Sten novels were in full swing. I tend to enjoy his books, even though they are often not the most innovative or even best written out there.

Star Risk is the story of several persons of loose moral fibre who decide to form a security company in the far future. It is an industry dominated by Cerberus, a large firm that has a reputation of doing whatever it takes to get the job done - as well as getting rid of any competitors. Cerberus doesn't play a big role in this book, but you get the sense that in the books to come they will be the main villain.

Star Risk needs to prove it's worth, so they take a contract to protect a mining company from raiders who are killing their independent contractors. Star Risk must identify these assailants before many more attacks (and they loose the contract).

The premise is OK, but the book falls flat. If you have read any works by Chris Bunch before, you will recognize the same characters that he has used time after time (different names, same personality). The book leaves off with an unspectacular ending, with none of the major questions answered. I suppose we will have to wait for book two or three.

Overall, it's an OK offering. If you have nothing better to read go for it, otherwise take a pass.

After years spent as an Alliance Marine, M'chel Riss steps out on her own and joins forces with Friedrich Von Baldur, an ex-Colonel with the Alliance Marines and a man whose job she ultimately cost by taking on an independent snatch-and-grab assignment. Since both are down-on-their-luck mercenaries, they go into business to form Star Risk, LTD, a go-anywhere, do-anything agency. In short time, they're joined by Jasmine King--who might not be human at all but is terribly efficient with all things covert, Grok--a furred alien who specializes in intelligence work, and Chas Goodnight--an augmented human who has a penchant for women, violence, and thievery and who has to be broken out of a maximum security prison to join the team as a bribe for the team to get their first job. Star Risk, LTD's first assignment is a security operation on an asteroid mining venture for Transkootenay. The asteroid miners are plagued with hit-and-git strikes by unknown raiders that are entirely too well-informed about successful finds in the asteroids. The mercenary heroes plunge into danger, trying to make sense of the twisted clues left by the raiders, stay ahead of corporate headhunters looking for an excuse to fire them, and avoid potentially lethal confrontations with their rival, Cerberus Systems Security.

Chris Bunch is an old hand at military SF as well as fantasy. With Allan Cole, he co-authored the Sten series as well as military historical novels. On his own, he's written the LAST LEGION series and the SHADOW WARRIOR series. There are also several stand-alone SF novels and fantasy novels. His military background serves him in good stead in these novels. Before turning to novels, he was a television writer for twenty years.

STAR RISK, LTD. is a fun book. The action jumps off the page and keeps the pace at a brisk double-time. Enough character growth is done to keep the reader's attention and make all the major characters memorable. The dialogue between the characters and the laconic, off-hand way that Bunch throws new words/terms at the audience and gets his meaning across is great. Although Bunch follows some conventional steps in the progression of this first in the series, he does so well, with the calm, sure touch of the seasoned pro.

The only real downfall of the novel is that it proceeds at too brisk a pace at time. The novel is easily engaging and easy to follow, but some passages moved too quickly, flicking back and forth with the intensity of a television episode. The visuals came across dramatically, but some of the emotional texture was lost.

As a romp, STAR RISK, LTD. is a good investment for any fan of military SF. Readers who enjoy David Drake, John Ringo, Steve White, Dan Cragg and David Sherman, and David Weber will enjoy this novel and be eagerly awaiting Bunch's next entry in the Star Risk, Ltd. series.

I enjoyed Star Risk Ltd but must agree with at least some of the criticisms levelled at it by other reviews.

The bad points first and I must say the person who did the editing job should no longer be gainfully employed. There are just too many grammatical and even typographical errors for a professionally produced product.
This is not usually a huge flaw in a novel but having to re-read passages and take yourself 'out of the action' becomes a major flaw when one of the main areas of the enjoyment is the fast pace of the novel.

On the other hand, as a small aside and redeeming the editor (if it was his/her decision) a smidge in my books, I did like the fact that, unusually, the correct English style was used to indicate who was speaking. The fact it isn't the the usual style used in novels counts for it not against it since showing others how it should be done is never a bad thing!

The characters are a little thin but given the nature of the book, an action space-opera, this is not only forgivable but expected ... and there are follow up books to develop the personalities of course!

The plot does seem to save up all its complications until the last few chapters which is at odds with its fast paced roots but, to be fair, it isn't hard to follow the twists (even if you don't guess at least some of them are coming).
I'm also sure (though this is without re-reading) some of the plot explanations disagreed with some of the logic when the same plot point was discussed earlier in the novel. However this doesn't upset the story too much really and could be explained away quite easily ... it's just a shame the editor (yes him/her again) didn't point this out and suggest that this easy explanation could be added!

Re-reading my comments it sounds like I didn't enjoy this book and this isn't true - it's just easier to identify and write about flaws than the good points. And there are good points a plenty ...

The plot is interesting enough to keep you on your toes but not so convoluted you get lost; Chris' wrtiting style perfectly suits the pacy Space-Opera feel and exciting situations and, as others have pointed out, he does military feel very well indeed; the characters are likeable and fun if a little flat so far and as the first of a series it works well and entertains throughout.

Overall a good read, but not yet up to the standard of his (with Allan Cole) Sten novels and with far too many editorial errors.

Chris Bunch has penned a good and fun military sci-fi story. It's wonderful to see a woman write in this genre (although judging by the other reviews posted here, most people seem to think Chris Bunch is male - she is not). Bunch writes refreshingly strong, smart female characters. If you liked The Last Legion, you'll enjoy this one, too.

She spent eight years of her life in the Alliance Marines but mustered out when she refused to sleep with her commanding officer. Now Major (Ret) M'Chel Riss is just trying to survive when she's approached by Friedrich Van Baldur, the owner of the fledging mercenary outfit STAR RISK, LTD. He offers her a contract, which she immediately accepts. Jasmine King, a woman who may or may not be a robot hires on with the new outfit as well as the alien Grok who invests his life savings in the company.

Now all they need is a job. Somebody is trying to sabotage the Transkootenay mining company hired by the Foley System Government. Not wanting to lose the contract, the company is ready to hire outside security and Star Risk ensures they are going to obtain the job when they break out of a death row prison the brother of the manager of Transkootenay mining. Now all they have to do is figure out who the enemy is and try to stop them.

The protagonists of STAR RISK, LTD are a charming bunch of rogues who obey no laws but their own. Their sense of ethics and self-preservation makes them easy to like and the audience will find their antics very entertaining. Chris Bunch known for his excellent military science fiction creates a space opera that is an exciting read.

Harriet Klausner

This is an awful written book. Only dialog and no whatsoever description of the universe. If you are into Spaceopera i will suggest something either from Ian Banks or Peter F Hamilton!

The book felt contrived, as if he needed some money and rushed it out.

this is the first book from a serial space saga.
It introduced us to un bunch of misfit who are for hired.
The characters are not very original, we saw their king in thousands of stories.
The only interest is that the author have some way to put an ordinary story in an entertainment reading.
A light summer book.

I've read Chris Bunch's other series, "the Last Legion" as well and all of his books are poorly written with the same problems.
The characters are one dimensional and the dialogue is shallow. The chain of events sometimes makes no sense whatsoever, there is no explanation or clear description of the worlds or environment, passage of time, location of things in relation to another, etc. The writing is atrocious, the conversations between the characters are confusing, the reader will lose track of which character is speaking at any time as Chris Bunch and his editor use the "Correct English" way of breaking the conversation into paragraphs and using the quotation marks or lack of, or no closing quotation marks, to show the reader which character is still speaking. The problem is that 99% of the time there is no need to break what one character says into several paragraphs and instead it convolutes the dialogue which otherwise would have been smooth. This is something he does in all of his books, which makes the reading very annoying as he and the editor obviously do not know how to properly use this method.
His use of slang words throughout is ridiculous. half the time they are slang that are used today, other times they are slang from the military but with his own "futuristic" twist on it, and other times they are slang that he just makes up, either way they sound forced, used too often, and come off sounding "cheesy".
His naming of the space ship "boop-boop-a-doop" has to be one the singularly stupidest made up names I have ever read. The other names he makes up for planets, people or aliens seems like he had no ideas and just randomly threw some words together to make it up.
His first couple of books in his "Last Legion" series are slightly better than this book, but still I would never recommend these books to anyone. Thankfully I did not purchase the book but was given to me by a friend. There are much better SF books out there, do not waste your time or your money on any of these.

A nice read. Somewhat in the style of E.E. Smith whom I really like. This is NOT a heavy, deep thought required, read; however, I found it an enjoyable book. I like the mix of characters.