9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
General Fancypants in Command, October 19, 2007
This review is from: Starfist: Flashfire (Mass Market Paperback)
Flashfire (2006) is the eleventh Combat SF novel in the StarFIST series. The Coalition of Worlds consists of a dozen frontier planets that have accumulated a huge trade deficit with other planets of the Confederacy. Under the leadership of Ravenette -- the most wealthy member -- the Coalition worlds have decided that the solution to their problems is secession from the Confederacy. The Confederacy would have let the Coalition go to perdition in their own way, but there is always the problem of the alien Skinks.
With the Skinks probing the frontier, the Confederacy has beefed up its forces on the Coalition worlds and others in the vicinity. This additional military presence hasn't improved public relations on those planets, but everything about the Skinks is classified at the highest level. Various critics have pointed out the problems with withholding such information from the affected worlds.
In this novel, a mob of 300 Ravenette men, women and children forms in front of the main gates of Fort Seymour, a recently reinforced supply deport. The mob throws firebombs and other objects at the 30 soldiers facing them, although most are falling short. Suddenly a brick takes out the officer of the guard and a shot is fired at the soldiers.
After the shooting dies down, the vid cameras record the carnage from this incident and the Ravenette government distributes copies of the vids to news agencies throughout the Confederacy. The official reports reach the Confederation government central offices well after the vids appear on local networks. The President of the Confederacy -- Madam Chang-Sturdevant -- is quite irritated at the delays in the official reports, but has to face a full session of Congress with little more than the information in the vids.
The Representative of Ravenette -- Preston Summers -- makes a stirring speech and then presents the Coalition demands. An argument ensues and Summers assaults another representative with his cane. The Coalition representatives walk out of the Congress and then the Coalition presents an Ordinance of Secession to the Confederacy.
In this story, General Davis Lyons is commander of the military forces of Ravenette. He has served with the Confederation forces and is well aware of their numbers and abilities. He sees no way for the Coalition to win any war with the Confederacy and he informs the convention of delegates from the Coalition worlds that they are going to lose. Yet he has personal reasons for trying to attack the Confederacy and is appointed commanding general of all Coalition forces.
Major General Alistair Cazombi is commander of Fort Seymour. He was a fighting general and one of the critics of the high level policy on the Skinks. After serving on Avionia, Cazombi was assigned as C1 for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He had a semi-public confrontation with the Chairman about Confederation policy of sequestering troops who have fought against the Skinks and the Chairman had him transferred as far from Fargo as possible.
Brigadier General Balca Sorca is commander of the 3rd Provisional Infantry Division, which has been transferred to Ravenette to provide additional security to Fort Seymour. Although General Cazombi is senior to General Sorca, the 3rd Provisional Infantry is an independent command and is not subject to orders from the base commander.
Despite advice from Cazombi, General Sorca uses a defensive line rather than a defense in depth. When the initial offensive by Coalition troops quickly penetrates the line of Confederation forces, the surviving troops have to fall back to positions previously prepared by Cazombi on the Bataan peninsula.
This location has been nicknamed "Bataan" from its obvious resemblance to the peninsula in Manila Bay on Earth. Originally used to store supplies, equipment and ordinance, the tunnels have been extensively fortified by Cazombi's troops and engineers borrowed from Sorca. Once the retreating troops are settled into these defensive positions, Sorca relinquishes command to General Cazombi.
This story tells of the Confederation response to this attack on Fort Seymour. Until a properly equipped and trained task force can be assembled, nearby Confederation forces are inserted piecemeal onto Ravenette. These reinforcements suffer heavy casualties while landing on the planet.
With adroit political maneuvering, Lieutenant General Jason Billie gains command of the relieving forces. The 34th FIST is assigned to his command. The men don't mind, since they have avoided an IG review of their unit, but Brigadier Sturgeon soon discovers that General Billie is a self-important incompetent.
Brigadier Sturgeon soon develops his own ways of obtaining intelligence and establishes cooperative arrangements with other commanders. He informs General Billie of enemy maneuvers and finds means of delaying execution of inept orders until the misperceptions are very apparent. In effect, the 34th is operating as an independent unit, but they can't really reach their full effectiveness with General Billie hanging around their neck.
Obviously, this story has many similarities to the start of the United States Civil War. The generals on both sides, and many of the troops, learned their trades in the same Confederation units. These generals are often personally acquainted with their opponents.
Ironic, isn't it, that the established government in this series is the Confederacy? In fact, this story is, in several ways, a caricature on the secession of the southern states. Nonetheless, the Confederation forces are far larger than the Coalition forces, much more than the Union forces outnumbered the Rebels. As General Lyons points out in this story, the Confederacy can surely overwhelm the Coalition given sufficient time.
This tale cuts off at the height of General Billie's foolishness. The story continues into the next volume:
Firestorm. Read the two together if you can.
Highly recommended for Sherman & Cragg fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of large battles, military politics, and strange romantic affairs.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
What Happened?, March 22, 2006
First, let me just preface this to say that I have read all of the rest of the books in this series and they were excellent. This one, even though the plot was different than the rest and it had great potential failed on several counts.
It was dis-jointed. What do I mean by dis-jointed? It seemed as if several chapters and paragraphs were out of place. For instance, in Chapter 27 Brigadier Sturgeon gets into it with the overall commander and dumbass, General Billie in "yet and another commanders meeting". In the following chapter, they are about to have a commanders meeting AGAIN and Brigadier Sturgeon is asking another General what he can tell him about their new commander and if he has what it takes. One would think that Brigadier Sturgeon, having already had an opportunity to take measure of the idiot in charge would already know and not have to ask.
There are quite a few of these places where it just doesn't seem to flow well in the timeline. And then, then there is the ending. What a weird place to let the storyline go. It just quits. Not even really a cliff-hanger, it just dies.
For the first time since I started this series, I have to say I was extremely disappointed. I enjoyed all of the others and would recommend any of them to friends and family.
Thanks for your time in reading this review.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
