Customer Reviews

Starship: Pirate (Starship, Book 2)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I liked Resnick's STARSHIP: MUTINY but I like this book much better. There was less frustration as I read it. I think this is because of the situation the hero finds himself in.

In the last book, Cole Wilson demonstrated himself to be extremely capable as a starship officer. He was so capable that he had a habit of showing up his superiors. As a result, he was exiled to an area where it was not expected that he would see much action. When action did threaten, he again made the right choices, going against the grain and showing up his commander. The result it that he saved about 5 million people and went on trial for mutiny. As the book concludes, his crew has broken him out of the brig and run off with him. They have some idea of becoming pirates.

That's where this book begins and there is a problem. These people have turned pirate because they have nothing else to do. Even so, they are the "good" guys. They don't want to attack and kill innocents. They hit upon the idea of only raiding other pirates but that two has its problems. Nobody is properly trained in the art of piracy, people get killed; the return on investment is very low.

They come up with some help in the form of an alien fencer of stolen goods with a soft spot for David Copperfield and a "pirate queen" who has been duped out of her ship. As they try to help her in getting it back, they learn that piracy is not all it is cracked up to be.

This is a fast paced adventure. There is nothing stunning about it; it just holds the attention and provides entertainment. That's fine with me.

Second in the Starship series (Starship: Mutiny was the first), this is a blasters blazing space opera filled with all kinds of moral dilemas -- for instance, how do you become a pirate but not hurt anyone who in your judgment doesn't deserve to be hurt. After all, Captain Wilson Cole is a save the universe type, not a true pirate out to get everything he can for himself.

Enter beautiful but deadly Valkyrie, and the strange alien known as David Copperfield (will they still be reading that in 3,000 years), and of course there's the real pirate king.

Is this book, like David Copperfield obviously will, going to be around as revered literature in 3,000 years - not likely. Is it a fun read for a cold evening or an airplane ride.

The heroic adventures of Wilson Cole, Captain Extraordinaire continue in this novel, the second of the STARSHIP series. Wilson Cole, after kicking himself out of the Navy does what every Navy Man dreams of doing--he becomes a Pirate! The only catch is, he doesn't want to actually hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it, doesn't want to steal from anyone who shouldn't be stolen from, and the last thing he wants to do is injure any of his former Navy comrades by entering into a battle while Pirating. How does he solve this quandary? Read STARSHIP: PIRATE to find out. It you enjoy well plotted action novels with strong characters, this is the one for you!

Pleasant easy read. It's not a mind boggling read with a lot of twists and turns, but it is entertaining.

It's impossible for Mike Resnick to write a bad book and this is no exception. Easy reading. Nice plot. Another great read!

This here's yet another winner from Mike Resnick. I loved the first book and this one is even better, and am eagerly looking forward to the next book in the series.

It's 1967 of the Galactic Era, nearly three thousand years from our times, and the human-created Republic is in the middle of a war against an alien federation of races. Captain Wilson Cole is a political scapegoat despite his dedicated military career, facing a court-martial when he's rescued by his ship's crew and they all flee to the lawless Interior Frontier. Fans of military science fiction and especially libraries with the prior introductory STARSHIP: MUTINY in the stacks will find plenty to like in this fast-paced saga.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Three millennia in the future the Republic is at war with the Teroni Federation and the commander of the Teddy R is one of the Republic's most decorated officers. His actions saved five million people but he exceeded his orders and was awaiting a court martial when his crew broke him out of jail and escaped on the Teddy R to the inner frontier. Wilson Cole and his crew are going to become moral pirates only stealing from other pirates.

On his first foray into piracy he steals a fortune in diamonds and jewelry but when he goes to fence it David Copperfield only offers him a pittance of what it is worth. He "sells them back to the insurance company" but when he tries to do the same stunt with the jewels he is recognized and his visage is broadcast to the Republic. On a frontier planet, he meets the pirate Val, a pirate whose ship was stolen by Hammerhead Shark. She wants it back and Cole makes a deal with her. If she teaches him the ins and outs of piracy, he will help her get her ship back. He finds her ship as it is being chased by three other ships by because Hammerhead Shark raided another pirate's headquarters, killing that pirate's minions, destroying his estate and merchandise. Cole has to figure out a way to deal with both pirates without destroying Val's ship or getting himself killed.

There is so much action in this fabulous space opera that readers will find themselves caught on a roller coaster ride they can't leave. The hero is a decent and honorable man who got sold out by the Republic and he knows he can never return there. He feels for the men who left their families behind to join him in exile but he finds piracy morally repugnant yet he doesn't know what to do until Copperfield gives him an idea. Mike Resnick is a brilliant storyteller who never disappoints his fans.

Harriet Klausner

Not sure where I got the first book in the series, but it was good enough that I bought the second one. I liked the second well enough to buy some more.

The first book was the best. It was the most plausible. sadly, what could have been a great series degraded over time to Wilson Cole somehow being near God like in his prescience and tactical genius. I ended up not getting the final installment. Just not worth $10 to me.

It is too bad, because there are some very fine characters that the author created, and a story line that I liked but got harder and harder to believe in because the main character never really had a hard time of it at all.

I give the first book in the series 5 stars, but it gets progressively worse as the series progresses.

This book purchased via Whispernet for my Kindle and it is a very good sci-fi book as part of this series. It to is well written an excellent story line and fun to read. Thanks!!!!!