Starstrike: Task Force Mars [Kindle Edition]

Douglas Niles (Author), Kevin Dockery (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

An elite squadron of space commandos battles against the deadliest dangers the galaxy has to offer, in this second novel of an action-packed, military science fiction series.

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 255 KB
• Print Length: 305 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 034549041X
• Publisher: Del Rey (May 29, 2007)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000QUCNYA
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,960 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Striking For Mars!, June 14, 2007

By 

Apollo Reader (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starstrike: Task Force Mars (Mass Market Paperback)

This debut novel of a brand-new military sci-fi series was penned by two authors that came from polar opposites of the writing track.

Douglas Niles is a famed author and best known as a fantasy author, while Kevin Dockery has written exclusively fiction books about Navy SEALS, both on his known as well as a series with real-life Navy SEAL co-author Dennis Chalker. The blending of these two authors is both intriguing and exciting.

Starstrike: Task Force Mars starts out a tad slow with a bit more detailed equipment checks and descriptions then a sci-fi-actioner should. But once it gets going, the action and adventure we were expecting exploded upon the pages. Starting out on a space station built mainly by alien technology, the newly-created SEALS team, (acronyms now mean Sea-Air-Land-and Space), are then dispatched to go to Mars, where a distress call from their outpost is plunged into eerie silence from a martian attack force.

Led by Lieutenant Stonewall Jackson, the SEALS team races into a trap created by one of three alien races that all have their separate agendas. Then what ensues is a sci-fi action adventure read that is filled with blazing guns and high-tech heavy armor that is sure to please readers of such writers as Ian Douglas and David Weber.

We look forward to the next book upcoming: Operation Orion.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Starstrike: Task Force Mars, November 3, 2007

By 

Randall C. LaPlante "Space Cadet" (Burlington, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Starstrike: Task Force Mars (Mass Market Paperback)

Forty years ago. I would have rated this story 2 stars. It is cleanly written, and is technically sound, with
correct technical details, something I believe less
bothered about in many SF tales then. But: Aliens who are humans with with different colored eyes and attitudes? Empires and mental powers that E.E. "Doc" Smith would have sneered at? Plots and characterization that fell asleep by the fourth chapter?? This could have been an enjoyable read. I wasn't expecting great literature -- just decent Space Opera -- and got much less. I've been reading SF since 1965, when I was a wee lad of 8. This book had promise, The first chapter was trite, and yet it took me in, and I wanted to read more. A success.
I wanted to to go to Mars, feel the Martian winds, taste the Martian sands, duck when the Alien rounds just missed vacuuming my helmet. Instead, I got a story that made me ashamed to be an SF fan. Ashamed that this level of craft and ability was being not only wasted, but worse, possibly some neophyte's introduction to the genre. If I had read this as a new fan 42 years ago, not knowing any better, sure., I would've read and probably enjoyed it -- but not nearly as much as the stories that I did read -- and
I certainly would not have recalled it years later -- unless as an embarassing curiousity.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fair at Best, September 4, 2007

By 

John L. Mahan "Jack Mahan" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Starstrike: Task Force Mars (Mass Market Paperback)

When I first saw this title it sounded like something I would be interested in. But sadly it was not. This book reminded me of very old Flash Gordon or a 1930's movie series.

The Aliens were all human, the SEALS were all hard Corps and the Navy arrived just in the nick of time. How convenient!

There are other and better Military Science Fiction books and Series.