Customer Reviews

Starstrike: Task Force Mars

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I think to say that this book is bad would be an overstatement, however, there just isn't anything that's really all that good either. The plot borders on nonsensical. The aliens (who all look human, except for their eye color) are completely one-dimensional. The character development is non-existent, although several characters could be interesting if more time were invested in them.

The plot is made up of one convoluted event after another, which the SEALS get through because a.) SEALS are most awesome-est! b.) Oh look some "thing" just happened to get us out of this mess. c.) Hey, look these aliens have mastered interstellar travel, but are really dumb.

Anyone who is interested in this type of novel (military SF) would be better served taking a look at: March Upcountry, Old Man's War, Clone Republic, Gust Front, Starship Troopers, The Voyage, etc.

I slogged through the entire book, hoping it would redeem itself. It never did.

This book just never breaks through into a good read. They worked too hard getting all the jargon and cliche's to fit and forgot about telling a good story. Reads like a dull after action report.

This book started a little slow but I find that this is typically the case for a new series when the writers want to give the readers enough background to set the stage. I quickly got hooked on the story and found many parts where the authors used realistic proceedures instead of creating far-fetched situations. The writers bring up good points about which Teams would be the best in space and how much do you really trust information received from unknown sources.
Overall I think this was an excellent book and am waiting for the next installment.

I was looking for a new mil/sci-fi series when I came across this book. I found it very disappointing. The charactors are all cardboard/cartoonish in depth. I could care less what happened to them as individuals. There were a lot of unanswered questions as I read. Why would advanced aliens give advanced technology to Earth excluding weapons (a shade Star Trekish)? I don't want to give away too much plot but SEALS ending up on an alien planet and practically defeating a whole planet? Hollywood weapons that never seem to run low on ammo or jam. Puhleeze. No SEAL/SEALS would go on a mission with such poor intel. They have been in contact with an alien race for three years and have gleaned no information on the adversary aliens? I'm sorry but there were way too many holes and unanswered questions for me to enjoy this book. However if you are looking for a mil/sci-fi shoot 'em up with no depth of charactor or story, if you can put your brain in neutral, don't think and just read, then this is the book for you. For me....well.....not so much.

The author certainly understands modern military tactics and equipment. He is able to go into great detail, sometimes a bit too much detail, on these topics. However his science fiction imagination seems a bit lacking. He 'creates' three alien species that are just humans with different colored eyes. One 'race' has 'creepy' blood red eyes, another has 'striking' green eyes and so on. These are literally the only difference between the species and humans. Even the original Star Trek series had more variation than that! The story is also a been there seen that type of tale. The writer has potential but needs more variety before he really takes off.

If you pick up the book just from the cover you should expect a nice pulp science fiction read, and that is precisely what you get. Fun is somewhat thinly drawn characters, the bad guys lose the good guys win, the cavalry comes to pick up the pieces and save the day. And there is nothing wrong with that. Starstrike: Task Force Mars is a fine book and a pleasant read.

If you like StarFist series and given the sales of that series many people do, then you will find this a bit more "logical and believable". A fine new series for these that like pulp science fiction.

The best way I can describe this book is one that someone would read in between major novels. Simple plot - the good guys always win in the end. The three alien races look like humans but some of them have different colored eyes. Typos here and there throughout the book. Plus the few major characters quickly described by the authors in the book lack depth and defining characteristics. In short, a simple read that will cause the reader to slightly pause over the theories behind the novel (some of which seem to be borrowed from here and there) but will do little to keep the reader interested from start to finish.

If the authors decide to write another book in the series hopefully it will be better than the first two. They should stop trying so hard to set up background information and actually take the time to deepen the characters already introduced. Maybe present the characters with problems that can't be so quickly and easily solved with a little thought and a lot of muscle? Lastly they should read and reread though their work for the typos that haunted the first two books in order to avoid them in their next one.