Customer Reviews

Strikemasters

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

 

 

This book is so bad it's funny. The plot is far fetched, the characters are cardboard cutouts, the technology is closer to sci-fi, and the military operations are laughable. I bought it on a lark after reading the short excerpt inside the front cover, fully expecting it would be terrible. The author is trying to be the next Dale Brown, but this reads more like the next book in the Wingman series by Mack Maloney. If you're not looking for serious military fiction, it's fine for a little lighthearted entertainment, but probably more geared towards the young adult crowd.

I received Strikemasters as a gift a few days ago and read the reviews to determine if I should bother with it since it was a few years old.
Undaunted by the negative, I decided the positives were probably right - they were.
The first negative was the small type, probably eight-point Times New Roman. But I quickly forgot that when I got to Part two.
Then it was pretty much downhill to the end. Hellova plot and unbelievable gadgetry rivaling Doc Savage for being available when needed.
Great escapism in the tradition of the pulps, except it was unnecessarily long for the first one hundred pages.
The only other negative was the way the subject of the mission was handled, but overall they kicked ass and got the job done without concern for collateral damage and political correctness.
I've already bought the two following books and don't expect to be disappointed.
Norm

This book moves so fast, yet is packed with so much action and intrigue, it's impossible to put down. It reads more like a movie or, better yet, a video game put into words. Can't wait for the next one.

Strikemasters ranks among the worst books I've read (and I've read a lot). It is formulaic, presents military in impossible terms, with plenty of Hollywood (read: impossible) physics, blatantly copies existing plots, and is basically a joke all around. I've read most technothrillers, from Harold Coyle to Tom Clancy to Dale Brown and plenty of people in between. Bill Kellan, in "Strikemasters" attempts to emulate the style, but came up miles short.

Premise: US have a secret of secrets base, hidden even more than Area 51... called Area 153 (three times ore secret than Area 51, get it? 51x3? Ha-ha). Test pilot "Gunn" was sent on secret orders to join this group of misfits... flying three modified C-17's, which is so stealthed, it's even SOUND-stealthed (think Blue Thunder) and visually stealthed (smart-skin). One's the gunship, one's a dropship (paratroopers) and one's a tank landing ship. When Al Qaeda offshoot kidnapped 5 USAID workers in Pakistan and want to execute them on TV, Strikemasters are called in to deal with them... by the program's leader, because one of the hostages was his daughter.

I don't mind a bit of tech or even scifi-ness. I am a BIG fan of science fiction. However, putting super-stealth technology on a TRANSPORT PLANE? AND technology that just WORKS without ANY sort of explanation? It's impossible to sound-stealth a jet, even with active sound cancelling. You certain't can't quiet the rush of air. Smartskin is possible but a plane is impossible to keep absolutely clean, and any dirt will make the smartskin active camo useless. Oh, and takeoff assist rockets? Apparently these rockets can be fired as many times as needed on these planes, without reload! (Hollywood physics, guns shooting 60 rounds with a 30 round magazine...)

The behavior of the characters are even MORE ridiculous. The leader of the program sending in the group as a private army to rescue his daughter is hilarious, and all the characters just go along with it, without a word? Everybody ought to be courtmartialled and show down for stealing the best tech US currently have, and not just the three planes, but the tanks, the paratroopers, and everybody else! Then there's Lt. Moon, who manages to fly a PERSONAL copter (smaller than a Robinson R22) in a middle of a winter storm in the mountains of Afghanistan?!

Let me describe a scene, and you tell me if it makes any sense. The tank-carrier plane intercepted a corp jet and through some sort of impossible eavesdropping tech, determined that UBG (ultimate bad guy) is onboard, but this jet doesn't have weapons. So what they did was... the stealth plane overtook the jet, still stealthed, then opened the rear ramp, so the tank use the main cannon to shoot the other plane out of the sky.

WTF?! Haven't this guy heard of wingtip vortex turbulence? You can't fly in front of the other plane without the other plane knowing it, even if you are positively CLOAKED! And haven't this guy heard of COAX machine gun? WTF?!

Bob Killan reads like someone who wrote a technothriller without doing ANY research except what he *think* the military ought to operate like, then proceed to throw laws of physics out the window to compose his tail, rules be ****ed. There's a ton more impossible situations in the book that defies logic, physical laws, and common sense.

All being said, this is one of the most idiotic books I've read. Good thing I only paid a buck for it, and even then I felt it's sorta wasted.

Bill Kellan is a new author to me and his first opus, Strikemasters, is an excellent first offering. The action adventure - military techno writer has a one of two ways to go. One path is describe gear and battles, a written video game or comic book-graphic novel of sorts, that presents an entertaining and often a thought provoking story. The second is to work the ethos of military teams, warriors, the demands of a mission, blend common people as heros and villians, and the emotional highs and lows as the feature and employ the military technology as the vehicle. Mr Kellan chose the second path and works the story very well. He paints a picture of the emerging way we will fight the near future battles of the war we are involved in now. The descriptions of aircraft, weapon systems, and employment-order of battles are generally excellent. A few small ommissions will only be noted by the most geeky of readers, i.e. me, the C-17 taking off with the ramp down, even level, would have been a difficult deed. The much greater inclusion of new systems and upgraded additions, say the use of very small-but powerful helicopter, UAS systems; excellent. Featuring the spirit of the warrior thrown into a group of other warriors with extreme demands, capable systems, and internal friction was well executed through the story line. In fact the strongest, best part of this book, is the description of the warrior in the continuous flow of preparation and battle, the decisions that must be made and living with the results, set this apart from most recent books. Mr Kellan captures this as few authors do. His grasp of the technical and military details is obvious, his insights to the warrior spirit a bit rare. His mastery of putting these human events into play and writing the painful precision the joys and sorrows makes the book worth reading. My only draw back were excessive comments to President Bush, from my personal experience they do not wash. We are not a military that did not pursue warriors left behind, but much will not be said to what goes on. I am one of the few folks that agreed with the neccessity of OIF and as illustrated in Strikemasters, the execution was flawed at times by the very people responsible to the military. With this small difference stated, excellent writing with an outstanding theme, well constructed plots, and reflecting heart is rare in any book, but even more in genre. For fans of this venue, read Strikemasters, and hope the next book is on its' way.

AFTER READING THIS BOOK I HOPE WE HAVE PEOPLE LIKE THIS PROTECTING US. THERE IS TIMES WE HAVE TO GET DOWN TO THERE LEVEL AND FIGHT THIS WAR TO SURVIVE. THE BOOK STARTED OUT BY BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER TO FORM A UNIT THAT WOULD BRING THE WAR TO THE TERRORISTS BY ATTACKING THERE SAVE HAVENS. AT SOME POINT THEY REALIZE THAT THEY HAVE BEEN SET UP TO FAIL. LASTLY THE AUTHOR HAS INTERESTING SUPRISES TIED TOGETHER. READ AND ENJOY!!!