Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Protecting the Natives, September 18, 2000
This review is from: Technokill (Starfist, Book 5) (Mass Market Paperback)
Technokill Review I've said it before, I'll say it again - if Tom Clancy wrote far-future SF, it would look like this. Some SF tales are "Gadget" stories - the main character is a computer, a time machine, or a space ship - the humans (or other sentient creatures) are mere window dressing. This is where a lot of SF writers start out, and these stories are sometimes, but not always, bad. At the other end are "people" stories - the story is about people and situations, and the SF elements are thrown in as a seeming afterthought. These can often be good - Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles are "not really SF", but they're good stories. The same can be said for Spider Robinson's "Callahan's Bar" series. I'll add another distinction - I consider the culture a form of technology, something a lot of writers don't consider. For example, James Blush's "Cities in Flight" follows the people of New York City a thousand years in the future. It's a good story, but I have trouble believing that a thousand years from now, after 800 years of Soviet Occupation, New York City would look and sound so much like the NYC of 1960 - especially since NYC has changed so much in my lifetime... The FIST series falls just a little right of center on this spectrum - there's a bit of science here, and neat, well thought out gadgets, but the real story is in the characters. I can believe in the Confederation culture - given the authors' assumption about the developments of the next few centuries, it makes sense. The main characters are much like the military folks I know - I can tie most of the characters to a real-life person. Mssrs Cragg and Sherman concentrate on the Marines, but they also follow the grand sweep of the action- from the highest level of the Confederation government, the smoky back rooms of power politics, the Conference rooms of the military leaders, right down to the conversations in the berthing spaces of the transport ships. That's not unusual - what's remarkable, is that they do it so well. For example, if you watch Star Trek (tm), you'd think that Starfleet (tm) lobotomizes all Admirals - I can't think of a single intelligent Flag officer in that universe, Kirk included, in many years. Back when I was an enlisted troop, I might have agreed with that, but over the last few years, I've personally met many Generals, Admirals, etc. I've concluded that, when you can see the big picture, things that looks stupid to the Line Animal and his micro view, make sense to the General and his/her macro view. This story pits the Marines against a bunch of smugglers trying to take unfair advantage of a group of intelligent avian creatures. The Confederation leadership wants the avians to develop technology on their own, without outside interference. The smugglers want to obtain some high-value gemstones that are only found on this world, and who cares what happens to the natives and their culture? Further, the Marines must stop the smugglers - but they must keep the existence of these creatures secret from the rest of the Confederation, lest well-meaning meddlers attempt to "enlighten" the natives...There is a final subplot as the Marines find they even need to protect the avians from the research scientists. The Marine Commander risks his career to end a research project reminiscent of Dr Mengele at his worst. If you are any kind of a student of sociology or history, there is a very fine, practical review of what happens when a technologically superior culture hits a low-tech culture. I took a personal interest in this, as my paternal ancestors got chased out of Scotland, came to America, walked the Northeast Trails with Thayendega (The white men called him Joseph Brant). My maternal ancestors were Samurai. My ancestors knew about lost causes and surviving the onslaught of the white man and his culture. Gunny Thatcher's historical briefing is somewhat abbreviated, but, in my opinion, is dead on. It's not Politically Correct, but it pulls no punches, and calls it straight on. That particular essay is darn near worth the price of the book right there. I wouldn't want you to get the feeling that this is an intellectuals-only book. There's plenty of blood and thunder here, and a really neat couple of light-cavalry battles. There's some of their trademark low humor here, too. My personal favorite was a take on the US military expression "I will be dipped in (fecal material)". (snicker) I'd hate to be a villain in this series - they all seem to meet particularly gruesome fates. There's rough mercy here, also. Once, I made a disparaging comment about a person, and my Gunny brought me up short with the reply, "He's not evil - he's just a messed-up guy trying to make the best of a messed-up situation. That doesn't stop me from killing him if I need to - but if I get away without killing him, that's fine, too. I can't hate him, that's for sure." I get the feeling that the authors have noticed that too, and one of the subplots address this. But this story has something for everybody - blood and thunder, intelligent cultural design, well-thought out characters and situations - it definitely falls in the top 10% of the SF on the book rack today.
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:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great adventure, daring effort!, October 29, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Technokill (Starfist, Book 5) (Mass Market Paperback)
My hat's off to co-authors Dan Cragg and David Sherman for not taking the easy path. This series has been building an ever-greater following, and the thing most authors would have done would have been to stay in the groove and keep re-writing the same book over and over again. With volume V, Cragg and Sherman have certainly kept the basic themes and characters, but they've also taken chances by pushing the envelope and reaching (successfully, in my book) for ever-greater creativity. I found the picture of the alien world the most intriguing I've read in many years--it took me back to my youth and the great age of sci-fi, with writers like Heinlein, Asimov and Company. Other reviewers have gone over the basics of the plot, so I'll keep this short and not re-hash it. But this book revitalized my interest in the series--because there's more to life and conflict than just raw combat, even in a troubled, war-torn future--and because it is, in this reader's view, a marvelous work of the imagination. I hope the series continues for many more volumes, and I suspect the audience will continue to grow. In the meantime, I just passed this volume to my brother, who also remembers the golden age of fictional speculation. Very well done!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent STARFIST Entry, but with more than the usual flaws, April 14, 2008
TECHNOKILL(Aug/2000) is the fifth entry in the STARFIST "Space Marines" military SciFi series, about a Company of 25th Century Marine Infantry, who get into numerous battles, skirmishes, and "police actions".
This is another fun story, which involves the Marines having to put down a group of pirates/poachers who are selling arms to alien beings who have the equivalent of 15th-century technology, which threatens to completely disrupt the cultural development of the, as yet undisturbed, alien world.
Unfortunately, the book suffers from the usual two main problems: 1) Uncreative character names, and 2) Uncreative technology.
1) The 70's Philadelphia Flyers characters are all back (despite numerous dead Marines, the Flyers characters are NEVER killed off). Additionally, there are other absurd character names: Piggot Thigpen (Fat Senator), and Tweed (Boss).
2) Well, in this story, the UAVs are called UAVs again... the authors having bought into the fad in 1999 to call UAVs RPVs in the last few books in the series. Again, the authors have very little creativeness, when it comes to invisioning new weapons technology - their stories become archaice(tech-wise) just a few years after they get published. For example, our current 2008-era UAV technology is way ahead of the UAV tech described in these older books from the series.
Other than the character names and tech, the stories are usually great fun, and I will continue on with the series... I noticed the authors have ramped up production of the books in this series to once every 6 months, from once a year - lets hope the quality doesn't take a downturn with the increased output requirement.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
