Customer Reviews

Their Master's War

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

 

 

The sequel to 'PROTECTORATE', though one would not realise this till the very end, this is an excellently told tale of the entire human race reduced to cannon fodder by a race of conquering aliens. A frightening, entertaining, cynical, but above all ENTERTAINING tale told thru the perspective of hapless infantry foot soldiers press-ganged into fighting a vast, meaningless war waged by superior alien races. One of my all-time favourites 'war is hell' or 'space war' stories. I am surprised and saddened that this book has not been made into a movie (or at least a computer RPG) yet. Too dark, perhaps?? Remember the 60's TV series 'Combat'? This is the space-going version of that. IMHO, one of the best 'Mankind as Conquered Species' stories ever written, ranks right up there with 'Men like Rats', 'The Tripod Trilogy' etc. Mick's alien conquerors are so sinister and effectively portrayed, makes the lizards of 'V' seem like escapees from a children's pett'in zoo! Anyone out there knows the email address of Mick? Tell me at cthulhufatagn@hotmail.com, have been wanting to compliment him personally for many years now. Mick is like a brandname:- his books never disappoints! WE WANT MORE MICK!! WE WANT MORE MICK!! WE WANT MORE MICK!!
Visit Mick's webpage
http://www.thanatosoft.freeserve.co.uk/

The most innovative SciFi book I have ever read!!! Totally facinating stuff. Love the idea of using humans to fight alein wars for them. Also has wonderful use of mind programming and space suits/war fatigues!! The suits are actually a living organism that lives off of our sweat and has the ability to heal wounds!!!! Wonderful war battles!! Can you tell that I love this book??

Like Star Ship Troopers except with a plot, believable characters, realistic future combat and a lot of other great stuff. Imagine Starship Troopers as a 5 then this book is a 9. Why didn't they make a movie of this one? Really superb writing and everything. Plot is excellent.

One of the best books I have ever owned,and I lost it....its been years since I lost it,and its a book I could read over and over.its that good,and a second book would really be nice....

I first read this book when I was about 14 years old. I loved it, it was one of my favorite sci-fi books in my teenage years, and I read it a couple times. Now I'm in my mid-thirties, and decided to read it again, along with the loosely connected first book, "The Protectorate", which I never read. The prequel was so-so, but "Their Master's War" is still as good as ever! I feared that, being a mature adult now, that the book wouldn't have the same appeal for me as it did for my adolescent mind of twenty years ago, but if anything, I enjoyed it even more this time around. One of the best military sci-fi novels of all time. If you are into hard-core high-tech sci-fi, this book isn't it. The technology and science described is pretty shallow, and the author (rightly) minimizes its role in the story. However, the characters are well-developed, and the premise of the story is fascinating and unique; you will find yourself at the end of the story really rooting for the underdog humans. The last 50 pages are a real page-turner.

Mick Farren is quite an interesting countercultural raconteur and he has tried his hand at many genres of fantastic fiction. Here he delivers a pretty solid slab of military sci-fi, in which unwilling soldiers are brainwashed and programmed to fight an endless and pointless war against aliens who they know nothing about, and all for mysterious masters with inscrutable motives. This basic premise has been done before, most notably in Robert Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" and Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War," while the basic concept (outside of sci-fi) goes back at least as far as Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead." But lo and behold, Mick Farren delivered a slab that is quite a bit more enjoyable than those classics, if not as weighty.

There's a certain creepy fascination to the premise of scattered human tribes on remote planets, who have reverted to primitive lifestyles only to find that their entire cultures and societies are programmed breeding grounds for cannon fodder in a war between two species of aliens. Farren does pretty well with this premise but some of the story's potential doesn't come to fruition, while deep thoughts about humanity keep peeking around the edges of the action but don't see the full light of day. There is also an underlying mystery (hint: mutilation) that Farren forgot to fully reveal by the end of the book. In essence, the story has some potentially huge thematic insights lurking around beneath the surface, but the book merely boils down to fairly exciting but ultimately directionless battle scenes, with resolutions only for the book's main characters. This is a fun read but you'll have to use your imagination to find insight on its deeper thematic potential. [~doomsdayer520~]

This book survived a entire rotation through the University of Moscow. Took me a year to get it back. Everybody loved it. Dam good book. Made all my close friends read it...They all loved it too...real cool stuff...bio combat suits, interesting battles, and neat chars...only bad part was the length, because I could not get enough...Hey Mick, talk to Robert Jordan about length and sequels...

What is it about the really, really good books? You read 'em, and then, simply 'cause you're working on your seventh Steinlager and all is well with the world as the All Blacks are beating be-jesus out of the Wallabies on the 26 inch - so you lend it outto one of your scrofulous mates. And you never see it again. Mind you, you never see that particular friend again, either, which makes you wonder just what kind of battles and demons he's facing, and where.... Would someone please have a chat with god (any god will do) and have someone re-release this book? I'd buy it. twice. (I still have some Steinlager in the fridge, the there's another Trans-Tasman rugby test match coming up....)