Customer Reviews

For Those Who Fell: A Novel of the Legion of the Damned

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This book is an excellent read for people who have been following the Legion of the Damned.

However, if you're new to the series? This book is not the place to start. It's only the fact that you've (in theory) have been reading about these people that make you care about them. Except for humans (who have, in this universe, no un-noble drives), most every alien race is bound by some set of arcane biochemistry that renders them completely unable to solve their own problems, and prone to either betrayal or misdirected fury.

Once again, the solution to the galaxy's problems are "kick all the aliens down until no one's kicking back anymore." You'd think that civilizations with cyborgs and space travel would have gotten more civilized, not less.

However, this is a stirring tale of the honest, rugged and true soldiers of the no-longer-misfit Legion. Your favorite characters are back to kick ass and take names through all the events that a hostile universe throws at them. Will they all survive to stoically defend a Conferacy run by (gasp) Liberals?

So for fans of military sci-fi, this book rocks. For people interested in anything else? Skip it.

The Confederacy of Sentient Beings has a new home on Algernon, the only planet that welcomed them after the insectoid Ramanthians destroyed the battleship that housed their infrastructure. Meanwhile the Ramanthian queen on planet Hive is laying billions of eggs that need transporting to other orbs so the species can survive and ultimately expand to rule the galaxy. Counter strategies forged on Algernon are implemented by the legion to protect the galaxy from the insectoid horde.

Hive is heavily protected so that an armada could not successfully attack, but a lone spaceship disguised as a comet and piloted by a cyborg might succeed. The mission works forcing the enemy to pull back forces to protect the Hive. However, the enemy has cut a deal with the Thrakis to retrofit three thousand vessels; a loyal governmental circumvents official channels to insure the information reaches the right people because the biggest battle in the galaxy seems imminent on the planet Savas with the legion determined to get the Ramanthians new communication system.

William C. Dietz raises the bar of excellent for military science fiction with every book he writes. FOR THOSE WHO FALL is a superb action packed thriller starring countless number of ordinary people forced into Herculean efforts to prevent the enemy from victory. Pivotal heroes like First Lieutenant Antonio Santana and Charlotte Vanderveer, who have appeared in previous books add much to this terrific tale.

Harriet Klausner

Having injected fresh new life into his Legion of the Damned series with For More Than Glory, William C. Dietz provides readers with another exciting military science fiction adventure with For Those Who Fell, the sixth novel in the series. Much has changed since we first encountered the Legion of the Damned several years (and two futuristic wars) ago. While the human cyborg legionnaires remain the foundation of the epic story, intergalactic intrigue, deception, diplomacy, and good old-fashioned warfare have long ago become the trademarks of the series. A narrower design in this and the previous novel has also allowed for tighter focus and better characterization of both new and familiar individuals.

While the Confederation of Sentient Beings has defeated the mighty Hudathans twice in battle and managed to subdue a powerful, mysterious new alien race called the Sheen, it still finds its very survival very much in danger - as was made clear when its spacebound headquarters was totally destroyed via an act of betrayal from within. While no one ever trusted the bug-like Ramanthians completely, few suspected that they would quickly change from ally to insidiously dangerous foe - that's mainly because the Ramanthians chose not to share the news that they were secretly preparing for the hatching of five billion new citizens. Unable to support this impending population explosion on their home planet, the Ramanthians need access to a lot of ships and the ability to seize control of additional planets to serve as homes for large numbers of the new hatchlings - all things that their treachery allows them to lay claim to.

Ramanthians seem to hold the upper hand, as evidenced by the location of the new Confederation seat of government on the ice world of Naa, home of the legionnaires - no other planet wanted to offer the unified government even a temporary home, for fear that the Ramanthians would once again target it for destruction. This kind of concern for the future grows all the more graver when Confederation spies discover that the Ramanthians have managed to build a hypercom; once implemented, this faster-than-ship communications technology would almost surely seal the Confederation's doom. A special ops force is quickly dispatched to the planet Savas to seize the hypercom before the Ramanthians can implement it among all of their forces. Leading the way is the series' newest hero, Lieutenant Antonio Santana, whose dangerous job is made all the more difficult when the overmatched allied force crash lands on the planet in two separate locations separated by a vast desert. Not only must the Confederate forces be brought together before the intended mission can take place, Santana must also deal with a murderous Hudathan traitor running amuck in the wilderness and fight a proxy war against his enemies using the planet's two indigenous populations. And time is short because there's a Ramanthian fleet on the way, as well.

Dietz is truly a master at this kind of futuristic hard science fiction, nimbly handling large numbers of familiar characters across multiple worlds; a variety of subplots really infuse this ongoing saga with a richness most military science fiction can only dream of. Just because Santana has his hands full on Savas while the Naa renew their controversial call for equal representation in the Confederation and diplomat Christine Vanderveen risks her career to expose the secret collaboration of the Thrakies with the enemy Ramanthians doesn't mean the Confederacy doesn't have a surprise or two up its sleeve for the Queen laying all those billions of eggs back in the Ramanthian Hive. To fully appreciate this story, though, you really need to have enough of a background of the series to put everything in context. You should definitely read the previous novel, For More Than Glory, before picking this new installment up, but I would strongly recommend reading the entire series in order, for Dietz takes his readers on a wild and addictive ride that just keeps getting better and better.

Even though it's strength is fading, Dietz's books are some of the best written military fantasy/science fiction out there.
I did like the fact that the first novels continually changed the heroes, but even straying from this line Dietz still managed to produce a strong book.
I certainly recommend reading this entire series.

One of the best books of this series! Action packed but not lacking in plot and intrigue. As always, Dietz has woven plenty of political plots and betrayals with grisly battles and interesting characters. I give it 5 stars.

While the author's style adds little to push the edge of the envelope in SciFi it is, when action is presented, a fast paced exciting read. This helps to cover the logic inconsistencies that pop-up from time to time. His character development leans too heavily on sterotypes, but that doesn't get in the way of the story line. One petty observation, my First Edition had far too many typos, errors and word ommissions, which I hope will be corrected in future editions. I make enough of these myself...

William Dietz has taken the quiet, solid honor of the Legion and made them legendary in his books. This book, like all the others in the series, takes the reader to a sold, tangible place that allows you to feel like you're there. The generations represented by all of the "Legion of the Damned" books are well done and the characters are engaging. I heartily suggest ALL of Mr. Dietz' work to anyone who loves military science fiction.