Customer Reviews

The Vang: The Battlemaster

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

 

 

I read it and the other 2 in the series.

I thought it was a good book with a interesting ending and believeable characters and the aliens were very interesting.

Genre of hardcore horror/SF is Rowley's strongest point, although others prefer BattleDragons books. The Battlemaster make you think about scale of Universe, about ancient wars between stars and planets whose distant echo now threaten Humanity by mortal danger. All because of the Vang, protoevil alien species, battle demigods once created huge space empire, but now dethroned and dispersed.

Chris, are you sure that there're no more The Vang beings left around? I don't think so... Oh, god...

Christopher Rowley's early works (The Fenrille series and this Vang series) are highly under appreciated, where to begin? I first read these books in the early 1990s, and after a recent re-read, they have all held up extremely well. Tight pacing, believable characters, crime, drugs, sex, Extended Life Programs, and all of it rendered pointless in the face of unexpected alien invasion on a remote colony planet. What more could you want?

Highly recommended! Why haven't some of these books been turned into films? Their stories are far superior to most of the sci-fi trash being churned out these days. The War for Eternity puts Avatar to shame, just as the Vang leaves other alien invasion stories in its wake!

I have read all three of Rowley's books in this series numerous times. Rowley uses great imagination in creating this possible future and the Vang remain one of the most frightening alien life forms in science fiction - much more lethal than the 'Alien' type in my opinion. While remaining in a brief time period for his story line Rowley can casually allude to events stretching over vast aeons or relatively recently which tie in to the current action and make it so much more interesting in that context. An example is the reference to the Laowan Grotto of Bones in the Battlemaster story. It is a great pity that he didn't develop the theme into further books and it is surprising that he is not better known in this field. I think that if any or all of these three books were adapted for cinema and taken up by the major studios with the best special effects they would be great hits.

I think that the story of this book is every bit as good as the previous two. I only gave it four stars because there were little things here and there that irked me; Nothing that ruined my enjoyment of the book, but they were like little burrs on an otherwise smooth surface.

Like others have said, you should read the first two books first. Then, you can get that old familiar feeling when you read this one. It won't ruin your enjoyment if you don't read them, but it will heighten your enjoyment if you do!

Make sure you start with Starhammer and The Vang:The military Form. It's an excellent series in my opinion. Hey Mr. Rowley, do you have another one for us?