Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good read... if it had been in another series!, September 20, 1999
This is a very well-written bit of military/political SF, with a strong foundation of historicity. However, it bears no relation at all to the first 2 books in the series, which were pleasant, updated versions of Bob Heinlein's old "Space Cadets." After reading just the first chapter, my son and I almost hurt ourselves laughing, as we tried to imagine what happened to Bill Forstchen in between the completion of book 2 and this sequel. Our best guess was that his wife left him for another woman and sued for divorce, his kids left home and changed their names, the bank foreclosed on his boat, and an editor said nasty things about a work-in-progress! Seriously, Bill, the reason most of us pick up a sequel in a series is that we liked some element of the first books! In this book, the idealistic young hero of books 1 and 2 becomes a bitter, alcoholic hermit civilian-- and oh, yeah, Atlanta and NYC and a bunch of other cities get scragged by alien nukes. This is not a plot-spoiler-- this all happens before the end of chapter one! And there is nowhere near enough character development to emotionally adjust a fan of the series to Justin Bell's new persona. This is a good book, yes-- but it should be the first book of an all-new series. Should you read this book? If you like solid military SF with a strong dose of realistic politics, yep. But if you were a fan of the first 2 books, I recommend that, before you read it, you have a friend go through the book with white-out and a pencil, changing the names of the three protagonists to Smith, Jones and Johnson. Oh, and while you're thinking about it, send Bill Forstchen a "get well" card, too!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A very poor sequel, July 13, 1999
By A Customer
I'd like to start of by stating that I am a very big fan of Forstchen's work, especially his "Lost Regiment" series. When he started the "Star Voyager Academy" series, I thought the idea of a pre-Civil War West Point set in space would be very interesting, and the first two books did not disappoint. However, the third book, while well-written, utterly fails as a sequel. I think its always a bad idea to have a sequel set 20 years after the last book, and this is especially true in this case, where the first two books covered a total of two years time. The main characters, exquisitely detailed in the first two books, have changed to the point where they are completely unrecognizable, and the reader is given only a sparse summary to explain these changes. Further, the explanation seems to conflict with the character's personalities and the events in the first two books. Even more unfortunately, the abrupt shift in the story line has affected my affection for the first two books. As a stand alone book "Prometheus" is not a bad read. Forstchen is a skilled and entertaining writer. As a sequel, the book is terrible. The events in the book could just as easily be happening to three other characters. In fact, I wish they had happened to three other characters, and the author had continued the series where "Article 23" left off.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An entertaining sequal, March 18, 1999
By A Customer
Prometheus is the sequel to Article 23 and Star Voyager Academy. Instead of picking up the story where Article 23 ended, the way a sequal should, twenty years have passed since we last saw the characters.This book reunites the heroes Justin, Matt and Tonya in a war fought against an alien invader. The story is entertaining and the plot is NOT predictable. Mr Forstchen, as always, tells a good story. My only complaint is the missing twenty years. Apparently the civil war between the Colonies and Earth that we saw coming in Article 23 happened during that missing time. Justin fought for Earth, Matt fought for the Colonies, and Tonya joined a neutral peace keeping force headed by Thorson their mutual mentor. Apparently the three fought some battle together before splitting up and this experience changed them. Then their seperate experience on different sides of the civil war changed them some more. The people that they are at 36, their age when this novel opens, are not the people they were at 16, their age at the close of Article 23. That made empathizing with the characters more difficult than it should have been and the transition from one novel to the next a bumpier road than it needed to be.Even with that chunk left out, it was an enjoyable story; especially when read with the first two books. I read this book in about four hours, it flowed nicely and pulled my attention smoothly through the story. If you enjoy military science fiction, you will enjoy this novel.
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