Carnifex (A Desert Called Peace) (Hardcover)

by Tom Kratman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Kratman (A Desert Called Peace) raises some disquieting questions about what it might take to win the war on terror in this military SF novel set in a future world with obvious parallels to our own. When Salafi fanatics launch a 9/11-style attack on the hated Federated States of Columbia, they end up killing the family of Col. Patricio Carrera. Carrera vows to destroy Salafism by any means necessary and raises an army in his wife's native land to provide that means. He takes the fight to Pashtia, where the planners of his family's doom are cowering. This disturbing but insightful narrative takes Nietzsche's aphorism about staring into the abyss and runs with it to its grim conclusion. As always, Kratman delights in offending left-wing sensibilities, but this will only enhance its appeal to his target audience, who will enjoy it for its realistic action sequences, strong characterizations and thoughts on the philosophy of war. (Nov.)

Product Description
Revenge: it won't bring your wife and kids back, but it might help with the nightmares.

Patricio Carrera has been waging what amounts to a private world war to bring to justice the murderers of his family. He's raised an army and air force and used them. He's raised a fleet and he's about to use that. He's suborned one republic and is about to undermine another. He's tracked his enemies across half a world, breaking, in the process, any notion of international law that stood in his way.

Now he's deployed his legions to Pashtia, penultimate hideout of the Salafi Ikhwan who have made him what he has become. But with each step further from his home, revenge seems no closer. And with each step he leaves behind him a little of his dwindling humanity.

Revenge is a dish best served cold. Yet the trail itself grows cold, as cold as the snow-capped, windswept mountains of Pashtia. Only Carrera's hate still burns hot, and that's a fire that is slowly consuming him.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 688 pages
• Publisher: Baen (November 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416573836
• ISBN-13: 978-1416573838
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #129,814 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Legion Carries On, January 16, 2008

By	Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Carnifex (2007) is the second SF novel in the Carrera series, following A Desert Called Peace. In the previous volume, Patrick got another lesson about family vengeance. Then the FSC gave him responsibility for Pumbadeta and lent him FS troops to hold his old ZOR. First, the Legion took out the bridges and surrounded the city.

The Legion let out the sick and injured, pregnant and nursing, and small children, but everybody else was kept in the city to consume the food. After the dogs and cats and rats became scarce, the Legion let out the remaining women and children. At the request of a friendly imam, Carrera allowed the local populace to organize a revolt against the mujahadin and then the Legion el Cid took the city.

In this novel, Fadeel al Nisa is tortured onboard the Hildegard Mises after his capture at Pumbadeta, but he provides little information until his parents are brought aboard. While still holding some things back, Fadeel does perform a scripted interview for the TV cameras. The primary message is the foolishness of those who are blown to bits while taking out innocent bystanders.

Using one item of information from Fideel, a Legion assassination team takes out three Ikhwan chiefs and leaves calling cards implicating the Tauran press. Then an Ikhwan team takes out a Tauran News Network truck and everyone inside it. The press is now becoming disillusioned with the terrorist cause.

On the UEPF Spirit of Peace, Captain Wallenstein returns from Terra Nova with a distinct aversion to ever going back again to visit Mustafa ibn Mohamed ibn Salah min Sa'ana. She briefs High Admiral Robinson on the situation down below. Sumer is basically lost to the Ikhwan, but they might be able to stretch out the defeat. Still, the Ikhwan seems to be doing well in Pashta, although they need more time to rearm and train new leaders.

In this story, the Progressive Party has ousted the Federalists in the last election within the Federated States of Columbia. Ron Compos is no longer the Secretary of War. Instead, James K. Malcolm now occupies that position.

Carrera knows that the FSC will not employ the Legion much longer in Sumer, but he has a plan to tide over his troops for the next year or so. Shipping in the Nicobar Straits and along the Xamar Coast is suffering severely from piracy. Patrick has acquired several surplus Anglican Navy ships, including an aircraft carrier. He intends to use the carrier and auxiliary vessels to provide protective services to any shippers willing to pay his price.

One side theme of this novel is the strains on marital relationships. The couples featured in the story include Carrera and his second wife Lourdes, but this marriage also has the ghost of his first wife Linda lurking in the background. Mendoza is a blind and legless veteran of the Legion who is strongly dependent upon his wife Marqueli to read his textbooks. Cruz is a serving legionnaire whose wife Cara is very anxious about his time in combat and would rather that he leave the military.

This story continues the tale of the Carrera's revenge on the Sulafi Ikhwan. In his fight against the Ikhwan, he also has to attack various factions that explicitly support these terrorists. In this volume, the media have learned the hard way -- including some assassinations -- to avoid explicit attacks against the Legion or tacit support of the terrorists.

The story is a quite explicit relating of the horrors of war. As Sherman said, "War is hell". This series develops that theme very strongly, but it also points out the necessities of a war on terror. The best commander in such a war is ruthless as needed. As stated elsewhere, a butcher of the enemy.

Highly recommended for Kratman fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of anti-terrorist warfare, military training and tactics, and marital relationships in the military.

-Arthur W. Jordin

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Carnifex by Tom Kratman, January 17, 2008

By	John R. Johnson (Scottsdale, AZ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a continuation of A Desert Called Peace, at least one more follow up is planned. This book takes Carrera to leading his mercenary troops, The Legion, to defeating the immediate enemies who destroyed his family. His allegiance is now only to the Legion and his adopted country. He carries out military operations which forces three times his size are unable to do. Making enemies and new allies as he does so. Of interest is also the blurbs which detail the Earth now under the governance of the United Nations, controlled by the transnationals (tranzis). An the UN's attempts to control the colony world. An excellent read and I highly recommend it.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Continuing Saga, November 6, 2007

By	N. Glatzer (New Orleans) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The sequel to "A Desert Called Peace", Carnifex dives into the increasingly open warfare between the United Earth and the Terra Novans. The Legion, formed by Patrick Carrera and allies in Balboa, continues the fight against the radical Islamics. The good guys experiment with a naval contingent, and take on both Salafi pirates and the shipping conglomerates supporting them.

Interestingly, Patrick Carrera, like Edmond Dantés, struggles mightily with the cost of seeking his revenge. The next generation of Carreras looms large as the Legion forges strong ties with the tribal societies of Pashtia to oppose the dominant Salafi mujahideen, as well as their supporters, the United Earth representatives and their allies the perfidious cosmopolitan progressives.

A great read for all military science fiction fans, Carnifex, like ADCP, explores the darker side of warfare against an unprincipled enemy.