Legion of the Damned: Dietz, William C.

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William C. Dietz

Legion of the Damned Mass Market Paperback – August 1, 1993

by William C. Dietz (Author)

205 ratings

Book 1 of 9: Legion of the Damned

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The first novel in William C. Dietz's acclaimed Legion of the Damned series...

There is one final choice for the hopeless—the terminally ill, the condemned criminals, the victims who cannot be saved: becoming cyborg soldiers in the Legion. Their human bodies are destroyed and they are reborn as living weapons. But when aliens attack the Empire, the Legion must choose sides.

Print length

352 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Ace
Publication date

August 1, 1993
Dimensions

4.2 x 0.9 x 6.7 inches
ISBN-10

0441480403
ISBN-13

978-0441480401
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Customer reviews

5 star		59%
4 star		24%
3 star		12%
2 star		3%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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The few. The proud. The dead. The cyborg legionnaires.

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2004

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I'm quite pleased that I finally got around to sampling the wares of William C. Dietz, a writer with an impressive number of science fiction novels under his belt already. Legion of the Damned is a well-paced, absorbing novel of futuristic military science fiction based on a premise I find fascinating. A couple of centuries into the future, murderers and their ilk are still being executed, but they are given a second chance - of sorts - to evade the permanent clutches of the Grim Reaper. Those who choose the option of resuscitation are, if approved, reborn in the form of cyborgs - basically, these are gigantic robots of death consisting of a human head inside an artificial and quite deadly body. (For the record, other humans, such as the terminally ill, also have the chance to opt in to the cyborg program.) The cyborgs serve under the command of the Legionnaires, a military force founded on the twentieth-century French Foreign Legion. While they serve in the military of imperial Earth, the Legion is their country (just as their motto says). By the time of the events described herein, the Legion has finally been granted a home of their own, exercising a form of self-autonomy on Algeron, near the outer rim of the Empire's control. Of course, there are many human Legionnaires, but the cyborgs pack most of the punch. Training is so rigorous that many fall along the way, and some even hope for a second death in order to finally fall into oblivion.
There is great trouble in the Empire. The Hudathans, a militaristic alien race, have begun decimating imperial planets on the outer rim and are obviously working their way toward Earth itself. The Admiral of the Imperial Navy is an opportunistic and power-hungry individual who supports a retreat of the Imperial Navy, ostensibly to prepare an overwhelming attack against the Hudathans when they move farther into the empire's region of space; in actuality, her desires are fuelled largely by a determination to make a hero out of herself and to finally rob the Legion of its might and power. Many on the home world (especially those with an economic interest in the planets that stand to be abandoned) argue that Earth's forces should engage the enemy now, while they are still in the outer rim. To the misfortune of everyone concerned, the Emperor is basically insane - as mad as Nero and possibly even more decadent. At least Nero didn't have seven advisors hard-coded into this brain as a child and left to fight amongst themselves inside his mind.
Obviously, a major space battle between Earth's Imperial Navy and the Hudathan fleet is to be expected as this novel wends its way to a conclusion. However, a war between the Imperial Navy and the Legionnaires on Algeron, a localized imperial civil war, looms even closer on the horizon, for the Legion is quite unwilling to give up its home base and allow its forces to be dispersed. Basically, a lot of action is to be found in these pages, and Dietz excels at describing the militaristic aspects of his plot. There are a number of sub-stories incorporated into this fictional fabric involving the formation of a cabal to oppose the Emperor on Earth, an inter-species love story (that never completely clicks, in my opinion), legalistic power-plays among the alien Hudathans themselves in preparation for cosmic war, and a coming together of two cyborgs who "met" in a most unusual fashion in their prior human lives. The ultimate conclusion seems to come a little too quickly and easily, but all in all this is a thoroughly enjoyable novel that all fans of military science fiction should quite enjoy reading.

14 people found this helpful

Dietz in top form

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2019

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Review of Kindle edition
Publication date: August 1, 1993
Publisher: Ace
Language: English
ASIN: B004ELA592
356 pages

This is the first volume in William Dietz Legion series. Through some twist of fate and politics the French Foreign Legion has survived into the future with its traditions intact. It is no longer French but is one of the three major, and mutually antagonistic, military components of a multi-planet empire with complex politics and a mad emperor. Excusably mad as it turns out but still, quite mad.

This is not just simple military sci-fi. Dietz is in top form as he presents an involved story from the points of view of aliens, the legion, the navy, various imperial military, political and civilian leaders and the mad emperor. The emperor who tries to survive by pitting the various imperial factions against each other and avoiding decision making for as long as possible. A predictable recipe for disaster.

A trend in modern sci-fi and fantasy which I dislike intensely is physical relationships, often graphically portrayed, between humans and alien species or paranormal creatures which sometimes border on bestiality. In his legion series Dietz was an early writer of such. The scenes are not as graphic nor the aliens as outrageous as in many of the more modern examples of this trend but they are described in more detail than is necessary for a reader to understand the situation. This is really my only complaint about the book. Dietz can be a master of his craft and displays that mastery here. So much so that it's hard to believe that this book, published in 1993, was written by the same person who wrote the abysmally bad INTO THE GUNS published in 2016 as the first volume in the America Rising trilogy.

One person found this helpful

Book 1 reviewed by a complete series reader

Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2011

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I recently finished the newly released, ninth and final installment. If you are reading this review, I assume that you are looking to enjoy a grand space opera and a place to jump in. Good space opera is hard to find. Looking around and deciding where you might want to invest a lot of reading time in a multi-installment series is about the only way to find it. Great stuff is rare. In the genre of military space opera, Dietz has earned my highest regard with this "Legion of the Damned" series.

The series story is well bound in multiple threads of persons, families, friends and foes. Dietz writing style is front-line gritty, unexpected and action filled. Dietz strength is character development, narrative and the unexpected. There was more than a few became all-nighter reads for me. Dietz develops a compelling story and latches hard to your mind's eye. Then, he neatly wraps up each installment and after nine books, he wraps up the story. There is a lot to be said about `finishing'.

If there is a weakness in the series one might find the lack of high frontier scientific theory made manifest a missing opportunity. Some reviewers discuss this and you can choose as you will. There are no new forces of nature, quantum existences or multi-universes here. Dietz simply extrapolates human proclivities and technology to make a great story in an interesting galaxy. His authorial license leaps forward in scientific imagination and is contrasted with the reliability of essentials.

I don't think you go wrong giving Dietz a try. 5-Star start ... 5 Star end.

19 people found this helpful

Top reviews from other countries

MeisI

A great light read. Great world building

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 18, 2019

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This book is a light read, not heavy prose but still well written and enjoyable, reminds me of the Battletech novels and their ilk only with its own solid worldbuilding based on the real life history of the Foreign Legion. It's like a cross between Avatar and the Enders Game novel. Great little read for quiet lunchtimes.

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Leaves much to be desired.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 22, 2016

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Who this book is for:
If you enjoy action movies and have no problem with any ridiculous and impossible feats, don't care much for science but enjoy fiction and believe Bond should always get the girl, this book is for you.

This book is not for you if:
You require a sense of reality and believability from your story, enjoy plausible science in your science fiction and enjoy when pacing and timing are believable.

Warning! This review may contain some spoilers!!!

Preface: While this book receives quite a bit of positive attention it has quite a bit of shortcomings if you fall under the second category mentioned above that make it difficult to read through. The following will be counter arguments to the 5 star reviews posted.

Initially the book is quite engaging. The concept of this futuristic legion with it's cyborgs, brain in a box technology and distinct culture and lifestyle offers quite a fascinating backdrop for what could've been a space opera epic. Unfortunately the execution leaves this story very wanting and at times frustrating. It's a space soap opera more than a space opera.

Let's start off with the characters. The personalities of all involved are all interchangeable within their tropes. The good guys, whether they are named Booly or St. James or Mosby, might as well all be the same actor alternating wigs and hats. The characters are bland to put it straight and all think along the same lines. Essentially not a problem but makes for less entertaining reading as the names are interchangeable and the only differing aspect is context. The problem bleeds over into a bigger pathology when interspecies differences are considered in the book but I will return to this point later.

No character manages to strike him or herself as a specific personality and they continue to shift their behaviour to perfectly fit the situation at hand. This may in some way be considered character development but in this case the characters develop to such a point that they are perfectly adaptable to any situation no matter the problem. the lack of creativity in variation in the character is strengthened by the fact that nearly each of the major characters at one point or another devolves into somewhat of sex crazed 16 year old. I'm only half embellishing when I say everyone has sex with atleast one other person even though that other person is a mortal enemy or killed them.

The romance of this book isn't romantic, attraction is played as some uncontrollable instinct that will eventually shack two people up and the intimacy is awkward at best. The intimate and romantic sequences of this book are mostly completely unimportant to the story, with the exception of one rather poorly excecuted Romeo and Juliette affair that ends happily.

The book is largely predictable and there is never a sense of urgency or danger. Despite insistence of human extinction abound the author fails to deliver any real perception of threat. Enemy masterminds, massive strength and technology are all swept aside quite easily at various point leaving the reader wondering, so what exactly was that hard about all this? Additionally the unfortunate stereotype that this genre has of recurring extreme luck saving the day is plentiful.

The style of writing also makes the story difficult to understand temporally. There is no real gage of whether somethings happen in the course of weeks, days or hours and there seems to be no permanence as to traveling speed or method. Things just pop up. Spaceships arrive out of a vacuum, pun intended.

Now returning to the concept of interspecies differences. Beyond the purely physical descriptions there are, well... None. Not only does the book suggest that at least two proposed completely different species from two completely different planets share the same mammalian anatomy, they also share the same DNA. A point that only comes across toward the end but is still frustrating to anyone who understands why a dog and a cat can't have babies.

The cultures are also along the same spectrum with humans showing approaches along the whole gama while any aliens fall within small pockets of the same whole. There is actually nothing truly alien about the aliens, save for their appearance, which is humanoid and inspired by earth fauna.

While reading the book I had to actively dumb down my expectations repeatedly and at the end felt a sense of being cheated. The concept proposed was in no way done justice and the only slight positive comment i can lobby that was consistently okay was the action description which offered enough descriptives to paint a pretty picture. The actual fighting, tactics and overall ware fare itself belong more in a Lego movie than anywhere else. As the reader you find yourself wondering how stupid and how much of a pushover the opponent is at critical moments.

As such if you are interested in a light and faint hearted read this is absolutely a book for you, but if you are hoping for an epic along the lines of revelation space or foundation, you are out of luck for sure.

3 people found this helpful

DiscoDave

Excellent Read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 9, 2015

Verified Purchase

This was my first Dietz nove, and the first one i've read on my Kindle. It was hard getting into it, to be totally truthful, but so glad i stuck with it. Some excellent characters and they are built up nicely, so that you actually care what happens to them even, to a certain degree, the bad guys!
Plenty of characters to keep you occupied and some tasty battles too. Good to see some Legion history in their too.
All round, a very well written book. Looking forward to the sequel now.

ChrisH

Be prepared for sleepless nights

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 28, 2015

Verified Purchase

Once you get round the initial confusion of the disparate story lines as they start to coalesce, the book becomes one of those rare 'un-put-down able' reads that have you carrying on until your eyes close, night after night!
Only fault with the book is the way it comes to a conclusion so abruptly, which considering the depth of detail every other facet goes into was a surprise!
But highly imaginative and an exciting read!

Andy

good effortless reading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2015

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed reading this book. The writing is competent and the action scenes engaging. The main characters (both alien and allied) are well fleshed out, believable and the author is not afraid to kill off 'goodies' as well as 'baddies'. Excellent light reading.

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