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Starfist #1
First to Fight
"Marines, we have just become a low-tech deep recon patrol . . ."
Stranded in a hellish alien desert, stripped of their strategic systems, quick reaction force, and supporting arms, and carrying only a day's water ration, Marine Staff Sergeant Charlie Bass and his seven-man team faced a grim future seventy-five light-years from home. The only thing between his Marines and safety was eighty-five miles of uncharted, waterless terrain and two thousand bloodthirsty savages with state-of-the-art weapons in their hands and murder on their minds.
But the enemy didn't reckon on the warrior cunning of Marines' Marine Charlie Bass and the courage of the few good men who would follow him anywhere--even to death. . .
Stranded in a hellish alien desert, stripped of their strategic systems, quick reaction force, and supporting arms, and carrying only a day's water ration, Marine Staff Sergeant Charlie Bass and his seven-man team faced a grim future seventy-five light-years from home. The only thing between his Marines and safety was eighty-five miles of uncharted, waterless terrain and two thousand bloodthirsty savages with state-of-the-art weapons in their hands and murder on their minds.
But the enemy didn't reckon on the warrior cunning of Marines' Marine Charlie Bass and the courage of the few good men who would follow him anywhere--even to death. . .
378 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
48 people are currently reading
1300 people want to read
About the author
David Sherman
67 books98 followersDavid Sherman was the author or co-author of some three dozen books, most of which are about Marines in combat.
He wrote about US Marines in Vietnam (the Night Fighters series and three other novels), and the DemonTech series about Marines in a fantasy world. The 18th Race trilogy is military science fiction.
Other than military, he wrote a non-conventional vampire novel, The Hunt, and a mystery, Dead Man's Chest. He also released a collection of short fiction and non-fiction from early in his writing career, Sherman's Shorts; the Beginnings.
With Dan Cragg he wrote the popular Starfist series and its spin off series, Starfist: Force Recon—all about Marines in the Twenty-fifth Century.; and a Star Wars novel, Jedi Trial.
His books have been translated into Czech, Polish, German, and Japanese.
David passed away in November 2022.
He wrote about US Marines in Vietnam (the Night Fighters series and three other novels), and the DemonTech series about Marines in a fantasy world. The 18th Race trilogy is military science fiction.
Other than military, he wrote a non-conventional vampire novel, The Hunt, and a mystery, Dead Man's Chest. He also released a collection of short fiction and non-fiction from early in his writing career, Sherman's Shorts; the Beginnings.
With Dan Cragg he wrote the popular Starfist series and its spin off series, Starfist: Force Recon—all about Marines in the Twenty-fifth Century.; and a Star Wars novel, Jedi Trial.
His books have been translated into Czech, Polish, German, and Japanese.
David passed away in November 2022.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
May 19, 2012
This book is yet another marine story starting at boot camp. I do not know why but these stories seem to be much more popular than the ones that focus on tech and starships. A shame since I like the latter much more.
Anyway, this is a fairly good book. It’s a not too complicated story about a marine, his first training and his first mission. Naturally there has to be the usual clueless, dumbass officer in there that doesn’t know what he’s doing but thinks he does. Fortunately he gets properly dealt with which increases my rating of this book. I hate it when the author lets the morons win or get off the hook because they are politically connected or something. Luckily these authors do not.
As a part of the initial story setup, there’s also the, equally obligatory, dumbass civilian contractor that thinks he can screw the marines by supplying shitty equipment. He also gets some of what he deserves although he does get off a wee bit easy for my liking.
One review said that the book is “full of swear words, bad themes, and gore”. I do not think it’s that full of it but, it is a marine story. I’m quite happy that the authors didn’t stoop to the, all too common, practice of being politically correct and introduce some new silly word(s) instead of the normal foul ones.
A good start of a series but then, I have said that before and been quite disappointed after the first book. We’ll see how it goes with this one. I will read the next one for sure.
Anyway, this is a fairly good book. It’s a not too complicated story about a marine, his first training and his first mission. Naturally there has to be the usual clueless, dumbass officer in there that doesn’t know what he’s doing but thinks he does. Fortunately he gets properly dealt with which increases my rating of this book. I hate it when the author lets the morons win or get off the hook because they are politically connected or something. Luckily these authors do not.
As a part of the initial story setup, there’s also the, equally obligatory, dumbass civilian contractor that thinks he can screw the marines by supplying shitty equipment. He also gets some of what he deserves although he does get off a wee bit easy for my liking.
One review said that the book is “full of swear words, bad themes, and gore”. I do not think it’s that full of it but, it is a marine story. I’m quite happy that the authors didn’t stoop to the, all too common, practice of being politically correct and introduce some new silly word(s) instead of the normal foul ones.
A good start of a series but then, I have said that before and been quite disappointed after the first book. We’ll see how it goes with this one. I will read the next one for sure.
November 10, 2018
Brutally cliche. It had its moments, but it's not great.
November 9, 2018
Entertaining but lacked more action for me. Will continue to read the series in hopes that it will pick up!
June 5, 2021
Space Marine novel. Written by a team of Vietnam vets - a Marine and a soldier. Not up to Starship Trooper standard (the book and not the mediocre movies), but a fun read for a retired Marine!
August 5, 2011
Not a bad book. You get just a taste of each bit of "Fleet Marine" life. We get the drinking carousing etc. We meet Dean and the outfit.
The story opens with Marines suffering because of a new piece of equipment (I was discharged from the army in '75...remember what happened with the M-16 at first?).
The story has a lot of stereotypical moments and even stereotypical characters...but it's as I said not a bad read. I'm going with 3 stars, didn't love it didn't hate it.
I like military Science Fiction, but think I'll concentrate on a few other "series" before I go back to this one. I have several books on my shelves from the War Hammer 40K universe and I'm listening to an audio of a Halo novel (both these of course based on games). Then I have some other straight military science fiction, that is, not game based LOL.
Will I follow this up? Don't know. Not right away, maybe later. so as noted before a good solid "not bad", 3 stars.
The story opens with Marines suffering because of a new piece of equipment (I was discharged from the army in '75...remember what happened with the M-16 at first?).
The story has a lot of stereotypical moments and even stereotypical characters...but it's as I said not a bad read. I'm going with 3 stars, didn't love it didn't hate it.
I like military Science Fiction, but think I'll concentrate on a few other "series" before I go back to this one. I have several books on my shelves from the War Hammer 40K universe and I'm listening to an audio of a Halo novel (both these of course based on games). Then I have some other straight military science fiction, that is, not game based LOL.
Will I follow this up? Don't know. Not right away, maybe later. so as noted before a good solid "not bad", 3 stars.
March 11, 2010
This is the first of, I believe, a 14 book series. I believe I have read these books but I can't remember when and I don't remember the books.
StarFist is a typical military sci-fi book. There's a lot of character building in this book since it is the introduction to the series. The main character is a young man named Dean. I'll let you read about the rest of his name. He joins the "space marines" and his journey begins.
Each book tells a story that involves Dean, not necessarily directly, but he does figure into each book.
These are good, easy reads. Sometimes the stories get predictable but they are good stories to read in the end.
StarFist is a typical military sci-fi book. There's a lot of character building in this book since it is the introduction to the series. The main character is a young man named Dean. I'll let you read about the rest of his name. He joins the "space marines" and his journey begins.
Each book tells a story that involves Dean, not necessarily directly, but he does figure into each book.
These are good, easy reads. Sometimes the stories get predictable but they are good stories to read in the end.
November 24, 2017
A really badly written book with very predictable events and plot lines. The writing is choppy, formulaic and dull. The voices of the two authors can be seen in the opposing opinions voiced in the book.
May 21, 2017
writing military science fiction needs more than knowing the inner working of the military
this book has no vision,no innovation
nothing
this book has no vision,no innovation
nothing
October 5, 2018
My first review on a book… and I had to write it because I was so disappointed.
I have listened to 6 books so far, and there are many negative things that is showing up in every book.
The author is glorifying and romanticizing the marines to the degree of ignorance, there are no well told feelings of how deep shit grit or how bad it can be as an marin, or how many “not so good things” they have to do. In the books the marines will never do anything that is wrong, everything they do is right. Marines is always right, the bad guys are always wrong.
Listening to this books gave me the picture of an American patriot trying to tell a patiotic Sci-Fi American marine story.
The books are soo average that it is hard to focus on the story. Plot-twists is easy to see long before they are written, everything in the book is stereotyped to the extreme degree that I sometimes have to give myself a facepalm. This is the biggest negative in every book so far, the extreme stereotyping in the book.
Then you have the pacing of the story, the author is jumping from one setting to the next with few or no filler between to make a good transition. It is at times so annoying.
The books doesn’t give a good sci-fi feeling, it does not challenge anything when it comes to improving on the genre, and it does not challenge you as a reader/listener. It does not shine trough with a good capther here or there, it is all average gray, no collour.
If you do not have anything to read/listen too at the moment, sure, go for it, but don’t expect the next big thing. It is at best average.
I was unsure of I would give it a 2 star or a 3 star, but when I tried to think back on the books to see if there where anything at all that stod out, or made an impression on me, or was original in any way, I could not think of anything. The books was just so extremely stereotypical average that I ended up with 2 star.
The only good thing about the books is that they are all short.
I have listened to 6 books so far, and there are many negative things that is showing up in every book.
The author is glorifying and romanticizing the marines to the degree of ignorance, there are no well told feelings of how deep shit grit or how bad it can be as an marin, or how many “not so good things” they have to do. In the books the marines will never do anything that is wrong, everything they do is right. Marines is always right, the bad guys are always wrong.
Listening to this books gave me the picture of an American patriot trying to tell a patiotic Sci-Fi American marine story.
The books are soo average that it is hard to focus on the story. Plot-twists is easy to see long before they are written, everything in the book is stereotyped to the extreme degree that I sometimes have to give myself a facepalm. This is the biggest negative in every book so far, the extreme stereotyping in the book.
Then you have the pacing of the story, the author is jumping from one setting to the next with few or no filler between to make a good transition. It is at times so annoying.
The books doesn’t give a good sci-fi feeling, it does not challenge anything when it comes to improving on the genre, and it does not challenge you as a reader/listener. It does not shine trough with a good capther here or there, it is all average gray, no collour.
If you do not have anything to read/listen too at the moment, sure, go for it, but don’t expect the next big thing. It is at best average.
I was unsure of I would give it a 2 star or a 3 star, but when I tried to think back on the books to see if there where anything at all that stod out, or made an impression on me, or was original in any way, I could not think of anything. The books was just so extremely stereotypical average that I ended up with 2 star.
The only good thing about the books is that they are all short.
April 24, 2018
This was a quick, simple, uncomplicated read. Dave Sherman and Dan Cragg don't try for anything resembling "hard" science fiction. This is just a fictional story about US MARINES IN SPACE. Therefore, it's coarse, the characters fairly one-dimensional, and very high-level, but not particularly unpleasant in any of those areas. Written with obvious experience and love for the military, First to Fight's entertainment value lies mostly in its attention to detail regarding procedure, chain of command, maneuvers, growth of character, and fraternal bonding within 3rd platoon.
This first story in the Starfist series revolves around a humanitarian aid mission send to a backwater planet. The planet's aggressors are sub-third world tribals fighting with outdated weapons and tactics. Predictably, both sides underestimate the other, but Marine resourcefulness and firepower save the day. It's the kind of heroic war story that we've all heard before, but set in space against an interesting geopolitical backdrop.
I'd probably give this about two and a half stars. Definitely entertaining enough to be worth the short time investment.
This first story in the Starfist series revolves around a humanitarian aid mission send to a backwater planet. The planet's aggressors are sub-third world tribals fighting with outdated weapons and tactics. Predictably, both sides underestimate the other, but Marine resourcefulness and firepower save the day. It's the kind of heroic war story that we've all heard before, but set in space against an interesting geopolitical backdrop.
I'd probably give this about two and a half stars. Definitely entertaining enough to be worth the short time investment.
August 9, 2017
I read this ages ago and just spent half an hour trying to track down the author / title... so I'm putting it on my Goodreads list so that I can find it next time!
The prelude is what stands out in my mine - the team is sent out to test new equipment that fails and they have to work hard to make it back alive...
The prelude is what stands out in my mine - the team is sent out to test new equipment that fails and they have to work hard to make it back alive...
November 30, 2022
An excellent start to an excellent series.
The story of the 34th FIST of the Confederation Marine Corps is one unlike any other that I've read. And I have read a lot in the 50+ years since I picked up my first science fiction novel at the local public library. Staff Sergeant Bass and his platoon are men worthy of many novels. Thank you, Dan and David, for giving them to us!
The story of the 34th FIST of the Confederation Marine Corps is one unlike any other that I've read. And I have read a lot in the 50+ years since I picked up my first science fiction novel at the local public library. Staff Sergeant Bass and his platoon are men worthy of many novels. Thank you, Dan and David, for giving them to us!
August 10, 2017
Love the series and the complexities only a few people will get. A must read for Sci-Fi military lovers.
June 22, 2018
Fun, but a little too mojo for my tastes. Soldiers don't actually act talk like this in real life.
October 19, 2018
Too unevenly written to be really enjoyable.
November 24, 2019
What an amazing series. Hooked into each character from day 1
January 3, 2020
Okay but not great.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
November 30, 2021
Not a bad future war book. Worth the money and time, but not a book I would read twice.
October 19, 2022
A slog and boring at first cause 80% of this book is no action just world building and character motivations. The following books get into the action much quicker.
December 8, 2023
Pulp military sci fi. It's fine... but doesn't measure up to the bigger authors in the genre.
June 29, 2025
Guy goes to boot camp. Guy gets deployed on his first posting. He shoots his gun and wins. That's it! Hoping the series sees more sci-fi later on.
August 31, 2014
First to Fight is essentially a science fiction re-telling of Black Hawk Down. Admittedly, that's a loose analogy, but there are a large number of parallels. The story is set in the 25th century and the confederation marines serve as rapid response troops to deal with strife on the many worlds colonized by mankind, dealing with everything from religious warfare to piracy to insurrections to humanitarian aid. Like many similar stories (take your pick from Ian Douglas, Heinlein, or Steven L. Kent (and many others)), this starts as the story of a young man who signs up and goes through the rigors of boot camp and learning the realities of life in the marine corps. Gradually, it shift focus more and more to his platoon sergeant a grizzled veteran who has a bad tendency to get himself demoted for being a bit... overenthusiastic at protecting his marines. Anyway, the Marines are called into action due to a humanitarian crisis on a hell-hole of a world where everybody has been dumping their psychotic warlords and overly-combative tribesmen (including a good number of Somalis) for the past couple centuries so they can blissfully murder each other without troubling the more civilized universe. However, thanks to the planet's mineral wealth, the locals get access to more powerful weaponry and step up their ambitions, slaughtering and starving the planet's less bellicose citizenry, which leads to the planet's sometime government to beg for confederation intervention. Thanks to the complexities of the local politics and the planet's extremely inhospitable environment (not quite Arrakis, but there are parallels), the marines have their work set out for them, the more so since the locals have secretly stashed some advanced weapons.
First to fight is a decent space marine story, but it really isn't anything special. The story itself is interesting, but not particularly intriguing. If you're hoping for interesting alien worlds, bizarre alien cultures, political theorization, or sci-fi action, then this really isn't going to sate you. Frankly, apart from a couple of techno-gizmos (and plasma guns), the marines in this book fight about the same way American Marines did ten years ago (and in some ways the story seems pretty dated already; the UPUDs, in particular seems amusingly quaint compared to what your average iPhone can do and their problems with field communications seem sadly backwards for an interstellar civilization (ever heard of tight-beam?)). Sure they go from planet to planet in spaceships, but the spaceships aren't that important (in terms of how they fight), the planets aren't all that alien, and they're always fighting humans who are equipped with (at best) modern technology. As for political theorization, Sherman's only real contributions are a bizarre pair of diatribes for and against possession of firearms by civilians. They mention a Second American Civil War and their Confederation, but if you're hoping for some interesting vision of the future, Sherman simply doesn't bother filling you in on what exactly any of it stands for. The parallels with the failed Somalian Intervention of the early '90's also give the story an awkward aspect as his "everything worked out" ending doesn't match at all the way history went (not the Marines fault, but that's the way it is). This could be his point (in that he shows Marines basically running their own operation with ~0 political oversight rather than the chronically mismanaged Somalian Intervention), but I didn't really buy it. So all in all, Sherman has an entertaining (if pedestrian) story with fairly authentic-feeling Marine characters, but the setting and ideas simply don't live up to its predecessors in the space marine genre.
First to fight is a decent space marine story, but it really isn't anything special. The story itself is interesting, but not particularly intriguing. If you're hoping for interesting alien worlds, bizarre alien cultures, political theorization, or sci-fi action, then this really isn't going to sate you. Frankly, apart from a couple of techno-gizmos (and plasma guns), the marines in this book fight about the same way American Marines did ten years ago (and in some ways the story seems pretty dated already; the UPUDs, in particular seems amusingly quaint compared to what your average iPhone can do and their problems with field communications seem sadly backwards for an interstellar civilization (ever heard of tight-beam?)). Sure they go from planet to planet in spaceships, but the spaceships aren't that important (in terms of how they fight), the planets aren't all that alien, and they're always fighting humans who are equipped with (at best) modern technology. As for political theorization, Sherman's only real contributions are a bizarre pair of diatribes for and against possession of firearms by civilians. They mention a Second American Civil War and their Confederation, but if you're hoping for some interesting vision of the future, Sherman simply doesn't bother filling you in on what exactly any of it stands for. The parallels with the failed Somalian Intervention of the early '90's also give the story an awkward aspect as his "everything worked out" ending doesn't match at all the way history went (not the Marines fault, but that's the way it is). This could be his point (in that he shows Marines basically running their own operation with ~0 political oversight rather than the chronically mismanaged Somalian Intervention), but I didn't really buy it. So all in all, Sherman has an entertaining (if pedestrian) story with fairly authentic-feeling Marine characters, but the setting and ideas simply don't live up to its predecessors in the space marine genre.
July 27, 2010
Starfist: First to Fight is the first book in a Military Science Fiction series focusing on the 34th FIST (Fleet Initial Strike Team) of the Confederation Marine Corps.
The book started strong with an engaging Prologue that drew me in. However, the opening chapters nearly lost me all together. I understand that the authors were trying to introduce characters and the Starfist universe, but I feel that many of the situations in the first half could have been condensed or eliminated to help the story flow. The story doesn't pick up until around the half-way point when the main antagonist enters the picture; that's a long time to wait for the major conflict of a story to begin. The second half returned to the excitement of the Prologue and I sped through those final chapters.
One note: nearly 99% of the characters (even minor ones) were introduced "Rank Name "Nickname" Surname"; it made it difficult to pick out the major players. Sometimes, if all a character does is drive or pilot, etc, it's OK to refer to them simply as 'the driver' or 'the pilot'.
I wasn't left with an overpowering urge to purchase the next book in the series. However, if a Military Sci-Fi urge ever strikes, I may give another Starfist book a shot.
The book started strong with an engaging Prologue that drew me in. However, the opening chapters nearly lost me all together. I understand that the authors were trying to introduce characters and the Starfist universe, but I feel that many of the situations in the first half could have been condensed or eliminated to help the story flow. The story doesn't pick up until around the half-way point when the main antagonist enters the picture; that's a long time to wait for the major conflict of a story to begin. The second half returned to the excitement of the Prologue and I sped through those final chapters.
One note: nearly 99% of the characters (even minor ones) were introduced "Rank Name "Nickname" Surname"; it made it difficult to pick out the major players. Sometimes, if all a character does is drive or pilot, etc, it's OK to refer to them simply as 'the driver' or 'the pilot'.
I wasn't left with an overpowering urge to purchase the next book in the series. However, if a Military Sci-Fi urge ever strikes, I may give another Starfist book a shot.
November 24, 2016
Wordy, To a Fault
Thank you for keeping boot camp as short as you did. It was still way more than necessary. However, in keeping boot 'short', I was overwhelmed with pages and pages of daily, mundane USMC life, history and ceremony. It was a struggle to continue and finish. For instance, 6-8 pages of getting ready and going through an inspection?
I'm sorry, maybe a bit too jaded over time, and never took history, tradition and ceremony to heart -- just way too much and felt very 'soapy '(?) to me. Even 'Sands of Iwo Jima' wasn't this bad.
Usually don't look too close at minutiae -- but I do notice when it's there and accurate -- but overall, story was about current USMC about 400 years in future? You had guns in platoon and did that in Nam but they still keep them in weapons nowadays . However , I agree w your vision but numbers didn't add up for TO in platoon. And one of our biggest shortfalls throughout time, a platoon weapon that can accurately and repeatedly take out guns, bunkers w small, light profile from a klick + away -- 400 years n nobody can figure out how to do it?
Just way too soapy and wordy about Corps for me. Getting through it is a struggle and can't say if I read another.
Thank you for keeping boot camp as short as you did. It was still way more than necessary. However, in keeping boot 'short', I was overwhelmed with pages and pages of daily, mundane USMC life, history and ceremony. It was a struggle to continue and finish. For instance, 6-8 pages of getting ready and going through an inspection?
I'm sorry, maybe a bit too jaded over time, and never took history, tradition and ceremony to heart -- just way too much and felt very 'soapy '(?) to me. Even 'Sands of Iwo Jima' wasn't this bad.
Usually don't look too close at minutiae -- but I do notice when it's there and accurate -- but overall, story was about current USMC about 400 years in future? You had guns in platoon and did that in Nam but they still keep them in weapons nowadays . However , I agree w your vision but numbers didn't add up for TO in platoon. And one of our biggest shortfalls throughout time, a platoon weapon that can accurately and repeatedly take out guns, bunkers w small, light profile from a klick + away -- 400 years n nobody can figure out how to do it?
Just way too soapy and wordy about Corps for me. Getting through it is a struggle and can't say if I read another.
September 7, 2010
The series gets a lot better from here on out, but this is still a fairly strong opening salvo. Sgt. Gunnery Charlie Bass and company are deployed to a remote, backwoods world with an insurgency problem (this will become a standard setup in novels to come). Before this, though, we're given some character development on the training grounds and a crash-course in the world's military lingo and tech, much of which isn't too far-flung from what we have now. From the outset, Gunnery Bass is an intensely likable anti-hero, stubborn and rebellious and, occasionally, pretty violent in his arguments. Normally, this type of character would become irritating, fast, but we're treated to so much nauseating bureaucracy right from the beginning that he becomes a welcome voice of contention, and a capable protagonist in the long run. The only downer, though, for me, was the cliche villain. Seriously, we're cruising through hyperspace and trotting around in exo-suits on foreign worlds, and the marines are still going up against Al-Qaeda? I will say this, though: the master villain's death scene is one of the most graphic, satisfying kills I've read in quite a while.
March 10, 2013
I was very disappointed. This book seemed to me to be basically a unit of modern-day Marines with plasma rifles fighting every "bad guy" ethnic group from modern-day earth collected together on one planet and led by a reincarnation of Genghis Khan (right down to receiving the reins from his father whose untimely death let him take over the confederation his father had forged). If that sounds far-fetched, I thought it sounded that way, too. I could've overlooked that, though, if it moved quickly or had more creativity to it, but most of the book is Marine boot camp and tedious Marine "oo-rahing" as they carouse in the local town and haze the new guys and talk about the difference between a "master sergeant" and a "staff sergeant", etc. Frankly, the strategies of the bad guys were the only thing that kept me interested enough to finish the book. The ending is somewhat interesting, but overall I wasn't inspired by the book at all.
March 6, 2010
Military warfare set in a supposed future where the military is exactly the same as present day. I picked this up being interesting in a sci-fi styled futuristic military novel, but what I got was a present day military novel that just happened to be in a sci-fi setting.
Aside from the fact that Starfist takes place on other planets with slightly more modern weaponry, absolutely nothing is any different than would be in a retelling of any Marine operation in present day. The author's military influence is quite obvious, with the novel sometimes excessively glorifying the Marine lifestyle.
The writing never leaves anything to be desired, and conveys the emotions of the moment quite well. Assuming you get into this book expecting a present day war story, you won't be disappointed. Don't get this expecting anything related to science fiction however.
Aside from the fact that Starfist takes place on other planets with slightly more modern weaponry, absolutely nothing is any different than would be in a retelling of any Marine operation in present day. The author's military influence is quite obvious, with the novel sometimes excessively glorifying the Marine lifestyle.
The writing never leaves anything to be desired, and conveys the emotions of the moment quite well. Assuming you get into this book expecting a present day war story, you won't be disappointed. Don't get this expecting anything related to science fiction however.
October 8, 2017
This really read like a caricature of a good old boys' dream military SF book, with plenty of unrealistic situations (the planet which serves as a playground for this fiesta has been colonized by several of our current modern terrorist factions; there are NO women in the 25th century marine corps...), plenty of stereotypical characters (the perfect super duper ultra competent sergeant, the inadequate mean-spirited officer, the dumb villains...) and a plot which only starts rolling in the last third of the book. There were some annoying inconsistencies too: the authors use the metric system only to revert to feet and inches several paragraphs farther on. And... Ok I'll stop now.
July 30, 2023
This excellent series follows the path of a marine unit within an inter-planetary setting. It does a good job of portraying the interpersonal relationships and comradery of people surviving in very dangerous situations, as well as poking fun at some of the poor decisions from higher-ups that they often have to live with. Each book quickly draws you in and have you rooting for the protagonists. The series is best read in order.
The series:
- First to Fight
- School of Fire
- Steel Gauntlet
- Blood Contact
- Technokill
- Hangfire
- Kingdom's Swords
- Kingdom's Fury
- Lazarus Rising
- A World of Hurt
- Flashfire
- Firestorm
- Wings of Hell
- Double Jeopardy
The series:
- First to Fight
- School of Fire
- Steel Gauntlet
- Blood Contact
- Technokill
- Hangfire
- Kingdom's Swords
- Kingdom's Fury
- Lazarus Rising
- A World of Hurt
- Flashfire
- Firestorm
- Wings of Hell
- Double Jeopardy
Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews