SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Tried to read the book 12 years or so years ago when i was 15 but didnt like it.The book just didnt do it for me. Read the first 30 or so pages then jumped to the last pages. The last pages were a bit better if i recall properly...
Maybe i didnt enjoy it because the english was a bit above my level and i didnt understand?LOL.

If I recall correctly, the first couple Hammer's Slammers books were short story collections. So if you skipped to the back then you were reading a different story. Drake later wrote novels set in that universe. I bought the first four or five and enjoyed them well enough, but that's been 30-35 years ago now. After that the Man-Kzin Wars books started coming out and I switched over.

Drake was more like Haldeman in that his war books are really anti-war books. Not surprisingly, Drake also served in Vietnam. While there's lots of action, it comes at a steep cost and the stories are often melancholy as a result. These are no "Go space marines yeah!" stories, that's for sure.

I have these works in a Baen three volume collection that's falling apart and not quite in the order I like to read them. Reading some of the stories was a hard emotional trip, but overall I enjoyed them and think I benefited from the perspective.

Trike described the books very well. Some of the Slammer stories I found difficult to get into; the pessimism in the tone and gloominess of events and outlooks was quite hard to handle emotionally . If war did ever possess glory, these stories take it away. The price of victory, if the compromises, outcomes, or survival can be so-called, is usually a source of regrets. I can still remember the cost or collateral loses of some stories' outcomes, with a small plea of denial “why did that have to happen?” Which is not something I hold for many books. In a way, that and Drake's voice make the stories' ambiance feel more real than most stories with war settings.

I've read them all and enjoyed most of them. Some are better than others, and all of them are very violent and gritty. Drake is a master at describing a battle scene from the point of view of a common soldier.
There is a common theme to all of them. Usually the "winners" of any of his books were really also losers who happened to still be alive. Most of the time whatever they were fighting for was destroyed or rendered worthless by the end of the story. The uniqueness of Drake's stories is that they are anti-war, but written from the point of view of people who make their living from war and take pride in it.

You've got me interested! I just talked to a friend who is a Drake fan, and is willing to lend me some! I'll get back to you!

I read one of them, and recently too. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Drake's style is gritty and detailed, and often irreverent, which appeals to me.

I read The Voyage and enjoyed it a lot. So much so that I put the rest of the series on my BookMooch wishlist. I've also read The Tank Lords. Didn't like it as much as Voyage, but it was still good.

I've read several of the Hammer's Slammers books, all good, solid military novels although sometimes a bit too much on the grim side for me. Good action sequences and a very realistic feel to both action and characters.

I read one quite a while back. Can't remember which. All action and not much of a plot. Gave up at that point.

Agree with above comments regarding anti war bent which is fine.After 1st few stories, they got "old" real fast

One of my favourite authors and series.

Something to note is that almost (maybe all) of the stories are based on (or incorporate in the full novels) actual events and battles, often from Vietnam, sometimes from elsewhere.

The stories are mainly explorations of the effect of war on the participants and the way individuals can affect battles and even entire wars. Given the underlying reality base, it is hardly surprising that the characters often don't come out too well or the results of a battle are not exactly what was intended.

I wouldn't say that Drake is anti-war in the "make love not war - have a flower" sense, but he can see the waving banners and shiny medals, the comradeship and sometimes betrayal, and the sheer bloody horror that has always been war. If he is anti anything, I would say it is he is against those who would cheer the deployment of soldiers and then close their eyes to the cost, to both sides.

It is hardly surprising then that two of his books are titled "The Butcher's Bill" and "Paying The Piper".

I enjoyed the books and I agree with VW, they're books which go deeper into the costs, and for me the real villains are the people who call for deployment but aren't willing to pay the full price