ISBN: 0-671-87758-5 Order from: Amazon.com
A mildly entertaining start of a space navy adventure with a standard plot, hand-wavy science, stereotypical heroes and cartoonish villains; with a nineties pop-culture tone.
Reviewed by David on January 09, 1999
Genre: Science Fiction (Military, Naval Adventure, Space Opera, War)
Synopsis: Some centuries in the future, most of humanity enjoys the fruits of civilization and technology as a part of an interstellar Commonwealth. Unfortunately, a fanatical splinter sect has ended up with the entire supply of anti-hydrogen—the fuel that makes the interstellar travel possible. The sect, known as the Mollies, convinced that the rest of humanity is composed of deadly sinners, decided to stop all trade and starve the Commonwealth of the vital fuel. The stronger and larger Commonwealth is trying to win the war of annihilation before running out of the critical fuel reserves. Meanwhile, the Mollies, with their smaller fleets, nearly unlimited supply of anti-hydrogen and fanatical crews are doing their best to succeed in a war of attrition. This war of secession gets complicated when the Mollies contact and involve an alien culture, the Fibians.
Peter Raeder, a former fighter pilot, makes an abrupt change in career when a deadly fight costs him a hand. Unable to fly the sleek and deadly Speeds, Peter retrains and gets assigned as a Flight Engineer to the brand-new fast carrier Invincible. Short of the adrenaline rush of flying the Speeds, the 27-year-old commander has his dreams come true: he is in charge of a wing of fighters and reconnaissance craft, assigned to a advanced ship, with a dedicated and hand-picked crew.
However, there is trouble in paradise. His predecessor, a fine engineer, had died under mysterious circumstances. His subordinates and colleagues behave strangely. And what causes the slew of annoying and dangerous malfunctions: is it incompetence or sabotage? Peter's new job is more than keeping the fighters flying: it's surviving the deadly Mollie spies, fighting the enemy and the dangers of space in his vacuum suit, and determining what to do with brilliant but suspicious subordinate. All that, plus avoiding turning his overdeveloped initiative into insubordination, and perhaps finding an attractive friend.
Full Review: This book has been written by James Doohan (Star Trek's "Scotty") and S. M. Stirling (co-author of, among other books, The General). Peter makes a fairly appealing hero, with understated heroism, technical knowledge, intelligence and honor, not to mention his sense of humor and attractiveness to women.
The characters are largely stereotypes: the bluff NCO, the aggressive fighter jocks, the attractive, competent, but initially hostile romantic interest. Not to mention the stalwart and honorable captain, bumbling and ever-suspicious security officer and the brilliant but socially awkward engineering lieutenant.
The last, Cynthia Robbins, is an enigma: brilliant at her work, her style of interaction with others ranges from paranoid resentment to sullen non-cooperation; a perfect suspect when deadly sabotage mars the new ship's promise. There is also an Irish brogue-afflicted engineering chief, fanatical and cruel Mollies, and loathly (and cruel) aliens). In fact, the villains are the weakest of the weak characters in this space opera: their motivation and behavior are confined mostly to sneering, fanatic hatred, and occasional cowering.
The science is also rather improbable, with some howlers. Especially amusing was a passage describing the importance of dirt control in the antimatter containment floor (much like a semiconductor clean room), and the terrible consequences of a flake of dandruff touching the stuff. All of this notwithstanding that the antimatter is contained in vacuum-filled magnetic bottles, and that the air would be quite as effective in reacting with anti-matter as dust.
The most jarring, perhaps, is the firmly contemporary tone and dialogue and the many pop-culture jokes, mostly from television. The book strives to be strictly ephemeral entertainment, and succeeds in this goal.
Overall: 5; Plot: 4.5; Characters: 5; Style: 4; World-building: 5; Originality: 4;
Copyright date 1996, Baen Publishing Enterprises (Starline), November 1996, Cloth, 377 pages
ISBN: 0-671-87758-5 Order from: Amazon.com