combat – Page 7 – Made by Mikal

Bolo Strike

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 4, 2009
Post category:Book

There is a planet populated by humans which has been isolated for many years. In that time, aliens have come to rule the planet and treat the humans as slaves. Its pretty clear that they need liberating, right? What if you trash the planet in the process? What if they actually have the ability to defend themselves (something you didn't adequately prepare for)? Pretty standard bolo fare, and fun for all the same reasons as the others. I enjoyed this book, even if I am not a better person for having read it. [isbn: 0743435664]

Bolo Rising

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 20, 2009
Post category:Book

In the distant future after the Melconians have done their thing, there is a small pocket of humans and they're having a bad day. One of things I like about the Bolo books is that their consistent in their overall direction for future human history, and that future is reasonably plausible -- its a bit like Asimov's extended Foundation Series, but written by a bunch of different authors. There must have been a huge coordination effort while producing these books. This book is pretty standard Bolo fair, which is well written and entertaining. It wont make you a better person, but its a fun read and makes you think. [isbn: 0671577794]

Forever Peace

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 17, 2009
Post category:Book

This a very different book to The Forever War, and not really a sequel. It covers some similar territory, but there are no characters in common, and the overall plots are unrelated (and conflicting). However, this book is as well written as The Forever War, and I enjoyed it.

The Forever War

Post author:mikal
Post published:November 12, 2009
Post category:Book

I read this book mainly because multiple sites recommended it as a response to Starship Troopers. I'd actually read the start of this book already in the form of the short story "Hero", which is included in Battlefields Beyond Tomorrow. At the time, I would have described it as an ok short story, but not the best in the book. That's interesting, because the extended version in the novel is amazing. Its one of those books I had trouble putting down, and its gripping to the end. The book has a very different perspective on war from Starship Troopers and is more like some of David Drake's writing (they're both Vietnam veterans). There is also a little bit of Bill the Galactic Hero mixed in as well, without being so over the top. I strongly recommend this book.

Bolo Brigade

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 27, 2009
Post category:Book

There seems to be a formula for bolo books -- an obsolete bolo or two, and alien invader, a solitary bolo commander, and preferably a management chain which either doesn't trust bolos, the officer, or preferably both. Its even better if the chain of command is also grossly incompetent. This book has all of those, and I am left feeling that it didn't really add much to the overall bolo universe. Other books have explored some new aspect of the bolo psyche, or expanded on the history of the concordiat universe in some way, whereas this book didn't feel like it did any of that. However, this was an entertaining book, and is reasonably well written. It just wasn't as ambitious as I'd hoped it would be. [isbn: 067187781x]

The Stars Must Wait

Post author:mikal
Post published:September 23, 2009
Post category:Book

This book is a novelization of "Night of the Trolls", which I have already read as part of The Compleat Bolo and Battlefields Beyond Tomorrow. I'm pretty fond of the short story, and this book version didn't start out strongly -- there is a prelude to explain some background, and then the book launches into what feels like the exact text of the short story. You can tell it hasn't been edited much, because there are minor continuity errors between this first chapter and the prelude. There are other continuity errors as well -- the blurb on the back says that the main character goes into stasis in 2002, but his wife dies in 1992 which is meant to be after the main character goes into stasis, and the map that he uses once out of stasis is copyright 2011 (even though the main character claims to have bought it just before going into stasis). Note that these dates are different to those used in the short story. These errors are distracting although the underlying story is still a good one. However, the good bits of the story are all contained in the short story. This feels like a poorly…

Bolos 6: Cold Steel

Post author:mikal
Post published:August 29, 2009
Post category:Book

This bolo book is different from the previous ones, in that it heavily focuses on the humans side of the story, instead of the bolo's inner monologue. I've seen reviews online that say this makes it a bad bolo book, but I think that's unfair. The bolos are critical to the telling of this story, and you do hear from them. More than that, ultimately a point about the relationship between bolos and humans is being made that would be a lot harder to make if the story was told from the bolo side of the fence. This was a good book and I enjoyed it. [isbn: 0743435494]

Bolos 5: Old Guard

Post author:mikal
Post published:July 15, 2009
Post category:Book

This book is similar to the previous Bolo anthologies in that it is written by a number of different authors, but utilizes Laumer's Concordiat universe. Contrary to another LibraryThing review, all of the stories on this book don't occur on one planet. All but one of them occurs on Delas, and the final one is on another nearby Concordiat planet. However, all of these stories do revolve around engagements with one enemy, and follow on from each other. This is something which hasn't occurred in other Bolo anthologies. I enjoyed this book, although it took longer to read than I would like because of other things happen in my life.

Bolos 2: The Unconquerable

Post author:mikal
Post published:June 6, 2009
Post category:Book

This is another collection of short stories involving Laumer's Bolo artificially intelligent super tanks. None of these stories are written by Laumer, but they are written by some very good SF authors. I enjoyed the collection, although I do think Honor of the Regiment was marginally better.

Bio of a Space Tyrant: Mercenary

Post author:mikal
Post published:March 23, 2009
Post category:Book

This book continues the story of a poor Hispanic immigrant made good that started with Bio of a Space Tyrant: Refugee. This book is overall much more positive than the previous one, with hardly any of Hope's friends being killed. The book revolves around Hope's military career, and the leadership team he builds. Its basically a story of personal magnetism, love, sex, and team work. The technical aspects of this book are a little weak, in a similar manner to the first one -- specifically some of the science fiction is hard to believe. Then again if you're willing to suspend disbelief, this is a good book. [isbn: 0380872218]