Review: A superb second entry into the annals of the Terran Space Navy...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 4, 2013
I admit it, I enjoy upbeat fiction where the good guys win and the bad guys lose.  And I am unimpressed with stories that make it difficult to figure out which is which. Both editions of the TSN history are that kind of book, unambiguous, clear-cut and without apology effacing a set of heroes that embrace a set of values that are obviously (to my western-trained mind) the right set.What's more, this is a fun story!  Forget all the nonsense about values and the like; this plot is just plain engaging.  I love the thought of eleven-mile superdreadnoughts circling above, protecting the earth from menace and a bunch of people dedicated to nurturing the human race, and I love the antics they go through to effect that very ambiguous and ambitious goal.  It doesn't hurt that the author takes an unambiguous stand against terrorism, though some in the middle east might disagree with my assessment, I admit.  As mentioned in my previous review of the first volume in this history, I love all the gadgets that they come up with to get their jobs done.So with such ebullience of praise, why only four stars? Well, quite frankly, to cross over into that rarified group of stories that merit five stars, there has to be something unique about the writing; something new and different.  Unfortunately, much of what I read in these two books reminds me of the best of the Star Trek or Star Wars series.  There is no new way of looking at the universe like one finds in Vernor Vinge novels, no extension of physics like one finds  in Greg Bear novels, no development of new and exotic civilizations, like one finds in Ursula K. LeGuin novels.  All we get is a reformulation of a lot of stuff we have seen before; repackaged, with new and exciting characters to be sure, but they are still characters we have seen before in Jim Kirk, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Spock, Scotty and a bunch of other of my favorite SF characters.So, should you pick this story up?  Before thinking I would say, "witout a qualm!" but once I give it some thought, I would have to qualify my recommendation with some additional thoughts.  If you need to read a complex story with multi levels of good and evil and even ambiguity (many would say, just like the world really is), if you cannot relax and go along for the ride, or if you have some definite ideas about US mismanagement of middle eastern terrorism and terrorist states, then you probably will not enjoy this book.  Put it aside until you grow up.  The rest of you join in the fun!  The adventure's just begun!