Review: Awful. Now, at least let me tell you why before you rate me unhelpful.
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 03 10, 2013
This book manages  to combine the worst aspects of military sci-fi and a Harold Robbins novel.What are the worst aspects of military sci-fi, I hear you ask. Unrealistic interpersonal situations, unrealistic human behavior, and unrealistic military behavior, all of which can be found in this book.And the worst aspect of a Harold Robbins novel? Frequent sex scenes, poorly written and, again, replicated (repeatedly, to boot) in this novel.The officers, particularly the erstwhile hero, in this book are horrible caricatures of human beings, let alone military officers. They seem to do little more than bed anything wandering into their line of sight, routinely get their people killed, and get promoted and awarded medals for each successive disaster. Oh sure, they feel remorseful about causing all that needless death, for about half a page or until a new bed partner saunters by.For example, almost the first thing our hero does on assuming command of a Special Operations type intelligence unit is sleep with his second in command, a move almost guaranteed to adversely effect unit morale and function in the real world. Unphased by this, our intrepid porn star of the spaceways then hops into the bed of the subject of his unit's protection detail. Upon clumsily leading this young woman into an ambush, our hero narrowly averts her impending rape, but only through the incredible intervention of a third party throw-away character. Of course, the young woman-- daughter of a powerful Senator-- ends up pregnant with our hero's child-- but wait! Our hero doesn't love her. He decides that he cares for the second in command instead.Not to be outdone in gracelessness, our second in command obtains her promotion based on a successful attack she leads (from far away in the safety of the rear) on a planetary spaceport. An attack which would have resulted in the deaths of most of her men, had it not been for the heroic sacrifice of the driver of the unit's APC. The second gets a promotion and a medal and the true hero of the action gets nary a mention after his death. Following what appears to be her Pyrrhic victory at the spaceport, in a fitting demonstration of the power of true love, believing her personal porn star commander dead, she hops into bed with yet another character. Not to fear, though. When our hero returns, badly wounded, he is nursed back to health by the sexual ministrations of his second.That's essentially the plot in a nutshell, with some badly described military action involving some ludicrous warrior automatons (who may or may not be alien created) sparsely interspersed in between the soap opera personal behavior and poorly written lovemaking. Between the poor plot, shallow characters, and the sophomoric behavior-- behavior which wouldn't be tolerated in the private sector, let alone in a military organization-- this book sucks throw a long straw.Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of both military sci-fi (and have been since the first time I read Starship Troopers decades ago) and of literary erotica, so I am neither a novice nor a prude when it comes to either genre. My objections to this book come from being well read in both areas and thus being able to discern the good from pure unadulterated crap. Sadly, for both the author (because I know that every book is a very personal labor of love and craftsmanship for any writer) and my pocketbook, this work falls into the latter category.