Review: Another Five Star winner from the crew of the Alamo!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 16, 2013
Battlecruiser Alamo: Tip of the Spear takes up where Victory or Death leaves off. In Victory or Death the crew of the Alamo defeated the Legion forces on the planet Jefferson. Now we find that maybe that victory wasn't as complete as the crew of the Alamo thought. The Legion turns out to have a secret base on Jefferson, some rather inventive booby-traps and has successfully called for help from its mystery sponsors in the Cabal.So what did I like? Once again Tongue delivers plenty of action on both ground and space. The tec edge in space is to the enemy this time but the Alamo has the better crew, and in space battles measured in minutes that might be just enough.Once agan I particulalry liked the use of tec and manuver by both sides - its hard to write a good space battle using tec based in the real world, but once again Tongue pulls it off. Better still, the ground combat is just as good but here the tec edge is reversed and the use of plasma weapons seems like a logical equalizer in a game of numbers vs quality. The final good thing about Tip of the Spear is that - once again - Tongue combines great action with smart politics. You can imagine Marshall working as a smart diplomat as well as as a naval officer. His subordinates - Dead Eye, Dietz etc. act like a proper command crew as well, doing the jobs anyone who has actually interacted with the military would immediately recognize. The strategic politics of the stories remains good, as does the overall universe Alamo works in.Other comments? This time the pace of the story seemed pushed as if Tongue was writing under a deadline. One of the things I like about Tongue is his spare, paced story telling - no padding and no BS - just quality story delivered in smart short strokes. But this time the pace is almost too fast - there's too much happening too quickly. The story is excellent as usual but it needs a bit more flesh on the bone.So overall? Good, solid, exciting military SF-this is definitely five star book. The plot continues to evolve and thicken and once again it all makes sense as does the pace of revelation and the actions of the crew. I'm definitely sticking with both Tongue and Alamo and can't wait to pick up the next one.