Star Corps

The Legacy Trilogy #1

by Ian Douglas

In the future,earth's warriors haveconquered the heavens.But on a distant world,Humanity is in chains ...Many millennia ago, the human race was enslaved by the An -- a fearsome alien people whose cruel empire once spanned the galaxies, until they were defeated and consigned to oblivion. But a research mission to the planet Ishtar has made a terrifying -- and fatal -- the Ahanu, ancestors of the former masters, live on, far from the reach of Earth -- born weapons and technology ... and tens of thousands of captive human souls still bow to their iron will. Now Earth's Interstellar Marine Expeditionary Unit must undertake a rescue operation as improbable as it is essential to humankind's future, embarking on a ten-year voyage to a hostile world to face an entrenched enemy driven by dreams of past glory and intent once more on domination. For those who, for countless generations, have known nothing but toil and subjugation must be granted, at all costs, the precious gift entitled to all of their star-traveling freedom!

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Military Fiction, Space Opera, Military Science Fiction, Audiobook, Aliens

464 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Ian Douglas is a pseudonym used by William H. Keith Jr..

Reviews

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad book at all. I've been on a military science fiction "jag" lately and the majority have been good books. This one was also.

Some years ago I read what is apparently a prequel to this book...or started it. It was so slow off the mark I dropped it and never went back to the series.

But I liked this one...and it started off pretty slowly also. That means I need to go back and reread it....then I'll have to re-rate and re-review it. Oh well, what are we if we can't double check to see if we were wrong?

As noted this one picks up at a bit of a "leisurely" pace with the author laying out his pieces on the game board. Once they are finally set up to his satisfaction however he touches the spark to the fuse and sets off the action.

Let me say here that this is not a deep literary tome to be perused by those seeking great philosophical insights...but if you've picked up a book titled Star Corps looking for that there may be other problems you need to deal with so I won't belabor the point.

What'ja got here is prime, grade A literary junk-food. It's brain candy of the highest order.

So...be prepared to clean up and air out the house once you've read it to get rid of the smoke, fire, blood, wreckage and so on. Then sit back and enjoy...until of course you get to the inevitable cliffhanger ending. Then go out and pick up the next one.

sigh.

[Dirk Grobbelaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this on the back of a whole spate of Military SF novels, and the fact that I did not find it stale or same old is testament to just how entertaining it is. Even though Star Corps is the first in the Legacy trilogy, it is not the first in Douglas’ series dealing with Space Marines. No, these are not Space Marines like you would find in the Warhammer universe. This is an extrapolation of the current Marine Corps, and what it might entitle in the not so very distant future, should mankind explore the stars and find them less than friendly. Some of the basic assumptions of the story are very interesting, even if not entirely new. Aliens that have ruled Earth in ancient times have ferried away a lot of humans for slave labour on distant planets, and even though Earth was liberated, one planet still exists where humans are being used for less-than-honourable purposes. Of course, this cannot be tolerated, so it’s war! I especially enjoyed Douglas’ depictions of the Alien psychology and how they differ from Humans. Is what they are doing really so wrong if it is unacceptable only from a Human point of view (in other words: who died and made Humans the benchmark for morality)? In fact, this is a theme that forms an integral part of the story. There’s a good bit of mayhem in here as well, with a really cool Epilogue promising even more entertainment in book 2: Battlespace: Book Two of The Legacy Trilogy.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is like a mix of Starship Troopers and Stargate SG-1, but with the United States Marine Corps instead of the Air Force. It has several staples of good military sci-fi - sentient aliens (who in this case have probably played a part in humanity's evolution), a coming of age story for a young man, and lots of fighting with high-tech weapons.

The Legacy trilogy occurs after the Heritage trilogy, which I have not read yet. Anyone can jump in here and get up to speed on the situation, both on a galactic and personal scale. The world-building (or universe-building) reminded me of Stargate, but it has original features and is well thought out. Everyone seems to think that pyramids must have been built by aliens!

The only problem I had with this book is that it seemed to drag in the middle. There are a lot of descriptions, and for a while it was hard to slog through the details. Then the story picked up and I had more fun.

If you like military sci-fi, this is for you.

[Riley Rabuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

A love letter to the Marine Corps... But as a Marine there was a bit too much cheese in there

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good solid military SiFi series. Very good military "Feel" to the writing. Nice story arc also. Recommended

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 1st book in the Legacy Trilogy by Ian Douglas. This book takes place about 60 years after the events in the last book of the Heritage Trilogy. Once again the Space Marines have been called upon the serve their country and their planet. Only this time it's at another star system. The star system is about 8 light years from Earth and even with our most advanced space ships the trip will take about 10 years just to get there. The crew and the Marines will be in hibernation for the trip so between that and time dilation from traveling at near light speed it will seem as if only a few months have passed. They have gone to the Llalande star system to free captured human slaves from the AN, a race who had visited Earth nearly 10,000 years ago and were nearly destroyed by another alien species know as "The Hunter's Of The Dawn". They had taken human slaves from Earth and fled to the planet Ishtar in the Llalande system. It is now up to the Space Marines to free these human slaves. This is first rate Military Science fiction and I highly recommend it!

[Ric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Military SF highly slanted to uplift US Marines. An engaging tale, told tautly and with an enthusiast's attention to scientific detail. An extended battle with an alien species recalls certain elements of the classic SF novel Armor. If I can skip the obligatory boot camp segments, this was quite a compelling read.

Good for 4.5 stars in my view. First of a series so am hitting the next book soon.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a cross betw. Starship Troopers, Stargate SG-1 and classic elements such as 2010. In fact, there were times I had to stop and think if I wanted to continue reading because of a clearly blatant rip off from Starship Troopers. The writing is not anything on par with Peter Hamilton or Frank Herbert, rather it's more straight forward "Galloway did this" and "Ramsey said that" type writing. It lacks a particular finesse that the aforementioned authors have achieved. But it does have PLENTY of gratuitous action scenes with all the trappings of your typical military action writing. What it lacks in scope it gains in ease of reading. I read this very fast and was pleased. And while Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy or Herbert's Dune series are hard to put to film, this book could easily be adapted.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're looking for some space marine war action just for entertainment purposes, then this does a pretty decent job of it. The book was heavily focused on action, as you would expect, with little in the way of character development. The character who turns out to be the main character did have some time devoted to his backstory, and he does grow as a marine during the process of his first mission and the main conflict. There isn't really much more to say. It didn't meet my expectations for it, and there was some adult language and content. I doubt I will follow the rest of this particular series.

[Relstuart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written by a retired naval officer. So his terminology is pretty much going to be right. However, to many characters and not enough character development. Instead of figuring out ways to advance the story from the main cast of characters point of view he would just introduce another character to get a piece of the background info in and then never come back to that person again.

[Joe Ricca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am putting this book down. I think it is the narrator, not a fan of his style and it just keeps taking me out of the story.

[Gilles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Corps, le premier livre de la trilogie "The Legacy trilogy", une série de science-fiction militaire, par le talentueux Ian Douglas, pseudonyme de William H. Keith. La série se passe dans un futur assez proche; suite à la découverte de différents artefacts extraterrestres, les humains ont appris que les An, des extraterrestres, ont dominé la terre il y a 12,000 ans et ont traité les humains comme des esclaves. Les An ont été en grande partie annihilés par d'autres extraterrestres "Les chasseurs de l'aube".
Mais certains An et leurs esclaves humains ont échappé à l'anéantissement sur la planète Ishtar, assez proche du système solaire.
Les terriens y ont établi une petite colonie pour établir des liens entre les deux cultures.
Et voilà qu'une révolte vient d'anéantir la tête de pont
Une expédition de secours, avec des marines, doit être envoyé pour les secourir et aider les humains esclaves, et ce, à 8 années lumière de distance.
On suit tout d'abord la préparation de l'expédition et l'entrainement des recrues.
Ensuite, c'est l'arrivée à destination et là, c'est le feu d'artifice. Les marines ont fort à faire, face à un ennemi supérieur en nombre, et avec quelques restes de technologie du temps de leur splendeur.
Les combats sont frénétiques et menés tambour battant, avec une technologie qui est présentée de façon plausible.
Un bonbon pour les amateurs de science-fiction militaire.
J'ai beaucoup aimé.

[Harmen de Jong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dit is het eerste deel van de tweede trilogie over de 'Space Marines'. Even een samenvatting: in de 21e eeuw worden op de maan en op Mars restanten van een oude beschaving gevonden, later ook op Europa, een maan van Jupiter. Het zit ongeveer als volgt in elkaar: ongeveer 50.000 jaar geleden kwamen de 'Bouwers' op aarde. Zij deden iets met menselijk DNA. Deze beschaving verdween. Toen kwamen de An, ongeveer 10.000 jaar geleden. Zij onderwierpen de mensen en gebruikten ze als slaven. Ook zij verdwenen. Vermoedelijk door toedoen van een ander ras: de 'Jagers van het begin'. Zij beëindigden beide kolonisaties door asteroïden op aarde te laten vallen. Een paar mensen overleefden, vandaar dat in allerlei mythen en sagen deze thema's terug komen. Daarna was er nog een kort contact met een derde buitenaards ras. Deze lieten geen ruïnes achter, slechts een aantal mythen.
In dit verhaal blijkt dat er nog een An kolonie bestaat. De Aarde (verscheurt door allerlei oorlogen) stuurt een expeditie om de menselijke slaven die daar nog zijn, te bevrijden. Het wordt een bloederige slag met de An, die grotendeels zijn teruggevallen in primitivisme. Vervelend is het continue opgehemel van de Mariniers. Als je bij de landmacht zit, tel je eigenlijk niet mee. En natuurlijk zijn de Verenigde Staten helemaal top!

[Karl Schaeffer]

A dollar store pickup. Alien warriors fighting humans. Couldn't pass it up. If you like indivivual/squad level hardcore military SF, you'll like this book. An interesting universe. Aliens had visited earth in the past. Humanity finds traces of of the aliens on earth, moon and mars and have discovered the remaint of this alien race about 8 light years from earth. Humanity does not have faster-than-light drive, so we're dealing with near light speed travel, relativistic effects and suspended animation with a 95-97% survival rate. The author has built an intriguing universe. Besides no FTL space travel, earth has no worldwide united government, Now that's and interesting idea to explore in SF. There are hints of higher level intriques, bot political and individual. While well written and an intriguing start to the series, I won't necessarily seek this one out. An interesting read never-the-less.

[Anders Hejnfelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely slow start. End of the book is actually pretty interesting.

Aliens on a far away world, that probably had something to do with Human evolution way back, have human slaves still. Humans establish contact and go there to try and make diplomatic relations, until the Aliens Violently destroys the Envoy. A marine expedition is gathered to go there and try and recover any Human survivors and re-establish a human presence there - the trouble is it's a 10 year journey to go and the communications are cut off - what will they arrive to find?

The first half of this book is a lot of jumping around between characters, to build the world and the stakes. It does become a little fluffy though. I lost track of most of these characters which is fine because they're disposable, they're never heard from again.

Once they're actually underway it picks up. Interesting aspect, that this marine Expedition is sent off in the dark for 10 years, which means the political landscape changes as they are gone.

The action on the planet after they land is pretty well described, and the seeds planted for the continued story within the last 50 pages really peaked my interest.

4 stars, because of the very slow start.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Douglas, Ian. Star Corps. Legacy Trilogy No. 1. Harper, 2003.
Let us just say that originality is not a primary goal when Ian Douglas sits down to crank out another adventure of a U. S. Marines expeditionary force doing battle on faraway planets. Set in the same universe as his Heritage trilogy, the Star Corps Marines land on Ishtar—really, that is the name of the place. There is an alien enclave in a cave that must be nuked, a la Starship Troopers. There is a population of human slaves, whose ancestors were kidnapped by aliens thousands of years ago, that must be freed. Action is a premium for Douglas, and he does it well. If you like fast-reading military action with a predictable plot, this one is for you.

[Whiskeyjack · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had great promise, but I couldn't keep from comparing it to the Frontlines series, and that was a lot better. The main problem I had was it sounded like listening to a lecture way too often. Also, hearing how great marines are became repetitive and the idiot general (also a marine, but not such a great one) was not believable.
What I did like were the concepts and technology, and the overall story was interesting. But I feel it could have been a lot better. Probably wouldn't have picked up part 2, but I bought the trilogy on sale, so got on with it.

[Neal Holtschulte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Violence isn't plot and technology isn't character. I found my eyes glazing over at the military scifi jargon and acronyms. The story took too long to get going and jarringly jumps between a half dozen character perspectives or more without establishing anything very meaningful to any of them for quite some time. This book is going to fit some readers well. The author is writing to a particular sub-niche of the military scifi genre, it's just not mine. Give me The Forever War. Give me The Light Brigade. I even liked Terms of Enlistment more than this and that book has quite a few flaws.

[BobA707 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Hard core military SF, the marines vs aliens with space flight thrown in, politics and corporate greed etc. All good stuff with the good guys coming through. Coming of age as well.

Plotline: Pretty straight forward plot with the marines doing what they are supposed to

Premise: Misunderstood aliens who are equally misunderstanding of humans, very good.

Writing: Not bad the reader is right their in the action

Ending: All good if a little predictable.

Pace: Never a dull moment!

[Tony Hinde · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF 25%

Reading slump or in a bad mood... I can't tell.
This felt like those SciFi boy's-own novels churned out in the 80s. Big guns, plenty of fights and no sign of humanity. I have a strong guess as to who the protagonist will be, but can't be sure as the first quarter is a fragmented mess who's only aim is to set-up the situation.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far this is a good sequel series to The Heritage Trilogy. Marines out in space now rescuing human slaves from the An. A continuation of many of the families from the The Heritage Trilogy too (Garroway's, Warhusrt's and Ramsey's).

[William J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished this, the 1st of a trilogy, and I loved it. The aliens names were hard to follow and pronounce but that might just be me.
This author KNOWS his military sci Fi and that's what I liked. He also knows the Corps, which I love. I can't wait to read the next 2.

[the snake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starship Troopers meets the Marine Corps.

A good sci if military novel, it's extremely well written and has great pacing. With a interesting alien species. Semper Fi

[Chris Bryant · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting much, but I was expecting more than this.

[Josephine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting yes, but not unique.

[Mick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty basic star marine stuff except one thing I loved ... no FTL. It took 10 years to get there and, of course, in ten years things changed back on Earth. Great touch and a fun read. Enjoyed it.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Marines are sent out to a planet about ten light years away, after a Marine detachment on the planet is attacked. Can the Marines on the planet survive for ten years until their rescue arrives?

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't get into this like I did with his andromeda series. It's well written but not for me.

[Joe Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this guy's books.

[Brannigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written book but just didn’t like it. Maybe I will try it again later in life. Please know this review is for my own use try it for yourselves.