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Starship #5
Starship: Okręt Flagowy
Trwa wojna pomiędzy Republiką i Federacją Teroni.
Wilson Cole, dowódca zbuntowanego okrętu wojennego „Teodor Roosevelt” przygotowuje się do obalenia skorumpowanego rządu Republiki. I nie jest ważne, że przeciwnik ma druzgocącą przewagę. Sztuka polega na tym, by osiągnąć sukces bez konfrontacji z liczącą ponad trzy miliony okrętów, flotą przeciwnika.
Jednak taktyka „uderz i uciekaj” to za mało, by zrzucić z piedestału polityków i rozgromić największą potęgę militarną w historii galaktyki. Trzeba uderzyć w samo serce, najlepiej strzeżoną planetę Republiki - Deluros VIII.
Cole, Walkiria, Dawid Copperfield, Sharon Blacksmith, Jacovic i reszta załogi „Teddy’ego R.” stają przed największym wyzwaniem ich życia.
Wilson Cole, dowódca zbuntowanego okrętu wojennego „Teodor Roosevelt” przygotowuje się do obalenia skorumpowanego rządu Republiki. I nie jest ważne, że przeciwnik ma druzgocącą przewagę. Sztuka polega na tym, by osiągnąć sukces bez konfrontacji z liczącą ponad trzy miliony okrętów, flotą przeciwnika.
Jednak taktyka „uderz i uciekaj” to za mało, by zrzucić z piedestału polityków i rozgromić największą potęgę militarną w historii galaktyki. Trzeba uderzyć w samo serce, najlepiej strzeżoną planetę Republiki - Deluros VIII.
Cole, Walkiria, Dawid Copperfield, Sharon Blacksmith, Jacovic i reszta załogi „Teddy’ego R.” stają przed największym wyzwaniem ich życia.
426 pages, Paperback
First published December 8, 2009
13 people are currently reading
321 people want to read
About the author
Mike Resnick
812 books551 followersMichael "Mike" Diamond Resnick, better known by his published name Mike Resnick, was a popular and prolific American science fiction author. He is, according to Locus, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction. He was the winner of five Hugos, a Nebula, and other major awards in the United States, France, Spain, Japan, Croatia and Poland. and has been short-listed for major awards in England, Italy and Australia. He was the author of 68 novels, over 250 stories, and 2 screenplays, and was the editor of 41 anthologies. His work has been translated into 25 languages. He was the Guest of Honor at the 2012 Worldcon and can be found online as @ResnickMike on Twitter or at www.mikeresnick.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
March 15, 2019
A bit strange, even rushed ending to the whole series, bordering on deus ex machina, but besides that everything's familiar and expected and I don't mean anything bad by saying that.
As I have guessed at the beginning of the second book, this whole series indeed looks and feels like five chapters of one book than a series of five books. But that is not a bad thing, too.
You won't remember much about this book and this series a few years after reading it, but it's fast, light and fun to read. A good choice if you're looking for a relaxing time with a book without much serious content.
As I have guessed at the beginning of the second book, this whole series indeed looks and feels like five chapters of one book than a series of five books. But that is not a bad thing, too.
You won't remember much about this book and this series a few years after reading it, but it's fast, light and fun to read. A good choice if you're looking for a relaxing time with a book without much serious content.
November 25, 2010
I'm going to write one review for this entire series...
The Starship series premise had me interested. Set well into the future when mankind is at war with the Teroni Federation, one naval officer finds reason to mutiny (hence, the first book, "Starship: Mutiny". Over time he becomes a pirate (book two: "Starship: Pirate"), a mercenary (book three: "Starship: Mercenary"), then rebels formally against the human government (book four: "Starship: Rebel") and finally takes on the humans directly (book five: "Starship: Flagship").
Sadly, the execution was nowhere near as good as the premise. The conceits are many: most of the books are made up almost entirely of the main character explaining (lecturing, really) to all of the rest of the characters why is doing, or did, whatever it is he's doing, or has done. None of the character possess remotely enough intelligence to compete with the blowhard main character who was so over-the-top arrogant and annoying I kept hoping he'd get killed off. Often, the characters are repeating almost word-for-word things they've said previously or in the prior books (particularly about the fighting prowess of one character). Then, there's the references to humans as "Man" (complete with the capital-M). I thought that kind of sexism was over when Star Trek switched from "where no man has gone before" to "no one".
The final struggle against the human government suffers from an unbelievable, and stupid, deus ex machina, required for the main characters to triumph, but not without first some more lecturing to the other characters, always too dumb to understand his big plans. The bad guys are no better, always doing EXACTLY what the main character predicts they will.
Don't waste your time with this series.
The Starship series premise had me interested. Set well into the future when mankind is at war with the Teroni Federation, one naval officer finds reason to mutiny (hence, the first book, "Starship: Mutiny". Over time he becomes a pirate (book two: "Starship: Pirate"), a mercenary (book three: "Starship: Mercenary"), then rebels formally against the human government (book four: "Starship: Rebel") and finally takes on the humans directly (book five: "Starship: Flagship").
Sadly, the execution was nowhere near as good as the premise. The conceits are many: most of the books are made up almost entirely of the main character explaining (lecturing, really) to all of the rest of the characters why is doing, or did, whatever it is he's doing, or has done. None of the character possess remotely enough intelligence to compete with the blowhard main character who was so over-the-top arrogant and annoying I kept hoping he'd get killed off. Often, the characters are repeating almost word-for-word things they've said previously or in the prior books (particularly about the fighting prowess of one character). Then, there's the references to humans as "Man" (complete with the capital-M). I thought that kind of sexism was over when Star Trek switched from "where no man has gone before" to "no one".
The final struggle against the human government suffers from an unbelievable, and stupid, deus ex machina, required for the main characters to triumph, but not without first some more lecturing to the other characters, always too dumb to understand his big plans. The bad guys are no better, always doing EXACTLY what the main character predicts they will.
Don't waste your time with this series.
May 17, 2021
Bel racconto di fantascienza con colpi di scena interessanti, ma con un finale forse un po' troppo spiccio, anche se veramente godibile e tutt'altro che costruito male, anzi.
March 15, 2015
One-dimensional characters in a five-book-series space opera with dialog that seems to be copied&pasted from volume 1 to volume 5 and with significant continuity issues (a dead character comes back to life, unexplained). I am exceedingly grateful for Overdrive; these books came via my local library, not my pocketbook.
If read as a standalone book, I'm guessing this book (Starship: Flagship) would be more palatable, since I thought book 1 was enjoyable if lightweight. (Think cotton candy - it's sweet and we keep eating it even though we know it's bad for us.)
However, as the culmination of a five-book series, it's a major ugh in part because the dialog has become increasingly tiresome. And there's suspension of disbelief -- something essential to reading space operas with faster-than-light travel -- and then there's an unacceptable level Suspension of Disbelief required when the parameters of a universe are inexplicably changed, as others have pointed out.
I know Mike Resnick because of Galaxy's Edge Magazine. I had not read any of Resnick's books until this series. It's doubtful that I will try anything else if this series is representative.
SPOILER: I was especially troubled by the torture episode on many levels, not just because Resnick takes the classic hypothetical "but what if N people will die" scenario and sticks it in the novel. This side story does not feel congruent with the character of Wilson Cole that Resnick has developed, the brain over brawn character. (I kept asking myself, why isn't Cole talking to this guy? If he can convince hundreds - thousands - of the merit of his case why not a single man?) This side story blithely ignores what we KNOW about torture: which is that human beings will eventually tell their torturers anything to get them to stop the torture.
If read as a standalone book, I'm guessing this book (Starship: Flagship) would be more palatable, since I thought book 1 was enjoyable if lightweight. (Think cotton candy - it's sweet and we keep eating it even though we know it's bad for us.)
However, as the culmination of a five-book series, it's a major ugh in part because the dialog has become increasingly tiresome. And there's suspension of disbelief -- something essential to reading space operas with faster-than-light travel -- and then there's an unacceptable level Suspension of Disbelief required when the parameters of a universe are inexplicably changed, as others have pointed out.
I know Mike Resnick because of Galaxy's Edge Magazine. I had not read any of Resnick's books until this series. It's doubtful that I will try anything else if this series is representative.
SPOILER: I was especially troubled by the torture episode on many levels, not just because Resnick takes the classic hypothetical "but what if N people will die" scenario and sticks it in the novel. This side story does not feel congruent with the character of Wilson Cole that Resnick has developed, the brain over brawn character. (I kept asking myself, why isn't Cole talking to this guy? If he can convince hundreds - thousands - of the merit of his case why not a single man?) This side story blithely ignores what we KNOW about torture: which is that human beings will eventually tell their torturers anything to get them to stop the torture.
September 19, 2010
Resnick bites off more than he can chew. Like an intimate off-Broadway play, the plots and characters, while effective in a small setting, cannot be effectively scaled up. When he attempts to transfer Wilson Cole's personal story of moral rebellion to a grander galactic stage it falls flat.
Whether you blame the odd digression into the definition and justification of torture, or the lack of any effectively developed new characters (i.e. Val in Pirate, the Duke in Mercenary, the Octopus in Rebel) or the inexplicable and indefensible Deus Ex Machina that hijacks the final act of the story, the cause is secondary to the effect; in the end Starship:Flagship is a disappointing conclusion to an enjoyable series.
Whether you blame the odd digression into the definition and justification of torture, or the lack of any effectively developed new characters (i.e. Val in Pirate, the Duke in Mercenary, the Octopus in Rebel) or the inexplicable and indefensible Deus Ex Machina that hijacks the final act of the story, the cause is secondary to the effect; in the end Starship:Flagship is a disappointing conclusion to an enjoyable series.
January 3, 2010
I think Resnick got his 12 year-old son to write this one for him. I liked the previous titles in the series well enough, but I can't say anything even remotely good about #5 - it's just plain awful.
October 7, 2009
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
Fans of course are already familiar with one of the biggest frustrations that comes with genre work -- and that's when a person will become interested in a series of related books but only when the series is already halfway over, forcing the person to have to go back and read all the previous titles in order to even begin to understand the one that most recently came out. And that just goes double for book critics like me who will often receive free copies of such titles out of the blue, many of them frankly modest sellers only that could really benefit from some extra publicity; for example, science-fiction publisher Pyr is notorious for constantly sending me "part 6 of the 'Destroyer of Worlds' tetralogy" or whatever, with neither them having the resources to mail the previous five novels nor with me having the time to read them in the first place. But the good news is that in our modern times, more and more online resources exist to help us understand these sometimes insanely complicated backstories, without having to literally sit and read all the previous volumes in a given series; between Amazon, Goodreads, Wikipedia and official publisher/author websites, it can in fact sometimes be ridiculously easy to get up to speed, which allows us to simply start with the volume we just happen to have at that moment, for whatever reason we ended up with that one instead of the first title in the series.
For example, take two such books I recently received from Pyr, the first of which, Kay Kenyon's Prince of Storms (part four of "The Entire and The Rose" series), seems especially intimidating to just jump into feet-first; because in reality, it's actually one of those quasi-fantasy tales you sometimes see within the world of SF, ones that rely on such futuristic tropes as spaceships and laser guns but in actuality have much more in common with the work of JRR Tolkien -- elaborate races, grand mythologies, feudal political systems, unpronounceable names -- all set in a very earthy type of environment that barely evokes the common sterile images of most science-fiction (with of course the best-known of all these being Frank Herbert's "Dune" series, from which all other quasi-fantasy SF series seem to heavily borrow, a far-future science-based tale to be sure, but that might as well have hobbits and rings of power for all the Toklienesque elements found within it).
Thankfully, though, a couple of days* spent reading the entire series' background information online, as well as the hundreds of user reviews now posted of the first three volumes, presents us with a world that's not too terribly difficult to understand: it turns out that in Kenyon's universe, there's actually a parallel dimension of existence known as "The Entire," with Earth (known to them as "The Rose") simply a smaller and newer offshoot, a place bordered by magically vertical rivers of energy that one can "sail" across to get from one place to another, folding the space-time continuum along the way in order to make the journey faster (yes, just like in "Dune"), but with the specially trained pilots essentially assured of going insane after a lifetime of doing so (yes, just like in "Dune"). Much like Stephen Donaldson's quasi-fantasy series from the 1970s and '80s, then, "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever," Kenyon's "Entire and Rose" series is mostly centered around an Earthling named Titus Quinn, who travels back to this alternate universe after visiting there a first time and forgetting the experience; what the first three books mostly consist of is Quinn slowly remembering all the details of this universe (including the elite "Tarig" race who have ruled the Entire for thousands of years, the intellectually equal "Jinda ceb Horat" that they are in a constant state of war with, the Chinese-like "Chalin" humanoid race created to be the Tarigs' servants, and a lot more), not to mention the growing alienation between himself and his abandoned daughter Sydney, raised by a race of telepathic riding beasts known as the Inyx, lied to by the Tarig concerning her father's true motivations, who has decided instead to "go native" and become his enemy, and who now goes by the more Entire-appropriate name of "Sen Ni."
Whew! And that of course bring us to an unfortunate problem with such complicated quasi-fantasy series, when you try to simply pick them up in the middle; because when I sat down to actually read Prince of Storms, I realized that although I had done a good job at understanding all the major events and characters fueling this uber-storyline, I still had barely any clue about the dozens of minor characters holding the whole thing together. And of course this can be much less serious an issue based on what kind of SF series it is (but more on that in a bit); but it's a notoriously difficult situation with quasi-fantasy tales, in that such tales include just so many made-up names that are so hard to remember, and so many Shakespearean complications regarding families and clans and races and alliances and the like. And now combine this with the fact that I myself don't particularly care for fantasy tales to begin with, mostly because I can't stand the overdone preciousness of the writing that seems to inevitably come with such books, the overly complicated mythology and the infuriating habit among such writers to never use contractions. ("I do not know why the word 'don't' does not exist in our language, Flinthy the Wise! I do not know why!") So at the end, then, despite all the work put in to get myself up to speed, I still found Prince of Storms only middling at best, a thoroughly genreriffic tale that will only be enjoyed by hardcore genre fans; although in its defense, I should mention that existing fantasy fans go nuts for these books online, with many of them declaring "The Entire and the Rose" one of the best quasi-fantasy tales ever written. You know already whether you're one of these people or not; if you are, it will be worth checking this out no matter what I in particular have to say.
And that brings us to the second book under examination today, Mike Resnick's Starship: Flagship, part five of his "Starship" series -- and like I said, this one has a backstory that's much easier to pick up on, because the "Starship" series is ultimately a nice simple space opera (you know, like "Star Wars"), and by their very nature space operas tend to be not that difficult to understand. Ultimately it's the story of one Wilson Cole, charismatic and popular captain within the military of the sprawling Galactic Republic, who eventually goes rogue over his growing dissatisfaction with the bureaucracy-saddled Republic and its gradual turn to evil; each book in the series, then, is a nearly standalone tale concerning the adventures of Cole and his ragtag crew within the battleship Theodore Roosevelt (or "Teddy R" as it's affectionately known), each title reflecting the state of that ship's relationship with the Republic in any given year -- so Starship: Mutiny is about the year they break away from the Republic, Starship: Pirate is about the year they decide to be privateers, etc. Flagship, then, is the last book in the series, the one where Cole decides to topple the Republic for good, once and for all.
And indeed, Resnick's book seems to suffer nearly the opposite problem of Kenyon's, in that it's so simple to nearly be insulting at points; you know, one of those corny shoot-em-ups designed primarily for teenage boys and the Comic Book Guys they eventually turn into, full of cheesy one-note characters whose one notes are then infinitely hammered home over and over, like a two-by-four to the back of the head (and seriously, Resnick, I get it, okay? Valkyrie really likes killing people, I f-cking get it already). As I've said many times before, such simplicity isn't necessarily that bad just unto itself -- after all, it's these exact kinds of books that make up the vast bulk of all genre novels that are published in any given year, the kind that fetishistically deliver every little touch that a SF fan is looking for and not an ounce more, with Resnick's 33 Hugo nominations and five wins proving that he's doing something right -- just that it's hardcore genre fans who will be the only ones to truly enjoy a book like this, a title that can very easily be skipped over by those who are merely casual fans of science-fiction.
Still, as I've hopefully shown today, it's easier than ever these days to become one of these fans if you're so inclined, and surprisingly easy to get caught up on multipart series without necessarily having to read the entire series in question. The next time you yourself come across a title that seems intriguing, but tells the middle stories of a long-running saga, I encourage you to keep all these things in mind.
Out of 10:
Prince of Storms: 7.3, or 8.8 for fans of quasi-fantasy
Starship: Flagship: 7.6, or 8.1 for fans of space opera
*And yes, in both cases, it really did take me two entire days to read through the hundreds of user reviews now found online of these series' previous books, at places like Amazon and Goodreads. At first this may seem like an excessive amount of research just to get caught up on the developments of a middling science-fiction series; better, though, to compare this to the amount of time it would take to read all the actual books in that series.
Fans of course are already familiar with one of the biggest frustrations that comes with genre work -- and that's when a person will become interested in a series of related books but only when the series is already halfway over, forcing the person to have to go back and read all the previous titles in order to even begin to understand the one that most recently came out. And that just goes double for book critics like me who will often receive free copies of such titles out of the blue, many of them frankly modest sellers only that could really benefit from some extra publicity; for example, science-fiction publisher Pyr is notorious for constantly sending me "part 6 of the 'Destroyer of Worlds' tetralogy" or whatever, with neither them having the resources to mail the previous five novels nor with me having the time to read them in the first place. But the good news is that in our modern times, more and more online resources exist to help us understand these sometimes insanely complicated backstories, without having to literally sit and read all the previous volumes in a given series; between Amazon, Goodreads, Wikipedia and official publisher/author websites, it can in fact sometimes be ridiculously easy to get up to speed, which allows us to simply start with the volume we just happen to have at that moment, for whatever reason we ended up with that one instead of the first title in the series.
For example, take two such books I recently received from Pyr, the first of which, Kay Kenyon's Prince of Storms (part four of "The Entire and The Rose" series), seems especially intimidating to just jump into feet-first; because in reality, it's actually one of those quasi-fantasy tales you sometimes see within the world of SF, ones that rely on such futuristic tropes as spaceships and laser guns but in actuality have much more in common with the work of JRR Tolkien -- elaborate races, grand mythologies, feudal political systems, unpronounceable names -- all set in a very earthy type of environment that barely evokes the common sterile images of most science-fiction (with of course the best-known of all these being Frank Herbert's "Dune" series, from which all other quasi-fantasy SF series seem to heavily borrow, a far-future science-based tale to be sure, but that might as well have hobbits and rings of power for all the Toklienesque elements found within it).
Thankfully, though, a couple of days* spent reading the entire series' background information online, as well as the hundreds of user reviews now posted of the first three volumes, presents us with a world that's not too terribly difficult to understand: it turns out that in Kenyon's universe, there's actually a parallel dimension of existence known as "The Entire," with Earth (known to them as "The Rose") simply a smaller and newer offshoot, a place bordered by magically vertical rivers of energy that one can "sail" across to get from one place to another, folding the space-time continuum along the way in order to make the journey faster (yes, just like in "Dune"), but with the specially trained pilots essentially assured of going insane after a lifetime of doing so (yes, just like in "Dune"). Much like Stephen Donaldson's quasi-fantasy series from the 1970s and '80s, then, "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever," Kenyon's "Entire and Rose" series is mostly centered around an Earthling named Titus Quinn, who travels back to this alternate universe after visiting there a first time and forgetting the experience; what the first three books mostly consist of is Quinn slowly remembering all the details of this universe (including the elite "Tarig" race who have ruled the Entire for thousands of years, the intellectually equal "Jinda ceb Horat" that they are in a constant state of war with, the Chinese-like "Chalin" humanoid race created to be the Tarigs' servants, and a lot more), not to mention the growing alienation between himself and his abandoned daughter Sydney, raised by a race of telepathic riding beasts known as the Inyx, lied to by the Tarig concerning her father's true motivations, who has decided instead to "go native" and become his enemy, and who now goes by the more Entire-appropriate name of "Sen Ni."
Whew! And that of course bring us to an unfortunate problem with such complicated quasi-fantasy series, when you try to simply pick them up in the middle; because when I sat down to actually read Prince of Storms, I realized that although I had done a good job at understanding all the major events and characters fueling this uber-storyline, I still had barely any clue about the dozens of minor characters holding the whole thing together. And of course this can be much less serious an issue based on what kind of SF series it is (but more on that in a bit); but it's a notoriously difficult situation with quasi-fantasy tales, in that such tales include just so many made-up names that are so hard to remember, and so many Shakespearean complications regarding families and clans and races and alliances and the like. And now combine this with the fact that I myself don't particularly care for fantasy tales to begin with, mostly because I can't stand the overdone preciousness of the writing that seems to inevitably come with such books, the overly complicated mythology and the infuriating habit among such writers to never use contractions. ("I do not know why the word 'don't' does not exist in our language, Flinthy the Wise! I do not know why!") So at the end, then, despite all the work put in to get myself up to speed, I still found Prince of Storms only middling at best, a thoroughly genreriffic tale that will only be enjoyed by hardcore genre fans; although in its defense, I should mention that existing fantasy fans go nuts for these books online, with many of them declaring "The Entire and the Rose" one of the best quasi-fantasy tales ever written. You know already whether you're one of these people or not; if you are, it will be worth checking this out no matter what I in particular have to say.
And that brings us to the second book under examination today, Mike Resnick's Starship: Flagship, part five of his "Starship" series -- and like I said, this one has a backstory that's much easier to pick up on, because the "Starship" series is ultimately a nice simple space opera (you know, like "Star Wars"), and by their very nature space operas tend to be not that difficult to understand. Ultimately it's the story of one Wilson Cole, charismatic and popular captain within the military of the sprawling Galactic Republic, who eventually goes rogue over his growing dissatisfaction with the bureaucracy-saddled Republic and its gradual turn to evil; each book in the series, then, is a nearly standalone tale concerning the adventures of Cole and his ragtag crew within the battleship Theodore Roosevelt (or "Teddy R" as it's affectionately known), each title reflecting the state of that ship's relationship with the Republic in any given year -- so Starship: Mutiny is about the year they break away from the Republic, Starship: Pirate is about the year they decide to be privateers, etc. Flagship, then, is the last book in the series, the one where Cole decides to topple the Republic for good, once and for all.
And indeed, Resnick's book seems to suffer nearly the opposite problem of Kenyon's, in that it's so simple to nearly be insulting at points; you know, one of those corny shoot-em-ups designed primarily for teenage boys and the Comic Book Guys they eventually turn into, full of cheesy one-note characters whose one notes are then infinitely hammered home over and over, like a two-by-four to the back of the head (and seriously, Resnick, I get it, okay? Valkyrie really likes killing people, I f-cking get it already). As I've said many times before, such simplicity isn't necessarily that bad just unto itself -- after all, it's these exact kinds of books that make up the vast bulk of all genre novels that are published in any given year, the kind that fetishistically deliver every little touch that a SF fan is looking for and not an ounce more, with Resnick's 33 Hugo nominations and five wins proving that he's doing something right -- just that it's hardcore genre fans who will be the only ones to truly enjoy a book like this, a title that can very easily be skipped over by those who are merely casual fans of science-fiction.
Still, as I've hopefully shown today, it's easier than ever these days to become one of these fans if you're so inclined, and surprisingly easy to get caught up on multipart series without necessarily having to read the entire series in question. The next time you yourself come across a title that seems intriguing, but tells the middle stories of a long-running saga, I encourage you to keep all these things in mind.
Out of 10:
Prince of Storms: 7.3, or 8.8 for fans of quasi-fantasy
Starship: Flagship: 7.6, or 8.1 for fans of space opera
*And yes, in both cases, it really did take me two entire days to read through the hundreds of user reviews now found online of these series' previous books, at places like Amazon and Goodreads. At first this may seem like an excessive amount of research just to get caught up on the developments of a middling science-fiction series; better, though, to compare this to the amount of time it would take to read all the actual books in that series.
February 1, 2014
The last book in the series Flagship more than meets my expectations of being an action packed climactic space battle between whatever force and whatever force. But, i didn't really care. I didn't care about who lived and who died or what they were fighting for because ultimately it was just a convoluted mess of some idealistic outlook on government which holds no real world value besides to the author himself. It started off as a spectacular space adventure, then became a wooden talking head spouting awkward angsty anti gonvernment words that read like a college student's 1st draft of global politics. As if its waiting for me to say, "oh how deep and complex you are!" when really i just came for the free food and space wash buckling.
I want to love the starship series so much, but damnit if the characters and the character relationships run dry and stale by book 3. Nothing new is said and done between any character. All that happens is they say the same thing over and over to eachother, they all act the same way, none of them ever do anything new. you don't really even get to know or understand any of their motives or own ways of self governing thoughts. By Book 5, the last one in the series its a joke when youre reading the dialogue between each character. Each conversation is something derivative of, "wilson, you are sly devil you" "sharon i am going to bang some other young girl" "i can take over the galaxy with a million of Vals" "Christine, youre a computer genius" "Bull get down to gunnery and shoot things" "david, youre not human nor is your name david" and "You make too much sense for the republic, Cole."
The main bad guys are the people who lead the republic, Admiral Garcia and Secretary Wilkes, both are put up on plinths through out the entire series as the bad guys. Come the series conclusion and they are side characters, just names really..then they they exit. Lame. very very very lame.
All of these are said at the bare minimum of twice in each respective book. some don't in the first 2 considering they don't appear till later books. I digress...don't read these books and expect intelligent character intrigue, dialogue, or development for that matter. The most developed character is Wilson Cole and he's as one dimensional as they get. The Funny, Witty, Self depricating star captain who gives each crew member nick names and wins by his wits not his brawn. When i put it like that, he does sound interesting. But that well runs dry by book 2, then you are stuck with it for the duration of 3 more books with the same jokes, same attitude, and same outlook on how things are and what they should be.
This started off beautifully, the Commander who mutineer'd because of bad orders in order to save millions of lives and fled with his ship and crew into the space frontier governed by no government, who became a Pirate who only pirated pirates in order to feed his crew and fuel his space ship, who became a Mercenary in order to make legitimate money and save the inner frontier from space warlords, Who became a Rebel when he saw the travesty's that the Navy he fought his entire life was doing to his new found home in the inner frontier, and then became the Flagship of the entire Republic fleet to stave off an attack.... on their homeworld?....wait...thats...that doesn't make any sense now does it?
The first 3 books were good, not great; but good. Their main story arc was something to fantasize about, what would you do if you had an entire warship to yourself, a loyal crew, and an entire un charted frontier of space to explore? But then the characters all started to sound the same and are interchangable with the one exception of David Copperfield, even his dialogue is grossly under developed. And Commander Forrice "four eyes" was another treat to read. Too bad Resnick felt the need to kill him out of the blue. thus making me not care that much anymore about anything.
The ending is not cathartic what so ever, it ends so abruptly i thought i was missing a few pages. Would i recommend this series to a friend? No, there are plenty other Sci-Fis out there that one can get lost in with actual colorful characters and rich galaxy wide intrigue which this series lacks on all fronts. Shame. it started off so well.
I want to love the starship series so much, but damnit if the characters and the character relationships run dry and stale by book 3. Nothing new is said and done between any character. All that happens is they say the same thing over and over to eachother, they all act the same way, none of them ever do anything new. you don't really even get to know or understand any of their motives or own ways of self governing thoughts. By Book 5, the last one in the series its a joke when youre reading the dialogue between each character. Each conversation is something derivative of, "wilson, you are sly devil you" "sharon i am going to bang some other young girl" "i can take over the galaxy with a million of Vals" "Christine, youre a computer genius" "Bull get down to gunnery and shoot things" "david, youre not human nor is your name david" and "You make too much sense for the republic, Cole."
The main bad guys are the people who lead the republic, Admiral Garcia and Secretary Wilkes, both are put up on plinths through out the entire series as the bad guys. Come the series conclusion and they are side characters, just names really..then they they exit. Lame. very very very lame.
All of these are said at the bare minimum of twice in each respective book. some don't in the first 2 considering they don't appear till later books. I digress...don't read these books and expect intelligent character intrigue, dialogue, or development for that matter. The most developed character is Wilson Cole and he's as one dimensional as they get. The Funny, Witty, Self depricating star captain who gives each crew member nick names and wins by his wits not his brawn. When i put it like that, he does sound interesting. But that well runs dry by book 2, then you are stuck with it for the duration of 3 more books with the same jokes, same attitude, and same outlook on how things are and what they should be.
This started off beautifully, the Commander who mutineer'd because of bad orders in order to save millions of lives and fled with his ship and crew into the space frontier governed by no government, who became a Pirate who only pirated pirates in order to feed his crew and fuel his space ship, who became a Mercenary in order to make legitimate money and save the inner frontier from space warlords, Who became a Rebel when he saw the travesty's that the Navy he fought his entire life was doing to his new found home in the inner frontier, and then became the Flagship of the entire Republic fleet to stave off an attack.... on their homeworld?....wait...thats...that doesn't make any sense now does it?
The first 3 books were good, not great; but good. Their main story arc was something to fantasize about, what would you do if you had an entire warship to yourself, a loyal crew, and an entire un charted frontier of space to explore? But then the characters all started to sound the same and are interchangable with the one exception of David Copperfield, even his dialogue is grossly under developed. And Commander Forrice "four eyes" was another treat to read. Too bad Resnick felt the need to kill him out of the blue. thus making me not care that much anymore about anything.
The ending is not cathartic what so ever, it ends so abruptly i thought i was missing a few pages. Would i recommend this series to a friend? No, there are plenty other Sci-Fis out there that one can get lost in with actual colorful characters and rich galaxy wide intrigue which this series lacks on all fronts. Shame. it started off so well.
August 4, 2024
At first, I found the ending of this five-book series a little bit of a flat ending. It grew on me during my second listen, and now, reading with the kids, it seemed almost perfect. We ended up with an hours marathon of the end of the book and major celebration when it was over, replete with an epic paper airplane battle with each labeled with ships from the story. It was wonderful.
July 20, 2010
Shallow characters and a child like plot lines. Everything happened in the Wilson’s head and everything played out exactly as he thought. Good bed story for a 5 year old, apart from redhead giant obviously. I am very disappointed.
July 12, 2013
Anticlimactic ending. Funny at times but the series was one of the most unrealistic space opera series ever.
November 11, 2012
It was good, turned bad, got worse, and finally became an absurd.
December 28, 2018
VOTO ALL'INTERO CICLO: 3,4
Il ciclo Starship di Mike Resnick è una space-opera militare che fa il verso ad opere certamente più autorevoli e qualitativamente migliori: non è affatto eccelsa, ma dalla sua ha una lettura estremamente semplice ( forse fin troppo!) e il "dono" della sintesi.
Insomma, è un qualcosa da leggere nel pieno della rilassatezza, senza pretendere troppo.
I 3 libri centrali senza sono senza dubbio i più divertenti, mentre il primo volume è fin troppo arronzato, per i miei gusti, mentre il capitolo conclusivo ha un epilogo da top-paraculata.
Insomma, consigliato a chi ama la space- opera militare e non ha niente di meglio da leggere sottomano.
Il ciclo Starship di Mike Resnick è una space-opera militare che fa il verso ad opere certamente più autorevoli e qualitativamente migliori: non è affatto eccelsa, ma dalla sua ha una lettura estremamente semplice ( forse fin troppo!) e il "dono" della sintesi.
Insomma, è un qualcosa da leggere nel pieno della rilassatezza, senza pretendere troppo.
I 3 libri centrali senza sono senza dubbio i più divertenti, mentre il primo volume è fin troppo arronzato, per i miei gusti, mentre il capitolo conclusivo ha un epilogo da top-paraculata.
Insomma, consigliato a chi ama la space- opera militare e non ha niente di meglio da leggere sottomano.
January 1, 2019
I tend to finish book series I've started but this one was so good and the final scenes so senseless, rushed and ultimately not satisfying.
And come on Resnick, have you prepared the same sentences about characters and situations and just copied it from book to book? And for the fifth time it angers me how female characters are handled here and how Cole jokes about them... After reading all five installments of the series I would recommend you to pick something else - it is a light book with a lot of action but you can find better alternatives.
And come on Resnick, have you prepared the same sentences about characters and situations and just copied it from book to book? And for the fifth time it angers me how female characters are handled here and how Cole jokes about them... After reading all five installments of the series I would recommend you to pick something else - it is a light book with a lot of action but you can find better alternatives.
May 7, 2018
It's obvious that some time passed between writing this and the writing of the earlier books. There are a dozen discrepancies in the first chapter alone. While the continuity improves as the book
progresses, the story does not. The pacing is uneven, the characters fall flat and the fun just isn't here.
The wit and sarcasm of Wilson Cole carried the earlier books, here it just felt like a caricature that was "phoned in". Not bad, but not very good either.
progresses, the story does not. The pacing is uneven, the characters fall flat and the fun just isn't here.
The wit and sarcasm of Wilson Cole carried the earlier books, here it just felt like a caricature that was "phoned in". Not bad, but not very good either.
Read
May 3, 2024Simple and fun is the nicest way to describe it. The titles tell you exactly what will happen in each book. I thought it was a good thing that the politics was so subtle and light tough throughout the series but it came back to bite the author in the end who was left with no foundation to finish off the series in a coherent and convincing way.
December 3, 2024
Bohaterowie w tej serii byli niesamowici. Dalej moją ulubienicą jest Walkiria. Lubię jej nastawienie do świata i jej pewność siebie i siłę.
Końcówka historii jednak mnie zawiodła. Była zbyt przyśpieszona i wymuszona. Super szybka ostatnia bitwa i rozwiązanie, na które każdy się zgadza? Za bardzo bajkowe to było.
Końcówka historii jednak mnie zawiodła. Była zbyt przyśpieszona i wymuszona. Super szybka ostatnia bitwa i rozwiązanie, na które każdy się zgadza? Za bardzo bajkowe to było.
September 22, 2019
The final volume of Resnick's space opera finds Captain Cole attampting to achieve the ultimate goal of supplanting the Republic with a more benevolent government. No easy task and one which is fraught with some surpriseng twists and turns. Still thoroughly readable and enjoyable.
January 10, 2019
The end to the Wilson Cole saga. The ending feels a little rushed but minor complaint.
March 5, 2019
Excellent conclusion to a great series. I highly recommend the audiobooks.
June 18, 2020
Readable and entertaining... an adventure in space, heavily dependent on wormhole travel. Fun.
December 13, 2020
Space Opera ... DEL BUENO !!!
Como a mí me gusta, con acción, cachondeo, aventuras ... en fin, de todo un poco.
Leí los 5 del tirón y acabé leyendo los 2 últimos en Inglés, no digo más ...
Como a mí me gusta, con acción, cachondeo, aventuras ... en fin, de todo un poco.
Leí los 5 del tirón y acabé leyendo los 2 últimos en Inglés, no digo más ...
January 27, 2022
A fun series all in all, but the conclusion doesn't quite stick the landing, for a number of reasons.
May 25, 2022
Το επικό φινάλε της σειράς που δε θα αφήσει αυγκίνητο τον αναγνώστη. Τα 5 αστέρια είναι ίσως too much, αλλά ποιος είπε ότι δεν μπορούμε να προμοτάρουμε λίγο τους αγαπημένους μας συγγραφείς;
March 16, 2020
Reseña de la saga completa:
Si te gusta la ciencia ficción militar pura y dura vas a disfrutar estos libros. Ojo, es la historia clásica de militar que por cierto motivo se ve líder y tiene que luchar contra ciertos enemigos, sin más, pero a ver, seamos claros, la ciencia ficción militar en general es como si te gusta Manolo García, que suenan todas las canciones iguales pero sigues oyéndolas porque es lo que te gusta.
Otra saga parecida es "La Flota Perdida" de Jack Campbell, y otra (a mi gusto mucho mejor, como casi todo lo que escribe) de John Scalzi los 6 libros de Fuerzas de Defensa Coloniales, con "La vieja guardia" a la cabeza.
Si te gusta la ciencia ficción militar pura y dura vas a disfrutar estos libros. Ojo, es la historia clásica de militar que por cierto motivo se ve líder y tiene que luchar contra ciertos enemigos, sin más, pero a ver, seamos claros, la ciencia ficción militar en general es como si te gusta Manolo García, que suenan todas las canciones iguales pero sigues oyéndolas porque es lo que te gusta.
Otra saga parecida es "La Flota Perdida" de Jack Campbell, y otra (a mi gusto mucho mejor, como casi todo lo que escribe) de John Scalzi los 6 libros de Fuerzas de Defensa Coloniales, con "La vieja guardia" a la cabeza.
February 22, 2017
#5 in the Starship series. This concluding entry is a fitting wrap-up to the series by prolific author Resnick. Having busted their commander, Wilson Cole, out of the brig for disobeying orders that would have cost millions of lives, the crew of the starship Theodore Roosevelt find themselves on the run from their own fleet. Now after four years as the most wanted target of the Republic Navy, the Navy has taken to acts of barbarism in seeking him. Cole has decided that he and his band of misfits have no choice but to declare war and, with his 800 ship fleet, defeat the Republic and its fleet of 3-1/2 million ships. Guile replaces might in this fine series finale.
Starship series - Wilson Cole heads a vastly outnumbered, out-gunned armada of rebels, and Teddy R, his ship, is wanted across the galaxy. He is absolutely convinced that the Republic is hopelessly corrupt, or at least its top leaders are, and that somehow he must overthrow it/them. His people can't afford armed conflict, so he wages a brilliant war of propaganda and trickery. Of course, he must get to Deluros VIII, capital of the Republic, and deal with the politicos himself.
Starship series - Wilson Cole heads a vastly outnumbered, out-gunned armada of rebels, and Teddy R, his ship, is wanted across the galaxy. He is absolutely convinced that the Republic is hopelessly corrupt, or at least its top leaders are, and that somehow he must overthrow it/them. His people can't afford armed conflict, so he wages a brilliant war of propaganda and trickery. Of course, he must get to Deluros VIII, capital of the Republic, and deal with the politicos himself.
May 3, 2013
And so I reach the final book in the Starship series, Starship: Flagship. I've loved this series so far and enjoyed all the books to date - Mutiny, Pirate, Mercenary and Rebel - with very little reservations. To say I was anticipating this would be an understatement and I only hoped it could provide the same enjoyment that I had come to expect from the series. Did it hit the right notes? Well, not exactly, but it was still a very enjoyable novel.
In the aftermath of the Republic attack on Singapore Station Wilson Cole and his fleet of ships aims to do the unthinkable - take the fight to the Republic capital world. Leaving Singapore Station to the mercy of the next incoming Republic fleet leaves a bitter taste in many mouth, but they know it is the right thing to do, hoping the Republic will leave it alone when they can't find Cole. With hundreds of ships under his command the effort to rid the Inner Frontier of the Republic is still underway and is slowly having an effect, and with allies from within the Republic helping their cause, and a surprise find, Cole is able to make strategic decisions that will help improve their chances to a great degree.
With the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'll once again say how well the characters Resnick writes work in Flagship. Cole is now focused on a course of action and his associates are helping him with what is needed, as is the crew of the Teddy R. His discussions with people like Sharron help flesh out his thinking and allow us to get the motivations and processes he's going through. All well and good, especially as this is one of the aspects of the series that has worked so well.
And to the story. Well, for the first two thirds of the novel the story was continuing at a good pace, logically following on from Rebel and taking the situations as they come, each time managing to think their way out of too much trouble. When Cole finally gets to the Republic's capital events take a very unexpected turn. Suddenly the planet is attacked by an alien race that appears from nowhere and Cole finds himself the only one that could save the Republic he's come disband. It just doesn't feel like a natural progression to me, more like this should have been two separate books but due to constraints everything was thrown in. A bit of a shame as the book was on course to wrap the series up very nicely indeed.
Starship: Flagship is a good book let down by a situation that just pops up to serve as a plot point, but it does leave the universe in a very interesting place and it would great to see if any follow up stories were done, they'd certainly have plenty to go on. I'd definitely recommend this book if you've read the rest of the series, but don't jump in here - the four previous books are well worth the effort and all are a step above this one.
In the aftermath of the Republic attack on Singapore Station Wilson Cole and his fleet of ships aims to do the unthinkable - take the fight to the Republic capital world. Leaving Singapore Station to the mercy of the next incoming Republic fleet leaves a bitter taste in many mouth, but they know it is the right thing to do, hoping the Republic will leave it alone when they can't find Cole. With hundreds of ships under his command the effort to rid the Inner Frontier of the Republic is still underway and is slowly having an effect, and with allies from within the Republic helping their cause, and a surprise find, Cole is able to make strategic decisions that will help improve their chances to a great degree.
With the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'll once again say how well the characters Resnick writes work in Flagship. Cole is now focused on a course of action and his associates are helping him with what is needed, as is the crew of the Teddy R. His discussions with people like Sharron help flesh out his thinking and allow us to get the motivations and processes he's going through. All well and good, especially as this is one of the aspects of the series that has worked so well.
And to the story. Well, for the first two thirds of the novel the story was continuing at a good pace, logically following on from Rebel and taking the situations as they come, each time managing to think their way out of too much trouble. When Cole finally gets to the Republic's capital events take a very unexpected turn. Suddenly the planet is attacked by an alien race that appears from nowhere and Cole finds himself the only one that could save the Republic he's come disband. It just doesn't feel like a natural progression to me, more like this should have been two separate books but due to constraints everything was thrown in. A bit of a shame as the book was on course to wrap the series up very nicely indeed.
Starship: Flagship is a good book let down by a situation that just pops up to serve as a plot point, but it does leave the universe in a very interesting place and it would great to see if any follow up stories were done, they'd certainly have plenty to go on. I'd definitely recommend this book if you've read the rest of the series, but don't jump in here - the four previous books are well worth the effort and all are a step above this one.
September 20, 2016
Da:
http://www.webalice.it/michele.castel...
Quinto e conclusivo episodio di questa serie di romanzi di Mike Resnick, che è un autore piuttosto rispettato ma che a me non ha mai convinto del tutto, e qualche volta anche ampiamente deluso, come con questa serie. Come ero stato facile profeta nel commentare il quarto episodio di questa serie, la mia opinione a riguardo non è stata minimamente modificata dalla lettura di questo ultimo. A merito di Resnick devo però dire che non è nemmeno peggiorata, anche se non c'erano molti margini per questa possibilità. La vicenda si conclude più o meno come si era sviluppata: banalmente. Wilson Cole non è più il geniale stratega dalle intuizioni folgoranti e inspiegabili dei primi episodi, ma nemmeno l'imbranato che va a cacciarsi sistematicamente in problemi da cui solo il Fato, e molti avvenimenti casuali e fortunati, riescono a tirarlo fuori più o meno sano e salvo. Qui siamo in una via di mezzo, in cui le brillanti strategie di Cole sono sistematicamente avversate da un Fato questa volta contrario, ma il solito alleato occasionale trovato per caso lì per lì, o il voltagabbana opportunista dell'ultimo momento risolvono sempre la vicenda a suo favore. Anche i personaggi di contorno, che nel passato avevano rappresentato degli ottimi comprimari, sono questa volta un po' nell'ombra, dominati dalla continua iniziativa di Cole. La potentissima Repubblica con milioni di navi da guerra superpotenti viene messa sotto scacco prima da Cole, e poi dai soliti avversari sconosciuti e mai visti prima che ne fanno inizialmente polpette, salvo poi essere liquidati in modo semplice e diretto dall'iniziativa di Cole stesso.
La conclusione è poi la cosa più banale che si potesse leggere in un romanzo di fantascienza, e nemmeno scritto negli anni 40 del secolo scorso...
Non è poi che oggi sia difficile scrivere dell'ottima Space Opera, senza arrivare ai volumoni di Reynolds, basti pensare alla serie The Expanse di James R.A. Corey o alla serie Old Man's War di Scalzi. Se poi si vuole rimanere su un tono e stile di narrazione classico, anche la serie di Coyote di Steele, che Urania stessa sta pubblicando e di cui parlerò nel mese di Dicembre, a confronto con questi romanzi di Resnick fa la sua notevole figura.
http://www.webalice.it/michele.castel...
Quinto e conclusivo episodio di questa serie di romanzi di Mike Resnick, che è un autore piuttosto rispettato ma che a me non ha mai convinto del tutto, e qualche volta anche ampiamente deluso, come con questa serie. Come ero stato facile profeta nel commentare il quarto episodio di questa serie, la mia opinione a riguardo non è stata minimamente modificata dalla lettura di questo ultimo. A merito di Resnick devo però dire che non è nemmeno peggiorata, anche se non c'erano molti margini per questa possibilità. La vicenda si conclude più o meno come si era sviluppata: banalmente. Wilson Cole non è più il geniale stratega dalle intuizioni folgoranti e inspiegabili dei primi episodi, ma nemmeno l'imbranato che va a cacciarsi sistematicamente in problemi da cui solo il Fato, e molti avvenimenti casuali e fortunati, riescono a tirarlo fuori più o meno sano e salvo. Qui siamo in una via di mezzo, in cui le brillanti strategie di Cole sono sistematicamente avversate da un Fato questa volta contrario, ma il solito alleato occasionale trovato per caso lì per lì, o il voltagabbana opportunista dell'ultimo momento risolvono sempre la vicenda a suo favore. Anche i personaggi di contorno, che nel passato avevano rappresentato degli ottimi comprimari, sono questa volta un po' nell'ombra, dominati dalla continua iniziativa di Cole. La potentissima Repubblica con milioni di navi da guerra superpotenti viene messa sotto scacco prima da Cole, e poi dai soliti avversari sconosciuti e mai visti prima che ne fanno inizialmente polpette, salvo poi essere liquidati in modo semplice e diretto dall'iniziativa di Cole stesso.
La conclusione è poi la cosa più banale che si potesse leggere in un romanzo di fantascienza, e nemmeno scritto negli anni 40 del secolo scorso...
Non è poi che oggi sia difficile scrivere dell'ottima Space Opera, senza arrivare ai volumoni di Reynolds, basti pensare alla serie The Expanse di James R.A. Corey o alla serie Old Man's War di Scalzi. Se poi si vuole rimanere su un tono e stile di narrazione classico, anche la serie di Coyote di Steele, che Urania stessa sta pubblicando e di cui parlerò nel mese di Dicembre, a confronto con questi romanzi di Resnick fa la sua notevole figura.
February 8, 2010
Starship: Flagship by Mike Resnick
This is the fifth book in the Starship series by Mike Resnick. The book is set in the Birthright Universe which Mike Resnick writes most of his stories in. He even includes a summary of the setting at the end of the book. It is at the end of the period of the Republic as it is moving towards a Democracy in the setting.
Captain Cole is one of those prominent figures who makes history in Mike Resnick's setting. You can tell this because his small actions have big impacts. You can also read it in the ship which he is flying, The Teddy Roosevelt.
I think this is the final book in the series. The characters make this book enjoyable to read: the Platinum Duke, a cyborg who owns a casino, Val short for Valkyrie who is a buff and beautiful pirate captain, David Copperfield, the alien who believes he is a Dickens character, and others make this quite memorable. Mike Resnick successfully takes many genre characters and makes fun of them.
The character of Captain Cole is written to turn the idea of the six guns blazing hero on its head. He does not consider himself a hero; instead he uses strategy, tactics, trickery, and political acumen to reach his goals. He bombs abandoned planetary cities to show his destroying the Republic, he breaks people out of jail, boards and takes enemy ships, and spreads wild rumors about his whereabouts and what he is doing.
Ultimately, Captain Cole reaches his goal with his wits and reforms the Republic into a democracy. He does it by being able to make quick thinking leadership decisions.
Mike Resnick successfully shows how thinking on your feet wins the day in a very entertaining manner. He also makes fun of a lot of the silly ideas in military science fiction and space opera that don't work very well.
This is the fifth book in the Starship series by Mike Resnick. The book is set in the Birthright Universe which Mike Resnick writes most of his stories in. He even includes a summary of the setting at the end of the book. It is at the end of the period of the Republic as it is moving towards a Democracy in the setting.
Captain Cole is one of those prominent figures who makes history in Mike Resnick's setting. You can tell this because his small actions have big impacts. You can also read it in the ship which he is flying, The Teddy Roosevelt.
I think this is the final book in the series. The characters make this book enjoyable to read: the Platinum Duke, a cyborg who owns a casino, Val short for Valkyrie who is a buff and beautiful pirate captain, David Copperfield, the alien who believes he is a Dickens character, and others make this quite memorable. Mike Resnick successfully takes many genre characters and makes fun of them.
The character of Captain Cole is written to turn the idea of the six guns blazing hero on its head. He does not consider himself a hero; instead he uses strategy, tactics, trickery, and political acumen to reach his goals. He bombs abandoned planetary cities to show his destroying the Republic, he breaks people out of jail, boards and takes enemy ships, and spreads wild rumors about his whereabouts and what he is doing.
Ultimately, Captain Cole reaches his goal with his wits and reforms the Republic into a democracy. He does it by being able to make quick thinking leadership decisions.
Mike Resnick successfully shows how thinking on your feet wins the day in a very entertaining manner. He also makes fun of a lot of the silly ideas in military science fiction and space opera that don't work very well.
March 8, 2014
I read all five books in this series. I felt like I was a loyal reader. Each book I thought was pretty mediocre for space sci-fi. I felt like they were all very formulaic rather than imaginative or creative. I saw a lot of potential and I kept waiting for it to get better. It never did. The end is a real let down. (See below for details)
Spoiler alert*
The last installment was the biggest let down as it is only a series of coincidences that lead to the fall and reorganization of the republic. It had nothing to do with the amazing captaining skills or impeccable logic of Captian Cole!
Some random celestial event that only occurs once every 117 years allows forgotten enemies to use a wormhole to enter the Republic's home virtually undetected, bomb their capital world and all this happens just when the heroic captain is making his starkly unprepared gambit to take out the republic leaders. How convenient that all this happens at the same time. As a reader I felt like it was just lazy writing. Honestly, I felt like Mike Resnick just wanted to be done with it instead of put in the effort for a better ending. I had much higher expectations from an author with 36 Hugo award nominations and 5 Hugo awards.
Spoiler alert*
The last installment was the biggest let down as it is only a series of coincidences that lead to the fall and reorganization of the republic. It had nothing to do with the amazing captaining skills or impeccable logic of Captian Cole!
Some random celestial event that only occurs once every 117 years allows forgotten enemies to use a wormhole to enter the Republic's home virtually undetected, bomb their capital world and all this happens just when the heroic captain is making his starkly unprepared gambit to take out the republic leaders. How convenient that all this happens at the same time. As a reader I felt like it was just lazy writing. Honestly, I felt like Mike Resnick just wanted to be done with it instead of put in the effort for a better ending. I had much higher expectations from an author with 36 Hugo award nominations and 5 Hugo awards.
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