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The Flight Engineer #2
Privateer
THESE SPACE PIRATES ARE THE GOOD GUYS! Peter Raeder was an ace pilot until a battle cost him his hand -- and his right to fly the fighter ships he loved. So he became Flight Engineer on the fast carrier "Invincible," a crack new ship with a picked crew, ready to fight the fanatical Mollies and their spiderlike alien allies. On his first mission, he faced pirate raiders, attacks by Mollies and a hidden saboteur on board who came close to destroying the "Invincible," before Raeder unmasked him.
Unfortunately for Raeder, his heroism didn't follow the rulebook, and his reward for saving the ship was a reprimand and a deskbound assignment -- a fate worse than death for a born spacehound like Raeder. Then a less rulebound General offers Raeder an escape: command of a hidden base deep in Mollie-controlled space from which ships, posing as space pirates, will harry Mollie shipping, like the seagoing privateers of Earth's past. And Raeder finds a dangerous mission preferable to exile to an office cubicle...even if his chances of surviving are very nearly zero.
Unfortunately for Raeder, his heroism didn't follow the rulebook, and his reward for saving the ship was a reprimand and a deskbound assignment -- a fate worse than death for a born spacehound like Raeder. Then a less rulebound General offers Raeder an escape: command of a hidden base deep in Mollie-controlled space from which ships, posing as space pirates, will harry Mollie shipping, like the seagoing privateers of Earth's past. And Raeder finds a dangerous mission preferable to exile to an office cubicle...even if his chances of surviving are very nearly zero.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
5 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
James Doohan
20 books10 followersCanadian actor, best known for playing Scotty, the irascible but lovable Scottish Flight Engineer for the Starship Enterprise in various Star Trek series and films - See more at: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/...
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 30, 2020
Good 2nd book in the trilogy. Nice action and pacing moves the story along quickly. Enjoyable read. Recommended
December 26, 2019
Okay, so I dont know if this is just the fact that I was losing interest, or if the writing was actually hard to follow and discombobulated, but this was not nearly as good as the first one. Simple plot, raeder, knott and the majority of the invincible crew go undercover to mess with some trades between pirates and the Mollies. Basically a pirate novel with lazers and stuff. I'm not reading the next one. Sorry James Doohan, may you rest in peace. I'm glad you stuck mostly to acting.
January 25, 2021
Quite the muddle. 'Space Opera'? No not really. Crew doesn't actually make it into space at all until halfway through. Even then very little to do with battles or conflict resolution. Plot seemed all but buried beneath a pile of dreck. A great deal of time is spent attempting to build characters who simply turn out shallow and hollow with a taint of misogyny. Struggled to make it all the way through.
April 12, 2022
In the continuing story of Commander Raeder, the authors continue to give us a taste of something that might be "what might Star Trek look like if it were real life?" We get more worldbuilding, including more about just what the heck is up with the Mollies -- which I felt was handled sort of ham-handedly in the first book. I had more fun reading this one than I did the first one.
October 15, 2021
Enjoyable
While the privateer plot has been used often, I do not recall it being used in this way before. A well thought out and written book, with a growing number of characters who are becoming more developed.
While the privateer plot has been used often, I do not recall it being used in this way before. A well thought out and written book, with a growing number of characters who are becoming more developed.
May 7, 2025
Okay continuation of the first book but not as good. Peter Raeder has a choice to go to earth or lead a group to harry Mollie shipping. Still not as good as the first book and hopefully the last book in the trilogy is better.
December 2, 2014
Makes L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth seem like an epic!
The story is interesting enough... very simple and one-dimensional, perhaps. But isn't this science fiction? This was Aristotlean, not even Newtonian. That only makes it about 500 years out of date.
Honestly, you can read this book and imagine that the ships are ocean-going vessels instead of space vessels, and it will work just as well. And make more sense!
In this book, space is very small. Pirates are afraid to sit still in space for 6 hours because somebody might happen along.
In this book, space is not frictionless. Spaceships stop moving when the engines are cut off. Unwise pirate ships blow out their engines because they were redlining them to maintain too much speed.
In this book, good guys are superior in every way to the bad guys. Not only are the bad guys repugnant and vile, they are also stupid. They can be overcome by such simple means that the authors, after having spent 50+ pages setting up the current obstacle, then have the heroes overcome the obstacle in a fraction of those pages.
(In one section, the good guys overcome a female pirate who is VERY TOUGH and KNOWS HOW TO FIGHT, as compared to the previous dumb male pirate that they struggled with. Anyways, the authors skipped the skirmish. They're getting ready and warning themselves it won't be easy, and then the paragraph cuts to the next scene and they're locking up the female pirate captain, all the while telling each other "wow, that was a tough battle. She really knew how to fight.")
OK, so for James Doohan this was better than I expected. But for S. M. Stirling, I certainly expected better.
Approach with caution. 1.5 stars.
The story is interesting enough... very simple and one-dimensional, perhaps. But isn't this science fiction? This was Aristotlean, not even Newtonian. That only makes it about 500 years out of date.
Honestly, you can read this book and imagine that the ships are ocean-going vessels instead of space vessels, and it will work just as well. And make more sense!
In this book, space is very small. Pirates are afraid to sit still in space for 6 hours because somebody might happen along.
In this book, space is not frictionless. Spaceships stop moving when the engines are cut off. Unwise pirate ships blow out their engines because they were redlining them to maintain too much speed.
In this book, good guys are superior in every way to the bad guys. Not only are the bad guys repugnant and vile, they are also stupid. They can be overcome by such simple means that the authors, after having spent 50+ pages setting up the current obstacle, then have the heroes overcome the obstacle in a fraction of those pages.
(In one section, the good guys overcome a female pirate who is VERY TOUGH and KNOWS HOW TO FIGHT, as compared to the previous dumb male pirate that they struggled with. Anyways, the authors skipped the skirmish. They're getting ready and warning themselves it won't be easy, and then the paragraph cuts to the next scene and they're locking up the female pirate captain, all the while telling each other "wow, that was a tough battle. She really knew how to fight.")
OK, so for James Doohan this was better than I expected. But for S. M. Stirling, I certainly expected better.
Approach with caution. 1.5 stars.
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January 9, 2010baen ebook
July 9, 2014
I enjoyed this second book in the series, especially when they had to learn to speak like pirates!
February 11, 2016
Reminded me of Michael Resnick's Mutineer series,
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews