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Wing Commander #3
Fleet Action: Wing Commander by William R. Forstchen (5-Jan-1998) Mass Market Paperback
The Kilrathi Empire is caught in a bind. Because of the success of the Confederation of Earth's raids behind enemy lines, the Empire might very well be on the ropes before its new fleet can be ready. At a Kilrathi council of war, a simple solution is agreed upon--sue for peace, then launch a surprise offensive.
Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1994
15 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
William R. Forstchen
116 books1,732 followersWilliam R. Forstchen (born 1950) is an American author who began publishing in 1983 with the novel Ice Prophet. He is a Professor of History and Faculty Fellow at Montreat College, in Montreat, North Carolina. He received his doctorate from Purdue University with specializations in Military History, the American Civil War and the History of Technology.
Forstchen is the author of more than forty books, including the award winning We Look Like Men of War, a young adult novel about an African-American regiment that fought at the Battle of the Crater, which is based upon his doctoral dissertation, The 28th USCTs: Indiana’s African-Americans go to War, 1863-1865 and the "Lost Regiment" series which has been optioned by both Tom Cruise and M. Night Shyamalan.
Forstchen’s writing efforts have, in recent years, shifted towards historical fiction and non fiction. In 2002 he started the “Gettysburg” trilogy with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; the trilogy consists of Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War, Grant Comes East, and Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant - The Final Victory. More recently, they have have published two works on the events leading up to Pearl Harbor and immediately after that attack Pearl Harbor, and Days of Infamy.
In March 2009, Forstchen’s latest work, One Second After, (Forge/St. Martin’s books) was released. Based upon several years of intensive research and interviews, it examines what might happen in a “typical” American town in the wake of an attack on the United States with “electro-magnetic pulse” (EMP) weapons. Similar in plotting to books such as On the Beach and Alas Babylon, One Second After, is set in a small college town in western North Carolina and is a cautionary tale of the collapse of social order in the wake of an EMP strike. The book has been optioned by Warner Bros. and currently is in development as a feature film. The book was cited on the floor of Congress and before the House Armed Services Committee by Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R.-MD), chair of the House Committee tasked to evaluate EMP weapons, as a realistical portrayal of the potential damage rendered by an EMP attack on the continental United States.
Forstchen resides near Asheville, North Carolina with his daughter Meghan. His other interests include archaeology, and he has participated in several expeditions to Mongolia and Russia. He is a pilot and co owns an original 1943 Aeronca L-3B recon plane used in World War II.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/willia...
Forstchen is the author of more than forty books, including the award winning We Look Like Men of War, a young adult novel about an African-American regiment that fought at the Battle of the Crater, which is based upon his doctoral dissertation, The 28th USCTs: Indiana’s African-Americans go to War, 1863-1865 and the "Lost Regiment" series which has been optioned by both Tom Cruise and M. Night Shyamalan.
Forstchen’s writing efforts have, in recent years, shifted towards historical fiction and non fiction. In 2002 he started the “Gettysburg” trilogy with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; the trilogy consists of Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War, Grant Comes East, and Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant - The Final Victory. More recently, they have have published two works on the events leading up to Pearl Harbor and immediately after that attack Pearl Harbor, and Days of Infamy.
In March 2009, Forstchen’s latest work, One Second After, (Forge/St. Martin’s books) was released. Based upon several years of intensive research and interviews, it examines what might happen in a “typical” American town in the wake of an attack on the United States with “electro-magnetic pulse” (EMP) weapons. Similar in plotting to books such as On the Beach and Alas Babylon, One Second After, is set in a small college town in western North Carolina and is a cautionary tale of the collapse of social order in the wake of an EMP strike. The book has been optioned by Warner Bros. and currently is in development as a feature film. The book was cited on the floor of Congress and before the House Armed Services Committee by Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R.-MD), chair of the House Committee tasked to evaluate EMP weapons, as a realistical portrayal of the potential damage rendered by an EMP attack on the continental United States.
Forstchen resides near Asheville, North Carolina with his daughter Meghan. His other interests include archaeology, and he has participated in several expeditions to Mongolia and Russia. He is a pilot and co owns an original 1943 Aeronca L-3B recon plane used in World War II.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/willia...
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 11, 2018
Always a Fun Read
Forstchen’s Wing Commander books are reliably fun and quick reads. They’re just good old-fashioned space opera from an old pro. I’m pretty sure that “Fleet Action”, a fast-moving story about a Kilrathi armistice, betrayal, and offensive is the best of the bunch.
Forstchen’s Wing Commander books are reliably fun and quick reads. They’re just good old-fashioned space opera from an old pro. I’m pretty sure that “Fleet Action”, a fast-moving story about a Kilrathi armistice, betrayal, and offensive is the best of the bunch.
November 4, 2022
Both what I expected and better. On one side, this is a typical sci fi romp where the premise is introduced early and comes to its conclusion right at the end without much deviation or unexpected detail. The societal shifts and fleet tactics are as much a character here as the people themselves, and that's accounting for how shallow some of them feel. Some are brought up and mentioned maybe twice after or forgotten after one scene altogether. Sci fi as a genre becomes quickly enamored with its own cleverness and neat ideas, then wraps a story around them to pretend to have a plot.
That said, this is smartly written and fast paced enough to keep the pages turning even through the points where bland things are happening to those shallow characters, and some of the territory the book covers impressed me. Rather than all the work being done on the battlefield on the periphery of the Confederation, the political sphere and social strata of an Earth that's been at war for almost thirty-five years comes calling. Civilian arguments clash with the military, the virtues and vices of shadow tactics and total war come to the fore, and then there's the Baron Jukaga who grants us an intermediary mindset between the Kilrathi and humans. We get a deeper look at Kilrathi society, their internal politics, and the sense of who they are in ways we can relate to, but also how alien they are due to their evolution and history - no matter how foreign their logic seems to the humans, so to does ours to them. Having someone there to bridge the gap was a masterstroke - the book would have been much worse without him.
This title ultimately has a fast start and a saggy middle. There are no surprises on where the story is ultimately going and the majority of the book shows us how we got there. A lot of things happen and people die to bring us to the culmination at Earth, and it's hard to connect with many of the characters because of how little of a personal touch we have for them or because of how few scenes we see them for. That said, once the war truly begins, it's horrific in its scale and apocalyptic glory. The pages turn even faster and there's a feeling that humanity is truly up against the wall - the tension cranks up when it needs to. Because of the total scale of the war, the ending really felt like it had weight, and whether I knew those characters well or not, their victory being won in blood wasn't in dispute.
Clunky and uneven in places, but I was surprised by how much I liked the pacing and ending. Better than I expected and perhaps better than it deserves to be, but it earns its stars in the end.
4/5.
That said, this is smartly written and fast paced enough to keep the pages turning even through the points where bland things are happening to those shallow characters, and some of the territory the book covers impressed me. Rather than all the work being done on the battlefield on the periphery of the Confederation, the political sphere and social strata of an Earth that's been at war for almost thirty-five years comes calling. Civilian arguments clash with the military, the virtues and vices of shadow tactics and total war come to the fore, and then there's the Baron Jukaga who grants us an intermediary mindset between the Kilrathi and humans. We get a deeper look at Kilrathi society, their internal politics, and the sense of who they are in ways we can relate to, but also how alien they are due to their evolution and history - no matter how foreign their logic seems to the humans, so to does ours to them. Having someone there to bridge the gap was a masterstroke - the book would have been much worse without him.
This title ultimately has a fast start and a saggy middle. There are no surprises on where the story is ultimately going and the majority of the book shows us how we got there. A lot of things happen and people die to bring us to the culmination at Earth, and it's hard to connect with many of the characters because of how little of a personal touch we have for them or because of how few scenes we see them for. That said, once the war truly begins, it's horrific in its scale and apocalyptic glory. The pages turn even faster and there's a feeling that humanity is truly up against the wall - the tension cranks up when it needs to. Because of the total scale of the war, the ending really felt like it had weight, and whether I knew those characters well or not, their victory being won in blood wasn't in dispute.
Clunky and uneven in places, but I was surprised by how much I liked the pacing and ending. Better than I expected and perhaps better than it deserves to be, but it earns its stars in the end.
4/5.
September 8, 2024
Tough as nails space pilots fight to save Earth from Bill and Hillary Clinton in a future where US post-Vietnam stab-in-the-back mythology is real.
But that's not why you read this book. You read it for one of the best depictions of space naval warfare with high stakes ever written. Forstchen has by this point perfected a very interesting idea of future warfare that is internally consistent and makes this a wonderful work of military SF. Does this concept of warfare actually make sense? Of course not, it is basically the US-Japan war in the Pacific done with 1980s technology and set in space. Is it a fun read? Absolutely.
But that's not why you read this book. You read it for one of the best depictions of space naval warfare with high stakes ever written. Forstchen has by this point perfected a very interesting idea of future warfare that is internally consistent and makes this a wonderful work of military SF. Does this concept of warfare actually make sense? Of course not, it is basically the US-Japan war in the Pacific done with 1980s technology and set in space. Is it a fun read? Absolutely.
November 19, 2018
I read this book around 15-20 years ago. The book is really good but it will be hard for non-Wing Commander fans to enjoy/appreciate this kind of literature as it does have some pretty heavy sci-fi jargon. The detail in this book is amazing and the fact they go deep into the culture of the franchise. Well worth picking up. I liked the series so much I picked them all up.
January 27, 2025
so much fun
I love the intermix of naval history and sci fi. This is a very enjoyable series of books and this is my favorite! I love to read and reread it and have done so for over 20 years.
I love the intermix of naval history and sci fi. This is a very enjoyable series of books and this is my favorite! I love to read and reread it and have done so for over 20 years.
Read
July 17, 2020Awesome.
January 7, 2017
This novel is a lot of fun and well above the standards of the typical sci-fi tie-in novel. I've probably read it about a dozen times over the years.
In fact, if you can find a copy in some used bookstore somewhere, I'd recommend it even if you don't have much familiarity with Wing Commander in general.
In fact, if you can find a copy in some used bookstore somewhere, I'd recommend it even if you don't have much familiarity with Wing Commander in general.
August 21, 2013
Surprisingly good. The story is interesting. The military tactics are grounded in real military history. The characters were mostly compelling.
The glaring problems including:
- the insane political situation: let's shut down our entire military the moment an armistice is signed and decommission all our ships because we immediately trust the enemy implicitly and have peacenicks bending over backwards to accomodate them despite the protracted generational war
- the unprofessional military attitudes: everyone seems to have taken a lesson form captain kirk and is bucking authority. They argue with their commanders and disobey rules and there are no consequences. Worse even those in authority disobey rules (Adm. Tolwyn cutting through enemy space all alone in a fighter risking getting killed/capture. Also Commander & Chief taking charge of a marine detachment and getting killed in action instead of Commanding and Chiefing.
The glaring problems including:
- the insane political situation: let's shut down our entire military the moment an armistice is signed and decommission all our ships because we immediately trust the enemy implicitly and have peacenicks bending over backwards to accomodate them despite the protracted generational war
- the unprofessional military attitudes: everyone seems to have taken a lesson form captain kirk and is bucking authority. They argue with their commanders and disobey rules and there are no consequences. Worse even those in authority disobey rules (Adm. Tolwyn cutting through enemy space all alone in a fighter risking getting killed/capture. Also Commander & Chief taking charge of a marine detachment and getting killed in action instead of Commanding and Chiefing.
March 14, 2010
Well, I think I figured out the timeline thing. The books are occuring in chronological order, but events from the Video Games are occuring simultaneously, so there are huge chunks of the narrative, and of the character's lives, that occur 'off stage'.
Liked this one best of the lot so far. The end was a little deus ex machina-esque, but again, sort of expected. Much better than the Halo books, which are the only other video-game based books I think I've read.
Liked this one best of the lot so far. The end was a little deus ex machina-esque, but again, sort of expected. Much better than the Halo books, which are the only other video-game based books I think I've read.
September 15, 2014
As a teenager I thought the writing and story excellent but sad. I can't vouch for my age or discernment. However, I should note that this is the only book I've read of Forstchen and that it's in the middle of a series. Which was fairly typical for my library selection at the time. My not seeking out his other works probably hinges on my slow realization that I don't actually enjoy much military fiction. SciFi, Fantasy or otherwise.
July 16, 2020
The plot is interesting. As always Forstchen is strong with military tactics and uses real military history in the story. The characters were strong. Forstchen has a common theme in all of his stories and it is in the forefront of this one. You have to sacrifice if you want to succeed. This is a point most authors do not use like Forstchen does, and it is a bit unsettling at times.
July 1, 2012
It had been a long time since I delved into the Wing Commander universe. I found this book pretty intense, overall. It came as a bonus feature with a purchase I made, but it would have been worth it as a full priced book.
August 7, 2018
Militarist, right-wing, smug, clunky garbage.
The whole novel was a thinly-veiled hawkish Republican rant on the theme of 'freedom isn't free' - the gist being that civilians are too stupid and decadent to realise the importance of having a massive military... In space...
The whole novel was a thinly-veiled hawkish Republican rant on the theme of 'freedom isn't free' - the gist being that civilians are too stupid and decadent to realise the importance of having a massive military... In space...
June 30, 2008
This book was such a delight. I think this is one of the very few moments in the younger days that I realized that you can enjoy and adventure story without any visuals.
March 13, 2009
great trash-Sci Fi!
March 31, 2016
More candy!
March 25, 2016
Awesome "dark" empire strikes-back style book with humanity on the ropes.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews