Cross The Stars

Hammer's Slammers #2

by David Drake

En route to their home planet of Tethys after fighting in the interplanetary wars, Don Slade and his crew face a long and arduous journey and a welcome home fraught with dangers

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Ebooks, Adventure, Military Fiction, Space Opera

309 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1984

About the author

David Drake is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now one of the major authors of the military science fiction genre.

Reviews

[Dirk Grobbelaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Tell them that I don’t know if we can release [him] alive by force. But I’ll promise to burn their planet for his funeral pyre if we can’t.”

This retelling of The Odyssey is another selection of the Venture Science Fiction series (an imprint of Arrow Books, not to be mistaken for the magazine of the same name) that was published in the 1980s. The Venture edition is also the edition I own.

Along ten meters of the trail, pairs of pincer-tipped legs slashed out of the soil like sprouts in time-lapse.

It is a nice and violent little story too, populated with a few vicious critters, some interesting locations and a whole assortment of unwholesome characters. That’s to say, it’s what you might expect.

The Odyssey elements make for some quirks. Such as the arrival of Odysseus Don Slade on Scheria the planet of Elysium. Naked. It’s one thing flying around in a space shuttle stark naked, it’s another to forget you are naked until you make planetfall. Like I said: QUIRKS. If this weren’t a retelling of The Odyssey this would just have been… odd, to say the least.

The ship’s crewmen looked quizzical, but they did not realize how close they had been to a maelstrom of bodies and gunfire.

Because of the almost episodic nature of the story, as it follows the adventures of the protagonist from planet to planet, dealing with a variety of different threats, it is also somewhat reminiscent of Star Trek. That’s to say, if Star Trek was uber violent and uncompromising. This does, after all, take place in the Hammer’s Slammers universe, so you can expect a certain level of mayhem.

The hot barrels of their weapons added an angry tinge to the stink of ozone.

It’s mostly an action story. However, the general flow of the narrative takes a bit of a knock once the protagonist reaches his home planet, in the final chapters of the novel. At this point politics take over, making for a somewhat juddering transition. Even so, the final climax still generates some high excitement, and a last upsurge of impressive violence.

“Do you really think there’s a way, ah—Captain?”
“Lord help me. I think there is.”

In the end, everything is moot. This is David Drake, so there is a certain gravitas to the storytelling and the military aspects are proficiently dealt with (in fact, few authors can describe abrupt battle violence as well as Drake). If you have at all been following his (separate) RCN series, you’ll be aware of his tendency to revisit historical events and conflicts (or, in this case, classical mythos) in a Science Fiction setting. He is good at it.

“He does not bluff when he threatens. When he offers slaughter, he means nothing short of it. . . .”

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the tag of being part of the Hammer's Slammers series this is actually an excellent retelling of The Odyssey set in the future. It doesn't really belong with the Hammer's series. Drake always seems happiest when re-imagining the classics (the real, classical Greek and Roman classics), and his reverence for the source material shows through here. His grasp of drama and history is also evident.

[Steve King · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, full disclosure, I got this book in a "grab bag" of 10 used Sci-Fi novels for five dollars. When I saw the cover, which depicted a lot of guys with big guns and mustaches, and was part of something called "Hammer's Slammers" I didn't know if this was military Sci-Fi or space porn, but it turns out to be the former. I've never read Drake and was unfamiliar with the series but I gave it a shot.

Apparently this is a re-telling of The Odyssey via a sort of military science fiction vehicle. We follow the journey of "Mad Dog" Don Slade in what amounts to a series of short adventures in his post-mercenary career until he arrives back at his "home" planet where he does some stuff that I never really got a handle on but seemed to involve making sure that his quasi-monarchial family didn't get bumped out of power by upstarts trying to seize power in his absence.

Admittedly, I don't read a lot of military Sci-Fi and this was probably not the best way to step into any of Drake's worlds or series. That said, there's just no reason to read this over 1000s of other Sci-Fi options. Drake obviously has a thing for tanks and armored vehicles. His characters talk about them a lot, but never actually set foot in one (I guess because we're trying to duplicate They Odyssey...?) so there was this bizarre disconnect between constant tank references but a total lack of tanks - for example every few pages there's some analogy to tank-like activity (e.g. Slade came through the door like a tank breaking through enemy lines), but no actual tank. Maybe it's just me, but the constant analogies-to-tanks-but-no-tanks thing was crazy weird.

Quite a few other problems for me - the whole turn The Odyssey into Sci-Fi seemed forced. Dialogue is generally weak and cliche and perhaps most disappointing, a general lack of action in a military sci-fi book. You can find hundreds of books like this form the 80s clogging used book store shelves and even making a totally random selection will probably pay off better than Cross the Stars.

[Doug Sundseth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short-story collection is essentially an SF version of The Odyssey. The individual stories are only fair, with the exception of the final one, which is the return of the protagonist to his childhood home. The latter is quite good.

Decent examination of the character of Don Slade and a pretty good expansion to the world of Hammer's Slammers.

The weakest book of the series.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read with THE VOYAGE, collected as VOYAGE ACROSS THE STARS. Loosely based on the Odyssey, about the return of Don Slade to his home planet through...various...obstacles. A little crude, but good action.

[Stuart Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don Slade finishes a twenty year hitch with Hammer's Slammers and just wants to go home. Things go wrong immediately when there is a mutiny on his ship, and Slade goes from tank commander to pirate captain. From there it's planet to planet with adventure after adventure. Slade barely escapes the planet of the lotus eaters. It takes all his skill to save his crew from the questionable pleasures of the planet of the Amazons. He gets trapped in a cave with a man-eating monster. He nearly goes mad from the song of the Sirens. More mutinies, a couple of shipwrecks, then he is marooned and spends a year in the gilded cage planet of Calypso. When he finally gets home he finds his woman harassed by forty suitors who only want her for her huge tracts of land. Things are just tough all over.

It's plain to see that this book is based on the plot of "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" No tanks here, just a bunch of sailors going from port to port, getting into trouble and needing Slade to get them out. He does this again and again, losing a few sailors each time, until he's the only one left. Then he gets propositioned by a teenaged girl, he turns her down, she sends him home, the end.

Lots of different adventures, a good travel story, a tough main character. A fine addition to the Slammers' Universe.

[Robert D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Retelling the Odyssey as a science fiction story.

Set in the Hammer's Slammers universe but after Hammer has become president of Friesland. Captain Don Slade has opted to retire from the Slammers and return home. But it's been two years since he left and he still hasn't arrived. President Hammer tells his aid to intervene in whatever is holding the captain up from arriving. Half of the book is Slade telling of his adventures in getting to the last stop before he returns home to Tethys. The second half deals with the current problems of Tethys.

Don Slade is one of the ruling families of Tethys. But his father is dead and his older brother has been murdered. There's a power struggle going on concerning who and how Tethys will be run in the future. And if the current power broker has his way it won't end up good for the people of Tethys in the long run.

[E.R. Everett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice read. I picked it up due to its parallel with Homer’s Odyssey, which I loved reading back in school but never actually taught as an English teacher.

Can be a bit profane in places with regard to sex, but I guess that’s just Drake’s military realism coming into play. Drake’s writing can be quite elliptical, forcing a rereading of some sentences just to take in the gist. I’d recommend reading Hammer’s Slammers first as that’s its universe and context.

[Buzz Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, but it is probably my least favorite Hammer's Slammers book so far, only because the Odyssy-esque narrative makes the storyline fairly choppy. However, I still enjoyed it very much and think that most Hammer's Slammers fans will want to read it.

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

My least favorite book in the Hammer's Slammers universe.

[Eric Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot, classic David Drake even though it was set in the Hammer's Slammers universe The story was good and is a classic.

[Michael Rutkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

About what you would expect from a David Drake book !

[Brian Lassiter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Odyssey, but in space.

[Jose C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, climax was anticlimactic. Some usual Drake battles in the middle.

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Homer's "Odyssey" re-cast as a space drama. (To my credit, I figured this out less than 1/2 way through!) It's set in the Hammer's Slammers universe, which is apparently reasonably popular although I have not read any others. I will probably not seek them out just now: while told skilfully, the story involved a level of brutality that I frankly find unappealing. I'd just read the Belisarius series (first book: An Oblique Approach) co-written by Drake and Eric Flint and enjoyed it immensely, so I was exploring the authors' individual projects. It appears they may be considerably better (IMHO) as a team than individually - though I will suspend judgement on Flint at least until I have read The Philosophical Strangler

[Steven Vaughan-Nichols · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not one of the better Hammer's Slammers books--and why they list as the first in the series makes no sense at all either in when it was written nor where it fits into the series' chronology--but it's still enjoyable. If that is, if dark military action using the Odyssey's plot works for you. It does for me.

Having said that this is any of the other Hammer's Slammers novels or novellas serve as a much better introduction to the series.

[Ric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seemed a hard row to hoe for Don Slade, the protagonist. Kinda reminded me of Heinlein's "Job" in that they both had a long string of troubles to overcome. Turns out that the story was more like Homer's "Odyssey" according to the epilogue.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Product Description

Don Slade is coming home to the planet Tethys, to his son and the woman he loves. But the ways of space are dark and cold--and should he ever reach his home, there will be surprises in store for him. Reissue.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was entertaining, but I think David Drake's best writing is still the original Hammer's Slammers stories. The character development that he tries to do is just not so great. Still, it was based on the Odyssey and nothing based on that story could be completely terrible.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the situations made for interesting reading but nothing was much more thrilling than a Star Trek episode. I prefer a little more hard-science to my sci-fi.

[bluetyson]

Cross The Stars by David Drake (2000)

[Brett]

Science Fiction

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent military SF.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite David Drake book, but still an interesting one. It's basically the story of Odysseus, but featuring a veteran of Hammer's Slammers and set in the far future.

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

An Odyssey in the Hammer Slammer universe that is not disappointing.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hammers Slammers - what more needs to be said

[Barbara Ghylin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this one at lunch. What a great odossey rewrite. I have pick up a coulple more in the series and will see where it goes.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

gotta say I am a Fan!