The Ramal Extraction

Cutter's Wars #1

by Steve Perry

At the close of the twenty-fourth century, a series of revolutions has caused the galaxy to descend into chaos. With the Galactic Union's army stretched thin, mercenary units have arisen for those who have the need-and the means-to hire them. Captained by former Detached Guerrilla Forces Colonel R. A. Rags Cutter, the Cutter Force Initiative is one of the best. A specialized team consisting of both aliens and humans, the Cutters offer services ranging from combat training and protection to extraction and assassination-as long as the target deserves it and their employer makes good on payday. When they're hired to find and rescue Indira, the soon-to-be-married daughter of Rajah Ramal of New Mumbai, the teams' first task is to identify the kidnapper. The obvious suspects are insurgents who want to overthrow the rajahnate, but as other forces enter the game and an assassination attempt is made on Ramal, the Cutters realize that their in-and-out extraction job is about to get a lot more interesting-and a lot more lethal.

Genres: Science Fiction, Military Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Military Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Space

Audio CD

First published December 24, 2012

About the author

Librarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Steven Carl Perry has written over fifty novels and numerous short stories, which have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Perry is perhaps best known for the Matador series. He has written books in the Star Wars, Alien and Conan universes. He was a collaborator on all of the Tom Clancy's Net Force series, seven of which have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list. Two of his novelizations, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and Men in Black have also been bestsellers. Other writing credits include articles, reviews, and essays, animated teleplays, and some unproduced movie scripts. One of his scripts for Batman: The Animated Series was an Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Writing.

Perry is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, The Animation Guild, and the Writers Guild of America, West

Reviews

[Soo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notes:

Currently on Audible Plus

R.C. Bray was great as the narrator.
Story has solid pacing. Predictable but decent popcorn read.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up Perry's Matador series while I was in high school (about 20 years ago), and since then I track what he's writing and read some of his new stuff. I went into this hoping for a cracking military-sf read, and, for the most part, I got that. As expected, Perry offers up some interesting characters who are competent at kicking ass, and he paces some of them through hand-to-hand fights that make for good reading. Unfortunately, the plot that Perry constructs is plagued by faulty logic and a premise that doesn't hold up under close scrutiny.

I figure that Perry has set the stage for a group of intergalactic mercs and is now free to lose them in some other crazy theater of war. As Perry has long since earned my time, I will ante up for the next round.

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really brilliant science fiction / space opera of the rogue military type genera with which I have a love hate relationship, when it is done well it is a lot of fun and this one was done well!

Our story occurs within a small, private, special forces group of mixed human and alien individuals called Cutter Force Initiative. This specialized force is named after it's leader former Colonel Cutter and it apparently does whatever it is paid well for. In this book it is called onto the planet Ramal, in New Mumbai where the Rajah's daughter has been kidnapped just before her wedding. Before they can rescue the daughter they have to find who kidnapped her and the plot is obscure, large and increasingly complicated. As a plot it is a lot of complicated fun but also gives us a chance to be introduced to the various players in the team. The CFI is apparently a large group, but we are mainly introduced to the smaller team of seven which work together.

I thought the characters were really well done a lot of fun. The background stories were a little naff at times, but I loved the fact that the kick arse 'fem' OX Jo, came from the Australian outback.

Among the characters also, is a human androgyn character and I really enjoyed the way in which the pronouns were used; Zhe, hir instead of he/she and his/hir. Fine idea, more of that please!

Really, all the characters were good and I would like to read more about them. The world building is a standard 'humans gone into space, met a few alien species, named a lot of new planets after places on the old world and created a military in space' type scenario. Nothing exceptional about it so far, but does there really need to be something new, in order to thoroughly enjoy a book?

Somehow I have never heard of Steve Perry before, but I hope to read more of his work. This one is a first in a series, by the look of it and I hope to find more.

[Will Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a good time with this book it was short and to the point nothing overly original or groundbreaking. I found the characters and their interactions with each other excelled over the main plot of the story. If you’re looking for something that is similar to the firefly then this is a good spot to start.

[Laz the Sailor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Steve Perry, similar to his Matador series, but in a more military/mercenary setting.
Start of the series.

ETA - re-read. Pretty good, with some deep philosophical aspects, as well as some clever A-Team tactics.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blah! I would have to check to see if there are more Cutter's Wars books out there, but this seemed like an introduction to the main characters and not much more. There is a weak plot without much story arc, and each member of the team gets to relate his or her 'origin story'. I finished it, since it was fairly short, but I can't recommend it.

[Anne (ReadEatGameRepeat) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was enjoyable - it wasn't bad, it wasn't particularly great. It was very tropey - which made it predictable. Imagine every cliche made-for-tv action film you've ever seen - they generally aren't bad films - but you basically always know what's happening next - that's basically what its like reading this book. It hits all the notes you expect it too. Just to be clear, by no means is this a bad book, all the characters are developed enough, the plot makes sense and most importantly I did actually enjoy listening to this book, but everything felt just so familiar - I had seen this story before so many times.

[Arnis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cutter’s Wars sērijas (par triloģiju varētu saukt vien skaita dēļ) darbība norit 24.gadsimta noslēdzošajā fāzē, laikā, kad cilvēce veiksmīgi spējusi kolonizēt neskaitāmas planētas, kā arī sastapusies un atšķirīgos līmeņos spējusi rast, ja ne sadarbību, tad neitralitāti ar dažnedažādām citplanētiešu rasēm. Kardarbība, kaut arī pastāv Galaktiskās Savienības armija, kā jau daudz kas cits, šķiet arī kļuvis vairāk privātas sfēras lauciņš vai vismaz dažādi sīkie uzdevumi, kur algotņu privātās armijas un grupējumi noder labāk nekā lielā mašinērija.

https://poseidons99.com/2024/08/02/st...

[Elisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ended up enjoying the characters and the action, not perfect, but entertaining and I will read the next one.

[Emmalynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 2.5 because the semi ending was so unsatisfying. The action is fine but the plot was just thin.

[Brian Newland · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am a lover of all things Steve Perry (The Man who Never Missed remains one of my favorite books of all time), but this book is a bit sloppy. I don't know if I have just matured as a reader, but this book is pretty much one note Steve Perry. Everyone on the team are completely elite in every way and have no character flaws to speak of. There are flash back stories for just about every character that are awkwardly transitioned to in the dialogue. I am glad to see Steve Perry play in a different universe than his Matador books. There are aliens in this universe along with a variety of augmentations for people which is cool. Overall, the book is just OK. Because of my devotion to Steve Perry, I will probably try the next book to see if it improves.

[Lindig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perry does his trademark competent job here, though I thought the plot was thin enough that complications kept getting thrown in to pad the story. It's also possible that having each crew member tell a story from their past was a means of melding the team, or it was another pad-the-book ploy. It doesn't really matter as the book is first in a series, so the second volume will be the true test of whether the mercenaries will keep going.

[Steven Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fairly decent book from one of my favorite space opera authors. The ending had a decent twist, and not the everyone goes happy ending I was expecting. I hope for more in this series as the ending certainly implied that there would be at least another book. I would also like to see a return to the Man Who Never Missed series.

[Michael Bourgon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanted to like it more than this, but a bit too much padding and a bit too rambly (and no, they're not the same) makes me wish he had written more scenes so that his editor could chop out some of the fluff. Decent military sci-if, but there's better out there, including his other novels.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Cutter Force Initiative is a group of mercenaries that can be hired for many reasons. Their group is made up of augmented humans and an alien super predator. This time the Cutter Force has been hired to find and rescue Indira, the daughter of the Rajah Ramal of New Mumbai. First they need to figure out who took her and then rescue her.

This book hits the ground running. It doesn’t spend a ton of time giving lengthy descriptions of planets, space shuttles, weapons, or really anything. It starts right in the middle of a battle with Cutter being shot at. The book shows us details of Cutter’s suit, how it is used, what it could do, and how much they cost by Cutter using the suit in a battle. I really love this method of story telling. Perry also sneakily gives the reader back stories on characters by having them talk to each other about their first kill.
There are a lot of characters in this story. Because the main characters are part of Cutter‘s group, the reader gets lots of time with them. Unfortunately there are also a lot of characters related to the kidnapping that are much more confusing to keep track of. I almost needed to take notes on each of the characters just to Leo them straight in my head.
There story was fantastic. It is quickly paced and detailed without being obnoxious. The world building is fantastic. There are just enough details provided to create a picture but also enough not told to give more room for expanding in the next books.
I have to mention that this book is definitely written for adults. There is lots of swearing. There is also a lot of talk about sex. Sexual innuendos. Special technologically augmenting sex organs. Jokes about sex. But no actual sex. Despite this detail, it might be offensive to some readers.

Rating and Triggers

R - Language- Lots of swearing. Sex- A girl is raped but she tells about it after the fact. Talk of sex. Violence - Many people are killed. There are very violent and graphic deaths.

[Jacob Scupp · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. Beach-novel sci-fi, nothing adventurous in terms of story or theme or really anything at all. The characters were all fairly two dimensional and all had some sort of OP trait that, at least in this first book, basically let them escape unscathed. I wasn't a huge fan of the author's style but it wasn't grating and at times I chuckled when I was supposed to. The most interesting character had the least screen time and kinda got shafted by the story, the Q of this series so far.

My main issue with the story is that while there was an underlying story, there were a whole bunch of sub plots (like everyone telling the story of their first kill) which were intended to break up the main story and build the character, except the connections seemed poorly drawn or half baked, and the characters' personalities themselves only somewhat seemed to reflect those background stories.

What I did like was the concept of the Augments and how they played a role in the story and the fights. While they weren't a central story element, they were a constant background and foreground detail that cemented them as crucially important to the story and future stories in the universe - combat and mercenary life are almost impossible without them etc. The rest of the world building felt a bit rushed or shallow, but the Augments stuff alone compensated for it and then some.

If you can pick it up on sale or used for a fair price, it's an easy and relatively enjoyable read. I'll note that I'm writing this review having not slept more than 3 hours in over a day so I may be being overly harsh.

[HighlanderAjax · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this, but it just fell flat. It's loaded with sci-fi, futuristic-sounding jargon that didn't seem to serve much of a purpose, and the whole thing only ever seemed to move a few pages at a time before it got paused to remind us who the characters are and what a hard case everyone is.

The fairly thin, action-oriented plot didn't bother me - I'm usually a huge fan. A team where everyone is a badass of some kind? Into it. The problem really was that it felt like every other sentence included some kind of sci-fi military neologism. I didn't need every single piece of armour, weaponry or technology to be given a fancy new name in order to remember I was reading science fiction. I also didn't need to stop after EVERY advance of the plot and have general backstory reeled off at me like someone giving me a briefing. The whole "team members share stories" thing often works, but here that was coupled with the book itself infodumping about each character. It felt really slow and clunky to me, like these pieces had been dropped into the middle of an otherwise thin, but serviceable, plot.

That being said, loved the setting - pretty unusual for the genre, I think - and some of the characters really grabbed me. Genuinely, I wanted to like this, but there just wasn't much to keep me caring about what happened.

Not sure I'd read another. I'd maybe give it a chance to see if things pick up now the setting is established, but it's more out of a slight hope than an expectation of a great read.

[Nigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is based on the Audible audio version of this book.

This is my first Steve Perry book and I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed it. In some ways its a difficult book to categorise, it's set on a different planet with high tech weapons and augmented humans so it feels SciFi. The plot however would work well in any setting as it's largely a political conspiracy. The daughter of the ruler is kidnapped and he employs a small group of mercenaries to track her down and initiate a rescue. What follows is a standard investigation, following down leads, pushing contacts for information, being side tracked by red herrings all of which could have been achieved without the SciFi elements. There are some interesting characters in the mercenary force (Cutter's Force Initiative) all of whom bring different skills to the group and from the banter it's obvious this is a well established team.
The story moves along at a good pace, with good action scenes, and whilst the dialogue won't be winning any awards it's fair to say it's standard military stuff one would expect in this kind of story. I will certainly look out for more of this series and possibly other stuff written by Perry.
As for the narrator, I have several books in my library read by RC Bray who I find one of the better Audible narrators particularly of the more action oriented novels, seeing a potential title is narrated by him is always a plus point for me

[Troy Kaspers · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the very start I was hooked on this story. I had not heard about this team or series before I picked the book up, but I was able to read the entire book in a day and wanted more. The interaction of the team was believable and their conversations were smooth and natural. As the story develops, so do the characters. The author presents all the characters as people and creates a believable world that resembles our own. Take the time to enjoy this one if you like mystery, action, adventure, and special unit warfare.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a word, boring. Even the military excursion in the first half is somehow lethargic. The characters aren't very interesting or necessarily realistic (although i acknowledge that's difficult to pin down), with some characters being essentially invulnerable, sucking the tension away. The writing isn't exactly clunky or really bad, it just really didn't resonate with me, nor did the characters compel me.
I did find the comments on human aphorisms quite interesting and amusing, but if you think it's enough to save this book, that's a red herring.

[Cecile · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Entertaining. A nice escape during these political times. Not sure I’ll read more in the series, although I liked the characters. How many fights can someone read about? No real suspense here. The characters go through scrapes but nothing is really at stake for them. The tech described was all very clever and so were the comebacks with each other in the team. I did like the humor and turns of phrase. Parts dragged, such as the backstory of each person’s first kill. Yawn. Anyway, as I said, a decent escape from this world.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exposition is a major problem in science fiction. Too much and you bury the narrative in nonfiction. To little and the fictional world lacks substance and clarity. That is Steve Perry's problem in "The Ramal Extraction." He is so intent on never having two pages go by without an action scene that he never puts the reader in the world inhabited by his characters.

[Mr Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good enough action and story, which was amazingly read by R.C. Bray.

A kidnapping has taken place on a planet, and this special unit is brought in to solve and find the missing princess. Nothing huge with the storyline or the ending, but enjoyable enough and easy to get through.

Can’t give much more, as it was just an enjoyable read.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 'Cutters' are a galactic special forces unit. They are exceptional due to the diverse skills of their multi-species team. Hired to rescue a kidnapped bride, they find themselves in deeper than they imagined possible.

[Cynthiaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost continuous action with a sci-fi flair and characters that while they may be a bit formulaic are still likable. Listening was a nice way to drive around town and to work.

[Deacon Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ramal Extraction it a fun little piece with solid characters who are fleshed out well for a short novel. The story is timeless and entertaining with all the twists and turns of an old western.

[John Luse · Rating 1 out of 5]

R.C Bray was phenomenal as a reader as usual, but can’t say the story was very gripping. Pretty much knew what was coming....

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. Was bored quite a bit. Great narration.

[Doug Hubbard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, quick read. Good mind candy

[Conrad Toft · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little space saga. It seemed to be trying a little too hard, but I think I'll give the next book in the series a chance.