Seas of Venus

Seas of Venus #1-2

by David Drake

On Venus, where survivors of the human race struggle to live in domed undersea Keeps, two determined soldiers--Ensign Brainard and Johnnie Gordon brave the treacherous web of intrigue in the Keeps and the perilous surface jungles to ensure the survival of all humankind, in an omnibus volume that con

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks, Fantasy, Adventure, Amazon, Science Fiction Fantasy

496 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

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

[Charles van Buren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seas of Venus

Verified Purchase

This review is from: Seas of Venus (Kindle Edition)

Vintage David Drake. The second part (The Jungle), is as fine a depiction of how truly good officers and men function despite fear and their own self perceived inadequacies as I have ever read, heard or experienced.

It's sci-fi set on Venus. If that bothers you, just imagine an alternate universe or something.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surface Action: The setting of this book was the most interesting thing to me, a terraformed, wild Venus. I was not a huge fan of any of the characters or the military fighting part of the book. I did find the overall general story interesting of Venus trying to unite and prevent their destruction like what happened to Earth. I was not that interested in the political maneuvering and all that stuff. I didn't like the portrayal of women in this book as basically objects for soldiers to use and not as actual people. It was an OK read, 2.5 stars out of 5.

The Jungle: I liked the Jungle better than the first book. The characters were more developed and had back stories and history. I liked seeing more of the jungle of Venus and all the crazy things that evolved there. The story itself was pretty good, but the flash backs made it a little bit hard to follow what was happening. I also didn't like that the end didn't really resolve anything about the overall story of trying to achieve peace on Venus. This book also suffered from the poor portrayal of women, even worse than the last book. Why couldn't there be any women soldiers? Why do they all have to be prostitutes and treated poorly? They are not portrayed as very smart and are only characterized by their appearance or sexual skills. So that alone is what cost these two books their stars.

Overall 2 out of 5 stars, interesting premise but wasn't actually executed that well.

[Ricky Kimsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terraformed Venus

Terraforming is an hypothetical means of making the planets in our solar system habitable for our kind. This novel takes that idea and applies it to Venus the second closest planet to the sun. Give the author's military background it focuses on the military on the planet.

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great companion piece(s) to a book that inspired the author as a young man. Drake is one of the foremost military sf writers of our time. These are great adventure stories with believable political intrigue.

[David Palazzolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never realized this was a combined edition until I cracked it open, but really didn’t mind as the individual books were short. Not the best from David Drake and has some problematic elements regarding his female characters in both—which was a surprising turn based on what I’ve read from him previously. Basically women were relegated to second class citizenry—they were either sex workers/camp followers or scheming for a man to secure a better living environment. Either way, the extent of their agency seemed to rest on the currency their body could leverage. Both stories started out life as a homage to Lawrence O’Donnel’s Clash by Night (pen name of husband and wife team C L Moore and Henry Kuttner), which might explain the treatment of women in them. Drake is a Vietnam veteran and writes the action unsentimentally and very straightforwardly.

The first book was about a young man recruited by his uncle to the mercenary forces of Venus by who fight the proxy wars set up by the underwater Keeps that house the human inhabitants of the planet. The situation feels a little like the scenario of the Star Trek episode “A Taste of Armageddon”, but people actually die in real combat. The recruit soon gets all the romantic perspectives of war and combat that had built up despite his fairly accurate training and gets a very shocking look at what kind of man his uncle really is. The whole plot unfolds with few surprises, but is engaging nonetheless.

The second book’s structure is fairly experimental. Each chapter has a separate viewpoint character and is split into two halves. The first half deals with the “present day” while the second half deals with a flashback that either fills in character history or fills in events that brought the characters to where they are presently. It got a little convoluted and I definitely need to reread the book sometime in the future (which I intend to do), but even so I did enjoy seeing the perspectives of the various characters. It was very interesting to see how the leader of the squad felt about his abilities and courage contrasted with how his troops found him inspirational and bold. My major complaint was that this story ended too abruptly, but it was fairly satisfying nonetheless.

The final part of the book is something of a travelogue detailing David Drake’s journeys in Central America. If you like that kind of writing you will love it. Usually I do, but going through a full on action packed story to something this sedate is too much for me, so I’ll have to read it sometime down the road

[Michelle Bibliovino]

DNF @33%

Y’all. I REALLY tried 🤣 Two MAJOR complaints with this book.

1. It’s possible this improved as it went, but MY GOD can you tell me ANY MORE about this ship? Oh, you CAN. Here’s another paragraph about it. Oh, and another one. Wait! I haven’t told you about this gun on the ship. Here’s three paragraphs about it. Look! A giant crustacean—lemme tell you all about his eyes. Next I’ll tell you about his thorax. Oh, and here’s another paragraph about his gigantic pincers! Hold on...is that ANOTHER HUGE ANIMAL??? You’ve got to hear ALL ABOUT IT!

2. On Venus, we value our women. We value them SO MUCH that we don’t EVER allow them to serve on our mercenary ships. EVER. But, we don’t just stop there. Oh no! We value them SO MUCH that we don’t even ALLOW them to marry mercenaries. Because, you know mercenaries die like A LOT, and that would mean a lot of our precious women would be so sad. We can’t allow that to happen, cuz we just LOVE women. Soooooo, instead, we allow our mercenaries to “keep” women (only the number than afford, of course) as... PROSTITUTES! That’s right. If a woman falls in love with a mercenary she’s immediately labeled a prostitute because she’s basically giving it away in exchange for room and board since she CANNOT marry a mercenary. Oh and EVERYONE will know she’s just a prostitute. But it’s just because we value her SO MUCH!

I stopped when one of Dan’s girls messaged him about biting her nipples soon (video message mind you) and he showed it to his nephew. Why? I HAVE NO IDEA!!! Other than to remind him his MOM WAS ALSO A PROSTITUTE!!!!

[Adam Windsor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I generally enjoy Drake's work but these two novellas are among his weaker offerings. The characters in "Surface Action" are more or less cyphers, existing for no other reason than to progress the plot. Those in "The Jungle" are stronger, and the main narrative there is also more compelling, making it a better read, except for two factors. One is the limp hand-waved ending where massive social change occurs more or less overnight. The other is the 'flashback' sequences. These alternate with the main plot, and they're one part nihilistic and one part voyeuristic. When it comes to the story's female characters - who are only present in these sections, as the main cast is all male - the extent of their 'characterization' is the color of their nipples and pubic hair.

[Al Lock · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is actually 2 books, both set in a Venus that is covered in seas and islands with very virulent lifeforms that have evolved from the original attempt of Earth to terraform the planet. Most of the population lives below the seas, while the mercenary Navies fight the wars of the various cities and deal with the surface. The characters of the two books aren't related, but the stories clearly are. The first is written much like a Hammer's Slammers or one of the Dorsai books. The second is written from multiple character positions and with multiple timelines being bounced back and forth - if you don't pay attention, it can get confusing.

[Jose C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Men in war, fighting nature&ourselves

I like war books, especially the ones that glorify manhood & comradership. Drakes' military sci-fi books do that in almost every page. The war-weary & the newbies always rise to the occasion, some die... as in real wars... But manhood remains & men soldier on. The men in the arena who dared greatly & lived or died doing what their soul demanded of them.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather interesting example of golden age sci-fi

The story moves along fairly well, and most of the time makes sense. Towards the end it keeps moving back & forth between time periods. This got to be a little confusing. For being written in the 1940's the tech wasn't too anachronistic . A decent read.

[Chrystal Roe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

I really enjoyed this book although it isn't the genre I normally read. It has a lot excitement and adventure. The world Mr Drake created is described in terrifying detail. It's an awe inspiring place. I would hate be stranded there.

[Michelle Thiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why isn't this a SyFy Channel miniseries? There are so many good stories here, action, adventure, giant sea creatures...!

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this book, Venus has been terraformed into a huge sea.
The earth has destroyed itself using nuclear.
The stories are ok, just ok, 2/5

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting take on a Deathworld based on Venus.

[John Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omnibus edition of the 2 novels within the series.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a huge effort, humans terraformed Venus, increasing its reflectivity to reduce its heat absorption, introducing life, and finally introducing people. Just in time because human war created the galaxy's newest star and Venus was all that was left of humanity. The lessons of Earth weren't completely missed. Venus's domed cities (the land areas were considered too dangerous to settle) made plenty of war, but their warfare was limited, civilized, and conducted by professional mercenary companies. Cities who stepped outside of the rules of war could be quickly nuked--a strong incentive toward cooperation. Of course, even 'civilized' warfare is still warfare and mankind's efforts were largely squandered in an entire world that is overrun with mutating and dangerous descendents of the species brought in by Earth's teraformers.

In two linked novellas, author David Drake explores the mercenaries who carry on the wars. In the first, Surface Action, Johnnie Gordon joins his mercenary-uncle Dan Cooke in an attempt to overcome a conspiracy of mercenary companies to preserve their way of life--by preventing Johnnie's father from bringing about a peaceful union of Venus domed cities. With only Dan's mercenary company to protect the young alliance and with multiple opponents lining up, Johnnie's mercenary experience seems doomed. And that's before Dan comes up with a crazy idea involving a cross-country cutting out operation.

In The Jungle, two junior officers face their own failings after their boat is damaged. Each perceives the other as embodying all of the characteristics that they know they are missing themselves--and each uses the other's example for inspiration, subtly living up to the other's misconceptions. But survival is only a part of the requirement. Because the Venus domed cities have themselves reached a critical situation. Somehow, men must reclaim the land while they still have the chance.

In SEAS OF VENUS, David Drake sees the romance of war, but he doesn't let it seduce him. Even distant warfare conducted by professional mercenaries has its costs--including the creation of a self-perpetuating and self-dooming system. The first story, Surface Action, is straightforward, with a twist ending. The Jungle is a continual twist as Drake gives us a deeper insight into the characters and into the world and society which spawned them. The non-linear time flow is occasionally confusing, but the storytelling works.

SEAS OF VENUS. especially The Jungle, is military SF at its best. And Drake's story of a true-life voyage to the jungle of Belize is a nice bonus.

[Eric Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

After Clash by Night David Drake did do a real good job in expanding the "universe" that "Henry Kuttner" had laid out. And given Drake's penchant style with Hammer's Slammers overall I can say that this two novella book reminds me (at least The Jungle novella) of Halo: Nightfall, where there's the alien or human element you're fighting, but the characters also fight the flora and fauna, as well as generally mutated lifeforms that we have here on Earth. Both stories are very good and I wholeheartedly recommend this book with 5 out of 5 stars, as he keeps the pressure on with he universe that Clash By Night created (and a well created one at that) and truly showed that the limited scale that combat brings, can seem like the Only World you truly live in.

[Clayton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Action-packed space opera with a retro feel. Well-written stories, but not so engaging at the head level. (Note that this book contains two novellas set in the same environment.)

Update: this book, for reasons I do not understand, is something that comes back to mind every now and then. Upgrade from three to four stars.

[Pablo Magnifico · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. Two novellas and one non-fiction travel log bound as a book. A little racy. Social and Political commentary is pretty heavy handed.

[Lynn Calvin]

baen ebook

[Howard]

15

[Adam Meek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Drake revisits the Venus of Henry Kuttner & CL Moore's Clash by Night (1943) in this military-SF thriller.

[Rodney Moorhead · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good retro style scifi tale with lots of action.

[Steven Vaughan-Nichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple, excellent straightforward David Drake military adventure set in a 40s "Golden Age of SF" style Venus.

[Durval Menezes · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not remember anything about this book, so it must have been unremarkable (therefore the 2 stars rating).