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Dead Enders #1
The Fortress in Orion
The Democracy is at war with the alien Traanskei Coalition. War hero Colonel Nathan Pretorius has a record of success on dangerous behind-enemy-lines missions, missions that usually leave him in the hospital. Now he's recruited for a near-impossible assignment that may well leave him dead.
At the cost of many lives, the Democracy has managed to clone and train General Michkag, one of the Traanskei's master strategists. Colonel Pretorius and a hand-picked team must kidnap the real Michkag if they can, assassinate him if they can't, but no matter which, put the clone in his place, where he will misdirect the enemy's forces and funnel vital information to the Democracy.
Against the odds, Pretorius, along with Cyborg Felix Ortega, computer expert Toni Levi, convict and contortionist Sally "Snake" Kowalski, the near-human empath Marlowe, the alien Gzychurlyx, and Madam Methuselah - the Dead Enders - must infiltrate the Fortress in Orion, accomplish their mission, and escape with their lives.
At the cost of many lives, the Democracy has managed to clone and train General Michkag, one of the Traanskei's master strategists. Colonel Pretorius and a hand-picked team must kidnap the real Michkag if they can, assassinate him if they can't, but no matter which, put the clone in his place, where he will misdirect the enemy's forces and funnel vital information to the Democracy.
Against the odds, Pretorius, along with Cyborg Felix Ortega, computer expert Toni Levi, convict and contortionist Sally "Snake" Kowalski, the near-human empath Marlowe, the alien Gzychurlyx, and Madam Methuselah - the Dead Enders - must infiltrate the Fortress in Orion, accomplish their mission, and escape with their lives.
303 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
24 people are currently reading
484 people want to read
About the author
Mike Resnick
812 books551 followersMichael "Mike" Diamond Resnick, better known by his published name Mike Resnick, was a popular and prolific American science fiction author. He is, according to Locus, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction. He was the winner of five Hugos, a Nebula, and other major awards in the United States, France, Spain, Japan, Croatia and Poland. and has been short-listed for major awards in England, Italy and Australia. He was the author of 68 novels, over 250 stories, and 2 screenplays, and was the editor of 41 anthologies. His work has been translated into 25 languages. He was the Guest of Honor at the 2012 Worldcon and can be found online as @ResnickMike on Twitter or at www.mikeresnick.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
October 8, 2014
Review #1:
"Hey guys, who wants to go to an impenetrable fortress on an impossible mission where everyone will certainly die?" says Coolguy.
"Me!" says Muscles.
"Me too!" says Thief.
"Of course! I don't need reasons for going on missions where I will certainly die!" says Powers.
"Even though you cloned me and I have no actual reasons for believing your society is better than my alien one, I too can't wait to go die!" says Clone.
Spaceship time.
"Wow, it's really dangerous out here, but somehow things are going really easy," says Coolguy, "we made it all the way here with not even a minor hiccup, but remember about the danger!"
Impenetrable fortress time.
"I can't believe how easy this is going, how is it so easy? we got into this impossibly impenetrable fortress without even one problem and we already got our badguy, but watch out for all the danger!"
Leaving impenetrable fortress.
"You guessed it, it's dangerous out here guys! How did we make it back to safety with what can barely be described as a slight stir? We're one crazy team of course!"
Review #2:
How this story should have been written: A group of people with different, yet exceptional talents are given a mission, which they perform flawlessly and without incident.
In other words, the events of this book could be summed up in the beginning of the first page of another book, possibly making up an entire prologue, though that's stretching it still. I'm honestly not joking when I say this.
Review #3:
What started out grabbing my attention, literally from the first page, quickly had me completely baffled. This group of characters seemed cool and fun and then nothing happened. At first, I thought it was the author trying to quickly get from A to B because all the good stuff was going to happen at B. But then it didn't ... literally nothing happened.
Why would anyone need or want to read a whole novel about the lives of these people and this event that literally went off without a single hitch? That's not something for the history books ... for any books. It's obviously an important moment ... to capture in a blip, an epigraph, something besides a whole book.
Luckily it's less than 300 pages, but like I said at the beginning of this review #3, I kept thinking that finally something would actually happen. Something! Please, Mike Resnick fans, please tell me this isn't representative. I don't know if I can read any more of his work that's won Hugos and stuff. How, if this is the product? Let me know.
2 out of 5 Stars (I finished it so I guess that's something)
"Hey guys, who wants to go to an impenetrable fortress on an impossible mission where everyone will certainly die?" says Coolguy.
"Me!" says Muscles.
"Me too!" says Thief.
"Of course! I don't need reasons for going on missions where I will certainly die!" says Powers.
"Even though you cloned me and I have no actual reasons for believing your society is better than my alien one, I too can't wait to go die!" says Clone.
Spaceship time.
"Wow, it's really dangerous out here, but somehow things are going really easy," says Coolguy, "we made it all the way here with not even a minor hiccup, but remember about the danger!"
Impenetrable fortress time.
"I can't believe how easy this is going, how is it so easy? we got into this impossibly impenetrable fortress without even one problem and we already got our badguy, but watch out for all the danger!"
Leaving impenetrable fortress.
"You guessed it, it's dangerous out here guys! How did we make it back to safety with what can barely be described as a slight stir? We're one crazy team of course!"
Review #2:
How this story should have been written: A group of people with different, yet exceptional talents are given a mission, which they perform flawlessly and without incident.
In other words, the events of this book could be summed up in the beginning of the first page of another book, possibly making up an entire prologue, though that's stretching it still. I'm honestly not joking when I say this.
Review #3:
What started out grabbing my attention, literally from the first page, quickly had me completely baffled. This group of characters seemed cool and fun and then nothing happened. At first, I thought it was the author trying to quickly get from A to B because all the good stuff was going to happen at B. But then it didn't ... literally nothing happened.
Why would anyone need or want to read a whole novel about the lives of these people and this event that literally went off without a single hitch? That's not something for the history books ... for any books. It's obviously an important moment ... to capture in a blip, an epigraph, something besides a whole book.
Luckily it's less than 300 pages, but like I said at the beginning of this review #3, I kept thinking that finally something would actually happen. Something! Please, Mike Resnick fans, please tell me this isn't representative. I don't know if I can read any more of his work that's won Hugos and stuff. How, if this is the product? Let me know.
2 out of 5 Stars (I finished it so I guess that's something)
December 7, 2024
This sounded like the sort of book that I would enjoy. Unfortunately it was just to YA and to simplistic for me.
February 4, 2015
Fun, quick read for those who like space opera. My biggest complaint is the ending, which felt rushed, almost as if the author had enough of the story and just wanted to end it and move on to something else
November 13, 2019
VOTO PERSONALE: 2,6
Avendo letto già diverse opere di Mike Resnick, e dunque sapendo grosso modo a cosa sarei andato incontro, fingere d'aver riposto chissà quale aspettativa per poi rimanere "indignato" al termine della lettura stessa, rappresenta una grossa ipocrisia, e di conseguenza esprimere ferocemente qualsiasi parere negativo (si tratta sempre di opinioni personali, mai dimenticarlo!) è un po' come sparare sulla Croce Rossa.
Ma il grado di approssimazione, il livello qualitativo generale (in verità già piuttosto mediocre in altre opere che comunque mi erano piaciucchiate, come la saga Starship e la trilogia Galactic Comedy, che al momento ritengo ancora l'opera migliore dell'autore tra quelle che ho avuto modo di leggere), la totale mancanza di coerenza in alcuni passaggi e i piccoli ma numerosi buchi narrativi che permeano costantemente questo romanzo, lo rendono ad oggi, per me, il peggior titolo di Resnick finora letto.
Mi ritengo tutt'altro che un lettore con la classica "puzza sotto il naso" (in senso figurato, per carità), alla costante ricerca di letture impegnate e intellettualmente elevate (anzi!):credo che anche la lettura di totale evasione ha una sua dignità, quando però essa è scritta decentemente, aggiungo! Storielle di space-opera come queste di Resnick (genere che apprezzo, tra l'altro) e che sono oggettivamente delle "cagate", sono l'ideale per trascorrere qualche ora in totale relax, nei periodi in cui si è quasi sempre occupati e di tempo e voglia per leggere ve n'è davvero poca.
Tuttavia, l'intera vicenda viene trascinata avanti con un grado di banalità e di approssimazione davvero disarmante. Sarebbe bastato davvero poco per introdurre soluzioni narrative accettabili, a maggior ragione in un universo totalmente fittizio: non poche volte ci si ritrova a leggere situazioni che i protagonisti fanno di tutto per portare a termine, ma che allo stesso tempo risulteranno poi totalmente inutili ai fini della narrazione e delle quali se ne scopre poi la totale vacuità nell'arco di poche pagine, perché tanto tutto va avanti in maniera random.
Un po' di cura in più non avrebbe certamente guastato, e sicuramente non avrebbe dato l'impressione al lettore di aver letto un mucchio di cose inutili, e talvolta anche abbastanza pallose, ai fini dello svolgimento della trama stessa.
Esilarante l'episodio nel quale i protagonisti progettano di procurarsi un' uniforme militare nemica e come ciò venga riproposto in tre modi differenti nell'arco di 2 o 3 pagine, per poi fare materialmente tutt'altro, senza che ciò danneggi minimamente la buona riuscita della missione!
Non so quanto questo possa essere anche il frutto di eventuali tagli effettuati sull'opera originale e dell'approssimazione in sede di traduzione, tuttavia è lampante come ciò non abbia contribuito affatto a rendere il tutto quantomeno più gradevole.
Della caratterizzazione dei personaggi e del loro sviluppo psicologico non ne parliamo nemmeno: di solito, dalla lettura di questi romanzi si ricercano altri elementi e non si hanno tanto pretese, quindi direi che è il caso di non infierire ulteriormente.
Purtroppo, Orion: La Fortezza rappresenta il primo capitolo di una trilogia che ho già acquistato, e che sarò "costretto" a leggere sia perché un minimo di fiducia vorrei ancora dargliela, dubito che si arrivi più in basso di così, sia perché, tutto sommato, una risata ci scappa sempre. Di scherno, di sconforto, ma pur sempre una risata.
Avendo letto già diverse opere di Mike Resnick, e dunque sapendo grosso modo a cosa sarei andato incontro, fingere d'aver riposto chissà quale aspettativa per poi rimanere "indignato" al termine della lettura stessa, rappresenta una grossa ipocrisia, e di conseguenza esprimere ferocemente qualsiasi parere negativo (si tratta sempre di opinioni personali, mai dimenticarlo!) è un po' come sparare sulla Croce Rossa.
Ma il grado di approssimazione, il livello qualitativo generale (in verità già piuttosto mediocre in altre opere che comunque mi erano piaciucchiate, come la saga Starship e la trilogia Galactic Comedy, che al momento ritengo ancora l'opera migliore dell'autore tra quelle che ho avuto modo di leggere), la totale mancanza di coerenza in alcuni passaggi e i piccoli ma numerosi buchi narrativi che permeano costantemente questo romanzo, lo rendono ad oggi, per me, il peggior titolo di Resnick finora letto.
Mi ritengo tutt'altro che un lettore con la classica "puzza sotto il naso" (in senso figurato, per carità), alla costante ricerca di letture impegnate e intellettualmente elevate (anzi!):credo che anche la lettura di totale evasione ha una sua dignità, quando però essa è scritta decentemente, aggiungo! Storielle di space-opera come queste di Resnick (genere che apprezzo, tra l'altro) e che sono oggettivamente delle "cagate", sono l'ideale per trascorrere qualche ora in totale relax, nei periodi in cui si è quasi sempre occupati e di tempo e voglia per leggere ve n'è davvero poca.
Tuttavia, l'intera vicenda viene trascinata avanti con un grado di banalità e di approssimazione davvero disarmante. Sarebbe bastato davvero poco per introdurre soluzioni narrative accettabili, a maggior ragione in un universo totalmente fittizio: non poche volte ci si ritrova a leggere situazioni che i protagonisti fanno di tutto per portare a termine, ma che allo stesso tempo risulteranno poi totalmente inutili ai fini della narrazione e delle quali se ne scopre poi la totale vacuità nell'arco di poche pagine, perché tanto tutto va avanti in maniera random.
Un po' di cura in più non avrebbe certamente guastato, e sicuramente non avrebbe dato l'impressione al lettore di aver letto un mucchio di cose inutili, e talvolta anche abbastanza pallose, ai fini dello svolgimento della trama stessa.
Esilarante l'episodio nel quale i protagonisti progettano di procurarsi un' uniforme militare nemica e come ciò venga riproposto in tre modi differenti nell'arco di 2 o 3 pagine, per poi fare materialmente tutt'altro, senza che ciò danneggi minimamente la buona riuscita della missione!
Non so quanto questo possa essere anche il frutto di eventuali tagli effettuati sull'opera originale e dell'approssimazione in sede di traduzione, tuttavia è lampante come ciò non abbia contribuito affatto a rendere il tutto quantomeno più gradevole.
Della caratterizzazione dei personaggi e del loro sviluppo psicologico non ne parliamo nemmeno: di solito, dalla lettura di questi romanzi si ricercano altri elementi e non si hanno tanto pretese, quindi direi che è il caso di non infierire ulteriormente.
Purtroppo, Orion: La Fortezza rappresenta il primo capitolo di una trilogia che ho già acquistato, e che sarò "costretto" a leggere sia perché un minimo di fiducia vorrei ancora dargliela, dubito che si arrivi più in basso di così, sia perché, tutto sommato, una risata ci scappa sempre. Di scherno, di sconforto, ma pur sempre una risata.
January 16, 2015
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)
One of the things I've come to realize about myself in the last several years is that when I call myself a "science-fiction fan," that's actually a bit of a misnomer; I should instead really call myself a "science-fiction dilettante," because as I learned after attending Worldcon in Chicago a couple of years ago (my first SF convention in 25 years), there's really only a tiny layer of SF novels I genuinely enjoy in any given year, the really unusual and extra-smart stuff by writers who often have conflicted relationships with SF fandom to begin with (oh, hello there, China Mieville), but that I can't really stand the middlebrow space-opera stuff that actually makes up the majority of output of the genre in any given year, but that is the exact favorites of the kinds of super-fans who attend a lot of the conventions, vote for the Hugo Award every year, etc. Mike Resnick is one of these con-favorite authors -- in fact, he was the Worldcon Guest Of Honor the year I attended -- and his new The Fortress in Orion is exactly the kind of middlebrow stuff I'm talking about; it's not very smart but not very dumb either, not too fast-paced but not too slow, with the most stereotypical of hacky premises driving its utterly guessable three-act plot (a cocky yet effective military commander who plays by his own rules is tasked with infiltrating enemy lines on a daring spy mission, and hand-picks a series of sassy rogues and sexy criminals to pull it off), but with hardcore fans loving this stuff because it's fast to get through (a must for the kinds of core genre fans who tear through an entire middlebrow novel a day, every day, whether that's SF or fantasy or crime or romance you're talking about), and because Resnick will actually hang out with you at the next con and buy you a beer for liking his book.
Certainly not a bad novel, in the same way that a typical episode of a typical low-budget syndicated TV show on the SyFy Network isn't "bad," nonetheless it goes down with the same kind of generic smoothness, and leaves just as short of a lasting impression, a good way to kill a Saturday afternoon but with nothing much better that one can say about it. I read and review such books regularly here anyway, because I read and review any book that a publisher takes the time to send me (and to be clear, our pals at Pyr don't just put out these kinds of books, but also the kinds of amazing, mind-bending stuff that constitutes the best of this genre too); but I can't say that I'm ever excited by another of these "fan-fave paying-the-bills" mid-list titles, nor that I'll even remember the experience of reading it another six months from now. ("What do you mean, I actually watched the entire fourth season of Stargate SG-1 with you last summer? Why do I have no memory of watching the entire fourth season of Stargate SG-1 with you last summer?") This should all be kept in mind before picking up a copy yourself.
Out of 10: 7.5
One of the things I've come to realize about myself in the last several years is that when I call myself a "science-fiction fan," that's actually a bit of a misnomer; I should instead really call myself a "science-fiction dilettante," because as I learned after attending Worldcon in Chicago a couple of years ago (my first SF convention in 25 years), there's really only a tiny layer of SF novels I genuinely enjoy in any given year, the really unusual and extra-smart stuff by writers who often have conflicted relationships with SF fandom to begin with (oh, hello there, China Mieville), but that I can't really stand the middlebrow space-opera stuff that actually makes up the majority of output of the genre in any given year, but that is the exact favorites of the kinds of super-fans who attend a lot of the conventions, vote for the Hugo Award every year, etc. Mike Resnick is one of these con-favorite authors -- in fact, he was the Worldcon Guest Of Honor the year I attended -- and his new The Fortress in Orion is exactly the kind of middlebrow stuff I'm talking about; it's not very smart but not very dumb either, not too fast-paced but not too slow, with the most stereotypical of hacky premises driving its utterly guessable three-act plot (a cocky yet effective military commander who plays by his own rules is tasked with infiltrating enemy lines on a daring spy mission, and hand-picks a series of sassy rogues and sexy criminals to pull it off), but with hardcore fans loving this stuff because it's fast to get through (a must for the kinds of core genre fans who tear through an entire middlebrow novel a day, every day, whether that's SF or fantasy or crime or romance you're talking about), and because Resnick will actually hang out with you at the next con and buy you a beer for liking his book.
Certainly not a bad novel, in the same way that a typical episode of a typical low-budget syndicated TV show on the SyFy Network isn't "bad," nonetheless it goes down with the same kind of generic smoothness, and leaves just as short of a lasting impression, a good way to kill a Saturday afternoon but with nothing much better that one can say about it. I read and review such books regularly here anyway, because I read and review any book that a publisher takes the time to send me (and to be clear, our pals at Pyr don't just put out these kinds of books, but also the kinds of amazing, mind-bending stuff that constitutes the best of this genre too); but I can't say that I'm ever excited by another of these "fan-fave paying-the-bills" mid-list titles, nor that I'll even remember the experience of reading it another six months from now. ("What do you mean, I actually watched the entire fourth season of Stargate SG-1 with you last summer? Why do I have no memory of watching the entire fourth season of Stargate SG-1 with you last summer?") This should all be kept in mind before picking up a copy yourself.
Out of 10: 7.5
Read
April 14, 2021Colonel Nathan Pretorius only just survived his last mission. Actually, if you take into account the couple of times he died during surgery, technically he didn’t, but the Democracy doctors have put him back together – prosthetic foot, cloned kidney and spleen and all. Now they want him to lead another mission. Seeing as he is the only surviving member of his last team, Pretorius wants to choose his own people this time.
Rejecting military candidates, Pretorius vets his contacts for less conventional candidates. The team he puts together resembles a carnival side show and is a large part of the fun of The Fortress in Orion. Strong man Felix Ortega has been less fortunate than Pretorius when it comes to hanging on to his original body parts. He’s now more machine than human. Sally ‘Snake’ Kowalski is a contortionist and a thief. Pandora has never met a computer she can’t hack. Circe can tell if you’re lying and probably why and Gzychurlyx has a name no one can pronounce. No one knows quite what he is, neither, but he’s an incomparable illusionist!
Their mission is to replace Michkag, the leader of the alien Traanskei Coalition, with a clone. Their directive allows them to either kidnap or kill the original Michkag, so long as the clone is left in his place. Raised from a tissue sample, the cloned Michkag will then subvert the Coalition’s objectives, thus bringing an end to the war. The catch – there is always a catch – is that the only place they can attempt the swap is a heavily guarded fortress deep in Coalition territory, the fortress in Orion.
Mike Resnick approaches this adventure with exactly the right tone. The mission is impossible and so he puts together a team of implausible characters to take a crack at it. Nathan Pretorius is a likeable hero. His suitability for the mission is quickly obvious. His reticence to actually lay down a plan is a fairly transparent ploy. He’s either brilliant or skidding along on the seat of his pants, probably both. It’s the combination of planning and improvisation that allows the team to navigate the many obstacles in their path, however.
It might be unfair of me to say I expected the mission to end differently. The team certainly faced enough challenges along the way. I thought there’d be this unexpected twist, but maybe I’ve been reading too many over-complicated books or maybe the twist is coming later in the series.
The novel also lacks strong character development, but Resnick does take the opportunity to showcase each team member, giving each a chance to share what motivates them. I wanted to know more, particularly about our intrepid leader, Nathan Pretorius. I’m also sure there’s more to Gzychurlyx than meets the eye, which is a terrible pun, given his nature.
Hopefully we’ll get more up close and personal with the “Dead Enders” in future adventures.
Written for SFCrowsnest
Rejecting military candidates, Pretorius vets his contacts for less conventional candidates. The team he puts together resembles a carnival side show and is a large part of the fun of The Fortress in Orion. Strong man Felix Ortega has been less fortunate than Pretorius when it comes to hanging on to his original body parts. He’s now more machine than human. Sally ‘Snake’ Kowalski is a contortionist and a thief. Pandora has never met a computer she can’t hack. Circe can tell if you’re lying and probably why and Gzychurlyx has a name no one can pronounce. No one knows quite what he is, neither, but he’s an incomparable illusionist!
Their mission is to replace Michkag, the leader of the alien Traanskei Coalition, with a clone. Their directive allows them to either kidnap or kill the original Michkag, so long as the clone is left in his place. Raised from a tissue sample, the cloned Michkag will then subvert the Coalition’s objectives, thus bringing an end to the war. The catch – there is always a catch – is that the only place they can attempt the swap is a heavily guarded fortress deep in Coalition territory, the fortress in Orion.
Mike Resnick approaches this adventure with exactly the right tone. The mission is impossible and so he puts together a team of implausible characters to take a crack at it. Nathan Pretorius is a likeable hero. His suitability for the mission is quickly obvious. His reticence to actually lay down a plan is a fairly transparent ploy. He’s either brilliant or skidding along on the seat of his pants, probably both. It’s the combination of planning and improvisation that allows the team to navigate the many obstacles in their path, however.
It might be unfair of me to say I expected the mission to end differently. The team certainly faced enough challenges along the way. I thought there’d be this unexpected twist, but maybe I’ve been reading too many over-complicated books or maybe the twist is coming later in the series.
The novel also lacks strong character development, but Resnick does take the opportunity to showcase each team member, giving each a chance to share what motivates them. I wanted to know more, particularly about our intrepid leader, Nathan Pretorius. I’m also sure there’s more to Gzychurlyx than meets the eye, which is a terrible pun, given his nature.
Hopefully we’ll get more up close and personal with the “Dead Enders” in future adventures.
Written for SFCrowsnest
January 5, 2015
This review and many others was originally posted on Audio Book Reviewer
I always like a good military space romp. Having never heard of the author, I am always skeptical. However Christian Rummel as the narrator sold me on this title. I am expecting brutal battles with alien races, technological jargon, and an all over fun listen.
This was a very fast paced, straight forward, good old space military adventure. Our hero, Colonel Nathan Pretorius, is the one the military will send when they they think it is an impossible mission, a dead end, knowing that if anyone can pull it off it will be him. Here he gets to choose his team from non-military associations, which helps him immensely in the end.
He recruits his hand picked team of outlaws and they embark on an impossible mission to kidnap the leader of the “evil” alien warlords. Seems so simple, right? Well, even though they only had a 3% chance of a successful mission, it did seem very easy. Several games of cat and mouse, a few hit and runs and they are finally staring their prize in the face.
Full of colorful characters and alien races, think of Star Wars + Rambo + Ocean’s Eleven = The Fortress in Orion. If you are a lover of interesting and humorous dialog, this will be in your wheelhouse.
This was my first adventure by Resnick and I will be looking for more from him in the future as I need to have fun listening every now and again.
Christian Rummel was on point for this one. An audio technician of characterizations, some how creating the perfect voice of each and every one. You wouldn’t think that a man with such a deep and resonating “normal” voice would be able to create believable voices for the female characters. Rummel manages this with no audible effort what so ever.
I knew that I could count on Rummel for delivering a solid performance. He kept me engaged and waiting for whatever happens next.
Audiobook provided for review by the publisher.
I always like a good military space romp. Having never heard of the author, I am always skeptical. However Christian Rummel as the narrator sold me on this title. I am expecting brutal battles with alien races, technological jargon, and an all over fun listen.
This was a very fast paced, straight forward, good old space military adventure. Our hero, Colonel Nathan Pretorius, is the one the military will send when they they think it is an impossible mission, a dead end, knowing that if anyone can pull it off it will be him. Here he gets to choose his team from non-military associations, which helps him immensely in the end.
He recruits his hand picked team of outlaws and they embark on an impossible mission to kidnap the leader of the “evil” alien warlords. Seems so simple, right? Well, even though they only had a 3% chance of a successful mission, it did seem very easy. Several games of cat and mouse, a few hit and runs and they are finally staring their prize in the face.
Full of colorful characters and alien races, think of Star Wars + Rambo + Ocean’s Eleven = The Fortress in Orion. If you are a lover of interesting and humorous dialog, this will be in your wheelhouse.
This was my first adventure by Resnick and I will be looking for more from him in the future as I need to have fun listening every now and again.
Christian Rummel was on point for this one. An audio technician of characterizations, some how creating the perfect voice of each and every one. You wouldn’t think that a man with such a deep and resonating “normal” voice would be able to create believable voices for the female characters. Rummel manages this with no audible effort what so ever.
I knew that I could count on Rummel for delivering a solid performance. He kept me engaged and waiting for whatever happens next.
Audiobook provided for review by the publisher.
September 2, 2014
This is a story that could pass for the preliminary draft of a comic cross between “Guardians of the Galaxy” and the “Dirty Dozen”. It’s written so tongue -in-cheek that the person next to you will need to duck so they don’t get poked. It all very light hearted, and you know that they are going to get done what they need to get done even though they only have a three percent chance.
This happens in the galaxy of the “Birthright” timeline that Resnick uses in most of his books and series. The Universe is divided into the Democracy (the good guys, us) and the Coalition (the bad guys), with a small no-man’s land in between. The job they are to do is to replace the despot who runs the Coalition with a clone that’s working for the Democracy.
It’s the same set-up as the A-Team or Mission Impossible (the TV show), with the wise-cracking leader whose got more scars than brains (Colonel Nathan Pretorius). A tech expert Tony Levi (called Pandora), a break-in artist named Snake, a muscle who is 75% cyborg, an empath (who can tell when you’re lying. Also along is the clone and his trainer, and an alien who can look like anything, but only in your mind and can’t effect security systems.
To get to where the Despot is, they will have to sneak into the other empire by way of the no-man’s-land and then through a large portion of the Coalition, where humans are shot on sight. They then have to land on the most secure planet in the Coalition, kidnap the Despot and replace him with the clone and get away. Oh, did I mention they only have a 3% chance?
But it’s all in good fun, and if you suspend your brain and just read it, it’s actually a lot of fun. Well, sort of.
Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com
This happens in the galaxy of the “Birthright” timeline that Resnick uses in most of his books and series. The Universe is divided into the Democracy (the good guys, us) and the Coalition (the bad guys), with a small no-man’s land in between. The job they are to do is to replace the despot who runs the Coalition with a clone that’s working for the Democracy.
It’s the same set-up as the A-Team or Mission Impossible (the TV show), with the wise-cracking leader whose got more scars than brains (Colonel Nathan Pretorius). A tech expert Tony Levi (called Pandora), a break-in artist named Snake, a muscle who is 75% cyborg, an empath (who can tell when you’re lying. Also along is the clone and his trainer, and an alien who can look like anything, but only in your mind and can’t effect security systems.
To get to where the Despot is, they will have to sneak into the other empire by way of the no-man’s-land and then through a large portion of the Coalition, where humans are shot on sight. They then have to land on the most secure planet in the Coalition, kidnap the Despot and replace him with the clone and get away. Oh, did I mention they only have a 3% chance?
But it’s all in good fun, and if you suspend your brain and just read it, it’s actually a lot of fun. Well, sort of.
Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com
November 1, 2016
(no spoilers)
I borrowed this book from the local library in hope I'll read some nice science fiction books.
And this book was a big flop. The characters are shallow, plot seems like cheating because we're not informed what POV character knows. Not to mention that the POV character is pure Mary Sue. He is almost magical in his abilities, capable of making anyone trust him on the first glance, incredible leader. Almost in every scene, I ended up frowning because the plot was so impossible.
Although a majority of characters were humans, the author did not describe homo sapiens because his characters did not react as homo sapiens would in given situation.
The worse part to swallow was the blatant racism. See in sci-fi, aliens are used to represent racial tensions we have currently in our society. And human characters in book treated aliens worse than objects. They were kinder towards machines than aliens. And author made aliens just take it like it is 100% normal and ok to treat them as something less. I was truly disgusted by it.
Later, I googled an author and learned he got some Hugo awards and had all bunch of books published. Boy, it really makes me wonder can a Hugo award at all serve as the mark of quality. I wonder how an author could who write like this get it. This kind of writing is what would I call beginner writing, the one in desperate need of the plot check and bit more writing lessons, particularly about character development. The whole book is actually written like some kind of sad attempt of re-telling a B rated action movie.
Please, skip this writer.
I borrowed this book from the local library in hope I'll read some nice science fiction books.
And this book was a big flop. The characters are shallow, plot seems like cheating because we're not informed what POV character knows. Not to mention that the POV character is pure Mary Sue. He is almost magical in his abilities, capable of making anyone trust him on the first glance, incredible leader. Almost in every scene, I ended up frowning because the plot was so impossible.
Although a majority of characters were humans, the author did not describe homo sapiens because his characters did not react as homo sapiens would in given situation.
The worse part to swallow was the blatant racism. See in sci-fi, aliens are used to represent racial tensions we have currently in our society. And human characters in book treated aliens worse than objects. They were kinder towards machines than aliens. And author made aliens just take it like it is 100% normal and ok to treat them as something less. I was truly disgusted by it.
Later, I googled an author and learned he got some Hugo awards and had all bunch of books published. Boy, it really makes me wonder can a Hugo award at all serve as the mark of quality. I wonder how an author could who write like this get it. This kind of writing is what would I call beginner writing, the one in desperate need of the plot check and bit more writing lessons, particularly about character development. The whole book is actually written like some kind of sad attempt of re-telling a B rated action movie.
Please, skip this writer.
March 15, 2015
The Fortress in Orion is the first book in Mike Resnick’s DEAD ENDERS series. Colonel Nathan Pretorius is a decorated hero in the Democracy’s twenty-three year war with the Traanskei Coalition. Just as he is recuperating from his last mission, Pretorius is given a new assignment, one that seems impossible. It means infiltrating the heart of one of the Coalition’s best-defended fortresses and substituting an imposter for an important Coalition member. Early in the book, the odds of success are given as three percent. Later, they rise to six or seven percent.
Despite the military costuming, The Fortress in Orion is basically a heist or a caper story. Instead of The Dirty Dozen, think A-Team, Ocean’s 11-13 or Leverage. Pretorius assembles the generic heist team: the Strong Man, the Saf... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
Despite the military costuming, The Fortress in Orion is basically a heist or a caper story. Instead of The Dirty Dozen, think A-Team, Ocean’s 11-13 or Leverage. Pretorius assembles the generic heist team: the Strong Man, the Saf... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
February 3, 2015
"Honey, if you're stopping by Petrus IV can you pick me up a psychotic dictator?"
"Sure, mind if I take the thief, the hacker and the strong guy with me?"
"I don't need 'em today, so no."
"OK I'm off, be back soon."
This novel was about as exciting as a trip to the grocery store, maybe less so, stores can have unannounced sales. Extremely thin characters with no motivations, bad dialogue from every B movie bank heist and not much action. The slender plot progresses right down the rails with nary a bump and the answer to everything to everything is "improvise". I don't know why I kept reading it, I guess I was expecting a rabbit trick to fix this sorry mess.
It's the start of a series, one that I won't bother to read further in.
"Sure, mind if I take the thief, the hacker and the strong guy with me?"
"I don't need 'em today, so no."
"OK I'm off, be back soon."
This novel was about as exciting as a trip to the grocery store, maybe less so, stores can have unannounced sales. Extremely thin characters with no motivations, bad dialogue from every B movie bank heist and not much action. The slender plot progresses right down the rails with nary a bump and the answer to everything to everything is "improvise". I don't know why I kept reading it, I guess I was expecting a rabbit trick to fix this sorry mess.
It's the start of a series, one that I won't bother to read further in.
January 3, 2015
I was expecting a twist but Mike Resnick plays his tale straight. Colonel Nathan Pretorius’s impossible mission, if he chooses to accept it, is to take a team deep into Kabori territory to The Fortress in Orion (trade from Pyr) With him is a clone of General Michkag and his handler. The mission is to infiltrate and substitute the clone for the real General. His recruited team includes: Snake, a contortionist thief; Circe an empath; Pandora a computer genius; Gzychurlyx an alien who can create visible images; and Proto an ex-soldier whose replacements parts make him almost android. Fun and probably the first in a series.Review printed by Philadelphia Weekly Press
January 2, 2015
The first book in a new Mike Resnick series is billed as "Classic Space Opera according to the numerous plugs on the back cover. Resnick's style is very smooth but I found the characters to be rather cartoonish and the plot passed over a lot of depth to get to the climax.
I'm probably a bit spoiled reading the works of David Weber,S.M. Stirling,C.J.Cherryh and others who excel at the genre. I'm sure that others will find it enjoyable; especially those who value action over veracity.
I'm probably a bit spoiled reading the works of David Weber,S.M. Stirling,C.J.Cherryh and others who excel at the genre. I'm sure that others will find it enjoyable; especially those who value action over veracity.
July 19, 2017
This is an entertaining book and I'll probably read the next in the series. It started off pretty funny so I thought it would be full of jokes but the humor kind of whimpered out. A little confusing in some spots, particularly toward the end with all the discussion about which 'level' was best. Could have benefited from a little bit more narration as this book was probably 95% dialogue.
March 28, 2019
This wasn't bad. It was a pretty typical put a motley group of individuals together to take on an impossible mission. The characters are also fairly typical of those found in other types of these books. That doesn't mean that the characters aren't interesting. The book flows well and the writing is good.
November 30, 2014
Tons of fun despite an opening slowed by a bit too much banter, but in the end, everything was too easy with no one in any real jeopardy, thus destroying whst could have been awesome tension and a very satisfying ending. Too bad because otherwise it was a blast and would have been memorable.
June 3, 2016
DNF. Too outlandish and unbelievable. Read other reviews to get more details.
January 27, 2018
a GROUP comes together to basically pull off a heist/military mission. lots of action.
December 5, 2025
Wow, this was bad. It gets 2-stars rather than one because I managed to actually finish it. If it had been longer I definitely would have abandoned it.
This book (and apparently more than 40 others) is set in the universe of Birthright: The Book of Man first published way back in 1982 and which I did read back in the 1980's as a teenager. The hero of this book is Colonel Nathan Pretorius of 'The Democracy' of Men. Yes, with a capital M. This anachronism, I suppose, results from the era when this universe originated. Pretorius is tasked with infiltrating the enemy Traanskei Coalition and substituting its leader with a clone. He approaches a super strong cyborg, a contortionist thief, a hacker, and an empath, explains he is on a suicide mission and they all agree to join him.
The characters are one dimensional with facile dialog. The same conversations are repeated several times. The cyborg, the contortionist and the alien changeling they pick up along the way, do nothing important with their unique abilities, and actually do nothing necessary to the plot. Everything is basic and simplistic.
———
2-stars: Below Average
3-stars: Average
4-stars: Above Average
1-star: I am disgusted (or other strong negative emotion) by the choices the author has made / (or occasionally) exceptionally horrible writing.
5-stars: I felt a strong connection to the story/characters and/or exceptionally good writing.
This book (and apparently more than 40 others) is set in the universe of Birthright: The Book of Man first published way back in 1982 and which I did read back in the 1980's as a teenager. The hero of this book is Colonel Nathan Pretorius of 'The Democracy' of Men. Yes, with a capital M. This anachronism, I suppose, results from the era when this universe originated. Pretorius is tasked with infiltrating the enemy Traanskei Coalition and substituting its leader with a clone. He approaches a super strong cyborg, a contortionist thief, a hacker, and an empath, explains he is on a suicide mission and they all agree to join him.
The characters are one dimensional with facile dialog. The same conversations are repeated several times. The cyborg, the contortionist and the alien changeling they pick up along the way, do nothing important with their unique abilities, and actually do nothing necessary to the plot. Everything is basic and simplistic.
———
2-stars: Below Average
3-stars: Average
4-stars: Above Average
1-star: I am disgusted (or other strong negative emotion) by the choices the author has made / (or occasionally) exceptionally horrible writing.
5-stars: I felt a strong connection to the story/characters and/or exceptionally good writing.
Read
July 24, 2023DNF at fifty pages in.
February 17, 2015
Nathan Pretorius recently finished a mission that left him missing body parts, which have recently been vat-grown and replaced. While he is still in the hospital, his old friend asks him to take on a near-impossible mission. He agrees, provided he gets to pick his own team. Pretorious and his team must replace an alien Traanskei ruler, Michkag, with a clone. This clone Michkag will help steer the Traanskei Coalition towards peace with the Democracy. The chances of survival and success are both quite small.
This was a quick read containing much of the tropes military scifi is known for. It was fast paced and had interesting characters, who were a bit predictable, but never the less easy to connect with. The author doesn’t spend much time developing alien cultures or delving into the history of his heroes. The mission is laid out, the characters set in place, so just sit back and enjoy the ride!
I really liked that Pretorious’s team included not just 1 female, but 3. And there was none of that silly BS about justifying a female specialist or 3 on the mission. Pretorious didn’t blink at the gender of any of his team mates because he was focused on their skills. Tis refreshing in military scifi and receives 2 thumbs up from me.
Felix Ortega is basically the team’s strong man, having been mostly replaced over the years as one mission after another removed this body part or that. In essence, he is a cyborg. Pandora is super good with computers and can tap into nearly any information line or bypass most every security system. Meanwhile, Cersei uses her empathic abilities to weed out the liars. Snake is a contortionist, and tiny. She can fit into places you wouldn’t think of tucking a pet turtle into. Together, their nearly impossible mission is safely and secretly take the cloned Michkag and his teacher to a Traanskei stronghold, a fortress in Orion, and make the swap. Along the way, the pick up Proto, a strange alien with a nebulous past who can project images into another sentient being’s mind.
The set up for this story is really good and I was hooked right away. But as the story moves forward, not a lot happens. There isn’t much conflict. The few hiccups the team comes across, they deal with quickly and quietly. There was so much hype at the beginning of the book about how dangerous this mission was and then so little happens to the team. Quite frankly, I got a little bored with everything going so well.
On the other hand, Resnick has set this story in a big galaxy with plenty of room to grow. While he didn’t delve deep in the Traanskei Coalition (he did have several alien words scattered throughout the book), he set the first building blocks to do so in future installments to the series.
There was one little plot point that niggled at me through out the story. Pretorious is this seasoned secret deadly mission character. It’s not his first time to the rodeo. However, he makes a could of first-time-commanding-a-deadly-secret-mission mistakes. I felt like these were thrown in to move the story forward, but it also made it hard to believe that Pretorious was as seasoned and capable as we were told he was
It’s a fun quick listen (or read) without the need to engage your higher brain. The characters are memorable, if a bit static. The mission was fun. I look forward to seeing what else Resnick can do with this world he has created and this team he has assembled.
Narration: Christian Rummel was a good pick for this audio. Much of the narration is from Pretorious’s point of view and Rummel had an excellent, authoritative voice for him. He also performed female characters quite well. He excelled at the alien voices and the wicked, cruelly unpronounceable names some of them had. That is where his talent really shown.
This was a quick read containing much of the tropes military scifi is known for. It was fast paced and had interesting characters, who were a bit predictable, but never the less easy to connect with. The author doesn’t spend much time developing alien cultures or delving into the history of his heroes. The mission is laid out, the characters set in place, so just sit back and enjoy the ride!
I really liked that Pretorious’s team included not just 1 female, but 3. And there was none of that silly BS about justifying a female specialist or 3 on the mission. Pretorious didn’t blink at the gender of any of his team mates because he was focused on their skills. Tis refreshing in military scifi and receives 2 thumbs up from me.
Felix Ortega is basically the team’s strong man, having been mostly replaced over the years as one mission after another removed this body part or that. In essence, he is a cyborg. Pandora is super good with computers and can tap into nearly any information line or bypass most every security system. Meanwhile, Cersei uses her empathic abilities to weed out the liars. Snake is a contortionist, and tiny. She can fit into places you wouldn’t think of tucking a pet turtle into. Together, their nearly impossible mission is safely and secretly take the cloned Michkag and his teacher to a Traanskei stronghold, a fortress in Orion, and make the swap. Along the way, the pick up Proto, a strange alien with a nebulous past who can project images into another sentient being’s mind.
The set up for this story is really good and I was hooked right away. But as the story moves forward, not a lot happens. There isn’t much conflict. The few hiccups the team comes across, they deal with quickly and quietly. There was so much hype at the beginning of the book about how dangerous this mission was and then so little happens to the team. Quite frankly, I got a little bored with everything going so well.
On the other hand, Resnick has set this story in a big galaxy with plenty of room to grow. While he didn’t delve deep in the Traanskei Coalition (he did have several alien words scattered throughout the book), he set the first building blocks to do so in future installments to the series.
There was one little plot point that niggled at me through out the story. Pretorious is this seasoned secret deadly mission character. It’s not his first time to the rodeo. However, he makes a could of first-time-commanding-a-deadly-secret-mission mistakes. I felt like these were thrown in to move the story forward, but it also made it hard to believe that Pretorious was as seasoned and capable as we were told he was
It’s a fun quick listen (or read) without the need to engage your higher brain. The characters are memorable, if a bit static. The mission was fun. I look forward to seeing what else Resnick can do with this world he has created and this team he has assembled.
Narration: Christian Rummel was a good pick for this audio. Much of the narration is from Pretorious’s point of view and Rummel had an excellent, authoritative voice for him. He also performed female characters quite well. He excelled at the alien voices and the wicked, cruelly unpronounceable names some of them had. That is where his talent really shown.
January 2, 2016
As some of you may know, I review for the San Francisco/Manhattan Book Review in exchange for free books. I'm usually careful not to inadvertently get myself dropped into the middle of a new series. Then I requested The Prison In Antares, not realizing it was book two in a new series. So I hastily tracked down The Fortress In Orion to catch up before I set in. Now I find out that everything Resnick has ever written is set in the same universe! (Okay, just most of it.) I've got a lot of reading to do....
The (mostly) human Democracy is at war with the alien Transkei Coalition, fighting a war that they may not be able to win. Colonel Nathan Pretorius is the Democracy's go-to man for crazy, impossible missions...when those missions haven't left him in the hospital growing a new spleen. This next mission? This one is going to top them all.... The Democracy has managed to clone a replacement for General Michkag, the top Transkei commander. Its up to Nathan and whatever fools he can convince to follow him to capture if possible, kill if necessary, the real Michkag and leave the friendly one in his place to try and bring the war to a peaceful conclusion. The odds of this mission ending in death for the entire team? Not worth thinking about. Failure isn't an option. Pretorius and his Dead Enders are just going to have to find a way to infiltrate The Fortress In Orion....
This one...this one has me conflicted. I really liked the characters, every one of them felt well-realized and interesting. The setup was good, and had the potential to be a great story. But you know what you need for a great story? There's this literary device called Things Going Wrong. You see, its just not interesting when everything goes to plan and the good guys carry off their allegedly difficult, nay, impossible mission without a hitch or casualty. Its far more interesting when the crap hits the fan and everything goes wrong but they somehow manage to squeak out victory anyway. Unfortunately, that's not what happens here. Occasionally a wrench gets thrown into the works, just for flavor, but since Pretorius is following a careful plan of winging it anyway that never seems to matter. Something went wrong? Give me three pages and I'll turn it to my advantage. There's never any real danger or tension, despite everyone saying how dangerous everything is. I'm not giving up on Resnick, his reputation is too shiny for one book to tarnish, and I'm obligated to read the sequel anyways, but I will admit this was a disappointment. On the other hand, he managed to keep things moving along at such a clip that I didn't quite notice until the ride was over that there was never any real danger. The tongue-in-cheek tone was also pretty great.
CONTENT: R-rated language, not gratuitous. Mild sexual innuendo. Occasional violence, sometimes disturbing.
The (mostly) human Democracy is at war with the alien Transkei Coalition, fighting a war that they may not be able to win. Colonel Nathan Pretorius is the Democracy's go-to man for crazy, impossible missions...when those missions haven't left him in the hospital growing a new spleen. This next mission? This one is going to top them all.... The Democracy has managed to clone a replacement for General Michkag, the top Transkei commander. Its up to Nathan and whatever fools he can convince to follow him to capture if possible, kill if necessary, the real Michkag and leave the friendly one in his place to try and bring the war to a peaceful conclusion. The odds of this mission ending in death for the entire team? Not worth thinking about. Failure isn't an option. Pretorius and his Dead Enders are just going to have to find a way to infiltrate The Fortress In Orion....
This one...this one has me conflicted. I really liked the characters, every one of them felt well-realized and interesting. The setup was good, and had the potential to be a great story. But you know what you need for a great story? There's this literary device called Things Going Wrong. You see, its just not interesting when everything goes to plan and the good guys carry off their allegedly difficult, nay, impossible mission without a hitch or casualty. Its far more interesting when the crap hits the fan and everything goes wrong but they somehow manage to squeak out victory anyway. Unfortunately, that's not what happens here. Occasionally a wrench gets thrown into the works, just for flavor, but since Pretorius is following a careful plan of winging it anyway that never seems to matter. Something went wrong? Give me three pages and I'll turn it to my advantage. There's never any real danger or tension, despite everyone saying how dangerous everything is. I'm not giving up on Resnick, his reputation is too shiny for one book to tarnish, and I'm obligated to read the sequel anyways, but I will admit this was a disappointment. On the other hand, he managed to keep things moving along at such a clip that I didn't quite notice until the ride was over that there was never any real danger. The tongue-in-cheek tone was also pretty great.
CONTENT: R-rated language, not gratuitous. Mild sexual innuendo. Occasional violence, sometimes disturbing.
January 21, 2015
The very second that I learned of this new book (which is the first of a series) set within Resnick's fantastic 'Birthright' universe, I went straight over to my preferred ebook provider and purchased it. I'm a big fan of Resnick's and I haven't read anything by him that I've not enjoyed, some more than others, but generally I rate his work very highly. However, I admit to being a bit disappointed with this one. In a nutshell, the whole book felt like it was a young adult novel with a few choice profanities thrown in to make it seem a little more "grown up". Not at all what I expect from Mike Resnick. It's fast-paced storytelling and quite engaging with an almost pulp-style feel, but still it lacks any real substance.
The last few chapters is where the whole plot comes together, and comes to an okay conclusion, but just okay, because there's no guts to it. By that I mean that there isn't a twist of any description or even a big surprise, the whole thing just ends without much fuss, albeit dropping hint or two to set up for the next book in the series.
If you need a simple-to-read, action-packed and mildly humorous novel with a straight forward plot that doesn't require much concentration, then this is a good choice, but I don't think you'll find much to get hugely excited about.
I think that I probably will read the next book when it's released, to give it another chance. Hopefully Resnick, who I still rate as one of the best storytellers ever, will deliver us something with a bit more grit next time.
The last few chapters is where the whole plot comes together, and comes to an okay conclusion, but just okay, because there's no guts to it. By that I mean that there isn't a twist of any description or even a big surprise, the whole thing just ends without much fuss, albeit dropping hint or two to set up for the next book in the series.
If you need a simple-to-read, action-packed and mildly humorous novel with a straight forward plot that doesn't require much concentration, then this is a good choice, but I don't think you'll find much to get hugely excited about.
I think that I probably will read the next book when it's released, to give it another chance. Hopefully Resnick, who I still rate as one of the best storytellers ever, will deliver us something with a bit more grit next time.
May 19, 2024
The closest "genre" I can give this one, beyond Science Fiction, is that it's a "caper" story. A team of skilled (in various ways) misfits undertake a dangerous mission for the military.
The titles that came to mind while reading this include books, movies, TV shows: The Dirty Dozen, Leverage, all the Ocean's... movies, and many others. This is pretty straight-forward; more about planning and the steps leading to the final part of mission, rather than the goal. There is some humor, but it's definitely not comedic.
If you like these types of stories showing the building of a team, with banter included, and a step-by-step rendition of things, then you may enjoy this one (but in space!). That's why I did. I haven't decided whether to continue with this subseries of Resnick's larger group of connected novels/stories
The titles that came to mind while reading this include books, movies, TV shows: The Dirty Dozen, Leverage, all the Ocean's... movies, and many others. This is pretty straight-forward; more about planning and the steps leading to the final part of mission, rather than the goal. There is some humor, but it's definitely not comedic.
If you like these types of stories showing the building of a team, with banter included, and a step-by-step rendition of things, then you may enjoy this one (but in space!). That's why I did. I haven't decided whether to continue with this subseries of Resnick's larger group of connected novels/stories
December 6, 2014
The Fortress in Orion is classic Mike Resnick. There is great dialog, interesting characters, a fun plot and world building set in the Democracy phase of the Birthright Universe. (The framework for this universe is set in Birthright: The Book of Man an early Resnick book.) To make this even better The Fortress of Orion is the first book in a new series by Resnick.
I loved how Pretorius just keeps everything secret until the last minute and then manages to make it work. The only problem – everything seemed to be too easy in spite of the fact that it had only a 3% chance of succeeding. I am looking forward to seeing what happens when all of the characters are together again. Here’s hoping for many more books featuring the Dead Enders.
I loved how Pretorius just keeps everything secret until the last minute and then manages to make it work. The only problem – everything seemed to be too easy in spite of the fact that it had only a 3% chance of succeeding. I am looking forward to seeing what happens when all of the characters are together again. Here’s hoping for many more books featuring the Dead Enders.
August 9, 2016
An impossible mission lead by a top-notch military man and his band of "Dirty Dozen" type of warriors -- or maybe "Bad News Bears" misfits?
This book claims it is a space opera, and as such, the reader shouldn't concern themselves about the cast being one-dimensional, non-thinkers (except for their fearless leader who has more luck than James Bond).
The plot is basically: Brilliant military man sent on impossible mission. Military man doesn't want military personnel, but his own ragtag team of misfits and criminals. Once assembled, they all go on the impossible mission, but get to their ultimate goal with barely a glitch. With mission accomplished, they return home.
What could have made this book so much better, is axing about 100 pages of it, and making it a nice novella.
This book claims it is a space opera, and as such, the reader shouldn't concern themselves about the cast being one-dimensional, non-thinkers (except for their fearless leader who has more luck than James Bond).
The plot is basically: Brilliant military man sent on impossible mission. Military man doesn't want military personnel, but his own ragtag team of misfits and criminals. Once assembled, they all go on the impossible mission, but get to their ultimate goal with barely a glitch. With mission accomplished, they return home.
What could have made this book so much better, is axing about 100 pages of it, and making it a nice novella.
February 15, 2015
It's cool to have a new Resnick novel set in the Birthright Universe. It's a kind of light-weight one because the mission is accomplished relatively easily despite how many times it's stated that the odds are a trillion-to-one against it, but there's an engaging cast of characters and some genuinely amusing bits and it's a fun, fast, and painless read. The novel has a subtitle that says "Dead Enders Book One," so I'm hoping they'll face more of a challenge in the next book.
April 27, 2015
Nathan Pretorius just woke up in the hospital, banged up from yet another harrowing mission gone right. He's once again tasked to take on an important mission to win the war against the Transkei Coalition. Pretorius recruits a band of misfits who are memorable, hilarious, and deadly. The dialogue smart, settings out of this world, and enough humor mixed in with great sci-fi to keep me hooked.
August 21, 2016
Despite Mike Resnick’s impressive resume, I’d never read anything by him, so I thought it was time. “The Fortress of Orion” (Pyr, $18, 303 pages) is a fun, fast read about a group of misfits led by a maverick soldier who are sent on a seemingly impossible mission. There’s nothing special about the setup, the plot or the characters, but Resnick is a thoroughgoing professional, so it works just fine – as long as your expectations aren’t very high.
September 3, 2016
This is the first book in a new series set in the Democracy era of the Birthright Universe. It is essentially a covert commando raid. It has a well paced plot. It has typical Resnick aliens (try to draw a picture of one). It has the typical odd cast of Resnick players. And, its a lot of fun. Recommended for Doc and Kent.
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