Drifter's War

Drifter #3

by William C. Dietz

An interplanetary smuggler is pursued by bounty hunters and plunged into battle in this novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of Andromeda’s Fall.   Even smuggling has rules. The third Death is not an option.   Meet Pik Lando, a con artist and a ladies man, a total professional who’ll chase across the galaxies for his clients—and he'll usually find plenty of action and danger too. In Drifter’s War, Lando’s latest scheme could set him up for life—or for a particularly painful death. Chased by bounty hunters, Lando finds himself dropped down in the middle of a planet-smashing holy war. Big trouble loves finding him.   Don’t miss Lando’s other adventures, Drifter and Drifter’s Run.  

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

244 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

New York Times bestselling author William C. Dietz has published more than fifty novels, some of which have been translated into German, Russian, and Japanese. He grew up in the Seattle area, served as a medic with the Navy and Marine Corps, graduated from the University of Washington, and has been employed as a surgical technician, college instructor, and television news writer, director and producer. Before becoming a full-time writer Dietz was director of public relations and marketing for an international telephone company. He and his wife live near Gig Harbor, Washington.

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Drifter's War is the concluding novel in a trilogy which began with Drifter then went to Drifter's Run. This third volume wraps things up nicely with a mostly happy ending. If you read Mr. Dietz' work, you know that isn't a spoiler. I've never read a Dietz novel with a bad ending. Unexpected endings yes, but never a bad ending.

One of the main characters in this novel is Pik Lando,, a basically honest man and a nice guy. Oh sure, he is a criminal, a smuggler, wanted for murder and he has a bounty on his head, but still, a nice guy. Della is a bounty hunter who tried to collect on Lando but ended up being saved by him. They and the rest of the crew found an almost priceless artifact. Now the government and others want all of them, not just Lando. But controlling the artifact is problematic and they are taken for a ride into war.

Dietz is one of the premier military and adventure sci-fi authors working today. His worst is far better than the majority of stories by other authors.

[Metaphorosis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
Pik, notorious smuggler, and Melissa, daughter of his drunken companion, are enjoying rare relaxation at an elite resort when a mediabot crawls out of the ocean and they're back to running. But when they finally reach the alien ship they found previously, it seems to have plans of its own for where they go.

Review
I’ve read Drifter’s War previously, and hadn’t actually meant to re-read it, but got my figures mixed. I knew I had two of the trilogy in my print library, but thought it was the first two books, so picked up this third one on sale. Turns out, it had been books two and three, and both of them disappeared in a brutal library culling a few years back. So, I spent half the book trying to figure out why it was so very familiar and only checked my data later. The result is that, rather than discovering the culmination of the trilogy, I was revisiting it.

I can see why I thought I was one book short, since it seems evident Dietz intended four books – the last of which is crammed ruthlessly into a short epilogue instead of being set out in full on its own. It’s an awkward and unsatisfying ending.

This particular book, sans epilogue, is a decent military sci-fi story with some neat twists. It’s got a little outside saviour element to it – humans coming to rescue and lead enslaved natives – but it works reasonably well. There’s not much attempt at three dimensions here – the villains literally look like devils and act like them. But the foreground characters are appealing, and the story moves smoothly.

This (and its predecessor, if I recall), are satisfactory if unchallenging adventure drama with just enough alien ruin mystery to keep things interesting.

This is clearly OCRed from a print edition, courtesy of Open Road Media, and, as is common with some of their books, they clearly didn’t put much effort into it. My read through had me marking a few dozen errors that a casual review should have spotted.

[Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that if GoodReads allowed for half-star ratings, my rating for this book would actually be three-and-a-half stars, but since their system doesn't work that way, I rounded it up to four. Now that I have that out of the way...

Drifter's War, the final book in the trilogy of smuggler Pik Lando, is the best book of the three, and a satisfying conclusion to an average-to-slightly-above-average sci-fi series. The title is apt, as Lando is indeed caught up in a pretty big war, and a rather grim-looking one at that.

This time, a race called the Il-Ronnians wants the entity known as "God" on a planet populated by light and heavy constructs. It takes quite a bit of deduction to come to the realization of who God actually is, and I won't spoil it by revealing it here.

Lando is still part of Captain Sorenson's crew (the crew he joined in the previous book), and unlike Drifter's Run, Drifter's War reads less like a series of related episodes and more like a true single story. It kind of takes a while for the real meat of the plot to show up to the table, but the appetizers are satisfying enough.

Of course, Cap and Cy being the troublemakers they are, things are not easy for our heroes, and the crap really hits the fan early on in the story. Lando and Melissa (Cap's daughter), close companions by now, work well together and manage a pretty daring escape, while Lando's lover Della does her best to keep the pathetic Cap alive. Cy, as always, gets himself up to his non-existent ears in gambling debts.

Every member of the crew has a chance to shine in this book, and it's rather fun to see how each one deals with being in the hot seat. Perhaps the most moving sequence, however, is when Cap finally makes a decision to act, and his heroic effort has enormous impact. I wasn't expecting him to do what he did (and again, I won't reveal what it is) and was a little surprised at how much I cared. The old fool grew on me, I guess.

Overall, while still not really a great book, Drifter's War is a definite improvement over its predecessors, and a decent read for any lover of science-fiction.

[Michael J. Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun science fiction adventure! I enjoyed the main protagonist and his crew; they had lots of character. There are gun battles, encounters with alien species, daring rescues and more. Good novel to suspend your imagination and just entertain yourself.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book in the Drifter series by William C. Dietz. In this one Pik Lando and friends find themselves transported to an alien world in the alien ship they had previously found and were hoping to sell for a huge amount of money. The alien world is under attack by humanities's enemy the Il-Ronnians. The Il-Ronnians are attempting to enslave the aliens and Pik and his friends find themselves reluctant allies in a gorilla war against the Il-Ronnians. Even though the aliens are basically a peaceful society the humans have a few advantages. Pik's girlfriend Della is a former Marine with combat experience and the alien's have a planet wide super computer known as "God" to help them. The Il-Ronnians soon find out that they have bitten of more they they can chew with this combination. This a great conclusion to this series and I recommend it.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last and best of the three books in this series. It picks up right where book 2 left off but takes the crew, Pik Lando, his bounty-hunting girlfriend Della, and the precocious child Melissa and her father, Cap, on a jaunt across the galaxy to a planet where war rages. Lando and the others have to pick sides, and they pick the underdog. But the planet has a secret that could just help them win. If they are willing to sacrifice enough.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bitter war

Dietz ends the trilogy well and with just a few sad occurrences. An interesting mix of technology ,races and cultures.

[David]

to read

[John Abbott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like another reviewer below I would've given this 3.5 stars.

Unlike the other reviewer I actually liked the first two in this series better. The first one being the best for me.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent space opera and a nice conclusion to the series. Like most military SF, there is no democracy in space! Thank you 30s pulp and Star Wars. A fun read.

[Howard]

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