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Mag Force 7 #2
Robot Blues
When their cyborg leader, Xris, is jailed on a trumped-up charge of murder, the Mag Force 7 team realizes that they've become pawns in a treacherous game. At the core of the conspiracy is the ultra-secret Hung Syndicate, the most savage and corrupt criminal organization in the history of the galaxy. The Syndicate has big plans for planet Del Sol, but they've made one big mistake: leaving Xris and his crew alive to smash and blast their way to the truth.
477 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
10 people are currently reading
251 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Weis
674 books5,828 followersMargaret Edith Weis is an American fantasy and science fiction author of dozens of novels and short stories. At TSR, Inc., she teamed with Tracy Hickman to create the Dragonlance role-playing game (RPG) world. She is founding CEO and owner of Sovereign Press, Inc and Margaret Weis Productions, licensing several popular television and movie franchises to make RPG series in addition to their own.
In 1999, Pyramid magazine named Weis one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons, saying she and Hickman are "basically responsible for the entire gaming fiction genre". In 2002, she was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame in part for Dragonlance.
In 1999, Pyramid magazine named Weis one of The Millennium's Most Influential Persons, saying she and Hickman are "basically responsible for the entire gaming fiction genre". In 2002, she was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame in part for Dragonlance.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 11, 2015
This has to be one of the more annoying and depressingly unfulfilling sci fi mercenary books I've recently read. And it had so much promise!
Mag Force 7 is a mercenary outfit headed by Xris Cyborg, a cyborg (original, eh?), and manned by a truly interesting cast of characters ranging from hackers to poisoners to telepaths to explosives experts to medical experts to muscle and pilots and everything in between. Ex-military and everything else. This is the second book in a trilogy and I didn't read the first, but I don't think you have to have read the first in order to get into this one. In this book, Xris is approached by a mysterious museum curator about finding and stealing a seriously old working antique robot for a large sum of money and thinking it'll be an easy job, he agrees. Again, thinking it'll be easy, he sends all but one of the team off on vacation, and takes a colleague to the planet where the robot is to get it and bring it to the professor. Sounds simple, right? But, oh no, it's a damned mess! First, the robot is much more important and complex than let on. And of those who know about it, it's considered critically important and completely invaluable. Second, thugs from the first book, the Hung, are out to assassinate a colleague who ratted them out and underwent a sex change operation in order to obtain a new identity and escape them. It hasn't worked. Then, there's the matter of the military finding out about Xris and his buddy's secret integration into the military, unofficially, and how that is handled, and then there is a triple agent, which makes things awfully complicated. Moreover, there are flesh eating aliens, attempting to get the robot, in order to attack humanity and wipe it out.
This book could have been decent. Not great, perhaps not even good, but decent. BUT, two things. First, the overly complicated plot, made so by the triple agent, is incredibly confusing and therefore annoying. You ultimately don't know what to believe until perhaps the final chapter and even then, perhaps not then too. More importantly, and this is what knocked the book down from a maximum of four stars to two stars, there's a mercenary character named Raoul who is one of the most over the top, unbelievably annoying characters of any book I've ever read and I wanted to kill him. I wanted him to die early. I almost stopped reading this book on at least three occasions because of him, but somehow continued to the end. Raoul is an Adonian, a race genetically groomed to be vapid and beautiful. No one works on their planet, except for servants they import. Everyone is wealthy. The only things anyone cares about is fashion, makeup, hair styles, wild orgies, parties, cocktails, pleasure of all types, avoiding ugliness in any form, and so on. And Raoul is a bisexual, transsexual, transvestite who is an expert poisoner (thus, the mercenary) and who cares only about his dresses, shoes, handbags, hair styles, food, drinks, scarves, lipstick, eyeliner, and so on. And he goes on and on and on about this shit while people are getting shot at and while friends are trying to avoid being killed. It's unbelievably stupid. I assume it's, what, comic relief? He's there to provide humor to the plot, but after the first 75 instances of this, you want him to swallow his own poison, or have someone blow his damn head off for talking too damn much about his frigging lipstick, like anyone gives a shit!!! And he's got this alien companion -- The Little One. He doesn't even have a frigging name! He's a midget who wears a trench coat and fedora because he's so hideously ugly that people would get sick and throw up if they even saw his face, which incidentally looks like a head that's been hit by a train -- pure ground meat and brains. And he's a telepath and while Raoul is not, they communicate without talking because The Little One can't talk, can only gesture and constantly is throwing temper tantrums because no one except Raoul can understand him. Frankly, I wanted to kill him too. What a pair they made. A poisonous bi transvestite and an alien midget telepath. Great. And just for laughs. Not funny. They didn't even help out in the action, when there was action! They were pretty much just in the way. Raoul prepared suicide cocktails when things looked grim. Gee, thanks. Glad we pay you the big bucks, huh? Even Xris, the main protagonist and assumed book stud was kind of a stupid dumbshit, constantly getting things wrong, constantly underestimating his opponents, constantly wrong about just about everything he got involved with. I mean with a mercenary team like that, well, I'd hate to think of entrusting someone's life to them. For one thing, they got the robot and then let it escape. Got it back, got captured, let it get away again, took a fatal casualty in a gunfight. Just how good are they? My estimation is not very good. So why write a book, let alone a series, about them? If you're the author, why not write a better book about a more successful group? I just don't understand. This book could and should have been much better. Some of the characters were pretty interesting. The plot had potential. I guess the authors weren't good enough to pull it off. Pity. Not recommended.
Mag Force 7 is a mercenary outfit headed by Xris Cyborg, a cyborg (original, eh?), and manned by a truly interesting cast of characters ranging from hackers to poisoners to telepaths to explosives experts to medical experts to muscle and pilots and everything in between. Ex-military and everything else. This is the second book in a trilogy and I didn't read the first, but I don't think you have to have read the first in order to get into this one. In this book, Xris is approached by a mysterious museum curator about finding and stealing a seriously old working antique robot for a large sum of money and thinking it'll be an easy job, he agrees. Again, thinking it'll be easy, he sends all but one of the team off on vacation, and takes a colleague to the planet where the robot is to get it and bring it to the professor. Sounds simple, right? But, oh no, it's a damned mess! First, the robot is much more important and complex than let on. And of those who know about it, it's considered critically important and completely invaluable. Second, thugs from the first book, the Hung, are out to assassinate a colleague who ratted them out and underwent a sex change operation in order to obtain a new identity and escape them. It hasn't worked. Then, there's the matter of the military finding out about Xris and his buddy's secret integration into the military, unofficially, and how that is handled, and then there is a triple agent, which makes things awfully complicated. Moreover, there are flesh eating aliens, attempting to get the robot, in order to attack humanity and wipe it out.
This book could have been decent. Not great, perhaps not even good, but decent. BUT, two things. First, the overly complicated plot, made so by the triple agent, is incredibly confusing and therefore annoying. You ultimately don't know what to believe until perhaps the final chapter and even then, perhaps not then too. More importantly, and this is what knocked the book down from a maximum of four stars to two stars, there's a mercenary character named Raoul who is one of the most over the top, unbelievably annoying characters of any book I've ever read and I wanted to kill him. I wanted him to die early. I almost stopped reading this book on at least three occasions because of him, but somehow continued to the end. Raoul is an Adonian, a race genetically groomed to be vapid and beautiful. No one works on their planet, except for servants they import. Everyone is wealthy. The only things anyone cares about is fashion, makeup, hair styles, wild orgies, parties, cocktails, pleasure of all types, avoiding ugliness in any form, and so on. And Raoul is a bisexual, transsexual, transvestite who is an expert poisoner (thus, the mercenary) and who cares only about his dresses, shoes, handbags, hair styles, food, drinks, scarves, lipstick, eyeliner, and so on. And he goes on and on and on about this shit while people are getting shot at and while friends are trying to avoid being killed. It's unbelievably stupid. I assume it's, what, comic relief? He's there to provide humor to the plot, but after the first 75 instances of this, you want him to swallow his own poison, or have someone blow his damn head off for talking too damn much about his frigging lipstick, like anyone gives a shit!!! And he's got this alien companion -- The Little One. He doesn't even have a frigging name! He's a midget who wears a trench coat and fedora because he's so hideously ugly that people would get sick and throw up if they even saw his face, which incidentally looks like a head that's been hit by a train -- pure ground meat and brains. And he's a telepath and while Raoul is not, they communicate without talking because The Little One can't talk, can only gesture and constantly is throwing temper tantrums because no one except Raoul can understand him. Frankly, I wanted to kill him too. What a pair they made. A poisonous bi transvestite and an alien midget telepath. Great. And just for laughs. Not funny. They didn't even help out in the action, when there was action! They were pretty much just in the way. Raoul prepared suicide cocktails when things looked grim. Gee, thanks. Glad we pay you the big bucks, huh? Even Xris, the main protagonist and assumed book stud was kind of a stupid dumbshit, constantly getting things wrong, constantly underestimating his opponents, constantly wrong about just about everything he got involved with. I mean with a mercenary team like that, well, I'd hate to think of entrusting someone's life to them. For one thing, they got the robot and then let it escape. Got it back, got captured, let it get away again, took a fatal casualty in a gunfight. Just how good are they? My estimation is not very good. So why write a book, let alone a series, about them? If you're the author, why not write a better book about a more successful group? I just don't understand. This book could and should have been much better. Some of the characters were pretty interesting. The plot had potential. I guess the authors weren't good enough to pull it off. Pity. Not recommended.
October 20, 2024
Same feel and wry humor as the first book but I didn’t like the plot as much. 2/4 stars
July 1, 2009
Part of a trilogy (Mag Force 7): The Knights of the Black Earth, Robot Blues, and Hung Out.
Hung Out is a bit of a weak entry.
Knights is good, a little better if you read Margaret's Star of the Guardian trilogy (later she added a forth, which is marginal). Star is a dark story (single story broke into three books), like King Arthur story (actually, it is the King Arthur story to an extent.)
Each book is self contained, but reading in order is always better.
Robot Blues starts with a museum curator wanting an ancient artifact that turns out to be a robot. Mag Force 7 thinks it is easy money. Of course, it isn't.
Between an alien force bent on human destruction and the robot turning out to be very dangerous, that continues its mission, which is not what anyone wants but itself, life gets very complicated.
I exchanged some email with Margaret, she puts in the character and humor (and lots of both) and her husband (Don Perrin, the co-writer) has military background and puts in the action scenes (lots of that too).
Just re-read Robot Blues (29 Jun 2009).
It does have a very strong story and lots of humor. It also has a hedonistic character and a one that was a man, but is now a woman. Fortunately not enough detail to make it an R rated book.
Hung Out is a bit of a weak entry.
Knights is good, a little better if you read Margaret's Star of the Guardian trilogy (later she added a forth, which is marginal). Star is a dark story (single story broke into three books), like King Arthur story (actually, it is the King Arthur story to an extent.)
Each book is self contained, but reading in order is always better.
Robot Blues starts with a museum curator wanting an ancient artifact that turns out to be a robot. Mag Force 7 thinks it is easy money. Of course, it isn't.
Between an alien force bent on human destruction and the robot turning out to be very dangerous, that continues its mission, which is not what anyone wants but itself, life gets very complicated.
I exchanged some email with Margaret, she puts in the character and humor (and lots of both) and her husband (Don Perrin, the co-writer) has military background and puts in the action scenes (lots of that too).
Just re-read Robot Blues (29 Jun 2009).
It does have a very strong story and lots of humor. It also has a hedonistic character and a one that was a man, but is now a woman. Fortunately not enough detail to make it an R rated book.
May 14, 2011
Hello:
This was one action packed space opera from the first page all the way to the last. This book has it all; babes, cyborgs, intrigue, interplanetary travel, and some really memorable characters. Oh, and how can I forget...Robots.
Sent in to steel what is supposed to be an old artifact turns out to be a key device. That's where the fun begins. This is a must read for any space opera fan. The Mag Force 7 are one of the most interesting Sci-Fi mercenary groups I've ever had the pleasure to meet.
I also got the chance to meet authors Margaret Weis and Don Perrin at a Dragoncon a while back. They were very gracious and eagerly signed my hardback copy of "Knights of the Black Earth," the first adventure for Mag Force 7.
Have a Wonderful Weekend!!!
The "Creature"
May 29, 2012
In this book, Xris and his team of commandos are hired to steal an antique robot. Sounds easy enough, but practically everything that can go wrong with this job does go wrong. Meanwhile, the syndicate known as the Hung are tracking and trying to murder Darlene Mohini.
This book is an action-packed space opera story. I loved it!
This book is an action-packed space opera story. I loved it!
October 31, 2016
The continuing adventures of Mag Force 7. I enjoyed some of the sequences of this science fiction novel, I appreciated the reappearance of the Corasians and of course my favorite members of the mercenaries. I found portions of this one lost me or didn't hold my attention as strongly as the original star of the guardians series, and I liked it but like the other two in the series more.
February 6, 2013
Best part is the random manly arm sticking out of the lady on the cover.
September 24, 2013
Not bad for a sci-fi tale. This one is also off to Listia. =)
August 21, 2011
Pretty exciting book, but part of a series and I cannot locate the other volumes.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews