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Star Wolf #3
The Middle of Nowhere
The third installment in the acclaimed Star Wolf trilogy, this tale pits the captain of the limping Star Wolf space vessel against an “imp,” a parasitic biocomputer that is creating havoc and pirating vital information from its position inside the ship. As the imp gathers information to aid the impending attack of the enemy Morthan fleet, Captain Korie struggles with both the internal problems caused by the imp, and the threat of an oncoming Morthan attack. Classics of military science fiction, the Star Wolf novels combine fast-paced action with powerful studies of the military character.
336 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 4, 2017
David Gerrold is an underrated author and has produced some very decent science fiction (beyond 'the Trouble With Tribbles' for which he is undoubtedly most famous).
The Star Wolf series was billed as 'what Star Trek should have been' and does give what feels like a believable insight into the waging of interstellar war based on Gerrold's universe. This, second, book isn't as enjoyable as the first, Gerrold has a tendency to didactism and exercises it a bit too much here. The pace is also pretty slow with little happening in the first half of the book. That having been said, I still enjoyed the journey, I just might have liked a few more things happening.
The Star Wolf series was billed as 'what Star Trek should have been' and does give what feels like a believable insight into the waging of interstellar war based on Gerrold's universe. This, second, book isn't as enjoyable as the first, Gerrold has a tendency to didactism and exercises it a bit too much here. The pace is also pretty slow with little happening in the first half of the book. That having been said, I still enjoyed the journey, I just might have liked a few more things happening.
January 21, 2018
It's been years since I read the first novel and maybe that's part of the problem. I don't really remember anything that jumps out but this novel essentially stands on its own. My biggest gripe is that I was hoping for more detailed characterization. Each chapter is really just a few pages, so its hard to get closer to the main characters. before the story jumps to another character. Don't get me wrong, I'll read the final book in the trilogy to see what happens - maybe I was expecting more from Gerrold based on reading his Chtorr series.
March 19, 2019
Another fine mess for the Starwolf
The Starwolf is crippled, in more ways than one. The Morethans and are tricky and uber paranoid. They'd give the Starwolf a run for their money, if the Starwolf could run. Gerrold plays 3 D chess with his characters, forcing the readers to think along with them. Fun, tho a bit slow in the middle, ergo 4 stars instead of 5.
The Starwolf is crippled, in more ways than one. The Morethans and are tricky and uber paranoid. They'd give the Starwolf a run for their money, if the Starwolf could run. Gerrold plays 3 D chess with his characters, forcing the readers to think along with them. Fun, tho a bit slow in the middle, ergo 4 stars instead of 5.
December 17, 2022
An odd novel, consisting for the most part of logistical speculation and a backstory for Korie (as if to justify or bolster the previous two books). The action, once it comes, is murky and confused... yet still somehow pulls the reader in.
January 15, 2026
Good book. Very entertaining.
August 6, 2014
At times I look at the TBR Mountain and go ah yes I want to finish that series, and The Middle of Nowhere reminded me why I like David Gerrold’s first story of the ship The Star Wolf (The Voyage of the Star Wolf) so much. Humor, a well paced story and he pulls off in Nowhere something only Asimov has done really well.
Made a bunch of talking heads an interesting read. Even Asimov referred to Foundation that way, and perhaps other authors have done the same who are not coming to mind. Between exposition information dumps and talking heads a 300+ page book almost speeds by. But the question should be why?
Yeah, that’s the critic in me. The why is while Gerrold might not create great three-dimensional characters he creates people we care about. There is Brik the Morthan security officer who is confused by humans and their effect on him. Leen, the chief engineer, routinely pulls off the impossible while complaining the entire time. The ship’s doctor has no bedside manner, and knits while waiting for a patient to recover (from sex that was just too fantastic for their body).
Then there is Korrie. Korrie is always angry. The cargo officer routinely messages the crew as to Korrie’s temperament each time he comes back on board the ship. Korrie's has never fit in anywhere, and remains devastated by the loss of his family during the war.
Ah yes the plot. In sound bites the ship is about to decommissioned and the crew redeployed, the Star Wolf is a pariah despite it current success, there is a saboteur on board the ship, and the Morthan Solidarity has more than one plan going on re: its war with the Alliance. I’m not going to give away any spoilers.
Some of Gerrold’s humor and story construction will seem familiar to a casual science fiction fan. His first professional writing sale was the script The Trouble With Tribbles to Star Trek TOS, and he was part of the writing staff that helped to develop the series bible for Star Trek The Next Generation. The Star Wolf books are not Star Trek though. Since then he was worked on multiple television shows in addition to his novel writing. Plus, I finished this book after watching Star Trek-Nemesis DVD, and he writes his starship battles much more realistically as Nemesis reminded the worst thing that happened to the realistic depiction of starship battles was Star Wars.
Made a bunch of talking heads an interesting read. Even Asimov referred to Foundation that way, and perhaps other authors have done the same who are not coming to mind. Between exposition information dumps and talking heads a 300+ page book almost speeds by. But the question should be why?
Yeah, that’s the critic in me. The why is while Gerrold might not create great three-dimensional characters he creates people we care about. There is Brik the Morthan security officer who is confused by humans and their effect on him. Leen, the chief engineer, routinely pulls off the impossible while complaining the entire time. The ship’s doctor has no bedside manner, and knits while waiting for a patient to recover (from sex that was just too fantastic for their body).
Then there is Korrie. Korrie is always angry. The cargo officer routinely messages the crew as to Korrie’s temperament each time he comes back on board the ship. Korrie's has never fit in anywhere, and remains devastated by the loss of his family during the war.
Ah yes the plot. In sound bites the ship is about to decommissioned and the crew redeployed, the Star Wolf is a pariah despite it current success, there is a saboteur on board the ship, and the Morthan Solidarity has more than one plan going on re: its war with the Alliance. I’m not going to give away any spoilers.
Some of Gerrold’s humor and story construction will seem familiar to a casual science fiction fan. His first professional writing sale was the script The Trouble With Tribbles to Star Trek TOS, and he was part of the writing staff that helped to develop the series bible for Star Trek The Next Generation. The Star Wolf books are not Star Trek though. Since then he was worked on multiple television shows in addition to his novel writing. Plus, I finished this book after watching Star Trek-Nemesis DVD, and he writes his starship battles much more realistically as Nemesis reminded the worst thing that happened to the realistic depiction of starship battles was Star Wars.
September 3, 2012
To me this book was not as good as the first one. There are bits and pieces of the book which are quite good which is why I gave it a 2 star (it’s ok) Goodreads rating. But the good bits are padded with so much nonsense that it it really drags the book down.
The thing that irked me the most is this totally idiotic idea that the captains of military starships seems to have to go around and barter for spare parts themselves. I do not understand how a writer can come up with such an idiotic idea. A pirate or some freelancer fleet yes but a military unit? No way!
The bit about the Star Wolf not getting credit for taking down the enemy ship in the previous book and instead continues to be punished by dumbass admirals is also not very fun read.
I wont even go into the lengthy and silly dialogs the Morthan crew member had with one of the humans about sex. Liberally sprinkling the book with uninteresting dialogues between various crew members was present in the previous book as well and making them about sex in this one was not an improvement.
It’s a shame because the good parts are quite okay. This is the 2nd book in a trilogy (I don’t count the prequel) so now when I have already read two thirds of it I will read the last one as well. I almost never quit once I’ve started on a series unless it’s really crappy. I just hope that the next one doesn’t continue to slide downwards.
The thing that irked me the most is this totally idiotic idea that the captains of military starships seems to have to go around and barter for spare parts themselves. I do not understand how a writer can come up with such an idiotic idea. A pirate or some freelancer fleet yes but a military unit? No way!
The bit about the Star Wolf not getting credit for taking down the enemy ship in the previous book and instead continues to be punished by dumbass admirals is also not very fun read.
I wont even go into the lengthy and silly dialogs the Morthan crew member had with one of the humans about sex. Liberally sprinkling the book with uninteresting dialogues between various crew members was present in the previous book as well and making them about sex in this one was not an improvement.
It’s a shame because the good parts are quite okay. This is the 2nd book in a trilogy (I don’t count the prequel) so now when I have already read two thirds of it I will read the last one as well. I almost never quit once I’ve started on a series unless it’s really crappy. I just hope that the next one doesn’t continue to slide downwards.
April 29, 2016
Techy, Academic , Cerebral
If you enjoy tech with academic discussion of meaning of life, God, death and healthy doses of politics -- this is it. Oh, can't forget about 'murder, mystery' and solving it and the theories of workable space combat that they never got to implement. A very wordy, Cerebral type read with most of the action in dialogue or introspection.
I read book 2, skipped 1 as a definite no, and read this one also. Thought the author would finally get into the actual conflict and assumed mere 'man' would win out, just didn't know how we would do it. Hence, spending my precious $ on a very, very, very boring read. Some very interesting ideas, plots but delivered like an eulogy at a funeral.
The part that I am most annoyed with is that I didn't really like any of the major characters. There were some minor ones I kinda liked but by n large, most of the folk were 'jerks'. Mad, complaining about promotions, how he-they deserved them and should have recognition. But they soldiered on and out cerebral'd the super humans again and again.
If my 17 year old son, who plays varsity football and boxes, would ever have the same whiney attitude as storied here, he'd be grounded for the next 10 years.
Last comment -- beware of books with prologues from established people praising the author your about to read.
If you enjoy tech with academic discussion of meaning of life, God, death and healthy doses of politics -- this is it. Oh, can't forget about 'murder, mystery' and solving it and the theories of workable space combat that they never got to implement. A very wordy, Cerebral type read with most of the action in dialogue or introspection.
I read book 2, skipped 1 as a definite no, and read this one also. Thought the author would finally get into the actual conflict and assumed mere 'man' would win out, just didn't know how we would do it. Hence, spending my precious $ on a very, very, very boring read. Some very interesting ideas, plots but delivered like an eulogy at a funeral.
The part that I am most annoyed with is that I didn't really like any of the major characters. There were some minor ones I kinda liked but by n large, most of the folk were 'jerks'. Mad, complaining about promotions, how he-they deserved them and should have recognition. But they soldiered on and out cerebral'd the super humans again and again.
If my 17 year old son, who plays varsity football and boxes, would ever have the same whiney attitude as storied here, he'd be grounded for the next 10 years.
Last comment -- beware of books with prologues from established people praising the author your about to read.
December 13, 2012
Another great book in this series. I'm only slightly a Star Trek fan, but I still wish I hadn't been told beforehand that these were originally slated to be Star Trek episodes, because I might not have made some connections. But even knowing that "warp", "illogical", and "torpedoes" were retained from the Trekiverse, this still felt like a fresh, original story. It's classic Gerrold, and I love the new setting he created for this series.
I didn't expect this to have so little combat, and it was a very pleasant surprise. Where Voyage of the Star Wolf read like a good Kirk-headed outwitting of a superior foe, Middle of Nowhere was about...something wrong onboard the ship. No spoilers, but let's just say that there's trouble of an unexpected nature. But what really brought the story to life for me was the politics, the growth several characters experience, and the humor. I'm anxiously waiting for the publisher to restock the final title in the series so I can see where the story goes from here. Great space opera, and even better social commentary.
I didn't expect this to have so little combat, and it was a very pleasant surprise. Where Voyage of the Star Wolf read like a good Kirk-headed outwitting of a superior foe, Middle of Nowhere was about...something wrong onboard the ship. No spoilers, but let's just say that there's trouble of an unexpected nature. But what really brought the story to life for me was the politics, the growth several characters experience, and the humor. I'm anxiously waiting for the publisher to restock the final title in the series so I can see where the story goes from here. Great space opera, and even better social commentary.
May 17, 2014
Gerrold's book managed to keep my attention even though the story is not particularly exciting. The search for the 'left-handed moebius wrench' however was cringeworthy. I get the feeling that Gerrold is deliberately trying to dumb things down to make sure we understand what he is trying to get across which, to me, makes the story less enjoyable.
I like the Morethans as enemies, but the backstory of Brik, the Morethan security officer, who plays a considerable role in this book, is almost non-existent. This character is clearly used by Gerrold to be able to discuss and show Morethan psychology in action but his presence on the Star Wolf makes very little sense plot-wise.
72/100
I like the Morethans as enemies, but the backstory of Brik, the Morethan security officer, who plays a considerable role in this book, is almost non-existent. This character is clearly used by Gerrold to be able to discuss and show Morethan psychology in action but his presence on the Star Wolf makes very little sense plot-wise.
72/100
February 24, 2011
This is a famously compelling space opera by the screen writer of Star Trek's The Trouble with Tribbles.
The basic plot, the adventures of a space ship and crew in an interstellar war, is standard fare with interesting variations and strategic discussions.
But, the characters really stand out and do what so many humans have trouble with, they actually grow throughout the 4 books. And, their growth is verifiably and realistically due to their life experiences.
It is what Star Trek could have, should have been.
The basic plot, the adventures of a space ship and crew in an interstellar war, is standard fare with interesting variations and strategic discussions.
But, the characters really stand out and do what so many humans have trouble with, they actually grow throughout the 4 books. And, their growth is verifiably and realistically due to their life experiences.
It is what Star Trek could have, should have been.
January 12, 2008
Gerrold creates a complete and fascinating future space-traveling world. But his characters are what keeps me reading his books.
May 1, 2009
Pretty good. The sexuality is decidedly somewhat odd, but less than the Dillengeriad -- in fact not out of normal bounds for the genre, much less vampire novels.
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April 9, 2009SF-Ger
October 30, 2012
very good, hard to put down
March 31, 2016
The LS-1187 and her continuing adventures. Just as much fun as the first. Light-hearted in the way that Gerrold is so good at.
March 25, 2016
Best of the Starwolf books. Gerrold knocks another one out of the park, this time the crew fighting an infiltrator on their ship. Lots of great quotes.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews