The Apocalypse Troll

by David Weber

Sailing the Atlantic, Richard Ashton witnesses a fleet of UFOs descend to battle a Navy carrier group, leaving behind a seemingly human, attractive alien with an implacable foe

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Military Fiction, Time Travel, Military Science Fiction, Fantasy, Space Opera

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

David Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952.

Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.

One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.

Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).

http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book filled with goofy fun stuff. (Or stuffed with goofy filling, take your pick.) Seems there's this Navy officer who's getting ready to retire by sailing alone across the Atlantic who looks up one morning and sees some UFOs having a nuclear war and one of them crashes next to his boat and the only survivor is a beautiful warrior woman from five-hundred years in the future who's saving Earth from the evil alien kangaroos and their telepathic evil mutant minions and she wants to have sex with him after which they organize all of the governments and armed forces on Earth to save the present and future of humanity. And stuff. The novel was published in 1999 and is set in the near future of 2007 and suffers a little from some political speculation and philosophizing that's dull as dishwater compared to the action scenes but is a pleasantly self-contained story in a single volume which is quite refreshing after so many mega-volume military sf space operas from Baen, just the thinking of which makes me type very, very long sentences. I'm not sure if this one should be categorized as space opera since more of it is set on the Atlantic and in North Carolina, but the feeling is there, and the book is quite fun in either case. (Organized right-wing hate groups trying to topple the government... nah, that could never happen.) I'm intrigued by the cover, which seems to be an almost exact reproduction of one of Mack Maloney's Wingman men's adventure books that Zebra published in the late 1980s, but that's a mystery that will probably never be solved.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

It can be done. Weber, breaking thead infinitum tendencies exhibited in his Honor Harrington, bolo and 1634 series has written a fully-developed, well nuanced SF techno-thriller in one volume. He even took more time than most authors to deal with the theoretic and practical problems of backwards time travel. (Try to skip the GoodReads blurb, not because it's incorrect, but because it tells you too much.)

While his prognostication of history in the following dozen years from the book's 2011 publishing hasn't been spot on, it's close enough (as is the state of military technology) to not jar modern readers out of the story. In fact, if anything, the minimal separation of 25th century English from 21st century is less believable, but he at least makes the attempt.

A really good read. Perhaps the best Weber novel I've read--and I've read 23 of them.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Available at Baen Free Library.

[Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are certain books that have a special resonance for me: some because of when I read them, and some because of who I am or would like to be. This is one of the latter.

The story is pretty straightforward (for science fiction), involving implacably hostile aliens, space battles, time travel, and heroic individuals fighting against long odds.

What makes it an excellent book is the quality of David Weber's writing: the characters are complex enough to be believable, their dialog is crisp and with a nice balance of seriousness and humor, the plot moves along smartly, and the descriptions (be it of battles or boats) are, as always in a David Weber book, remarkable -- pictures in words.

But what makes it a special book for me are the heroic ideals of the main characters and their fates. I care about them and am moved by them and would like to be part of their world and future. They aren't realistic, of course, but then heroes and ideals never are: they are like the maidens on Keats' urn and I am the Lover:

"Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal — yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!"

This is a book for those who, like me, dream of Arcadia.

[TinaNoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Weber is gonna David Weber. He is going to create a sci fi space opera even when it technically doesn't even take place in space.

I love how the main character is hanging out in his sailboat kinda enjoying some downtime and a frickin' alien invades! And then we get taken on a typical Weber story of 'don't piss off the wrong person' because that person will end you.

This is a standalone, so not part of any of Weber's many series series, and reads very lightly and spry. Has military stuff (natch) space invaders, time travel, strong women, guns-a-blazing fights, a great ending, and even some romance thrown in.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please note: I wrote this review after reading the book in March of 2006. Just copying it over!

While waiting my turn at the Honor Harrington series, I picked up this book in order to get a taste of David Weber. I was very happy with what I read. This book is a great deal of fun - lots of action, a great work of military science fiction (read: SCIENCE FICTION to those who are going "oh, but this doesn't make sense" - yeah - it's SCIENCE FICTION!! Who knows what might make sense in an alternate reality?? Heh - maybe the laws of physics, etc. are different there? *laugh*) and, of course, for those who are interested, just a teeny, tiny bit of romance thrown in. Or lust - maybe you could call it lust. At any rate, it was a very enjoyable read and I'm very glad I picked it up and took the time - I will definitely put it on my "read again after I get through the hundreds waiting to be read" list. Another I highly recommend to those who enjoy a good military science fiction book that adds a bit of humor, a bit of fun, and whole lot of action.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. A highly entertaining story that I thoroughly enjoyed. A good mix of scifi, military action, adventure with a little romance thrown in.

[James S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soldiers from the future

Bad guts from space go back in time to destroy the human race. The future humans are able to follow it, just barely, and a a single bad guy survives to try to kill humanity and one good guy survives to try to defeat the bad guy with ancient technology of current world of today.

Great story, hard to put down. As readers of Pride and Prejudice would say, there is a HEA. Happy Ever After.

[Tony Hisgett · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book starts with a ‘life or death’ space battle. The author includes a lot of technical detail in the first few chapters, which took some effort to get through. This would have been fine and I might have enjoyed comparing different ship and weapons capabilities in later battles. However all this detail was completely irrelevant as it had nothing to do with the rest of the book.
The main story is dependant on the two forces time travelling back several hundred years during this battle. I don’t particularly like time travel stories especially when they generate pointless arguments about ‘what happens if you kill your Grandfather’. Unfortunately I also don’t usually like mind control stories and it turns out that’s exactly what this book turned into.
The middle of the book seemed to be a lot of meetings, which although necessary to begin with, just seemed to go on forever. Towards the end of the book there was much more action which led to a satisfactory conclusion to the story.
I usually like early David Weber books, before he got into his over-long ‘Epic’ mode. This one wasn’t a bad book, but there were elements of the story I didn’t like and I found the ‘Troll’ more annoying than interesting.
If possible I would have given 2.5 stars.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was unexpected! Great story where time travel isn't really complicated. In the end it's about an viciously bad alien that needs to be defeated, so the army is called in. So there's a fair amount of strategy and planning and military maneuvering. Very enjoyable.

Eric Jason Martin was surprisingly good. I'd never heard this narrator before and I was skeptical, but he was experienced as a voice actor and really did a great job embodying the characters true to their personalities.

[Dan M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weber does here what Weber does.
This story is compleatly seperate from his other universes.
It is also fansastic in every way.
When you read this, pretend it is the first Weber you have ever read and have no preconseptions about the story or the technology base.

Fantastic story, as always fantastic story, a must read for any SciFi fan.

[Tim Poston · Rating 2 out of 5]

This hits all the cliché buttons for military SF (well enough to keep reading, when sick). Beautiful heroine, pipe-smoking hero, idolatry of the military, weapons porn, and an unambiguously Evil foe to be destroyed without conscience. Oh, and a mass of infodump. Read Bujold for something less one-dimensional.

[izawoodsman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining enough. It was interesting to see his predictions of 2007 international relations from 1999 and how different from the reality of 9/11 and subsequent years, Russia in particular. Sadly, the race relations conflict instigated by the antagonist is a tad too close to post 2015.

[Ashutosh Sahu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really torn whether to give this three or four stars. Taken on its own, I think this deserves four, but taken in context with David Weber's other works, I think three stars is fair.

This is a space opera, reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica in a way, with a time-travel element. A conflict between an alien race and spacefaring humans of 2500 spills over to 2007 as the aliens attempt to exterminate the human race before they achieve starflight.

The human fleet chases the alien Kangas through a mysterious hyper-dimensional transit, the ensuing conflict wipes out both sides except for Milla, the superhuman, and the dark, evil Troll.

However, a lot of it feels contrived, vaguely deus ex machina. The Troll is less of a soldier serving greater masters and more of a Sauron figure. He can manipulate minds and travel invisibly. Milla is, for lack of a better term, almost a Mary Sue, too strong, too perfect. There are simplistic coincidences, like the countermeasure that prevents her lifepod from being shot out of the sky. When she ejects her comms officer over Earth, it feels like the aliens are impossibly stupid, sacrificing most of their remaining strength to shoot down the ejected officer even though it means the destruction of several of their remaining fighter craft. It's awfully convenient in that it establishes them as evil AND sets up the one on one duel by proxy that takes up 3/4 of the book. Why would a villain be that dumb?

Mary Sue Milla then meets exactly the right Earthman, a heroic retired badass, and of course she's a walking sex fantasy herself. One of the reason this book loses a star is because Milla is identical to Honor Harrington, down to physical appearance and heavy-world genes. It's fairly clear that Weber is obsessed with this particular character and decided to work her in to a completely unrelated story about a human empire largely the same as the Honorverse.

The exact details of FTL travel are different, but readers familiar with both will notice a meta-similarity, both are complicated means that have practical consequences for the way war is waged in the future, and they both feature very, very similar missile and gun technology.

On Earth, in 2007, Weber indulges himself in a lot of political theater and social commentary. I can't tell if these are his true beliefs, but it's fairly boring, predictions of where the US and Russia will go wrong and a deep dive into the American military that also feels pretty darn simplistic. I deduct one star for the long military/social/political screeds that can be skimmed or skipped with no consequence to the understanding of the plot.

Finally, the ending is much too contrived. Everything is set up for a pitched ground battle, which is believable within the sci-fi action trope. But the bad guys continue to act stupidly. The Troll is lost in some kind of psychotic trance, not realizing the truth until very late. For the product of a plodding, conservative alien intelligence, he greatly resembles a mad god or a modern movie villain. All he has to do is escape, and yet he chooses to stand and fight. Milla, after exposing herself by killing the medium mech, then kills him by... great reflexes and surprise aggression? Come the fuck on, it strains credibility and makes the villain almost a joke. The male lead, her lover doesn't even die... in another miraculous coincidence, Milla's blood symbiote defies the 99.9% to 0.01% odds and saves him, a la a vampire blood transfusion, neatly setting them up to 'improve' the human race. There's an odd element of mythology to all that, which jars with the straight sci-fi themes.

Read this is you like the Honorverse and want an interesting take on it, I guess, delving much deeper into modern-day politics than the average sci-fi reader probably wants.

[Per Gunnar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a stand alone novel from David Weber. It is a quite old one actually and it had passed under my radar for quite a while. Some time ago I purchased it and a week or so ago I finally got around to read it.

It’s David Weber so of course the book is well written and there’s not too much of the long winded talk, talk and more talk that plagues some of David Weber’s books. It is also a decent size novella at 420 pages. The book blurb pretty much describes how the story starts. Well almost. The blurb describes the beginning from, shall we say “our” perspective but the book actually starts a wee bit earlier (or later depending on how you look at it) than that and describes the beginning of this story from the point of the “aliens”.

It’s an interesting story and both the main protagonist on “our” side and the “alien” warrior are quite likable as well as capable characters. As a matter of fact, most of the characters in this book are quite capable. It’s really nice to read a book for once that is not filled with political asswipes and incompetent morons with overinflated egos.

Now it’s time for a small spoiler alert. The book dabbles in the dreaded story twist called “time travel”. Usually that ends badly, at least as far as I am concerned. In this book it actually works and it is even pretty much a foundation for this story. David Weber actually manages to have a scientific discussion about it in the book which mostly makes sense and doesn’t degrade into a wannabe scientist’s bullshit.

Of course we cannot have a good David Weber book without some, quite a lot of it actually, action. Again as usual, David Weber writes this kind of stuff very well so no complaints there.

Me personally I also really like that, once Richard gets going on divulging the danger to earth to the relevant parties, the people he encounters are not only competent but there is no silly I-don’t-believe-you phase and he is not dismissed like he’s some kind of crazy person. Instead the read tape is cut with astonishing speed and the preparations quickly gets well on their way. Even the president and those around him are competent which of course is a wee bit unrealistic if you compare to the real world with Senile Joe and his cronies running the show nowadays.

If I should complain about something it would be that the ending felt a bit, not rushed, but at least a bit quick. After all that build up the “Troll” (yes there’s a reason the book is called The Apocalypse Troll) was proving to be less cunning and certainly taken down much easier than I was expecting.

Apart from that this was a very enjoyable read.

[Jon]

I'm really not sure where Weber was going with this novel. The premise is that the human race is at war with the Kangas (an illogically homicidal bunch of aliens) at some point in the future. A human space navy task force catches a Kanga force making a hyperspace jump back through time to attack the Earth before humans reach space. The two forces arrive in the early 21st century, battle to near mutual destruction in the skies over the Atlantic Ocean, involving a United States wet navy task force in the showdown.

The sole surviving member of the time traveling human force, Ludmilla Leonovna, is rescued from her escape pod at sea by Richard Anton, a retired commander of Navy Seals, and the sole surviving member of the Kanga's attack force, a cyborg known as a Troll, goes to ground in Antartica. The rest of the novel deals with Dick and Milla's trials in getting the armed forces and governments of Earth to understand and believe the threat posed by the cyborg and, eventually, in defeating the cyborg before it can destroy mankind.

It seems as if Weber has blended some elements from earlier novels (notably, the Mutineers' Moon series) with some of the fast-paced militant fiction style that he's developed writing the Honor Harrington novels, and just tossed off something to satiate his ravenous fans while he writes the next HH installment. There's nothing new here. It was well-written, as we've come to expect from Weber, so it provides a few hours of enjoyment on a cold winter night. I wish he'd have spent the effort on a new novel in one of his existing series, tho.

[Frankie Bellucci · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Apocalypse Troll by David Weber starts with a promising grab. It throws you into the action, but unfortunately, that initial grip weakens fast. The world-building takes a nosedive thanks to an overload of alien names that lack explanation. These details feel nonsensical and clutter the opening chapters, creating a messy introduction that fails to connect with the rest of the story.

Where it Falls Short

The character development suffers a similar fate. With a large cast introduced early on, the story struggles to flesh out any of them. This lack of depth makes it hard to care about their struggles, further weakening the narrative.

A Glimpse of Potential

Despite its shortcomings, The Apocalypse Troll isn't entirely without merit. The initial hook, that spark that got you interested, shows a glimpse of what could have been. It demonstrates the potential for a captivating story, which makes the final letdown even more frustrating.

The Final Verdict: Skippable

The Apocalypse Troll might have you intrigued at the beginning, but that intrigue quickly fades. The confusing world-building and underdeveloped characters create a bumpy ride that ultimately leads to a disappointing destination. Readers searching for a well-developed sci-fi adventure with a clear plot and strong characters would be better off looking elsewhere.

[Rodzilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's call it 2.5 stars with a 0.5 star tip for a fun premise. But it suffers from lack of originality: the "Military SF" subgenre is full of what basically amounts to the same thing: culminating in huge battles. Weber captured lighting in a bottle with Honor Harrington, especially the first book or two, which I thoroughly enjoyed despite the heavy-handed melodrama and infodumps. OK, the first one I even enjoyed the infodumps because it was such a well-conceived FTL concept and he played it out into space battles the same way Patrick O'Brien detailed sailing ship battles during the Napoleonic wars.

Alas, this one isn't as well written, the tech infodumps were wisely left out but it was assumed you understood the physics of Honor Harrington's galaxy, the plot after the start was cliched, and the plot armor and character armor were shoveled on with a trowel. Oh, and a strong orientation towards amosexual. So it that's your thing.... A throwaway book but reasonably enjoyable as long as you keep expectations low.

[Steve Scanlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 25th Century, Colonel Ludmilla Leonovna fights for the Terran Marines against the alien race known as the Kangas. The Kangas are a violent race bent on destroying any species not their own. Since encountering humanity hundreds of years ago, the Kangas have had a hard time defeating them and have had to develop cyborgs, the Trolls, to help in the fight.

In a last desperate attempt at victory, the Kangas decide to travel back in time to an earlier stage in Earth’s history and wipe out humanity.

What follows is the story of Ludmilla attempting, with the help of early 21st Century mankind, to stop the plans of a rogue Troll who, for the first time in his life, tastes freedom and power.

This book is not a part of Weber’s Honor Harrington series. It is, however, very entertaining and like the HH series, is very much in the military sf genre.

[NoSanninWa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable, but rather disappointing in a way I really don't expect from David Weber.

The main character is a total Mary Sue! The author sets her up in a supposedly disadvantaged position where she should have to be brilliant and resourceful to win, but then he gives her every possible lucky break including the people who can do all her thinking for her. She gets so much luck that she just has to show up, look pretty, and have the author go on-and-on about how brilliant and charismatic she is. Then she demonstrates her remarkable skills on cue and claims her win as if it was her plot given right.

Ugh.

On the other hand, the author delivers the incredible tactical firefights you expect from him. He's awesome that way and this book won't disappoint that expectation.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lesser-known Weber book in a standalone universe. Inherently, this is "awful creature from the future versus the US Marines and Navy", and if that premise sounds good to you, you're not going to be disappointed.

I noticed some similarity in tone to Weber's Safehold books - perhaps writing this one kicked off an idea for how to have a longer-form exploration?

The ending sneaks up a little abruptly, and while it's satisfying, it would have been nice to have lingered over it for another ten pages or so.

Great book, recommended.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baen books is doing a reissue of this book. As the author mentions, it feels like an early Webber. No surprise as this is one of the first books he ever sold. Even as an early Webber, this is a Webber book. That means that action is solid, the characters are compelling, the plot is solid and the writing is great. The one surprise, is how short this volume is. A delightful hero's journey that takes the reader along with it. Even if you have read this years ago, the story is timeless and well worth reading again.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different kind of SF suspense what if story

I had thought that I had read this before, as I have read all the Honor Harrington books,and figured I had read this one while waiting for some of that series to get out to market! But lo I had not! So this was a new surprise for me! The characters are as dynamic as in his other series, and you instantly love them! And the troll is something you can picture doing the awful things, and the humans he contacts do exactly as you expect radicals to act even though it is to their detriment!

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very enjoyable military sci-fi story with great battle scenes. Also interesting when seen within the author's greater oeuvre. You can clearly see that the protagonist is a proto-Honor Harrington (this was one of his earliest novels, but published later). Even the hyperspace physics are a somewhat simplified version of the Honorverse. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing.
The ending is way too optimistic, but it's a fun story.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A "what if?" with a hidden message to all of us...

What if the events of this story happened today? Would our world, our President, our military fare as well? And the deep-rooted anger and violence in some of the story's characters is it as shallow as this story portrays it? All good questions that I hope we don't have to worry about. Excellent story, well written with strong characters. Good read.

[Wayne Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. This is the first David Weber book that I have consumed and he came out of the game punching. It is action packed and caught my interest from the first page. I appreciated his descriptions of military life and processes. I was entertained throughout. Good pacing and enjoyable characters. The relationships between most characters was light compared to the overall action of the book, but it fit the story being told. Can't wait to read more of his work.

[Joseph K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books

I have read it in paper and electronic both many times. It never lets me down, and is always worth the read. Tons of action, great characters, just so much fun. I am not sure if the author wrote any other books in this universe, but if he did, I am sure they are worth reading. I know they have many other awesome books too. So I definitely recommend this book and any others by this author.

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best work. I will describe this as a David Weber short story.

It was ok, it started out with a good premise and story line. I think David has a masterful mind when he writes stories that span multiple books. The Honor Harrington series, the Safe Hold series, and the Prince Roger series to name three.
He started with the Troll working on getting people elected and then just dropped that Story line.
I think this could have been an excellent four book series.

[Adam Getchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good adventure yarn.

Interesting premise, good buildup, nice follow-through.

One of the protagonists happens to be one of the only people in the world who could save the world in the situation described, but that's the basis for most adventure yarns.

Enjoyable read if you're into military sci-fi.

[Ed A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worthwhile read

Not a bad story. A bit predictable, not one of the authors best. But this is the third or so time I’ve read this story so I did enjoy it. There is a format issue in the ebook that detracts though. When there is a change in character and POV, there’s no spacing or delineation.