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Tour of the Merrimack #2
Wolf Star
In the long war with the Palatine Empire, the pride of the Terran space fleet are its sister starships, the U.S.S. Merrimack and the U.S.S. Monitor. Now that the Palatine forces have secretly captured the Monitor and its codes, they can remotely seize control of the Merrimack-leaving her almost helpless. But as both sides struggle for supremacy, they are about to be attacked by an alien life-form-the Hive, a biological force with only one imperative: to seek and devour.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
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November 22, 2023
”Battle stations!”
A ridiculously fun, occasionally tongue in cheek, space yarn.
There is no way this should work as well as it does, so kudos to the author. The fairly unique writing style on display here drags the story forward at remarkable pace and the pages just turn themselves.
You could see the Wolf Star from Earth, south of the galactic equator in the constellation of the Southern Crown.
Only two hundred sixty light-years separated the Wolf Star from Fort Ted.
The Wolf Star was close enough to be a menace.
Although this isn’t a hard science fiction novel, there are some cool ideas casually tossed into the mix. The scale of the warfare is quite big, as well, taking place across the Orion and Sagittarius arms of the galaxy.
It’s a big space, and there are bound to be things other than the spacefaring Roman Legion out there.
”We have returned to that elemental time. This universe we have civilized and rewrought in our own image is once again a pitiless place. We see ourselves diminished back to our true tenuous position in it. The unknown horror could strike in the night and obliterate everything we know. Or erase us entirely.”
This is the second book in the series, but the internal chronology is a bit strange. In the first book (The Myriad) the author deemed it fit to introduce time-space elements that altered the whole timeline. I don’t want to go into too much detail here, since that could be spoiler territory, but the net result is that this book contains events that take place before book 1, such as first contact with the Hive, but it also refers to the events that took place in book 1 (such as the Arrans and the Myriad wormholes). Also, characters that were prominent in book 1 are re-introduced here and characters that died in book 1 are alive in book 2. It is a clever twist, but it can be confusing. My suggestion would be to read the books as close to one another as possible. Alternately, it seems that quite a few readers just started with Wolf Star and skipped The Myriad completely. I would advise against that simply because The Myriad is a really cool book in its own right and you’ll be missing out. But to each his own.
And the scritching of many many legs.
Speaking of the Hive, aptly called the Gorgons by both the Romans and Earth forces, they are truly interesting and truly alien, and I am curious to see how their (seemingly unstoppable) threat will be dealt with in coming books.
I have long since learnt that books are not to be read only for intellectual purposes, but for entertainment purposes as well. I was well entertained with Wolf Star.
Next: The Sagittarius Command
”I fear I have led you into a trap.”
A ridiculously fun, occasionally tongue in cheek, space yarn.
There is no way this should work as well as it does, so kudos to the author. The fairly unique writing style on display here drags the story forward at remarkable pace and the pages just turn themselves.
You could see the Wolf Star from Earth, south of the galactic equator in the constellation of the Southern Crown.
Only two hundred sixty light-years separated the Wolf Star from Fort Ted.
The Wolf Star was close enough to be a menace.
Although this isn’t a hard science fiction novel, there are some cool ideas casually tossed into the mix. The scale of the warfare is quite big, as well, taking place across the Orion and Sagittarius arms of the galaxy.
It’s a big space, and there are bound to be things other than the spacefaring Roman Legion out there.
”We have returned to that elemental time. This universe we have civilized and rewrought in our own image is once again a pitiless place. We see ourselves diminished back to our true tenuous position in it. The unknown horror could strike in the night and obliterate everything we know. Or erase us entirely.”
This is the second book in the series, but the internal chronology is a bit strange. In the first book (The Myriad) the author deemed it fit to introduce time-space elements that altered the whole timeline. I don’t want to go into too much detail here, since that could be spoiler territory, but the net result is that this book contains events that take place before book 1, such as first contact with the Hive, but it also refers to the events that took place in book 1 (such as the Arrans and the Myriad wormholes). Also, characters that were prominent in book 1 are re-introduced here and characters that died in book 1 are alive in book 2. It is a clever twist, but it can be confusing. My suggestion would be to read the books as close to one another as possible. Alternately, it seems that quite a few readers just started with Wolf Star and skipped The Myriad completely. I would advise against that simply because The Myriad is a really cool book in its own right and you’ll be missing out. But to each his own.
And the scritching of many many legs.
Speaking of the Hive, aptly called the Gorgons by both the Romans and Earth forces, they are truly interesting and truly alien, and I am curious to see how their (seemingly unstoppable) threat will be dealt with in coming books.
I have long since learnt that books are not to be read only for intellectual purposes, but for entertainment purposes as well. I was well entertained with Wolf Star.
Next: The Sagittarius Command
”I fear I have led you into a trap.”
March 1, 2022
Muluch has really created a masterpiece here, although one that might make your head spin just a little. While this is the second volume in the series, it actually takes place before the first The Myriad; well, mostly at least. Trying to work out a rough chronology of this series is just about impossible as it unfolds more like a Möbius strip than anything else. More on this later. Meluch returns with her wry wit and drool humor here for another installment of the adventures of the Merrimack and crew.
This starts off with the Romans and the USA going at it over three newly discovered worlds inhabited by an indigenous, intelligent race called the Myriad in a galactic cluster. Remember, this is where the first volume took place, but also remember that the Myriad managed to send a ship back to Origin (their home planet) via a 'wormhole' that takes you back 10 billion years. That small ship had consequences for our existing galaxy and altered the existing reality. For example, 'Cowboy', the stud marine/fly boy on the Merrimack starts the first installment dying stupidly via a stunt, but at the end (after the ship/wormhole thing) is back alive on the ship. A few other things changed as well, but I will skip them due to spoilers.
The Merrimack's crew is developed a bit more here, and what a cast. The captain is a rough and tumble guy spoiling for a fight (it is a battleship after all); 'Hamster', the very short, pretty red head third officer (who the captain is crushed out on); Steele, the boisterous and huge Marine Sargent (who is hopeless crushed out on one of his marines); the bevy of marines in Alpha squad... There are more, and they are all rich, and all so human!
Like the first installment, this is billed as military science fiction, but that is a stretch. Really, this is a deeply character driven tale set in a fantastic world where the Roman Empire lives again, with the USA as its main opposition. While the first one is all about stopping the 'swarm'-- alien eating machines-- this one is the lead up to the first encounter with the swarm (much to Rome's chagrin). So, we do have some fun space battles (very tongue and cheek to be sure), the label of military science fiction does not really fit. Filled with snarky dialogue, this really seeks to explore the human condition in a light hearted way. 4.5 stars, rounding up! Highly recommended for space opera fans!!
This starts off with the Romans and the USA going at it over three newly discovered worlds inhabited by an indigenous, intelligent race called the Myriad in a galactic cluster. Remember, this is where the first volume took place, but also remember that the Myriad managed to send a ship back to Origin (their home planet) via a 'wormhole' that takes you back 10 billion years. That small ship had consequences for our existing galaxy and altered the existing reality. For example, 'Cowboy', the stud marine/fly boy on the Merrimack starts the first installment dying stupidly via a stunt, but at the end (after the ship/wormhole thing) is back alive on the ship. A few other things changed as well, but I will skip them due to spoilers.
The Merrimack's crew is developed a bit more here, and what a cast. The captain is a rough and tumble guy spoiling for a fight (it is a battleship after all); 'Hamster', the very short, pretty red head third officer (who the captain is crushed out on); Steele, the boisterous and huge Marine Sargent (who is hopeless crushed out on one of his marines); the bevy of marines in Alpha squad... There are more, and they are all rich, and all so human!
Like the first installment, this is billed as military science fiction, but that is a stretch. Really, this is a deeply character driven tale set in a fantastic world where the Roman Empire lives again, with the USA as its main opposition. While the first one is all about stopping the 'swarm'-- alien eating machines-- this one is the lead up to the first encounter with the swarm (much to Rome's chagrin). So, we do have some fun space battles (very tongue and cheek to be sure), the label of military science fiction does not really fit. Filled with snarky dialogue, this really seeks to explore the human condition in a light hearted way. 4.5 stars, rounding up! Highly recommended for space opera fans!!
January 24, 2009
I am a bit suspicious of this book, because I cannot pin down precisely why I enjoyed it so much. In general, I do not enjoy military fiction, but this one took me from "stayed up late" to "stayed up early." It's a sequel to The Myriad, a book which gives you a very decent military SF story, and then in the very last chapter gives the reader a surprise kick to the balls. (I am not equiped with balls, so my surprise was extreme.) I think I would recommend it if you enjoyed David Feintuch's early Midshipman books, before they became repetitive and whiny. I cannot say if fans of Military SF would like it, though, because the charms of that genre are opaque to me.
I think you could read Book 2 without having read book one, but you will be depriving yourself of certain subtle enjoyments (and a kick in the nuts). Everything which is right about this first one is right about this one, from my review of that one: The world and its characters more original than I expect from the genre, and the physics are almost a character on their own. It's action packed, and neither the military action nor the periods between ever seem to drag.
One thing that annoyed me: much of the military action was between the Roman empire, which never fell, merely went underground for two millennia (is this awesome y/y?), and the US of A. Consequently, it's a very western clash of civilizations. In the USA military, I recognized patronymics from all over the world, but the ranking officers seemed to have suspiciously Western-European surnames.
On reasons why I enjoyed it, I think part of it is that the characterization is deeper than is the standard in some military SF, such that one wanted to know what happened to the characters more than the outcome of the battle.
Another caveat: at one point, the US military sends our heroes to investigate a Roman project with a suggestive code name. My respect for military intelligence is not vast, but I do think they have generally proved themselves capable of coming up with codenames that cannot be deciphered by an idiot with a thesaurus.
I think you could read Book 2 without having read book one, but you will be depriving yourself of certain subtle enjoyments (and a kick in the nuts). Everything which is right about this first one is right about this one, from my review of that one: The world and its characters more original than I expect from the genre, and the physics are almost a character on their own. It's action packed, and neither the military action nor the periods between ever seem to drag.
One thing that annoyed me: much of the military action was between the Roman empire, which never fell, merely went underground for two millennia (is this awesome y/y?), and the US of A. Consequently, it's a very western clash of civilizations. In the USA military, I recognized patronymics from all over the world, but the ranking officers seemed to have suspiciously Western-European surnames.
On reasons why I enjoyed it, I think part of it is that the characterization is deeper than is the standard in some military SF, such that one wanted to know what happened to the characters more than the outcome of the battle.
Another caveat: at one point, the US military sends our heroes to investigate a Roman project with a suggestive code name. My respect for military intelligence is not vast, but I do think they have generally proved themselves capable of coming up with codenames that cannot be deciphered by an idiot with a thesaurus.
June 22, 2011
After a story reset at the end of the first book, RM Meluch does a switcheroo on certain characters, and makes the Roman allies the main villain, which is to the benefit of series. The characters, with names like Farragut, Steele, Kerry Blue and Cowboy, are stoic and true, have a black & white sense of honor that we expect out of military folk, and speak in jargon and off-colored witticisms that feel familiar to anyone who's served aboard naval vessels.
Meluch gets it. These characters have strong interpersonal relationships, crushes on each other, conflicts with each other but in the end it's all about kicking Space Roman ass and taking names. This is pure fun set on a space ship. It has little to say about anything deeper than demonstrating how badass their characters are in a pinch.
A lot of side characters from the previous novels took a bigger role this time out, most notably the ship's XO Calli Carmel, who is the most perfect human being ever created, and yet you don't mind it.
Take the epic space antics of Star Trek, add in some current-world military flavor, and the style-over-substance characterization of the Ocean's Eleven films, put it in a blender and be ready to rush out and grab the third book in this fun sci-fi series.
Meluch gets it. These characters have strong interpersonal relationships, crushes on each other, conflicts with each other but in the end it's all about kicking Space Roman ass and taking names. This is pure fun set on a space ship. It has little to say about anything deeper than demonstrating how badass their characters are in a pinch.
A lot of side characters from the previous novels took a bigger role this time out, most notably the ship's XO Calli Carmel, who is the most perfect human being ever created, and yet you don't mind it.
Take the epic space antics of Star Trek, add in some current-world military flavor, and the style-over-substance characterization of the Ocean's Eleven films, put it in a blender and be ready to rush out and grab the third book in this fun sci-fi series.
April 11, 2009
Whyyyyyyyyy is this series so addictive? I read the first one and immediately ordered two more and twitched until they arrived. Then I got one on my Kindle, because I could not stand to wait for an order to arrive. I read each one over the course of a single day, at the fastest possible pace, reading while doing things like changing diapers and failing to sleep. And this book is good, and the series is good, but it's not, you know. That good. I don't understand it at all.
Okay, I partly understand it: Meluch knows pacing and action. If you make it to page 40 in one of these books, you're probably going to keep reading until the end, even if you don't like it. (Her Amazon reviews have a lot of bewildered people going, "I didn't like it. I mean, I read it very quickly and couldn't put it down, but...")
But the thing is - lots of writers have a great sense of pacing and write fabulous action sequences. Many of them write things I prefer to military SF (and especially to military SF like this; in the even-numbered entries in this series, the US and Rome are fighting each other, and I like both sides and don't want them to fight). But still. This series was crack for me. I could not stop reading. I couldn't even stop rooting for the US, even though I liked Rome, thought they were mostly in the right on the original cause of the war, and didn't want the two groups fighting.
For me, this is probably the weakest book of the series, largely because it doesn't contain much of Augustus, who is my favorite character by far. But "weak" in this case still translates to "OMG addictive," so it's the kind of weak that's, you know, still pretty strong.
I can't say who I would recommend this book to - I wouldn't have recommended it to myself, after all, but I loved the series - but I will say that anyone who picks it up should probably have some free time blocked out for reading. Just in case.
Okay, I partly understand it: Meluch knows pacing and action. If you make it to page 40 in one of these books, you're probably going to keep reading until the end, even if you don't like it. (Her Amazon reviews have a lot of bewildered people going, "I didn't like it. I mean, I read it very quickly and couldn't put it down, but...")
But the thing is - lots of writers have a great sense of pacing and write fabulous action sequences. Many of them write things I prefer to military SF (and especially to military SF like this; in the even-numbered entries in this series, the US and Rome are fighting each other, and I like both sides and don't want them to fight). But still. This series was crack for me. I could not stop reading. I couldn't even stop rooting for the US, even though I liked Rome, thought they were mostly in the right on the original cause of the war, and didn't want the two groups fighting.
For me, this is probably the weakest book of the series, largely because it doesn't contain much of Augustus, who is my favorite character by far. But "weak" in this case still translates to "OMG addictive," so it's the kind of weak that's, you know, still pretty strong.
I can't say who I would recommend this book to - I wouldn't have recommended it to myself, after all, but I loved the series - but I will say that anyone who picks it up should probably have some free time blocked out for reading. Just in case.
May 26, 2017
This is an exciting, fun space opera military war adventure series. It is a futuristic alternate earth history story based on the premise that the Roman Empire never fell, but went underground until deep space travel and colonization was possible and they could come out of hiding, leave earth, and re-establish the empire in space where they run neck and neck with the US in an ongoing war of ideals and trade. There is intrigue, military shipboard life and action (feels like old wooden ships and sails navy stuff), interpersonal relationships, and a secret threat on the horizon. It's big, brash and colorful in a broad sweeping scope of story.
Wolf Star is part of the Tour of the Merrimack space opera series. It follows closely on the heals of the first book, The Myriad, so yes, listening in order is best.
I was tickled to death to learn that Wolf Star goes back to the beginning before the events of book one giving the reader the earlier days and now I was able to see how the situation with the war, the cast of characters and their backstories, and the new threat was discovered and the race to get a handle on things happened.
I was particularly glad of this because my one niggle about book one was feeling dropped into the middle of things and not really getting a chance to know the characters other than through their actions and dialogue. Now, some of the aspects of the war make better sense as do the allies and enemies assembled. There is also a good progression through broad events in the galaxy and specific events aboard Merrimack.
This is a series of books that are meant to be more swashbuckling fun high-seas style (just in space) war adventure than serious high-brow sci-fi. The ship has 'sails', flags, lists to the side when hit, creaks and groans, all just like an old-style ship. Colorful characters have a bit of caricature to them, but I didn't mind because of the tone of the book. The Captain, John Farragut is larger than life, his naval crew are capable and loyal, his Marines are gritty devil dog types, and the enemy are cunning. There are a few secret affairs of the heart or ones that are unrequited among the crew. The political types are annoying and the Romans make a formidable enemy that keep it life or death, but the enemy of both lurking in the wings offer the biggest heart-pounding adventure. My only niggle was I wanted more of my favorite cold, cynical Roman patterner, Augustus. He was there, but I missed the witty dialogues.
I continue to enjoy John Glouchevitch as the narrator for the series. He is a perfect match for the writing, tone, and pace. He has an absolute gift for keeping about twenty characters straight and putting heart and soul into a story that needed just the right balance of lightness and depth to make it work.
All in all, I had a good time with this one. I found Wolf Star as riveting and exciting as The Myriad. And now, I'm looking forward to moving on with this addicting sci-fi military/space opera series.
My thanks to Brilliance Audio for the opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review.
Wolf Star is part of the Tour of the Merrimack space opera series. It follows closely on the heals of the first book, The Myriad, so yes, listening in order is best.
I was tickled to death to learn that Wolf Star goes back to the beginning before the events of book one giving the reader the earlier days and now I was able to see how the situation with the war, the cast of characters and their backstories, and the new threat was discovered and the race to get a handle on things happened.
I was particularly glad of this because my one niggle about book one was feeling dropped into the middle of things and not really getting a chance to know the characters other than through their actions and dialogue. Now, some of the aspects of the war make better sense as do the allies and enemies assembled. There is also a good progression through broad events in the galaxy and specific events aboard Merrimack.
This is a series of books that are meant to be more swashbuckling fun high-seas style (just in space) war adventure than serious high-brow sci-fi. The ship has 'sails', flags, lists to the side when hit, creaks and groans, all just like an old-style ship. Colorful characters have a bit of caricature to them, but I didn't mind because of the tone of the book. The Captain, John Farragut is larger than life, his naval crew are capable and loyal, his Marines are gritty devil dog types, and the enemy are cunning. There are a few secret affairs of the heart or ones that are unrequited among the crew. The political types are annoying and the Romans make a formidable enemy that keep it life or death, but the enemy of both lurking in the wings offer the biggest heart-pounding adventure. My only niggle was I wanted more of my favorite cold, cynical Roman patterner, Augustus. He was there, but I missed the witty dialogues.
I continue to enjoy John Glouchevitch as the narrator for the series. He is a perfect match for the writing, tone, and pace. He has an absolute gift for keeping about twenty characters straight and putting heart and soul into a story that needed just the right balance of lightness and depth to make it work.
All in all, I had a good time with this one. I found Wolf Star as riveting and exciting as The Myriad. And now, I'm looking forward to moving on with this addicting sci-fi military/space opera series.
My thanks to Brilliance Audio for the opportunity to listen to this book in exchange for an honest review.
July 12, 2015
I see that a lot of people have a love/hate feeling about this book, and many seem genuinely mystified as to why they don't really like it yet find it compulsively readable. I think I know why.
The first reason is that it is formulaic and generic in the sense that Meluch has taken the usual tropes of "wet navy = space navy" and simply run with them, while serving up straightforward action performing swashbuckling acts of derring-do by black-and-white characters.
The second is that the writing is as barebones as you'll find outside of a screenplay or an outline. In fact, it often reads like an outline that has merely had some areas a bit more fleshed out than others, sort of like Chip Kidd's classic design for the cover of Jurassic Park where he took a Xerox copy of a T. rex skeleton and just started coloring in the spaces and stopped when he thought it looked it good enough. (Seriously, that's how he did it. See his TED talk for more.)
I enjoy reading screenplays, probably more than I like reading books. Purple prose bores me. Overly florid and detailed description puts me right to sleep. Sometimes I just want authors to Get. To. The. Point. So that style here wasn't too bothersome other than Meluch didn't use complete sentences most of the time. That does kind of bother me. I like to see a nice balance between terseness and sentence fragments.
(Holy fucking shit, iPad, I MEANT to write "terseness," not "tenseness." Stop it. Any mistakes in my writing belong to Apple. I'm flawless.)
Anyway, I liked this book a bit less than the first one, The Myriad. (Which I see I haven't reviewed here because I read it some years before joining Goodreads. Suffice to say it was a 4-star book.) This one feels like it has caricatures rather than characters.
That said, I do like the fact Meluch has made her world consistent and sticks to the rules she's made up throughout. Too many space fantasies simply make something up to serve the needs of the plot and then forget about them later. (Looking at you, Stars War and Trek.)
This reads a lot like the Horatio Hornblower -- or more probably Aubrey-Mautin -- seafaring tales. Except instead of England going against Spain or France, it's America going against a reconstituted Roman Empire... in spaaaace! They even run out flags for some reason. And at one point someone draws up a facsimile of the Stars and Stripes and hoists it into space in the time it took you to read this sentence. So things in this book FEEL like they're moving incredibly fast but when you think about them they actually move quite slow. Except when they don't. That love/hate thing again.
This is like an action movie where nobody eats or pees.
I'd like to give this 4 stars, but there was too much of a hint of that deus ex machina from time to time. Such as when Captain Farragut orders his crew to learn how to fight with swords, and then later their systems fail (no spoilers as to why) and they have to fight with swords. I mean, it's really just so she can write Master and Commander (in spaaaace!), but Meluch does come up with an internally-consistent reason for it to happen. I just wish it had been better integrated and not such an obvious Chekov's Gun.
If you like military space opera, you'll like this. You should check out the Sten series by Bunch and Cole. It has similar action and style, but they use complete sentences.
The first reason is that it is formulaic and generic in the sense that Meluch has taken the usual tropes of "wet navy = space navy" and simply run with them, while serving up straightforward action performing swashbuckling acts of derring-do by black-and-white characters.
The second is that the writing is as barebones as you'll find outside of a screenplay or an outline. In fact, it often reads like an outline that has merely had some areas a bit more fleshed out than others, sort of like Chip Kidd's classic design for the cover of Jurassic Park where he took a Xerox copy of a T. rex skeleton and just started coloring in the spaces and stopped when he thought it looked it good enough. (Seriously, that's how he did it. See his TED talk for more.)
I enjoy reading screenplays, probably more than I like reading books. Purple prose bores me. Overly florid and detailed description puts me right to sleep. Sometimes I just want authors to Get. To. The. Point. So that style here wasn't too bothersome other than Meluch didn't use complete sentences most of the time. That does kind of bother me. I like to see a nice balance between terseness and sentence fragments.
(Holy fucking shit, iPad, I MEANT to write "terseness," not "tenseness." Stop it. Any mistakes in my writing belong to Apple. I'm flawless.)
Anyway, I liked this book a bit less than the first one, The Myriad. (Which I see I haven't reviewed here because I read it some years before joining Goodreads. Suffice to say it was a 4-star book.) This one feels like it has caricatures rather than characters.
That said, I do like the fact Meluch has made her world consistent and sticks to the rules she's made up throughout. Too many space fantasies simply make something up to serve the needs of the plot and then forget about them later. (Looking at you, Stars War and Trek.)
This reads a lot like the Horatio Hornblower -- or more probably Aubrey-Mautin -- seafaring tales. Except instead of England going against Spain or France, it's America going against a reconstituted Roman Empire... in spaaaace! They even run out flags for some reason. And at one point someone draws up a facsimile of the Stars and Stripes and hoists it into space in the time it took you to read this sentence. So things in this book FEEL like they're moving incredibly fast but when you think about them they actually move quite slow. Except when they don't. That love/hate thing again.
This is like an action movie where nobody eats or pees.
I'd like to give this 4 stars, but there was too much of a hint of that deus ex machina from time to time. Such as when Captain Farragut orders his crew to learn how to fight with swords, and then later their systems fail (no spoilers as to why) and they have to fight with swords. I mean, it's really just so she can write Master and Commander (in spaaaace!), but Meluch does come up with an internally-consistent reason for it to happen. I just wish it had been better integrated and not such an obvious Chekov's Gun.
If you like military space opera, you'll like this. You should check out the Sten series by Bunch and Cole. It has similar action and style, but they use complete sentences.
April 8, 2019
4 Bold Wolf Stars for this one. Like most reviewers, it's hard to pin down why this is so good. I mean Rome, with all its ancient persona, transported into the scifi realm fighting against the USA across the star lanes seems like a stretch. But it works. She, R.M. Meluch, has a great touch with the military mind and tactics in the heat of battle. Women are as heroic as the men and just as prone to being caught up with the difficulties of serving in a mixed unit. The arrival of the "gorgons" takes the battles away from the two adversaries. I would have preferred the US-Rome fight continued, but not to be.
April 20, 2012
The Wolf Star, the second book in the, Tour of the Merrimackpicks up right after The Myriad. If you haven’t read The Myriad I honestly suggest that you stop reading this review now as any information about The Wolf Star will spoil the major twist towards the close of The Myriad. Consider this ample forwarning of major spoilers from the first book.
August 18, 2016
I’m re-reading this series because I can’t find any new good space opera and I’ve already read the Vorkosigan books three times. There is too much of the ridiculous in these books for me to strongly recommend them, but they have a goofy charm, and I like the way they’re written.
This entry held up pretty well for a re-read, and I stand by my earlier review. The only thing I would add is that this time around, I was inordinately amused by Farragut’s swearing: “Oh, for Jesus.”
Original April 2013 review:
This was entertaining, depending on your tolerance for swashbuckling space opera, but it’s not as good as the first book. As a standalone novel I’d probably have given it only two stars, but as a sequel it stands on slightly firmer ground: there’s an extra dimension that will be present if you’ve read the first book.
Humans have spread across the galaxy and Earth is at war with Palatine, a colony world settled by a resurrected Roman empire. The story follows an American warship which is trying to locate a secret Roman base - and discovers a much more alarming secret, which is already known to readers of the first book.
This feels like old-school space opera, partly because it’s so enthusiastically American. There are a nice range of ethnicities represented (all with equally shallow characterization) but Earth is dominated by the good ole’ U.S. of A.
The action is fun, if wildly implausible, and the story is full of unlikely coincidences. The sexism is not as bad this time, but I still cringe every time Steele thinks fondly about the trashy qualities of a certain female marine.
Spoilers only if you haven't read the first book, which I really recommend you do before reading this one:
This entry held up pretty well for a re-read, and I stand by my earlier review. The only thing I would add is that this time around, I was inordinately amused by Farragut’s swearing: “Oh, for Jesus.”
Original April 2013 review:
This was entertaining, depending on your tolerance for swashbuckling space opera, but it’s not as good as the first book. As a standalone novel I’d probably have given it only two stars, but as a sequel it stands on slightly firmer ground: there’s an extra dimension that will be present if you’ve read the first book.
Humans have spread across the galaxy and Earth is at war with Palatine, a colony world settled by a resurrected Roman empire. The story follows an American warship which is trying to locate a secret Roman base - and discovers a much more alarming secret, which is already known to readers of the first book.
This feels like old-school space opera, partly because it’s so enthusiastically American. There are a nice range of ethnicities represented (all with equally shallow characterization) but Earth is dominated by the good ole’ U.S. of A.
The action is fun, if wildly implausible, and the story is full of unlikely coincidences. The sexism is not as bad this time, but I still cringe every time Steele thinks fondly about the trashy qualities of a certain female marine.
Spoilers only if you haven't read the first book, which I really recommend you do before reading this one:
February 12, 2009
I enjoyed this as much as the first for the most part, with a few minor reservations and some things I liked even more than the first. Anyone who's read the first will understand that it's very odd reading what is in some ways like a prequel without the certainty that the characters alive in book one will necessarily make it through this book. Because of course it's not a prequel, it's rather that they went back and changed history, so it's now later in time, but a different time. (Clear?) I wasn't entirely sure about the final section of book one, but think it all works really well here. And most of the characters are more fully developed than they were in the first, despite the non-stop action that made this a terrible book to be reading in bed at night.
I was amused to see the PW quotelet on the front, as it called it "grand old-fashioned space opera". Has space opera been around that long to be described as old-fashioned?
I was amused to see the PW quotelet on the front, as it called it "grand old-fashioned space opera". Has space opera been around that long to be described as old-fashioned?
January 15, 2024
Good! Fun way to continue the alternate timeline set up by Boon #1. 3 stars because it mostly feels like an elaborate set up for later books in the series.
October 25, 2015
I'm in love with this series. I just finished up #2. I know there are 4 more to go. But that's ONLY 4 more to go and at the rate that I'm devouring them, well, a pretty sad day is coming up here.
I love the characters and all the little quirks that absolutely work in this story: the swords (yes, sometimes nothing beats the ability to hack something to pieces; never runs out of bullets; doesn't need batteries; hack-proof too; and it looks cool!) the judge with a Bible (gasp!) and a Colt 45 on his desk (please, please, please, can we have more about the judge); characters who are in love with each other but still honor their commitments, as if they actually meant something, as if people can and do keep it in their pants (a radical -- dare I say heretical -- concept).
My only complaint: Augustus doesn't make an appearance in this book until the very end. Yeah, I know, it wouldn't work otherwise. Still...
I love the characters and all the little quirks that absolutely work in this story: the swords (yes, sometimes nothing beats the ability to hack something to pieces; never runs out of bullets; doesn't need batteries; hack-proof too; and it looks cool!) the judge with a Bible (gasp!) and a Colt 45 on his desk (please, please, please, can we have more about the judge); characters who are in love with each other but still honor their commitments, as if they actually meant something, as if people can and do keep it in their pants (a radical -- dare I say heretical -- concept).
My only complaint: Augustus doesn't make an appearance in this book until the very end. Yeah, I know, it wouldn't work otherwise. Still...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 1, 2009
Less fun than its predecessor, but still strangely captivating. In a weird way, this book feels oddly unnecessary—it kind of just resets the universe back to where it was at the beginning of The Myriad, so reading the first two volumes of this series makes you feel like you’ve simply come full circle. There’s also not nearly enough Augustus in this one (though still way too much weird gender fail). And yet, despite these flaws, I still really want to read the next book in the series. These are like the Chewy Chips Ahoy! of reading material—obviously really not very good on a fundamental level, and yet once you start eating, you just cannot stop stuffing your cake hole with the little bastards.
July 5, 2010
Wolf Star by R. M. Meluch
The U.S.S. Merrimack battle class starship continues her journey battling the forces of evil. The Roman Empire’s strange behavior is explained by a new and ominous development. The book has lots of great battles and epic heroics.
I’m an admitted space opera addict. I love the action and the charismatic leaders. I enjoy the hard bitten marines and the no holds barred Captain. The political aspects of combat are not ignored. The knee jerk reaction to intrigue and politics by the line troops was one of the few clearly predictable behaviors.
The Farragut and Hamster and Steele and Blue relationships remain unrequited with a realistic look at the difficulty of interpersonal behavior between ranks. This is my second Merrimack book and I have purchased two more.
I highly recommend the book and the series.
The U.S.S. Merrimack battle class starship continues her journey battling the forces of evil. The Roman Empire’s strange behavior is explained by a new and ominous development. The book has lots of great battles and epic heroics.
I’m an admitted space opera addict. I love the action and the charismatic leaders. I enjoy the hard bitten marines and the no holds barred Captain. The political aspects of combat are not ignored. The knee jerk reaction to intrigue and politics by the line troops was one of the few clearly predictable behaviors.
The Farragut and Hamster and Steele and Blue relationships remain unrequited with a realistic look at the difficulty of interpersonal behavior between ranks. This is my second Merrimack book and I have purchased two more.
I highly recommend the book and the series.
August 2, 2018
Read the Omnibus of the first two books, reviewed them separately.(Why is the original cover art so terrible? I mean the omnibus isn't good with just a stock spaceship photo, but come on?)
I'd give this book a 3.5. Most of this book was a solid three, with moments of four and flashes of five. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and am still likely to read the next one.
But, there are some serious issues with the book. Farragut is still a major Gary Stu. Still overt sexism and slut shaming of Kerry Blue. There are inconsistencies in the technology as introduced. There are some significant things that just don't seem to pass the smell test.
For example, early in the book the Merrimack is engaged in battle with a Roman Battleship and support ships and is unable to fight back because of their IFF codes. Somehow they take minutes and minutes of attack while they engineer a solution which involves pulling a piece of tech from another vessel and recording part of it. Somehow they manage to pull this off while their ship appears not significantly worse for the wear, but lo and behold they get it done and their opening salvo completely "guts" the enemy battleship. Just like that, the manage to take minutes of sustained bombardment from an enemy fleet with overall superior firepower and then in a single salvo win the battle. That was painful to read.
There are other inconsistencies in things that just shouldn't have passed editing, hive sphere is now five clicks in radius... ok, that means it is a 10 kilometer diameter... they were only one kilometer in diameter in the first book... and 10k would be well beyond anything else in the scale of this series. Now we're shooting right through forward shields and putting a pea sized hole right through a whole battleship.
Switching between metric and imperial units of measure...
And just the incredulous leaps of logic about the Romans secretly fighting a horrible losing war against the hive and wasting resources left and right and no one knowing about it. I mean, they could detect the resource expenditures to know for a fact they were building a catapult, but somehow they don't know Rome has lost something like eighty percent of their ships and one hundred percent of their endless robotic legions. All of which self destructed simultaneously all across their empire and not a peep about it gets out?
Oh, and despite occupying hundreds of worlds Earth only has two Battleships. Two? Really? And they are vastly superior to everything else everywhere?
The book was enjoyable, but I'm finding myself actively ignoring bigger and bigger plot holes and problems. That said, I did still enjoy the book. The plot reset at the end of the first one was a bit grating, but watching things happen nearly the same as they did in the passing references was fun, especially without flashbacks.
I'd give this book a 3.5. Most of this book was a solid three, with moments of four and flashes of five. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and am still likely to read the next one.
But, there are some serious issues with the book. Farragut is still a major Gary Stu. Still overt sexism and slut shaming of Kerry Blue. There are inconsistencies in the technology as introduced. There are some significant things that just don't seem to pass the smell test.
For example, early in the book the Merrimack is engaged in battle with a Roman Battleship and support ships and is unable to fight back because of their IFF codes. Somehow they take minutes and minutes of attack while they engineer a solution which involves pulling a piece of tech from another vessel and recording part of it. Somehow they manage to pull this off while their ship appears not significantly worse for the wear, but lo and behold they get it done and their opening salvo completely "guts" the enemy battleship. Just like that, the manage to take minutes of sustained bombardment from an enemy fleet with overall superior firepower and then in a single salvo win the battle. That was painful to read.
There are other inconsistencies in things that just shouldn't have passed editing, hive sphere is now five clicks in radius... ok, that means it is a 10 kilometer diameter... they were only one kilometer in diameter in the first book... and 10k would be well beyond anything else in the scale of this series. Now we're shooting right through forward shields and putting a pea sized hole right through a whole battleship.
Switching between metric and imperial units of measure...
And just the incredulous leaps of logic about the Romans secretly fighting a horrible losing war against the hive and wasting resources left and right and no one knowing about it. I mean, they could detect the resource expenditures to know for a fact they were building a catapult, but somehow they don't know Rome has lost something like eighty percent of their ships and one hundred percent of their endless robotic legions. All of which self destructed simultaneously all across their empire and not a peep about it gets out?
Oh, and despite occupying hundreds of worlds Earth only has two Battleships. Two? Really? And they are vastly superior to everything else everywhere?
The book was enjoyable, but I'm finding myself actively ignoring bigger and bigger plot holes and problems. That said, I did still enjoy the book. The plot reset at the end of the first one was a bit grating, but watching things happen nearly the same as they did in the passing references was fun, especially without flashbacks.
October 26, 2018
This novel solidified my certainty that the Tour of the Merrimack is an awesome novel series. It plies the good against the evil in terms that I as a (semi-dormant) Latin scholar can understand, while casting as a subplot Kerry the only female on a ship of predominantly males.
Usually follow-up novels generally pale in comparison with the first (The Myriad is equally worth your while if you aren't totally horrified by imagining military sci-fi), but I read them in order and I have been incredibly satisfied with Meluch's writing on interstellar warfare as an international relations survivor.
Sometimes I thought it plodded, but that might have to do with how difficult it is to keep going with these subjects for all that long in an interesting way that hasn't been done to death by the known scholars in the field. (I'm not saying too much about Graves since the only war theorist I'm kinda familiar with is St. Augustine, though I've read a BIT of Sun-tzu... and Clausewitz... OK I do know kind of a lot about war theorists as listed by the Internet. BUT I KNOW MUCH MORE ABOUT GANDHI AND MOTHER TERESA PLEASE GIVE PEACE A CHANCE I BEG OF YOU)
The Roman Empire has reconstituted itself and taken to outer space. We (meaning America) need(s) to shoot it down, a la Galaga. Yikes! What will happen?
I thought Meluch pulled us out of the drudgery by having cool stuff happen when you least expect it in the prose. If you're used to scanning through historical documents for the most useful parts, it's easy to miss, because those weird bits don't happen at the normal places where you're checking for the most pertinent information (like the beginning or end of the paragraphs/pages), but rather I got the impression it happened in strange two-or-three pages from those placed I named before or similar.
When I was little I snapped up military sci-fi novels like this as if they were breakfast, lunch and dinner. But this one I took three and a half weeks to read, and not because I have ~50 other books to enjoy. (Well, maybe that's part of the reason.)
But I read this book more slowly than my history with the genre because I thought there was a lot the author put in between the covers to imbibe.
I think both of the Merrimack novels I have thus far read were worth my while! If you want to enjoy them too, I think they are fast and don't take a whole lot of thinking to remember who is who.
So these are my thoughts.
Usually follow-up novels generally pale in comparison with the first (The Myriad is equally worth your while if you aren't totally horrified by imagining military sci-fi), but I read them in order and I have been incredibly satisfied with Meluch's writing on interstellar warfare as an international relations survivor.
Sometimes I thought it plodded, but that might have to do with how difficult it is to keep going with these subjects for all that long in an interesting way that hasn't been done to death by the known scholars in the field. (I'm not saying too much about Graves since the only war theorist I'm kinda familiar with is St. Augustine, though I've read a BIT of Sun-tzu... and Clausewitz... OK I do know kind of a lot about war theorists as listed by the Internet. BUT I KNOW MUCH MORE ABOUT GANDHI AND MOTHER TERESA PLEASE GIVE PEACE A CHANCE I BEG OF YOU)
The Roman Empire has reconstituted itself and taken to outer space. We (meaning America) need(s) to shoot it down, a la Galaga. Yikes! What will happen?
I thought Meluch pulled us out of the drudgery by having cool stuff happen when you least expect it in the prose. If you're used to scanning through historical documents for the most useful parts, it's easy to miss, because those weird bits don't happen at the normal places where you're checking for the most pertinent information (like the beginning or end of the paragraphs/pages), but rather I got the impression it happened in strange two-or-three pages from those placed I named before or similar.
When I was little I snapped up military sci-fi novels like this as if they were breakfast, lunch and dinner. But this one I took three and a half weeks to read, and not because I have ~50 other books to enjoy. (Well, maybe that's part of the reason.)
But I read this book more slowly than my history with the genre because I thought there was a lot the author put in between the covers to imbibe.
I think both of the Merrimack novels I have thus far read were worth my while! If you want to enjoy them too, I think they are fast and don't take a whole lot of thinking to remember who is who.
So these are my thoughts.
Read
February 1, 2021Review written 2006
Wolf Star is the 2nd in a series called Tour of the Merrimack; the first one was The Myriad. I read it a month or so ago. Meluch hasn't written any SF in perhaps fifteen years, but returns to the field now.
The story takes place in a future where the colonies of Earth are split into two opposing empires. One is led by the United States, and the second by Rome. It appears that, over the centuries after the fall of the Roman empire, the leaders had merely gone underground, awaiting their opportunity to restore its glory. When mankind spread to the stars, the underground Romans rebelled and established their empire anew.
The Merrimack, led by Captain John Farragut, is on a mission to find and destroy the catapult, the Romans' interstellar travel device, which can shift entire fleets from one point in their empire to its deep space frontier. They are ambushed, infiltrated, have their IFF codes broken, their weapons systems locked down by Roman subterfuge, and yet, somehow, manage to prevail.
After a second mission to smash the catapult by a larger portion of the US fleet is partially successful, the Merrimack finds a destroyed Roman fleet and investigates, to find and face a terrible enemy - The Hive. The Hive is a vaguely insectoid colony which travels through deep space, eating all organic matter which it finds. In The Myriad, the Roman Empire and the US were united in facing the threat represented by these aliens, but a deus ex machina ending involving time travel through a wormhole left the story in a situation where The Hive had not yet been encountered (read that book for the details). So, in this sequel, it is the Romans who discover and are brought to their knees by the Hive first, and must reluctantly offer their US enemies Pax, in order that humankind band together to face the external threat.
These stories are pretty quick reads, full of swashbuckling adventure and larger than life heroes. Unfortunately, Meluch doesn't quite seem to be able to resolve plots any more without some sort of improbable finale. I'd have to consult the library and re-read some of her older stuff to see if was a problem back then, too. Fun stuff, but I think I'd wait till the whole series is out before reading them, if I were you.
Wolf Star is the 2nd in a series called Tour of the Merrimack; the first one was The Myriad. I read it a month or so ago. Meluch hasn't written any SF in perhaps fifteen years, but returns to the field now.
The story takes place in a future where the colonies of Earth are split into two opposing empires. One is led by the United States, and the second by Rome. It appears that, over the centuries after the fall of the Roman empire, the leaders had merely gone underground, awaiting their opportunity to restore its glory. When mankind spread to the stars, the underground Romans rebelled and established their empire anew.
The Merrimack, led by Captain John Farragut, is on a mission to find and destroy the catapult, the Romans' interstellar travel device, which can shift entire fleets from one point in their empire to its deep space frontier. They are ambushed, infiltrated, have their IFF codes broken, their weapons systems locked down by Roman subterfuge, and yet, somehow, manage to prevail.
After a second mission to smash the catapult by a larger portion of the US fleet is partially successful, the Merrimack finds a destroyed Roman fleet and investigates, to find and face a terrible enemy - The Hive. The Hive is a vaguely insectoid colony which travels through deep space, eating all organic matter which it finds. In The Myriad, the Roman Empire and the US were united in facing the threat represented by these aliens, but a deus ex machina ending involving time travel through a wormhole left the story in a situation where The Hive had not yet been encountered (read that book for the details). So, in this sequel, it is the Romans who discover and are brought to their knees by the Hive first, and must reluctantly offer their US enemies Pax, in order that humankind band together to face the external threat.
These stories are pretty quick reads, full of swashbuckling adventure and larger than life heroes. Unfortunately, Meluch doesn't quite seem to be able to resolve plots any more without some sort of improbable finale. I'd have to consult the library and re-read some of her older stuff to see if was a problem back then, too. Fun stuff, but I think I'd wait till the whole series is out before reading them, if I were you.
June 23, 2019
One could read my review for the Myriad (the first book in the series) and it would serve just as well as any review for this, it's sequel. Everything that worked about the first book is back here, along with all the issues.
Unfortunately, while the first book had a certain novelty going for it, Wolf Star lacks even that. It takes the somewhat intriguing time change event from the previous novel and uses it as an excuse to make this novel basically a poorly done prequel of the first one. But it does so in a way where it's not actually a prequel, which is baffling, because a regular prequel would actually have worked fine.
The characters are still great, the action is still breakneck, and if you liked the first book, you likely will enjoy the second. It's fun having the New Roman Empire serve as the adversaries (once more?).
Like the first one, this book was a grand old time, if a little less in most respects. Won't stop me from starting the third soon.
Unfortunately, while the first book had a certain novelty going for it, Wolf Star lacks even that. It takes the somewhat intriguing time change event from the previous novel and uses it as an excuse to make this novel basically a poorly done prequel of the first one. But it does so in a way where it's not actually a prequel, which is baffling, because a regular prequel would actually have worked fine.
The characters are still great, the action is still breakneck, and if you liked the first book, you likely will enjoy the second. It's fun having the New Roman Empire serve as the adversaries (once more?).
Like the first one, this book was a grand old time, if a little less in most respects. Won't stop me from starting the third soon.
July 30, 2023
Wow Meluch can tell a great story. This one was just as good as the first in the series and got an extra star for a better ending. I normally don't read women authors anymore since the feminism disease makes all the modern ones terrible but some blue haired wacko was complaining that this writer wasn't misandrist enough so I gave it a shot. So glad I did.
March 10, 2019
Another good read, though some things were a bit troubling especially with various characters interactions. Overall it had lots of action and some good battles, science gets a bit sketchy for me but not enough to interfere with the plot. I'll probably read the next book in this series.
October 3, 2019
I’m torn. I like the adventure and the space battles. I don’t like the sexism and nationalism. The dislikes haven’t gotten so bad (or so wearing) that I’m off the series, but hopefully this improves.
May 1, 2023
What a fun ride.
This is great space opera. Big, bold, full of action and fun characters, with interesting enemies and obstacles for our heroes to overcome. I loved how the author kept setting up crazy situations for the characters, only for one wrench after another to get thrown into the works. The constant twists and turns were done well; they never feel forced while keeping the reader on his toes. The constant devolvement of every situation from bad, to slightly better, to worse than before, works because it is done in such a way that it keeps things from being too easy or making our heroes TOO smart or TOO lucky.
I enjoyed learning more about the world of the Merrimack while never spending too much time with pointless exposition or worldbuilding. Meluch is excellent in giving the reader only just enough information so that the reader understands what he needs to understand for the novel to work, and then getting back to advancing the plot.
This is plot heavy storytelling with some decent characters. I often end up liking sci-fi books while disliking many of the characters, while here even the characters I didn't like I could tell I wasn't supposed to like, so they ended up being people I could love to hate.
Honestly, this is the most fun I've had reading a book in some time. As soon as I finished this I ordered book 3 in the series. Can't wait to see what happens next.
Oh, and the book also has a space faring futuristic Roman Empire waging war with an idealistic version of a future United States, with voracious space monster swarms thrown in. To anyone who doesn't think that's an awesome premise - all of your thoughts and feelings are wrong.
This is great space opera. Big, bold, full of action and fun characters, with interesting enemies and obstacles for our heroes to overcome. I loved how the author kept setting up crazy situations for the characters, only for one wrench after another to get thrown into the works. The constant twists and turns were done well; they never feel forced while keeping the reader on his toes. The constant devolvement of every situation from bad, to slightly better, to worse than before, works because it is done in such a way that it keeps things from being too easy or making our heroes TOO smart or TOO lucky.
I enjoyed learning more about the world of the Merrimack while never spending too much time with pointless exposition or worldbuilding. Meluch is excellent in giving the reader only just enough information so that the reader understands what he needs to understand for the novel to work, and then getting back to advancing the plot.
This is plot heavy storytelling with some decent characters. I often end up liking sci-fi books while disliking many of the characters, while here even the characters I didn't like I could tell I wasn't supposed to like, so they ended up being people I could love to hate.
Honestly, this is the most fun I've had reading a book in some time. As soon as I finished this I ordered book 3 in the series. Can't wait to see what happens next.
Oh, and the book also has a space faring futuristic Roman Empire waging war with an idealistic version of a future United States, with voracious space monster swarms thrown in. To anyone who doesn't think that's an awesome premise - all of your thoughts and feelings are wrong.
June 19, 2013
Wolf Star is the second book in the Tour of the USS Merrimack series from R.M. Meluch. I liked the first book quite a lot. It's sci-fi with a slight Star Trek feel to it--action, mystery, horrible alien creatures, interesting science, etc. Great fun. This book wasn't quite as engaging as the first one, but still good fun.
The premise: There are basically two political powers at work here--the US and Rome. Each holds different sectors of space and each is vying for what's left. The Merrimack "accidentally" runs across a convoy of Roman ships and assumes that they're part of the operation to create a Catapult, a device able to transport large objects from one specific location to another specific location (like a wormhole, but not), something similar to the US's own Shotgun. They engage . . . but discover that their entire controlling system on the ship has been compromised, at all levels. Now they need to find the mole, figure out how to refit the ship so that this doesn't happen again, and stop the Romans from finishing their work on the Catapult. But when the Merrimack and the Romans meet again, they discover that everything they thought they knew about their universe has completely changed.
Again, I really liked this book. Fast paced, some great characters, and the plot device used at the end of the first book allows us to rediscover the characters in a new way in this one. The books have a strong military feel to them, the science and its workings come across as solid (I'm not a science expert so can't say for certain if they are solid), and once it got started, the plot caught me up and kept me riveted to the book.
And that would be my major problem with this book. The part of the plot that was the most engaging, that sucked me in and made my heart race, didn't get started until 2/3rds of the way through the book. The first 2/3rds of the book was set-up for this other plot, but it just didn't pull me in the same way that last third did. That first part had its interesting moments, but it just wasn't as engaging.
But once you hit what I consider the REAL plot of this book, it explodes. It just takes a while to get there.
So, if you like sci-fi military with some political intrigue followed by some heavy-duty action, then I'd recommend this book and series. Just keep in mind when you start this one that there's a significant portion of set-up before you hit the really good stuff.
The premise: There are basically two political powers at work here--the US and Rome. Each holds different sectors of space and each is vying for what's left. The Merrimack "accidentally" runs across a convoy of Roman ships and assumes that they're part of the operation to create a Catapult, a device able to transport large objects from one specific location to another specific location (like a wormhole, but not), something similar to the US's own Shotgun. They engage . . . but discover that their entire controlling system on the ship has been compromised, at all levels. Now they need to find the mole, figure out how to refit the ship so that this doesn't happen again, and stop the Romans from finishing their work on the Catapult. But when the Merrimack and the Romans meet again, they discover that everything they thought they knew about their universe has completely changed.
Again, I really liked this book. Fast paced, some great characters, and the plot device used at the end of the first book allows us to rediscover the characters in a new way in this one. The books have a strong military feel to them, the science and its workings come across as solid (I'm not a science expert so can't say for certain if they are solid), and once it got started, the plot caught me up and kept me riveted to the book.
And that would be my major problem with this book. The part of the plot that was the most engaging, that sucked me in and made my heart race, didn't get started until 2/3rds of the way through the book. The first 2/3rds of the book was set-up for this other plot, but it just didn't pull me in the same way that last third did. That first part had its interesting moments, but it just wasn't as engaging.
But once you hit what I consider the REAL plot of this book, it explodes. It just takes a while to get there.
So, if you like sci-fi military with some political intrigue followed by some heavy-duty action, then I'd recommend this book and series. Just keep in mind when you start this one that there's a significant portion of set-up before you hit the really good stuff.
May 1, 2023
When I pick up this book the first thing I wondered was, where will it pick up, seeing where the first book ended. What do I mean? Read the first book to find out, I don’t like leaking spoilers. The way the first book finishes is not mentioned anywhere in it description.
Back to this particular book though okay?
Wolf Star picks up some time after the first book, though not as interesting of a tale, it does entertain.
I must admit, and those that know me, when it comes to military, anything, I can’t stand blatant disrespect that goes unpunished. Meaning, characters within the military conducting themselves in outward and openly disrespectful manner toward rank really bothers me.
Don’t get me wrong, disrespect happens all the time, but the way it’s done in books sometimes, leads me to believe the author had absolutely no idea how the military works. The way the disrespect is shown is over the top ridiculous.
Yes this book is filled with this type of disrespect. Yes it is science fiction, set in a universe where space travel is used. Yet the way this story is told entertained the hell out of me.
One of the Biggest and Best ship in the U.S. Fleet, The U.S. Merrimack intercepts a Roman convoy on it’s way with supplies to complete the Roman’s catapult system. This is a mode of travel used to launch ships over vast distances in moments not months and years. Plus, it could send the Roman fleet past U.S. defenses instantaneously.
Only problem the Merrimack faces is this convoy and it’s escort seem to have all the Merrimack’s firing codes and defense codes and seems to be using them at the exact moment Merrimack’s crew initiates them.
How this is possible is due to a situation that has happened regarding Merrimack’s sister ship the U.S. Monitor that has been captured.
Yes the story is basically predictable and does seem to follow a tired, and much used formula, but how it comes back to the first book kept me wanted to read.
Simply put I love this particular conflict, and that it involves Romans (even future Romans) has my attention.
Don’t expect a deep story here. Nothing ground breaking or thought provoking, but much like a fun popcorn flick, this on does deliver on the fun, entertaining level I need from time to time in my escape attempt from this mundane reality I’m forced to face.
With this in mind I do look forward to future tours with the men and women of the U.S. Merrimack.
Back to this particular book though okay?
Wolf Star picks up some time after the first book, though not as interesting of a tale, it does entertain.
I must admit, and those that know me, when it comes to military, anything, I can’t stand blatant disrespect that goes unpunished. Meaning, characters within the military conducting themselves in outward and openly disrespectful manner toward rank really bothers me.
Don’t get me wrong, disrespect happens all the time, but the way it’s done in books sometimes, leads me to believe the author had absolutely no idea how the military works. The way the disrespect is shown is over the top ridiculous.
Yes this book is filled with this type of disrespect. Yes it is science fiction, set in a universe where space travel is used. Yet the way this story is told entertained the hell out of me.
One of the Biggest and Best ship in the U.S. Fleet, The U.S. Merrimack intercepts a Roman convoy on it’s way with supplies to complete the Roman’s catapult system. This is a mode of travel used to launch ships over vast distances in moments not months and years. Plus, it could send the Roman fleet past U.S. defenses instantaneously.
Only problem the Merrimack faces is this convoy and it’s escort seem to have all the Merrimack’s firing codes and defense codes and seems to be using them at the exact moment Merrimack’s crew initiates them.
How this is possible is due to a situation that has happened regarding Merrimack’s sister ship the U.S. Monitor that has been captured.
Yes the story is basically predictable and does seem to follow a tired, and much used formula, but how it comes back to the first book kept me wanted to read.
Simply put I love this particular conflict, and that it involves Romans (even future Romans) has my attention.
Don’t expect a deep story here. Nothing ground breaking or thought provoking, but much like a fun popcorn flick, this on does deliver on the fun, entertaining level I need from time to time in my escape attempt from this mundane reality I’m forced to face.
With this in mind I do look forward to future tours with the men and women of the U.S. Merrimack.
October 29, 2014
No spoilers!
This one is tough to review, because although it does move along several critical plot points in the series, this book ends so abruptly that I'm really disappointed. We're not talking about a sense of "wanting more" here. No, this is a clear case of "did they accidentally leave a couple chapters off of the kindle edition" kind of reaction.
There was a major event at the end that came upon with means to anticipate, which can be fun for sure, but there was no aftermath, and it completely overshadowed the events of the book. Now, take into account that this story introduces a major enemy of the series and the story revolved around our protagonists discovering said enemy, and this has far greater ramifications than the plot twist at the end. What we wind up with is a complete loss of momentum on the primary story.
Imagine, if you will, you're watching an action movie where a team of soldiers fighting for their country completes near impossible mission. Upon completing that mission, they are told that their enemies leader has died. They have a moment to reflect on this and then the movie is over. The end.
That isn't what happened, but it's analogous. The plot twist is political in scope, whereas the story dealt with a crisis to our very species as a whole. I think it would have made a tremendous start to the third book, but as an ending, it stole from the real story and ended the book in a whimper.
There wasn't much in the way of character growth this time around either, although we get to know a few of the characters a little better. The introduction of a new characters does liven it up a bit, and the new enemy has so much potential as an antagonistic element.
The first book did such a great job introducing the universe, and interesting characters to explore that universe. This sequel provides a great new enemy to introduce conflict going forward, but the ending really hurt my desire to continue. I'm really disappointed.
This one is tough to review, because although it does move along several critical plot points in the series, this book ends so abruptly that I'm really disappointed. We're not talking about a sense of "wanting more" here. No, this is a clear case of "did they accidentally leave a couple chapters off of the kindle edition" kind of reaction.
There was a major event at the end that came upon with means to anticipate, which can be fun for sure, but there was no aftermath, and it completely overshadowed the events of the book. Now, take into account that this story introduces a major enemy of the series and the story revolved around our protagonists discovering said enemy, and this has far greater ramifications than the plot twist at the end. What we wind up with is a complete loss of momentum on the primary story.
Imagine, if you will, you're watching an action movie where a team of soldiers fighting for their country completes near impossible mission. Upon completing that mission, they are told that their enemies leader has died. They have a moment to reflect on this and then the movie is over. The end.
That isn't what happened, but it's analogous. The plot twist is political in scope, whereas the story dealt with a crisis to our very species as a whole. I think it would have made a tremendous start to the third book, but as an ending, it stole from the real story and ended the book in a whimper.
There wasn't much in the way of character growth this time around either, although we get to know a few of the characters a little better. The introduction of a new characters does liven it up a bit, and the new enemy has so much potential as an antagonistic element.
The first book did such a great job introducing the universe, and interesting characters to explore that universe. This sequel provides a great new enemy to introduce conflict going forward, but the ending really hurt my desire to continue. I'm really disappointed.
July 9, 2014
So anyone who has read The Myriad knows this is where the Series truly begins. Though there are some differences to pick up on from The Myriad, Wolf Star returns to a time before the Hive when it was just the US and the Romans warring it out for more section in the Galaxy to 'plant their flag' so to speak. The building of a Roman Empire in space was very interesting to me, RM Meluck I read has a major in Ancient culture, one being Roman culture, so it is done very well. The characters are back in full swing, you even get to learn about Cowboy, who was mentioned a lot in the last book by Kerry Blue. Captain Farragut is one of my favorite fictional captains and Colonel Steel is a great Marine enlisted to officer character. Augustus is still Trolling everyone as hard as possible and Calli Carmel comes into her own.
The science is good, and this will sound weird, but it does not bog down the story with overly complicated algorithms. Some people like that, but I do not enjoy three pages explaining how a laser shot from the cannon. Some of it can be very 60's scifi where it isn't trying to be crazy accurate.
What makes the book is it's space battles and Very American characters interacting with Very Roman characters, there is an interesting Culture mesh and imagining of how Romans would act in space, in the future.
If there is one thing that bothers me about this series, is it goes so far to get everything right with Rome, that there is a small, very small detail that pricks me every time I read it in the series, which is unfortunately a lot. I was in ROTC and my father was in the Marines, you don't call an American Marine 'soldier' and an American Marine would never refer to himself as a 'soldier'. No it will not affect my rating of the books, but it is something I have noticed.
The science is good, and this will sound weird, but it does not bog down the story with overly complicated algorithms. Some people like that, but I do not enjoy three pages explaining how a laser shot from the cannon. Some of it can be very 60's scifi where it isn't trying to be crazy accurate.
What makes the book is it's space battles and Very American characters interacting with Very Roman characters, there is an interesting Culture mesh and imagining of how Romans would act in space, in the future.
If there is one thing that bothers me about this series, is it goes so far to get everything right with Rome, that there is a small, very small detail that pricks me every time I read it in the series, which is unfortunately a lot. I was in ROTC and my father was in the Marines, you don't call an American Marine 'soldier' and an American Marine would never refer to himself as a 'soldier'. No it will not affect my rating of the books, but it is something I have noticed.
August 11, 2012
I enjoyed this book very, very much. I had started to read the first book, something held me back and I put it aside. Months later, I ended up reading this one and this one clicked with me. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I ended up reading the one I put aside, and enjoyed that one quite a bit.
John Farragut and crew have been fighting the Roman Empire - which has risen again in the far future, now claiming their own planet and trying to claim many others. The new Roman Empire would like nothing more than to subjugate The U.S., or course. But John Farragut is one of those charismatic leaders who seem gleefully crazed and yet his whole crew follows him loyally.
There's a lot going on in Wolf Star - fights with Roman ships, quite a few close calls and those pesky insects that have killed many planets and ships. There is of course, some SciFi facts inserted, though inserted in a non-boring way. Not being a scientifically minded person, I'm not sure how accurate the scifi is, but it's presented in an interesting and easy to swallow way. Works for me. Because even though I don't consider myself a Scientist Genious, I love reading SciFi - especially SciFi with plenty of female characters who actually have important parts to play.
Many characters from The Myriad have interesting roles in WolfStar. M.J. Meluch really can write great dialogue - the characters read like the people they're supposed to be. The action scenes keep you pumped, and in general this novel is a compelling read. I might have become re-addicted to space opera from reading WolfStar.
I am looking forward to reading more from Meluch.
John Farragut and crew have been fighting the Roman Empire - which has risen again in the far future, now claiming their own planet and trying to claim many others. The new Roman Empire would like nothing more than to subjugate The U.S., or course. But John Farragut is one of those charismatic leaders who seem gleefully crazed and yet his whole crew follows him loyally.
There's a lot going on in Wolf Star - fights with Roman ships, quite a few close calls and those pesky insects that have killed many planets and ships. There is of course, some SciFi facts inserted, though inserted in a non-boring way. Not being a scientifically minded person, I'm not sure how accurate the scifi is, but it's presented in an interesting and easy to swallow way. Works for me. Because even though I don't consider myself a Scientist Genious, I love reading SciFi - especially SciFi with plenty of female characters who actually have important parts to play.
Many characters from The Myriad have interesting roles in WolfStar. M.J. Meluch really can write great dialogue - the characters read like the people they're supposed to be. The action scenes keep you pumped, and in general this novel is a compelling read. I might have become re-addicted to space opera from reading WolfStar.
I am looking forward to reading more from Meluch.
April 22, 2008
Absolutely a delight! Meluch has done a superb job melding an interesting perspective of a possible future with an Alien invasion, all held tight together with a narrative which just plain moves. The characters are rich and deep, unfolding and developing in the most natural way throughout the story arc.
The most interesting part about reading this second book in Meluch's Merrimack trilogy is that the first introduced you to a whole range of characters who developed, matured and evolved to meet the challenges which came their way - and then wiped the slate clean at the end of the book. If you haven't read The Myriad, then definitely grab it first. Though you could read this book without having first read Myriad, there is a depth of understanding and subtle background tension which you are only aware of from the first narrative found in Myriad.
More a space opera than military science fiction, the military strategy and politics really come second to the characters and the action-packed plotline. Though near the end I did find myself with the ghost of Honor Harrington in the back of my mind; in fact, I really wanted to team Meluch's Farragut up with Webber's Harrington - there would be a military pairing which would burn past all the opposition thrown their way.
In the end I have to recommend this book rather wholeheartedly. There are some more mature sexual themes which make it less appropriate for younger readers. Overall, though, this is an excellent example of Science Fiction at its best.
The most interesting part about reading this second book in Meluch's Merrimack trilogy is that the first introduced you to a whole range of characters who developed, matured and evolved to meet the challenges which came their way - and then wiped the slate clean at the end of the book. If you haven't read The Myriad, then definitely grab it first. Though you could read this book without having first read Myriad, there is a depth of understanding and subtle background tension which you are only aware of from the first narrative found in Myriad.
More a space opera than military science fiction, the military strategy and politics really come second to the characters and the action-packed plotline. Though near the end I did find myself with the ghost of Honor Harrington in the back of my mind; in fact, I really wanted to team Meluch's Farragut up with Webber's Harrington - there would be a military pairing which would burn past all the opposition thrown their way.
In the end I have to recommend this book rather wholeheartedly. There are some more mature sexual themes which make it less appropriate for younger readers. Overall, though, this is an excellent example of Science Fiction at its best.
July 2, 2015
A twist at the end of the first book made me throw up my hands in exasperation and wonder if I had just read an entire book for nothing. I need not have worried, the author took the characters in an interesting direction paying off in a big way.
Wolf Star is very enjoyable even better than the first outing. I have read a lot of complaints about paper thin characters and stereotyping, neither of which I found to be deal breakers here.
It was apart refreshing to know what you will get from character to character. Wild cards are wild cards captains are captains and Romans are Romans. No fluff no woe is me moments just people being who they are and it works well here.
The unbeatable alien insect menace has been done to death and I groan every time they appear in a book. Not this time however. The clever ways the crew has to figure out to beat them keeps me turning pages to see how they get out of each mess.
My one complaint and it is a all one would be some of the characters are a little too perfect. When every decision is the right one it takes some tension out of the story.
Wolf Star is very enjoyable even better than the first outing. I have read a lot of complaints about paper thin characters and stereotyping, neither of which I found to be deal breakers here.
It was apart refreshing to know what you will get from character to character. Wild cards are wild cards captains are captains and Romans are Romans. No fluff no woe is me moments just people being who they are and it works well here.
The unbeatable alien insect menace has been done to death and I groan every time they appear in a book. Not this time however. The clever ways the crew has to figure out to beat them keeps me turning pages to see how they get out of each mess.
My one complaint and it is a all one would be some of the characters are a little too perfect. When every decision is the right one it takes some tension out of the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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