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War Dogs #3
Take Back the Sky
The conclusion to an epic interstellar trilogy of war from master of science fiction, Greg Bear.
Marooned beneath the icy, waxy crust of Saturn's moon, Titan, Skyrine Michael Venn and his comrades face double danger from Earth and from the Antagonists, both intent on wiping out their growing awareness of what the helpful alien Gurus are really doing in our solar system.
Haunted by their dead and by the ancient archives of our Bug ancestors, the former combatants must now team up with their enemies, forget their indoctrination and their training, and journey far beyond Pluto to the fabled Planet X, the Antagonists' home world, a Sun-Planet in the comet-generating Kuiper belt. It's here that Master Sergeant Venn will finally understand his destiny and the destiny of every intelligent being in the solar system-including the enigmatic Gurus.
Marooned beneath the icy, waxy crust of Saturn's moon, Titan, Skyrine Michael Venn and his comrades face double danger from Earth and from the Antagonists, both intent on wiping out their growing awareness of what the helpful alien Gurus are really doing in our solar system.
Haunted by their dead and by the ancient archives of our Bug ancestors, the former combatants must now team up with their enemies, forget their indoctrination and their training, and journey far beyond Pluto to the fabled Planet X, the Antagonists' home world, a Sun-Planet in the comet-generating Kuiper belt. It's here that Master Sergeant Venn will finally understand his destiny and the destiny of every intelligent being in the solar system-including the enigmatic Gurus.
296 pages, Hardcover
Published December 20, 2016
151 people are currently reading
365 people want to read
About the author
Greg Bear
230 books2,095 followersGreg Bear was an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. His work covered themes of galactic conflict (Forge of God books), parallel universes (The Way series), consciousness and cultural practices (Queen of Angels), and accelerated evolution (Blood Music, Darwin’s Radio, and Darwin’s Children). His last work was the 2021 novel The Unfinished Land. Greg Bear wrote over 50 books in total.
(For a more complete biography, see Wikipedia.)
(For a more complete biography, see Wikipedia.)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
September 29, 2018
Oh boy, this went downhill for me and fast!
Venn's team of former servants (those having been recruited by the Gurus first) and members of different military units from Earth (Russians, Japanese-Americans, some Skyrines) are first travelling back to Mars, then on to Titan, before traveling to the outer edge of Sol. Along the way, they are learning from the old archives of the "bug" race that possibly started life in Sol and has already encountered the Gurus. They also learn from the Antags and a Guru ship.
The rest of the book is them trying to find a way to push back, expel the Gurus from our home system by teaming up with the Antags.
The MC is still weird. I mean, he's supposed to be a Marine in space. While space is different from Earth, of course, there are certain things I'm sure would still be expected even from a normal Grunt. Even after all the mind-fuckery. Considering that the author supposedly has known and was/is related to a number of people in the military, I had been hoping for a more faithful representation (but this is just my personal preference).
He (Venn) also switches from being rational to being religious to being hornier than a teenager to being an almost hysterical cry-baby. It was … weird, to say the least, even when factoring in all the drugs he’s getting injected with (that was weird in and of itself). Since he always knew about space travel and fighting aliens, that is also not a sufficient excuse for his erratic behavior and way of thinking.
But he wasn’t the only weird one. Remember the Martian girl?
And don’t get me started about Jo and that female Russian, Division 4 and the finding of certain dog tags, all of which constantly gave the impression of not being coincidental but a conspiracy, maybe hinting at a traitor, … the paranoia, the lies and half-truths and reluctant revelation of certain information when it was convenient was annoying instead of suspenseful. It could have been but unfortunately it doesn't seem to have been that.
The people’s private background stories didn’t help (they are sprung on us suddenly and it seems as if the author wanted to make them „complex“ in retrospect).
Moreover, the Antags . *bangs head against wall* We might not be a space-faring species (yet) but this is utterly unrealistic and at some point, my suspension of disbelief just didn’t work anymore.
So, for me, it was about the exploration. About the WHY and WHO (we only know the name Guru, not really what they are or where they are from). This is what I got (and no, it’s not really a spoiler because we were already told in book 2!):
*snorts* As if!
Don’t get me wrong, the title together with the motif could have worked - but it didn’t for me the way the author brought it to the page.
Then, I thought I could focus on but that was actually tedious.
To say that I'm disappointed with the explanation would be putting it mildly. Since we more or less knew about it from the second book on already, I thought the author might be deliberately misleading us all, working for a different story, some twist or something, but nope.
There is no fighting anymore (which I expect in a military scifi novel). Instead, the author gives us one trippy experience after another while the characters are putting one and one together before almost aimlessly travelling through space and while that could have been entertaining, the "reveal" and how it all came together severely dampened that. It also made the last 25% of the book kind of pointless? Not to mention that the suddenly easy communication and flow of knowledge was like a deus ex machina. Meh. This means I’ll also down-rate the previous books. Too bad.
Venn's team of former servants (those having been recruited by the Gurus first) and members of different military units from Earth (Russians, Japanese-Americans, some Skyrines) are first travelling back to Mars, then on to Titan, before traveling to the outer edge of Sol. Along the way, they are learning from the old archives of the "bug" race that possibly started life in Sol and has already encountered the Gurus. They also learn from the Antags and a Guru ship.
The rest of the book is them trying to find a way to push back, expel the Gurus from our home system by teaming up with the Antags.
The MC is still weird. I mean, he's supposed to be a Marine in space. While space is different from Earth, of course, there are certain things I'm sure would still be expected even from a normal Grunt. Even after all the mind-fuckery. Considering that the author supposedly has known and was/is related to a number of people in the military, I had been hoping for a more faithful representation (but this is just my personal preference).
He (Venn) also switches from being rational to being religious to being hornier than a teenager to being an almost hysterical cry-baby. It was … weird, to say the least, even when factoring in all the drugs he’s getting injected with (that was weird in and of itself). Since he always knew about space travel and fighting aliens, that is also not a sufficient excuse for his erratic behavior and way of thinking.
But he wasn’t the only weird one. Remember the Martian girl?
And don’t get me started about Jo and that female Russian, Division 4 and the finding of certain dog tags, all of which constantly gave the impression of not being coincidental but a conspiracy, maybe hinting at a traitor, … the paranoia, the lies and half-truths and reluctant revelation of certain information when it was convenient was annoying instead of suspenseful. It could have been but unfortunately it doesn't seem to have been that.
The people’s private background stories didn’t help (they are sprung on us suddenly and it seems as if the author wanted to make them „complex“ in retrospect).
Moreover, the Antags . *bangs head against wall* We might not be a space-faring species (yet) but this is utterly unrealistic and at some point, my suspension of disbelief just didn’t work anymore.
So, for me, it was about the exploration. About the WHY and WHO (we only know the name Guru, not really what they are or where they are from). This is what I got (and no, it’s not really a spoiler because we were already told in book 2!):
*snorts* As if!
Don’t get me wrong, the title together with the motif could have worked - but it didn’t for me the way the author brought it to the page.
Then, I thought I could focus on but that was actually tedious.
To say that I'm disappointed with the explanation would be putting it mildly. Since we more or less knew about it from the second book on already, I thought the author might be deliberately misleading us all, working for a different story, some twist or something, but nope.
There is no fighting anymore (which I expect in a military scifi novel). Instead, the author gives us one trippy experience after another while the characters are putting one and one together before almost aimlessly travelling through space and while that could have been entertaining, the "reveal" and how it all came together severely dampened that. It also made the last 25% of the book kind of pointless? Not to mention that the suddenly easy communication and flow of knowledge was like a deus ex machina. Meh. This means I’ll also down-rate the previous books. Too bad.
September 29, 2018
Believe it or not, this book was a pretty solid 3 star rating that slipped a bit to 2 stars for a few stretches in the "so this is the alien we've surrendered to" dialogues.
Descriptions of the mysterious Planet X, the bombardments of planets over millions of years, the evolving history of the Gurus, the Antags, and the whole nature of the entire mess was slightly better.
In some ways, this book and the others that preceded it would have been better served as a straight discussion of war-profiteering, war-as-entertainment for the elite, and an all-around mind-fuq for all the lousy saps getting caught in the circus.
Who knows? Maybe it still can. But for most of the book, we're involved in a not-so-surprising mystery that unfolds.
The GURUS ARE EVIL???
Ahem. And the rest of us, Antags included, are dupes? That we're all just pit dogs fighting it out for the amusement of arseholes?
Well, fortunately, the last half of the novel was pretty cool and I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than the first half and a long stretch of the second novel.
This was something of a hit-or-miss novel. I include that as a whole hit-or-miss series. It's likely Bear's worst works. Some good parts were here, mind you, and the battles and a few of the wilder ideas were pretty awesome, but I was NOT that invested.
I miss Queen of Angels, Moving Mars, Blood Music, or even his original fantasy titles! I miss Darwin's Radio!
Well. We can't always get what we want. Still, I'm glad I finally got to see what these latest novels were all about.
Descriptions of the mysterious Planet X, the bombardments of planets over millions of years, the evolving history of the Gurus, the Antags, and the whole nature of the entire mess was slightly better.
In some ways, this book and the others that preceded it would have been better served as a straight discussion of war-profiteering, war-as-entertainment for the elite, and an all-around mind-fuq for all the lousy saps getting caught in the circus.
Who knows? Maybe it still can. But for most of the book, we're involved in a not-so-surprising mystery that unfolds.
The GURUS ARE EVIL???
Ahem. And the rest of us, Antags included, are dupes? That we're all just pit dogs fighting it out for the amusement of arseholes?
Well, fortunately, the last half of the novel was pretty cool and I enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than the first half and a long stretch of the second novel.
This was something of a hit-or-miss novel. I include that as a whole hit-or-miss series. It's likely Bear's worst works. Some good parts were here, mind you, and the battles and a few of the wilder ideas were pretty awesome, but I was NOT that invested.
I miss Queen of Angels, Moving Mars, Blood Music, or even his original fantasy titles! I miss Darwin's Radio!
Well. We can't always get what we want. Still, I'm glad I finally got to see what these latest novels were all about.
January 11, 2017
Military SF, conclusion to a trilogy.
With POV character, Skyrine Michael Venn, author Bear completes the story of a war weirder and more confounding than any ever conceived, hyperbole intended. By now, we know that the Grifter is an archive/library/research center (per Book 1), and the alien Antags have cooler weapons than the human troops (Book 2), and finally, it is time for the big reveal --- what is the true nature of the seemingly benevolent Gurus, source of highly-advanced tech. At the end of Book 2, Venn and his squad are captured by/surrender to the Antags. Book 3 picks up from there, and we find the main characters being herded onto a massive spaceship, ostensibly en route to the Antag homeworld. But of course, Bear has something else in mind, and delivers a knockout conclusion via the proverbial third hand (head butt).
As always, a challenge to read Bear, never a straight read, requiring the re-reading sections or chapters to stay in tune with the thread of the story. But this type of perseverance has ever been rewarded with Bear's unique SF perspective and quirky imagination. In parts, the narrative is horrific, with R-rated battles and scenes of torture. And the bulk of the story, while the action is taking place on the continuously morphing spaceship, had me wondering where/what this all was leading to. But in the end, the wrap-up is pure SF imagineering with a scale and depth that is thought-provoking and trip-inducing.
This is maybe one case where a casual infodump would have helped early on. But the author sticks with the POV of a somewhat out-of-sorts grunt. I can respect that, though as noted, it doesn't make for an easy read. Anyway, how about a big hand for a masterful effort! 4.5 stars, perhaps closer to 5 stars.
With POV character, Skyrine Michael Venn, author Bear completes the story of a war weirder and more confounding than any ever conceived, hyperbole intended. By now, we know that the Grifter is an archive/library/research center (per Book 1), and the alien Antags have cooler weapons than the human troops (Book 2), and finally, it is time for the big reveal --- what is the true nature of the seemingly benevolent Gurus, source of highly-advanced tech. At the end of Book 2, Venn and his squad are captured by/surrender to the Antags. Book 3 picks up from there, and we find the main characters being herded onto a massive spaceship, ostensibly en route to the Antag homeworld. But of course, Bear has something else in mind, and delivers a knockout conclusion via the proverbial third hand (head butt).
As always, a challenge to read Bear, never a straight read, requiring the re-reading sections or chapters to stay in tune with the thread of the story. But this type of perseverance has ever been rewarded with Bear's unique SF perspective and quirky imagination. In parts, the narrative is horrific, with R-rated battles and scenes of torture. And the bulk of the story, while the action is taking place on the continuously morphing spaceship, had me wondering where/what this all was leading to. But in the end, the wrap-up is pure SF imagineering with a scale and depth that is thought-provoking and trip-inducing.
This is maybe one case where a casual infodump would have helped early on. But the author sticks with the POV of a somewhat out-of-sorts grunt. I can respect that, though as noted, it doesn't make for an easy read. Anyway, how about a big hand for a masterful effort! 4.5 stars, perhaps closer to 5 stars.
July 31, 2017
Abandoned by the evil aliens, eventually the broken soldiers get to come home. At least the ones that survive the boring long trip. And I was bored and the book felt longer than it actually was. But it ended well and better than I expected. But it just wasn't worth the time invested. The ideas weren't all that interesting and neither were the characters nor the writing. Not one of the author's better works, though I've read worse.
August 1, 2025
Not What I Expected
This is an interesting book and series. It appears to be military sci fi, but there really isn't that much action or war. There isn't much of a plot really. It meanders and things just kind of happen to the mc. The characters aren't super fleshed out or interesting. I shouldn't like this but dammit I did. The concepts and setting are so out there and weird I just got really immersed.
This is an interesting book and series. It appears to be military sci fi, but there really isn't that much action or war. There isn't much of a plot really. It meanders and things just kind of happen to the mc. The characters aren't super fleshed out or interesting. I shouldn't like this but dammit I did. The concepts and setting are so out there and weird I just got really immersed.
January 3, 2020
Skyrines Michael Venn and other survivors of the combat on Titan flee allies who are attempting to destroy them. Their only chance of survival is to surrender to the Antagonists and the Gurus, but even then they face peril as their enemies' ship makes its way to Planet X.
November 17, 2017
Concludes the War Dogs Trilogy. Torture. The first book (War Dogs) was worthwhile and entertaining. The second book (Killing Titan) was a decent follow-up, although not quite as good as War Dogs. Seems like the author ran out of ideas for this book. Most of it is a long trip to a distant planet (Planet Nine? Bear doesn't seem to know) in the Kuiper Belt, during which nothing very interesting happens, but we are let in on all the 'not-very-interesting' happenings. Conclusion doesn't seem to resolve much. Very unsatisfying after a promising start to the series. I persevered through this book hoping for some kind of payoff - It failed to deliver as far as I'm concerned.
February 3, 2017
I was disappointed in the finale of War Dogs series. It was weirdly confused. I felt that the author lost interest in the subject and just rushed to finish it. The dénouement was actually mawkish. Bear could have done better.
December 9, 2017
Take Back the Sky is the final of the War dogs trilogy. It is a very enjoyable read and is a good conclusion to the series. This one takes a bit of concentration because it is not an easy read because there is so much going on with both the story and the underlying social commentary that Greg Bear puts into his books. As an analogy to both Vietnam and Afghanistan, the frustration the troops endure and the lack of trust wears on you throughout. Everything is slanted and nothing is what it seems. It is a nice touch.
This is not a stand alone and must be read with the other two.
An enjoyable read.
This is not a stand alone and must be read with the other two.
An enjoyable read.
July 26, 2025
Sadly, I feel like I enjoyed each book in this trilogy a bit less than the one before it. It was a real slog to finish the the last book but I felt like I had invested enough time already that I wanted to see how it ended. The ending was OK but felt a little rushed. Overall I won't say that this is a bad series, just that it's not really my bag. 2.5 stars
August 21, 2017
I have to say I really enjoyed this trilogy by Greg Bear. I have always liked his books and this series was an interesting premise on war and entertainment. The main character was really nicely developed over the course of the books, and the "technology" of series was also very interesting. My only recommendation is to read the three books one right after another without too much of a break so the players and situations are fresh in your mind. I took a break between book 2 and 3 and had to look up some of the people to remember who was who. But let me focus on this book alone.
So, in this book we have a truce between the humans and the Antags on Titan because of the realizations that the Gurus are screwing us all over to broadcast our war as a form of entertainment for unknown viewers. They are being chased by Humans loyal to the Gurus who are trying to wipe out the archives of the bugs and our heroes. They all escape in a Guru ship that is bigger than anything they have seen. It was the ship that brought the Antags to the inner system to wage this war. We get to know the Antags and their social behavior better as well as get to know this Guru ship. There are two other servant species that are on the ship as well, one bat like and one squid like. At first there is distrust by the Antags and Bird Girl, but eventually they work together because they need the Humans to help get to the bridge and start the journey back to their home-world, out far past Pluto.
During the course of the trip, as they become more familiar with each other, the Antags and the Humans learn to distrust each other less, and learn of the manipulations of the Gurus more. They find out that the Gurus have been using species for untold aeons, coming to them, saying they will provide them with better technology, but the catch is they are being chased and needed protection, leading to wars. Of course the Gurus told the species coming the exact same thing. All this is being broadcast to a jaded audience who is watching whatever form of transmission that the Gurus are sending of the death and destruction. Our characters also learn that they were not the first humans on the ship, when they find the dog tags of a soldier that they knew who they beat up for attacking a female Skyrene and was drummed out of the military.
During the journey our characters are brought to a "machine" in space that has been shifting the orbit of comets, moons and planets for many thousands of years, before heading on to Planet X, the Antag homeworld. On the way there they find out that the Gurus had already taken another species there and wiped out the Angtag race. Before heading to the surface of a demolished planet and waiting enemies to their certain death, Bird Girl and the other Antags entrust the remaining Humans with a egg that can hatch several of their kind and keep their species from extinction. Then the Guru ships is piloted back in-system with a stop by Mars and Earth to drop off the rest of the team and picking up the Gurus and their followers on the way to a new set of planets for the next series of wars, before being piloted into the Sun to end the domination by the Gurus.
I really enjoyed how the characters grew over the course of the series and this book. We saw trust and distrust between species and between team members. We saw changes in beliefs and relationships and how Venn went from a soldier to a person. I was so happy when he made it home to Earth and a normal life, and how it ends with him finding a relationship on the way. It really made for a good ending to the series. Greg Bear showed me again why he is one of the best writers around.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2017
2 stars - Metaphorosis Reviews
The conclusion of a trilogy. A hard-bitten marine, with an accidental telepathic link to both humanity's enemies (the Antagonists) and to the data libraries of a long-dead alien race, travels across the solar system to try and defeat the race that secretly controls both humans and Antagonists.
I've read some of Greg Bear's work before, decades ago (e.g., Eon). I didn't care for it much. I'm sorry to say that neither age nor experience has increased my enjoyment. I wish I could blame it on coming in at the end of the trilogy, but in fact the backstory was fairly clear; Bear does a good job of bringing us up to date without infodumps. It's the rest of the book I had trouble with. The prose is choppy, seemingly in an attempt to illustrate natural dialogue, but the fact is that people don't talk like this most of the time. The plot points are fairly arbitrary; even allowing for the complexity of the backdrop, very little of what happens makes much sense. Even the book's major quest element - a long voyage - ends up having little purpose, and then the book ends in an inconsequential rush.
If you loved the first books of the trilogy, or you're one of the fans who have brought Bear his continued success, I assume you'll like this too. If you're new to Bear or the trilogy, I can't recommend this; it's just not a good book.
The conclusion of a trilogy. A hard-bitten marine, with an accidental telepathic link to both humanity's enemies (the Antagonists) and to the data libraries of a long-dead alien race, travels across the solar system to try and defeat the race that secretly controls both humans and Antagonists.
I've read some of Greg Bear's work before, decades ago (e.g., Eon). I didn't care for it much. I'm sorry to say that neither age nor experience has increased my enjoyment. I wish I could blame it on coming in at the end of the trilogy, but in fact the backstory was fairly clear; Bear does a good job of bringing us up to date without infodumps. It's the rest of the book I had trouble with. The prose is choppy, seemingly in an attempt to illustrate natural dialogue, but the fact is that people don't talk like this most of the time. The plot points are fairly arbitrary; even allowing for the complexity of the backdrop, very little of what happens makes much sense. Even the book's major quest element - a long voyage - ends up having little purpose, and then the book ends in an inconsequential rush.
If you loved the first books of the trilogy, or you're one of the fans who have brought Bear his continued success, I assume you'll like this too. If you're new to Bear or the trilogy, I can't recommend this; it's just not a good book.
July 24, 2020
So book 1 is military scifi, book 2 is questioning your reality, and book 3 is existential dread. So an interesting series
April 4, 2025
DNF at ~25%
I went through the first couple of books really quickly, they're interesting without being difficult to consume. This one, unfortunately, was difficult to consume. Watching the characters stumble and argue their way to the foregone conclusion the readers have already figured out - not a fun time for the reader. And then . This has already been done better by other authors and it just felt like the author was being lazy here, and I gave up on the series.
Bechdel test? NO
Mako Mori test? NO
Vito Russo test? NO
Latif test? NO
Reading Level: easy adult
Romance: NO
Smut: NO
Violence: yes
TW: military violence, harsh language
I went through the first couple of books really quickly, they're interesting without being difficult to consume. This one, unfortunately, was difficult to consume. Watching the characters stumble and argue their way to the foregone conclusion the readers have already figured out - not a fun time for the reader. And then . This has already been done better by other authors and it just felt like the author was being lazy here, and I gave up on the series.
Bechdel test? NO
Mako Mori test? NO
Vito Russo test? NO
Latif test? NO
Reading Level: easy adult
Romance: NO
Smut: NO
Violence: yes
TW: military violence, harsh language
May 24, 2024
I literally read the last book first so I didn’t have a diddlysquat what was happening
February 4, 2017
Well, shucks. Once again an established writer leads me through a multi-volume story with some really interesting characters and situations, and once again I am disappointed by where it goes.
I'm not saying Bear got it wrong; it's his book. I just think he might have done better.
I can't argue with his decision to stay with Venn's POV, but it did make the book drag sometimes, even if the point was to show us that they were bored and frustrated.
Here are some random thoughts about this book.
To save you looking if you didn't two books ago, "starshina" is an actual Russian rank.
Am I the only one who got a bit lost in the who's who of galactic races, some using more than one name? I think I finally sorted out the bugs and gurus and keepers and antagonists and the Big Dark Thing That We Don't Know Who It Is, but it took a while.
Never did work out the deal with Kumar and his erstwhile partner.
Thought the thing with Ishida was well handled, although it seems odd that with the amount of high-tech she carries, (a) there is only one of her, and (b) the others seem to think she's nothing unusual.
In the end, the explanation of what the Gurus are up to has two prongs to it , and I'm not sure they are compatible. Also we might need more exploration of how the fate of the Antagonists in this book fits with the "keeper" part of that.
And perhaps one day Bear will explain how screw-shaped configurations of trees make a star drive.
Or why Sudbury appears, if it isn't a case of "this is boring, I'd better add some conflict."
There's a fair bit of "Ewww!" violence, of the kind one expects in a space opera. It's not out of place, I'm just warning you.
If there's another book here, perhaps it can explore the consequences of the folks back at Titan, who appeared to think "If in doubt, blow it all up real good." And surely it HAS to explore the Big Dark Thing and who's behind it.
In the end, I'm left feeling that I read another formula military SF: redshirts led by a seen-it-all NCO (even if there are officers, the NCO is driving the plot); long periods of boredom; inexplicable and obviously-wrong decisions by the senior officers offstage; a long period of walking and "what is this strange place?" with occasional bursts of redshirts getting killed; something weird slowly happening to one of them; a final confrontation, and the great reveal (usually unsatisfying) of what's been going on here. I'm tired of it, even if many really good authors have used it.
I'm going to look for more SF that isn't the "military SF" style for a while. There's plenty of it, and Bear has written some of it.
I'm not saying Bear got it wrong; it's his book. I just think he might have done better.
I can't argue with his decision to stay with Venn's POV, but it did make the book drag sometimes, even if the point was to show us that they were bored and frustrated.
Here are some random thoughts about this book.
To save you looking if you didn't two books ago, "starshina" is an actual Russian rank.
Am I the only one who got a bit lost in the who's who of galactic races, some using more than one name? I think I finally sorted out the bugs and gurus and keepers and antagonists and the Big Dark Thing That We Don't Know Who It Is, but it took a while.
Never did work out the deal with Kumar and his erstwhile partner.
Thought the thing with Ishida was well handled, although it seems odd that with the amount of high-tech she carries, (a) there is only one of her, and (b) the others seem to think she's nothing unusual.
In the end, the explanation of what the Gurus are up to has two prongs to it , and I'm not sure they are compatible. Also we might need more exploration of how the fate of the Antagonists in this book fits with the "keeper" part of that.
And perhaps one day Bear will explain how screw-shaped configurations of trees make a star drive.
Or why Sudbury appears, if it isn't a case of "this is boring, I'd better add some conflict."
There's a fair bit of "Ewww!" violence, of the kind one expects in a space opera. It's not out of place, I'm just warning you.
If there's another book here, perhaps it can explore the consequences of the folks back at Titan, who appeared to think "If in doubt, blow it all up real good." And surely it HAS to explore the Big Dark Thing and who's behind it.
In the end, I'm left feeling that I read another formula military SF: redshirts led by a seen-it-all NCO (even if there are officers, the NCO is driving the plot); long periods of boredom; inexplicable and obviously-wrong decisions by the senior officers offstage; a long period of walking and "what is this strange place?" with occasional bursts of redshirts getting killed; something weird slowly happening to one of them; a final confrontation, and the great reveal (usually unsatisfying) of what's been going on here. I'm tired of it, even if many really good authors have used it.
I'm going to look for more SF that isn't the "military SF" style for a while. There's plenty of it, and Bear has written some of it.
May 18, 2017
This book was a disappointment. Bear attempts to sustain a sense of not knowing for a very long period. He creates a sense of mystery that remains less than awe-inspiring because there is almost nothing coherent or familiar in the progression from place to place on the giant ship his characters enter and explore. We are left asking why as are all of his characters. Who are the enemies? Who are the friends? Who are the traitors? Who are the protectors? Yes it is truly alien and weird and inscrutable but so much so that it goes beyond Vinge's "Fire Upon the Deep", where the desire of the captives inspired them to learn and gain insight into their captivity. But Bear's Sargeant Vinn is beyond hope, emotionally destroyed and existing at a level where even his own thoughts may not be his own. Everyone's motivation is mysterious and there is no third person to guide us. We are lost amongst the background of an epic journey with no signposts and no transformation of the protagonists. It is a rehash of the meaninglessness of war that in itself becomes meaningless.
Perhaps if I read it closer on the heels of the prior book, which I found awesome and compelling, I might have a different opinion. But these are memories of characters lost to time whose reveries and suffering take place in mists, fog and darkness.
Perhaps if I read it closer on the heels of the prior book, which I found awesome and compelling, I might have a different opinion. But these are memories of characters lost to time whose reveries and suffering take place in mists, fog and darkness.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 19, 2018
I don't know that this really stuck the landing. There are some big, kind of confusing ideas here, and there were moments when my brain kinda... slipped off the tracks, and I had to go back and figure out what the heck was going on. The second book introduces this idea that the humans and "Antags" are being pitted against each other by another alien race that is using their war for entertainment. That was the big reveal. In this book, that "reveal" is not really capitalized upon. Sure, we learn a lot more, and the secrets get more twisty and weird, but at the end of the day, that reveal is the big reveal, and it happens in book two.
Also, the ending was kind of lackluster. After everything else that went down, it's jarring that Venn is able to go back to Seattle and hang out like everything is normal. The final moment has Joe suggesting that Venn go back to Mars, so it also feels like this ending isn't a proper wrap-up for his character. In fact, none of the characters feel fully realized to me. I was intrigued by aspects of them and their relationships, but this really is a book of ideas more than it is a book of characters, and that's just generally not my cup of tea.
That's a good blanket statement for this whole series, actually. There were lots of good things about it and ultimately I'm glad I read them... but it's just not my thing.
Also, the ending was kind of lackluster. After everything else that went down, it's jarring that Venn is able to go back to Seattle and hang out like everything is normal. The final moment has Joe suggesting that Venn go back to Mars, so it also feels like this ending isn't a proper wrap-up for his character. In fact, none of the characters feel fully realized to me. I was intrigued by aspects of them and their relationships, but this really is a book of ideas more than it is a book of characters, and that's just generally not my cup of tea.
That's a good blanket statement for this whole series, actually. There were lots of good things about it and ultimately I'm glad I read them... but it's just not my thing.
April 21, 2019
I'm REALLY glad I got this from the library. If you read the trilogy in one book it might be better. This one wrapped up the series very loosely. So many things were not really answered, and in a lot of cases I found myself not really caring.
There was a really good idea here, but I feel like it just didn't come out quite fully baked.
Instead of spending so many pages describing Venn's point of views, it would have been really interesting to spend a chapter or two talking from one of the other character's point of view. Granted, many of the characters we barely 1 dimensional, but hearing from Borden or one of the Russians would have added so much depth to this series.
Also: Total BS that Joe's character isn't more explained. By the end of the book is seems pretty clear who/what he is, but that is never even brought up.
There was a really good idea here, but I feel like it just didn't come out quite fully baked.
Instead of spending so many pages describing Venn's point of views, it would have been really interesting to spend a chapter or two talking from one of the other character's point of view. Granted, many of the characters we barely 1 dimensional, but hearing from Borden or one of the Russians would have added so much depth to this series.
Also: Total BS that Joe's character isn't more explained. By the end of the book is seems pretty clear who/what he is, but that is never even brought up.
May 13, 2017
I read this straight from the second book (which failed to grip me in the way the first did) on 5 hour plane journey, and pretty much finished it during that journey. The book reminded me muchly of Amazon packaging - there was an awfully big box, with lots of filling and empty space, and a small product in the middle. This book just seemed to descend into a rambling survival-on-an-interstellar-ark kind of story, with ambivalent but antagonist but friendly aliens thrown in. To be honest, I got to the end and was relieved - that there wasn't a sequel, and that the story concluded satisfactorily. Almost from the first page the book started to lose my interest, but thankfully it wasn't a long one, so I could grit me teeth and soldier on to the end, much like Vin.
July 21, 2018
Well, that was a bit disappointing. What might have been a great finale that tied it all together, turned out to be a wandering, rambling, confusing and somewhat boring story. Where book 1 and 2 work towards a climax, this book is mainly about whining soldiers in a big spaceship wearing pyjamas and having no agency at all. Everything happens to them and they are never in control, except one whose actions save the day.
Yes there are some interesting ideas, the Guru's reality show, the archives, the ship, but even the descriptions of the ship are unclear, compared to say, Rendezvous with Rama. This book reminds me of Blindsight where the ship is unknown and incomprehensible and all characters are confused and without direction.
I can't say there's much left of my earlier enthusiasm.
Yes there are some interesting ideas, the Guru's reality show, the archives, the ship, but even the descriptions of the ship are unclear, compared to say, Rendezvous with Rama. This book reminds me of Blindsight where the ship is unknown and incomprehensible and all characters are confused and without direction.
I can't say there's much left of my earlier enthusiasm.
January 1, 2021
I finished this because I'm a completionist, but god was it a slog. All the actual interesting stuff either happened off-screen or via Deus-ex-machina. The actual presence of our theoretical protagonists did not seem to make any difference. Things which were, I think, supposed to be powerful and emotional movements, were just flat. I don't fully understand how we got from the first book to here because I don't see what the point of this series is.
February 28, 2017
I am such a book slut, why don't I read my own reviews? But when a shiny new book from an author I normally enjoy shows up on the libraries new shelf, I can't resist.
The first third of this book continues the victimization of the characters from the previous books and I gave up and did not finish.
The first third of this book continues the victimization of the characters from the previous books and I gave up and did not finish.
October 27, 2017
This book rambles on and on with no point other than, an intermittent metaphysical link the protagonist has with an alien. The physical settings are beyond comprehensible description. Boring and baffling a waste of time.
May 28, 2017
Again a solid entry from Greg Bear, this wraps up the War Dogs trilogy.
Here we learn a lot more about the Gurus role in the conflict between the Antags and the Humans, and what their future plans are. We see the dastardly plans that led to the genocide of the Antags and the Searchers. I may have missed out something in the earlier books because . Here we get a deeper understanding into the plans that the Gurus have for us and how our rag tag heroes manage to survive and avert this.
The psyche of Vin also helps the reader immerse into the story, one can really feel the mental strain and hurt that the entire group feels because at the end, it is revealed that . With a happy ending with Vin finding his way home and peace eventually, the epilogue holds a teaser for a expansion to this universe.
On the whole, the War Dogs trilogy had a decent space opera feel to it - more so than as a military thriller, but the premise and construction of the universe here, where it is implied that the Gurus have control over a much larger area of the Galaxy and that there is more life in the Solar System than it seems to be, it would perhaps be interesting if Bear returns to this saga in the future.
Here we learn a lot more about the Gurus role in the conflict between the Antags and the Humans, and what their future plans are. We see the dastardly plans that led to the genocide of the Antags and the Searchers. I may have missed out something in the earlier books because . Here we get a deeper understanding into the plans that the Gurus have for us and how our rag tag heroes manage to survive and avert this.
The psyche of Vin also helps the reader immerse into the story, one can really feel the mental strain and hurt that the entire group feels because at the end, it is revealed that . With a happy ending with Vin finding his way home and peace eventually, the epilogue holds a teaser for a expansion to this universe.
On the whole, the War Dogs trilogy had a decent space opera feel to it - more so than as a military thriller, but the premise and construction of the universe here, where it is implied that the Gurus have control over a much larger area of the Galaxy and that there is more life in the Solar System than it seems to be, it would perhaps be interesting if Bear returns to this saga in the future.
October 13, 2021
While this did, in fact, technically end the series, it was not a very believable or satisfying conclusion. I think the reason I felt this way was that the levels of power and age for the various aliens got to the point of being mind-boggling, especially the one totally mysterious faction that seemed to be just out there getting their jollies messing with the Oort cloud.
Once we finally got to see what might be the real motivation of the Gurus [and we never do get a solid version of that, only stories from a frankly unreliable source], the problem became one of scale. If they had the power to do the things shown in the story, unless the ONLY Gurus in our vicinity are disposed of, we have no hope of winning. At the end of this book, they MAY be gone, if nothing has gone wrong with a very shaky plan.
The result, for me, was a book with a very shaky ending being the conclusion to a trilogy that was both fascinating and horrifying, in terms of how low on a cosmic scale humanity is placed.
Also, in thinking about things like, oh, science, I had problems with the apparent multiple inhabitable planets out that far from the Sun that somehow had life forms using vision of light as a primary sense. Even if the energy is somehow there to create habitable worlds, why does vision evolve there as a primary sense? Sigh.
Once we finally got to see what might be the real motivation of the Gurus [and we never do get a solid version of that, only stories from a frankly unreliable source], the problem became one of scale. If they had the power to do the things shown in the story, unless the ONLY Gurus in our vicinity are disposed of, we have no hope of winning. At the end of this book, they MAY be gone, if nothing has gone wrong with a very shaky plan.
The result, for me, was a book with a very shaky ending being the conclusion to a trilogy that was both fascinating and horrifying, in terms of how low on a cosmic scale humanity is placed.
Also, in thinking about things like, oh, science, I had problems with the apparent multiple inhabitable planets out that far from the Sun that somehow had life forms using vision of light as a primary sense. Even if the energy is somehow there to create habitable worlds, why does vision evolve there as a primary sense? Sigh.
December 4, 2022
Desperately sad that Greg Bear died whilst I was halfway through this book. A great hard SF author who, whilst not always completely clicking with me, wrote some classics of the genre.
Take Back the Sky is the third book in Bear’s War Dogs trilogy about a war against the alien ‘Antags’ invasion. The first book was a mostly straight forward military SF thriller with some little weirdness, the second book ramped that weirdness up moderately significantly and this last book took it even further and became quite grim and dark in many places. There are many similarities with Bear’s earlier Hull Zero Three, as much of the action takes place in a vast semi, or possibly completely, organic and utterly perplexing spaceship, following the protagonists’ attempts to understand and survive its various systems. Ultimately, the ending provides a satisfying explanation and conclusion to the trilogy, if just a little too much by way of a convenient deus ex machina. As with the previous two books this was a good but not exceptional read and I again find I have a distinct preference for his earlier works.
Take Back the Sky is the third book in Bear’s War Dogs trilogy about a war against the alien ‘Antags’ invasion. The first book was a mostly straight forward military SF thriller with some little weirdness, the second book ramped that weirdness up moderately significantly and this last book took it even further and became quite grim and dark in many places. There are many similarities with Bear’s earlier Hull Zero Three, as much of the action takes place in a vast semi, or possibly completely, organic and utterly perplexing spaceship, following the protagonists’ attempts to understand and survive its various systems. Ultimately, the ending provides a satisfying explanation and conclusion to the trilogy, if just a little too much by way of a convenient deus ex machina. As with the previous two books this was a good but not exceptional read and I again find I have a distinct preference for his earlier works.
July 19, 2019
"Take Back The Sky" is the third book in Greg Bear's "War Dogs" trilogy. I know that I did not review the first two books, but how can you truly review until you reach the end of a tale.
I waited. So this is a review of the trilogy rather than the three individual novels.
Imagine "Starship Troopers" with a bit more science and original thought. First impressions; This is a series that you have to read in order. You cannot read the third book first and then go back. Nothing will make any sense. So you have to read the trilogy in the order ordained.
What seems like a silly idea and one worked on by a few sci-fi authors before. Mr Bear improves upon, perfects the idea and does it better than Heinlein and EE Doc Smith. This trilogy will not be for everyone but I enjoyed it much more than I expected to.
The peculiar jumping between sci-fi and hard sci- fi may discomfit some of the "ray guns in space" brigade, For true sci-fi buffs this works better than I could have imagined.
I waited. So this is a review of the trilogy rather than the three individual novels.
Imagine "Starship Troopers" with a bit more science and original thought. First impressions; This is a series that you have to read in order. You cannot read the third book first and then go back. Nothing will make any sense. So you have to read the trilogy in the order ordained.
What seems like a silly idea and one worked on by a few sci-fi authors before. Mr Bear improves upon, perfects the idea and does it better than Heinlein and EE Doc Smith. This trilogy will not be for everyone but I enjoyed it much more than I expected to.
The peculiar jumping between sci-fi and hard sci- fi may discomfit some of the "ray guns in space" brigade, For true sci-fi buffs this works better than I could have imagined.
November 15, 2021
Good ending to this well-written, sometimes trippy, sometimes mind-boggling military science fiction trilogy.
The ending didn’t quite satisfy as much as I hoped it would. I was hoping for a bit of an explosive climax- a great big badass end battle maybe- it didn’t really have that. The end was a bit of a “Huh… well okay.” moment. Which come to think of it, makes sense since this trilogy is ultimately about the futility of war. So the ending fit.
Most, if not all, of the questions I had throughout the trilogy were answered with this final book. Fast paced, well plotted, flawed, realistic characters, great military dynamics, cool world building and alien species. Solid ending to a really well done military scifi trilogy.
The ending didn’t quite satisfy as much as I hoped it would. I was hoping for a bit of an explosive climax- a great big badass end battle maybe- it didn’t really have that. The end was a bit of a “Huh… well okay.” moment. Which come to think of it, makes sense since this trilogy is ultimately about the futility of war. So the ending fit.
Most, if not all, of the questions I had throughout the trilogy were answered with this final book. Fast paced, well plotted, flawed, realistic characters, great military dynamics, cool world building and alien species. Solid ending to a really well done military scifi trilogy.
March 29, 2023
I like the concept of planets having internal heat and being able to support life, even at great distances from the Sun. And given that, there can be a whole outer solar system of inhabited planets, from the moons of Saturn way on out to the Kuiper Belt.
Wrapping up the story. I felt like this did not quite keep up the pace of the the suspense and the big reveals of the first two books, but still a great end to the whole story. This is one of those trilogies where the whole thing could have been easily been released as one huge volume. Peter Hamilton is not scared to release a book with 1200 or 1500 pages.
Wrapping up the story. I felt like this did not quite keep up the pace of the the suspense and the big reveals of the first two books, but still a great end to the whole story. This is one of those trilogies where the whole thing could have been easily been released as one huge volume. Peter Hamilton is not scared to release a book with 1200 or 1500 pages.
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