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The Damned #3

The Spoils of War

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The Weave was on the verge of winning a decisive victory after a milennia of war, thanks to their new allies from earth. But then the birdlike Wais scholar Lalelang found evidence that Humans might not adapt well to peace. Researching further, she uncovered a secret group of telepathic Humans called the Core, who were on the verge of starting another war, and then eliminating Lalelang. At the last moment, she was saved by a lone Core commander. He took a chance on her intelligence and compassion, and gambled the fate of Humanity on the possibility that together, they could find an alternative to a galaxy-wide bloodbath....

296 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 16, 1993

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About the author

Alan Dean Foster

498 books2,033 followers
Bestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster lives in Arizona with his wife, but he enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to his writing, but with a twist: the new places encountered in his books are likely to be on another planet, and the people may belong to an alien race.

Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.

Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.

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5 stars
280 (25%)
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436 (39%)
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315 (28%)
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51 (4%)
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15 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
Profile Image for Craig.
6,339 reviews177 followers
July 24, 2021
The Spoils of War is a good conclusion to Foster's Damned trilogy. The plot proceeds thematically from the first two books, and we have a new cast of main characters. Foster ponders the nature of pacifism and aggression, and how individuals might make a major difference to their worlds without resorting to warfare. The interstellar war between The Weave and The Amplitur is reaching towards a savage end, thanks to human intervention, when a scholar, Lalelang of the Wais, goes to work... Foster creates interesting alien civilizations and societies, as well as fascinating individual characters. It's a good, thought-provoking end for the series.
Profile Image for Indy Kochte.
29 reviews1 follower
March 6, 2013
Warning: spoilers embedded in the review.

Well…it was an okay book, not a bad read, but…there were issues. Note that this is the third book of a series, of which at this writing I have not yet read (much less have found) the first two.

It starts out all nice and good as we are introduced to Lalelelang, a researcher of the bird-like Wais, who are members of a collection of interstellarly connected races called The Weave. Her specialty: humans. Now, for the Weave, combat, violence, etc, is pretty foreign to them and for many races simply *seeing* acts of violence – much less committing them, even in time of war – has debilitating effects (Lalelelang, specializing in humans for study, has developed mental and physiological techniqus ). For humans, not so much. So when the Weave was being set upon by another race called the Amplitur, who have the telepathic power of ‘suggestion’, able to just utter some words at members of another race and basically ‘take them over’, the Weave recruit the humans to do their fighting for them, to beat off the Amplitur. At which the humans, along with one or two of the Weave who can (barely) stomach violence, manage to do after centuries of war.

Now, it turns out that the humans are immune to the suggestive powers of the Amplitur (no one* of the Weave has telepathic abilities, which is why they were collectively afraid of the Amplitur; * - see below on the Lepar). And making a long side story short, have acquired the capability to suggest as well, due to a mis-adventure the Amplitur attempted with humans early on. This sets up the secret Core group, a society of humans who have telepathic powers (they can communicate with one another and can suggest to other races – such as “you should jump off a very tall cliff with a rocky landing” suggestion, and the member of the race so ‘suggested’ will attempt to do just that post haste). The humans keep their telepathic capabilities secret from the Weave, but ultimately Lalelelang discovers it, and the Core.

That’s where our human Core commander, so noted in the story background, comes in. Nevan Straat-ien enters the story a few chapters in, after we’ve established Lalelelang’s character and role in the story. He is a commander in the human forces, and does battle with ‘slave’ races of the Amplitur. He is also, as we find out later, very highly ranked in the Core, and a strong telepath with strong suggestive powers. He uses them infrequently, and at least once to save his and Lalelelang’s life (to the detriment of the being who was about to kill them). Parts of his character are reasonably developed, but other parts of it are….flat, 1-dimensional, lacking. There is a girl, but his interactions with her seem so very contrived in the story it would have been far better if Foster had just left that facet of Nevan out of the story. Nothing would have been lost.

The background story basically has the humans kicking the tar out of the Amplitur and their subjugated races, and suddenly the war is over by the middle of the book. The rest of the background story is the fallout and aftermath of the war and how the different races handle it.

We are introduced to a number of other characters along the way, who seem to have some import to the storyline then suddenly vanish. Kinda disconcerting. So the bulk of the book centers around Nevan and Lalelelang. However, suddenly near the end Nevan becomes a secondary character casualty, as he is killed ‘off camera’ by one of the lowliest of the Weave races after he, Nevan, averts an Amplitur plot to subvert the humans to the Amplitur cause. This lowliest of creatures, a Lepar, is the menial immigrant-style laborer of the Weave – but they are apparently immune to suggestion, and can actually ‘SEE’ telepathic energies, particularly when they are being used. They still abhor violence themselves and get incapacitatingly sick when they have to resort to it, but somehow one of these little Lepar manages to get the drop on combat veteran officer and battle-tested Nevan after Nevan has taken care of the Amplitur (to which the Lepar witnessed, and Nevan belatedly realized). And then Lalelelang is able to ‘get the drop’ on the same Lepar. Seemed a LEETLE bit of a stretch for me to hold.

In the end more Lepar attempt to assassinate Lalelelang, but Lalelelang has brought members of the Core to her side, and manages to broker a deal between the humans (well, the Core) and the Lepar so the two sides can watch over humanity and the Weave (and the Amplitur) in the decades/centuries to come. And Lalelelang goes back to her research and the story ends.

I would have liked to have seen/read more about Nevan and his exploits, and read more directly the accounting of his death rather than have it told second hand by the Lepar who killed him. I would have liked to have learned more of some of the other characters we were introduced to during the course of events of the story, but every one of them who proved to be potentially interesting was dropped from the storyline like a hot potato. It was….unsatisfying.

All THAT said, it wasn’t a bad read otherwise. I enjoyed it, despite my misgivings noted above.
Profile Image for Soo.
2,928 reviews346 followers
May 13, 2020
Mini-Review:

4.5 Stars for Narration by Michael Naramore
4 Stars for Concepts
3.5 Stars for Characters

The Damned trilogy is about how contact with aliens would impact humanity.

I rated the first book 3 Stars the aliens were too relatable as alternate humans vs aliens. A tangent of that is how a lot of readers may not enjoy a story that they cannot relate to in some fashion. It takes work to create an alien, make them act alien and still humanize them enough to make it easy to process.

Now that I've reached the end of the trilogy, I'm a bit sad that it's over because the potential to explore more within this world are abundant. Yet, at the same time, I'm cool with this batch of exploration and adventure ending here.

Psychology & warfare go hand in hand. Understanding the enemy can lead to better strategy and conquest. The premise of the trilogy is that humans are barbaric species that always turn to violent acts over less aggressive options. The series does a great job of showing both sides of the coin.

Two thumbs up for the variety of interesting alien/human characters. The False Mirror #2 and The Spoils of War #3 were great, because they were a deep dive into alien cultures and the twists of galactic politics. The stories are weaker when the narrative goes into a expository prose vs character based narration.

I'm glad I didn't have a lot of preconceived notions or expectations before I read this series because it allowed me to be more open for what was developed within the pages. The trilogy was a nice mix of galactic politics, sociology and glimpses of how individuals can change the outcome.


Profile Image for Jeff Miller.
1,179 reviews206 followers
July 15, 2018
A very satisfying trilogy. Each book builds on the story while being different stories and different character focuses.
Profile Image for Phillip Murrell.
Author 10 books68 followers
March 15, 2020
This book can be summed up with "Get off my lawn!" I liked the trilogy, but the ending was definitely the highlight. It gave closure to many points, plus it fleshed out the other species. I enjoyed Lal's arc significantly. She was written better than any other character (including Ranji from book two). I would have liked more action sequences, but the revelations in this book made up for their absences.
Profile Image for Jack.
39 reviews4 followers
September 26, 2013
I finished the series and felt about this book the way I felt about the other two. I keep wishing for better, or for more.

I can really only recommend this series if you're looking for something very different and specifically, where humanity just kicks the snot out of everything else. The scenario is a fun one and I've yet to find anything that explores it better.

But it is lacking. Characters are paper thin and there's a lot of plot twists that come from nowhere. I don't mind a plot twist or two, but it's better when I can see that it was hinted at all along and not just a deus ex machina device to pull the heroes out of an unwinnable situation.

I'll say this much, I'm looking for more books that explore this type of story, but I'm not looking for any more Dean Alan Foster books.
144 reviews2 followers
July 5, 2020
As I remarked in my reviews for the previous books, I'm really here to get into the aliens' heads. So I really enjoyed Lalelelang's perspective. Was then rather disappointed when Nevan was introduced because I didn't want another boring cookie-cutter human soldier.

I enjoyed the various plots that came out of the woodwork among the weave species as the war effort wound down. I enjoyed the twist with the Turlog but was kind of annoyed that after the reveal the aftermath was taken care of offscreen and never bothered our heroes again.

Also something which bothered me with the previous book continued to bother me here - the Core don't ever seem troubled by the moral implications of using their powers on others, even though the Amplitur are considered monsters for doing so. It's rather strange.

The series overall was fairly enjoyable, gave me a bit to think about, but contained a few too many drawbacks to be considered truly outstanding.
Profile Image for Chris Bailey.
28 reviews1 follower
September 21, 2023
This has been sitting on my shelf for almost a decade, but I never got to it because I didn’t have the second book on the trilogy. Finally decided to grab the False Mirror and read the trilogy in whole. This one was definitely an interesting take on the human influence of the intergalactic community. I also enjoyed the payoff at the end as Mr. Foster left a handful of clues in the first two books that tied nicely together in this one. A fun read though the pacing was a bit different than the first two. I recommend the trilogy to anyone who may be looking for a quick but interesting SciFi read.
Profile Image for Lori.
621 reviews13 followers
July 8, 2019
Definitely the best of the trilogy, probably because of the non-human protagonist and the way each book builds on the previous without rehashing the plot or reusing characters, but also because at one point, the story actually surprised me in that way good stories do—the turn is so obvious when you read it, but you didn’t think of it until it happened because you just assumed it wouldn’t happen.

The writing is a little too pulpy for my tastes, but great world-building, and the best character development of all three. I’m happy to forgive almost anything if I get creative world-building.

Profile Image for Marc Wasserman.
17 reviews
October 1, 2020
This one gets 4 stars more because it was a bit more sophisticated and better at tying together the trilogy than the other two books than because it truly deserves a 4. The trilogy has a very interesting premise in a lot of ways (conflict, alien relationships, alien races), but the overall poor structure and character development prevents it from ever hitting its potential.
Profile Image for Phillip.
105 reviews
January 1, 2025
A satisfying conclusion to the Damned Trilogy. I enjoyed that it spent so much time post climactic moment. However, it was quite repetitive at points, with a bit of deus ex machina thrown in as well, which didn't stand up to scrutiny, though that could be the point, similar to the first book's protagonist.
Profile Image for Simone.
121 reviews2 followers
December 14, 2018
I'm not even sure how to feel having finished the series. I feel like there could be so many more stories in here, so many more things to tell, and yet...there are not. Truly I enjoyed every step through this series and hope that others enjoy it as much as I did.
Profile Image for Tomas.
10 reviews
September 6, 2012
What happens when you win a war? What do you do with soldiers acclimated to violence when the rest of your society is not? In his concluding volume of the series, Alan Dean Foster's focus is not on the climactic march to victory over the Amplitur, as you would ordinarily expect to be the case in a trilogy focused on an interstellar war.

It is instead on the problem of re-integrating the veterans of the war - and the "too-primitive" violent humans - into a society that is at best uneasy with them. Can the diverse confederation of species that make up the "good guys" overcome the forces of racism, violence, and the danger of a possible human coup?

It's a gripping finale to a series that stays interesting from page one to the conclusion, and while it provides an emotionally satisfactory conclusion, it doesn't do so the easy way, by just saying "Yay! The good guys win and everybody lives happily ever after!"

It's been a decade or so since I last read through this series; and in spite of that, I remember a great deal of it quite vividly, which is unusual given the number of books I've read. Ordinarily, I have trouble remembering whether or not I read a book, let alone what was in it; this is a memorable work.
Profile Image for Mike (the Paladin).
3,148 reviews2,161 followers
September 26, 2010
This is still a good read, but we had to come up with a way to tie the story up and I found it a little less than what it might have been. Still, it's enjoyable.

The story here seems almost a little "hurried" to me. he got to the end, he knew what the end was how the plot was going to be tied up and got it down. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad book, it's still based on a good idea, a good read and to use the word I used for the the others, "fun". It just slid a bit and as the second wasn't quite as good as the first, this one isn't quite up to the second. It's still good and the trilogy is worth the read.

Another good thing...Foster managed to hold his "trilogy", to three books. :)
Profile Image for J. Boo.
768 reviews29 followers
December 7, 2015
The best of the series. Here, a pacifistic bird-like alien sociologist embeds herself with a human regiment in a galactic war. In this universe, humans are the only naturally warlike species; all others are variously inept at fighting for reasons of authorial convenience. (This was the a terrible stumbling block for me throughout the entire series.)

The action sequences are well done, the broader plot elements were clever, the people were interesting, the penultimate section was terrific... and the ending had an element that didn't make logical sense, leavened with hippy-dippy crap. I'll just pretend the last chapter was a dream sequence, and give this a 3.6/5.
Profile Image for Jason.
154 reviews
May 29, 2016
This was the last book in the series and I enjoyed it. There are some contrived twists that I think weren't baked well. I appreciate a twist when an author has laid the groundwork all through the story, but if the twist is thrown in to finish a story, and then explained with awkward ties to the story that are technically possible but nonsensical, then I resent it. Other than that, the story is interesting told from an alien's view, which is uncommon in sci-fi, and the story line is a plausible and entertaining conclusion of the story of Humans brought in to fight an alien conflict.
Profile Image for Serena.
3,259 reviews71 followers
April 6, 2017
I enjoyed the characters, and their world and hope I get the chance to read the story again and/or to read more within the series.

My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again.
10 reviews
August 24, 2015
I found this book is a very conclusive close to the captivating series that will have you hanging on to the edge of your seats through the whole book. It will make you ask yourself about how humanity acts to others of their species and the world around them.
Profile Image for William Webb.
Author 129 books106 followers
July 10, 2016
Book three of The Damned, it's more complex, somewhat slower but more ambitious than its two predecessors. A truly preachy paragraph on the next to last page wrecks the ending, but the rest is good enough to keep the pages turning. Recommended. A

Profile Image for Erica.
229 reviews6 followers
May 27, 2009
Finally, I discovered the elusive "Nevan".
Profile Image for Lindig.
713 reviews56 followers
October 20, 2011
Foster's patented multi-species cooperation (or not) plot. And there's the stereotypical "humans are inherently savage" trope. Its an interesting philosophical meditation on how to wage war (or not).
Profile Image for Justin Gramm.
17 reviews
January 15, 2014
Good end to a good series. I read them all pretty much back to back, so it was more like one contiguous story than three novels. I'm not sure if that influenced my feelings about it or not.
195 reviews
February 4, 2017
An intriguing conclusion where people often pay consequences for racism/assumptions about those of other races. Not everything is tied up in a bow, but it's a nice realistic place to end it.
Profile Image for Anton.
9 reviews1 follower
May 22, 2023
Don’t bother reading this, even just to find out what happens. It’s terribly stupid and not satisfactorily resolved.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews

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