Drummed out of the Corps Diplomatique Terretrienne for his insubordiante attitude, Retief nevertheless must come to the rescue when the imperialistic Krll come up with a scheme to use the Peace Movement as a means to force the Terrans to abandon the planet, leaving it ripe for conquest, in a novel based on the series by the late Keith Laumer. Reprint.
Bill Keith was raised in the mountains of western Pennsylvania, and served in the Navy as a corpsman for many years. In addition to writing fiction and non-fiction works, he is an award-winning illustrator/artist.
He has also published under the psuedonyms: Ian Douglas (SF series: Heritage, Legacy, Inheritance, Star Carrier, Andromedan Dark) H. Jay Riker (SEALS:The Warrior Breed series) Keith Douglass (Carrier and Seal Team 7 series) Bill Keith Keith William Andrews (Freedom's Rangers series) Robert Cain (Cybernarc series)
Retief's Peace by William H. Keith a.k.a. Ian Douglas is a novel based on the character created by Keith Laumer. Mr. Keith has remained true to Keith Laumer's character and this book was like reading a new Retief novel written by Keith Laumer himself. It was a fun, fast read and I enjoyed it very much. Kudos to William H. Keith for writing such a fun adventure in the world of the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne!
I tend to avoid continuations of deceased authors' series by new writers because my past experience is they tend to read like very bad fanfiction with little relation to original canon, character or style and manage, almost as if intentionally, to not contain any of the elements that made that original so good.
So William H. Keith's addition to Keith Laumer's "Retief" series was a pleasant surprise to me, the next best thing to reading Laumer himself and an excellent homage to him. Retief, Magnan, the Groaci, the usual embassy and military types were all recognizable as the characters I've always loved when in the mood for a bit of tongue-in-cheek "diplomacy" and adventure. If Mr. Keith ever decides to write another Retief I'll be happy to read. it.
Practical application of diplomacy by the main character who seems to be the only one with common sense in the story other than the natives he is trying to save.
The author was trying to hard to fit humor into this book. The humor is in this book is similar to that in "A Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy." But in this book, the humor just fell flat.