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The Bastard Legion #3
War Criminals
Dirty, gritty and action-packed adventure featuring the galaxy's deadliest mercenaries, THE BASTARD LEGION
MILITARY SCIENCE FICTION AT ITS BEST .
'High octane SF adventure with Smith's trademark twist' Jamie Sawyer, author of The Lazarus War
It was the kind of dirty, violent work the Bastards were made for. Protect a bunch of colonists in the Epsilon Eridani system, whose moon had become a war zone as megacorp-backed mercenaries fought a brutal proxy war. Just the kind of fight the penal mercenary legion liked.
But a hundred headless corpses are hard to explain, even for the Bastard Legion, and soon they are on the run, abandoned by their allies, and hunted by their most dangerous foe yet . . . but Miska's going to play them at her own game.
The Bastard the galaxy's most dangerous criminals controlled by implanted explosives a nd trained by the electronic ghost of a dead marine.
'Gloriously action-packed and often brutal military SF adventure . . .' Publishers Weekly
'An exceptional talent' Peter F Hamilton
A 'Dirty Dozen' or 'Suicide Squad' for lovers of 'Aliens', THE BASTARD LEGION series is a down and dirty military SF set in a world of mercenary actions and covert operations.
MILITARY SCIENCE FICTION AT ITS BEST .
'High octane SF adventure with Smith's trademark twist' Jamie Sawyer, author of The Lazarus War
It was the kind of dirty, violent work the Bastards were made for. Protect a bunch of colonists in the Epsilon Eridani system, whose moon had become a war zone as megacorp-backed mercenaries fought a brutal proxy war. Just the kind of fight the penal mercenary legion liked.
But a hundred headless corpses are hard to explain, even for the Bastard Legion, and soon they are on the run, abandoned by their allies, and hunted by their most dangerous foe yet . . . but Miska's going to play them at her own game.
The Bastard the galaxy's most dangerous criminals controlled by implanted explosives a nd trained by the electronic ghost of a dead marine.
'Gloriously action-packed and often brutal military SF adventure . . .' Publishers Weekly
'An exceptional talent' Peter F Hamilton
A 'Dirty Dozen' or 'Suicide Squad' for lovers of 'Aliens', THE BASTARD LEGION series is a down and dirty military SF set in a world of mercenary actions and covert operations.
364 pages, Paperback
Published June 4, 2019
11 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Gavin G. Smith
23 books102 followersGavin Smith was born in Dundee in the same year that Iron Butterfly recorded Inna-Gadda-da-Vida. He has also lived in Camberley, Hayling Island, Portsmouth, Hull, Leamington Spa and is currently living a near feral existence in Leicester (if you see him in the streets he will write science fiction for sweeties). Anyone who has been to any of these places will understand why his fiction is like it is.
He has a degree in writing for film and a Masters in medieval history. Veteran is his first novel but he is patiently waiting for one of the 2.5 scripts that have been optioned to be turned into films.
He likes to travel and dive when he can afford it and in his free time he enjoys getting the s**t kicked out of him whilst practicing Silat. He is hoping that his books do well so he can buy a motorbike.
He has a degree in writing for film and a Masters in medieval history. Veteran is his first novel but he is patiently waiting for one of the 2.5 scripts that have been optioned to be turned into films.
He likes to travel and dive when he can afford it and in his free time he enjoys getting the s**t kicked out of him whilst practicing Silat. He is hoping that his books do well so he can buy a motorbike.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 11, 2018
Miska and her criminal crew are on planet in the Epsilon Eridani system, fighting to protect colonists from violent corporate interests. If that sounds a bit well, moral, then remember that she’s getting paid and using smash and grab tactics to procure handy enemy tech for her outfit. Never one to waste an opportunity, Miska’s proactive high-speed, high stakes military actions are getting her into trouble. But rules schmules. She’s playing finder’s keepers with her opponent’s hardware and having fun with it until she realises things aren’t adding up. At first and second glance, New Ephesus doesn’t seem to hold any real value, but Triple S seem to be suspiciously desperate to get to one particular area by any means necessary. And Miska’s getting in their way. When the Legion are framed for murder, and get blasted by a seriously unflattering PR campaign to boot, she discovers she’s in the middle of a much bigger conflict. And this proxy war’s rules of engagement are about to get torn up and stomped bloody.
The book starts out with a break in, the Legion hitting a Triple S mech base for some serious thieving, followed by an aggressive clearing out of enemy forces in Port Turquoise. Its newly formed (to us at least), skill focused squads reveal just how much the group has adapted and militarised since their last job. Despite the potential of this, it’s a bit of a slow and tech heavy opener. The close focus on the immediate mission and Miska’s angsty interchanges with Torricone made it feel small, without the wide open possibilities that ended the previous book, and I wondered whether I was going to like this one as much. Then suddenly, there’s a discovery of hundreds of headless bodies impaled on stakes. Always a game changer. That’s when the fun really starts and it doesn’t much let up till the final page. It’s the mystery of it that kicks everyone into high gear, the questions and resulting need for answers adds the dynamism that was missing from the initial sequences, which felt separated from anything important, more a means of showboating than anything else. The angst turns to snark and here is the Miska I was looking forward to. She ups her crazy a bit in this one, but I continue to love her anyway. She may be a psychopath but she’s funny and not without her own brand of feeling, caring about her crew in her own special way. It doesn’t show quite as much in this offering as the new characters are mostly there to be compellingly psychotic, with the ones who most make Miska feel something playing a somewhat lesser role than in Friendly Fire. Except Torricone, who seems destined to be a massive problem. This means some top notch action, but a bit less boundary pushing dialogue. Apart from Miska, women are scarce, but when they arrive on the page, they do so with the kind of presence that pushes the men right off the edge. From pirate captains to soldiers, they are not to be messed with, and these are exactly the kind of depictions I have celebrated since Ripley and Sanchez showed everyone how it was done. Kudos for that.
Best of all the new stuff is the unveiling of the the Nightmare legion. Unveiled and utilised in brutal, bloody fashion. The Ultra and his merry band of the worst of the worst go through people like a hot knife though butter, leaving little more than body parts in their wake. Sometimes just the inedible bits, the succulent or significant sections having been scooped up by a cannibal or trophy collector. It’s fabulous. However, the author hasn’t flashed all his best bits, he’s still only teasing Skirov, the warewolf, holding him back for what I really hope is the next instalment. Show me someone who doesn’t want to see an insane human/tech/wolf hybrid and i’ll show you a liar. In the meantime, revelations about the Ultra are more than enough to keep me up at night. And, unlike Miska, I mean with fear, not the sexier stuff. Thankfully, her ‘who do I want to do more, the Ultra or Torricone’ thing is muted in this one, though I can see problems ahead. Bloody Torricone. Look, I’m not really down with this whole love triangle thing but when it comes down to it, the Ultra might well be an actual God. The clue’s in the name. He’s charming, helpful, and a super efficient murderer who gets his thrills ridding the world of bad humans- sounds like boyfriend material to me. Yes, he’s terrifying but who doesn’t like a frisson of excitement/terror in their lives?
Anyway… why not full marks? Perhaps because there feels like there’s a bit too much tech and not enough human in this one, with the descriptions of the mech dominating the scenes. While I obviously want to see monster machines smash shit up, it’s actually the way the Bastard Legion is altering both Miska and individuals/groups within the whole that really has me hooked. Essentially something has been created that is turning into something very different than originally conceived or could even have been expected. The changing alliances and relationships, the slow building of trust and bestowing of responsibility is all made so incredibly tenuous by that one kicker: these criminals…soldiers…men… have no real choice. Regardless of any emotional connections that might be made, they will still do what they must to escape. It’s this delicious tension that holds the main draw for me, though it comes wickedly into play during the action scenes when someone might ‘accidentally’ shoot Miska in the back, no matter the consequences. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still some solid time given over to these deeper questions, especially when the prisoners are given a momentous opportunity to escape, but it felt like a bit of a step back from the last book.
There’s so much going on here, in this book and the series overall, so many unanswered questions about Them, the Small Gods, Spartans, Mars, alien artefacts, Miska’s sister, her father’s murder… layers upon layers of unanswered questions. Personally, I like that we’re chipping away at these gaps in our knowledge, rather than having it all at our fingertips. The incredible detail of the tech and the lived experience of Miska and her Legion against the backdrop of this vast, hardly known galaxy with its competing factions and unimaginably long history all adds to the sense of a complete world. It practically screams possibilities and opportunities. Never for a second while reading this series have I ever doubted the veracity of this imagined space, the labyrinthine mysteries just making it all the more convincing. Even so, there are hints everywhere if you know what to look for: New Ephesus?? That’s a pretty significant nudge in the right direction, though being a student of Classics might give me a bit of an advantage. I have every confidence that this will all come spectacularly together and i’ll be reading eagerly until it does. This series covers all the bases- incredible world building, blood soaked action, and memorably lethal characters- it's one you don't want to miss.
ARC via author for Fantasy Book Review
The book starts out with a break in, the Legion hitting a Triple S mech base for some serious thieving, followed by an aggressive clearing out of enemy forces in Port Turquoise. Its newly formed (to us at least), skill focused squads reveal just how much the group has adapted and militarised since their last job. Despite the potential of this, it’s a bit of a slow and tech heavy opener. The close focus on the immediate mission and Miska’s angsty interchanges with Torricone made it feel small, without the wide open possibilities that ended the previous book, and I wondered whether I was going to like this one as much. Then suddenly, there’s a discovery of hundreds of headless bodies impaled on stakes. Always a game changer. That’s when the fun really starts and it doesn’t much let up till the final page. It’s the mystery of it that kicks everyone into high gear, the questions and resulting need for answers adds the dynamism that was missing from the initial sequences, which felt separated from anything important, more a means of showboating than anything else. The angst turns to snark and here is the Miska I was looking forward to. She ups her crazy a bit in this one, but I continue to love her anyway. She may be a psychopath but she’s funny and not without her own brand of feeling, caring about her crew in her own special way. It doesn’t show quite as much in this offering as the new characters are mostly there to be compellingly psychotic, with the ones who most make Miska feel something playing a somewhat lesser role than in Friendly Fire. Except Torricone, who seems destined to be a massive problem. This means some top notch action, but a bit less boundary pushing dialogue. Apart from Miska, women are scarce, but when they arrive on the page, they do so with the kind of presence that pushes the men right off the edge. From pirate captains to soldiers, they are not to be messed with, and these are exactly the kind of depictions I have celebrated since Ripley and Sanchez showed everyone how it was done. Kudos for that.
Best of all the new stuff is the unveiling of the the Nightmare legion. Unveiled and utilised in brutal, bloody fashion. The Ultra and his merry band of the worst of the worst go through people like a hot knife though butter, leaving little more than body parts in their wake. Sometimes just the inedible bits, the succulent or significant sections having been scooped up by a cannibal or trophy collector. It’s fabulous. However, the author hasn’t flashed all his best bits, he’s still only teasing Skirov, the warewolf, holding him back for what I really hope is the next instalment. Show me someone who doesn’t want to see an insane human/tech/wolf hybrid and i’ll show you a liar. In the meantime, revelations about the Ultra are more than enough to keep me up at night. And, unlike Miska, I mean with fear, not the sexier stuff. Thankfully, her ‘who do I want to do more, the Ultra or Torricone’ thing is muted in this one, though I can see problems ahead. Bloody Torricone. Look, I’m not really down with this whole love triangle thing but when it comes down to it, the Ultra might well be an actual God. The clue’s in the name. He’s charming, helpful, and a super efficient murderer who gets his thrills ridding the world of bad humans- sounds like boyfriend material to me. Yes, he’s terrifying but who doesn’t like a frisson of excitement/terror in their lives?
Anyway… why not full marks? Perhaps because there feels like there’s a bit too much tech and not enough human in this one, with the descriptions of the mech dominating the scenes. While I obviously want to see monster machines smash shit up, it’s actually the way the Bastard Legion is altering both Miska and individuals/groups within the whole that really has me hooked. Essentially something has been created that is turning into something very different than originally conceived or could even have been expected. The changing alliances and relationships, the slow building of trust and bestowing of responsibility is all made so incredibly tenuous by that one kicker: these criminals…soldiers…men… have no real choice. Regardless of any emotional connections that might be made, they will still do what they must to escape. It’s this delicious tension that holds the main draw for me, though it comes wickedly into play during the action scenes when someone might ‘accidentally’ shoot Miska in the back, no matter the consequences. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still some solid time given over to these deeper questions, especially when the prisoners are given a momentous opportunity to escape, but it felt like a bit of a step back from the last book.
There’s so much going on here, in this book and the series overall, so many unanswered questions about Them, the Small Gods, Spartans, Mars, alien artefacts, Miska’s sister, her father’s murder… layers upon layers of unanswered questions. Personally, I like that we’re chipping away at these gaps in our knowledge, rather than having it all at our fingertips. The incredible detail of the tech and the lived experience of Miska and her Legion against the backdrop of this vast, hardly known galaxy with its competing factions and unimaginably long history all adds to the sense of a complete world. It practically screams possibilities and opportunities. Never for a second while reading this series have I ever doubted the veracity of this imagined space, the labyrinthine mysteries just making it all the more convincing. Even so, there are hints everywhere if you know what to look for: New Ephesus?? That’s a pretty significant nudge in the right direction, though being a student of Classics might give me a bit of an advantage. I have every confidence that this will all come spectacularly together and i’ll be reading eagerly until it does. This series covers all the bases- incredible world building, blood soaked action, and memorably lethal characters- it's one you don't want to miss.
ARC via author for Fantasy Book Review
February 4, 2019
If you have read the first two books then you will know what to expect and enjoy from this one - except it's even better in my opinion.
Lots of great military SF action on an alien planet involving (at least) two sides waging a proxy war using mercenaries. To add to the gunplay and futurist tech, this time around the Bastards manage to acquire some stonking great mechs! Oh yes.
Lots of great military SF action on an alien planet involving (at least) two sides waging a proxy war using mercenaries. To add to the gunplay and futurist tech, this time around the Bastards manage to acquire some stonking great mechs! Oh yes.
February 19, 2019
This is a cracking series: high octane military SF at it's very best, with some excellent characters and gripping action scenes. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next one!
April 17, 2020
La más floja de las tres con diferencia.... y aún así si saca una cuarta casi seguro que me la leo...
Lo mejor es compartir la lectura.
Lo mejor es compartir la lectura.
February 28, 2019
This is an excellent series.
September 14, 2022
Generic military SF at its most mediocre. Tonally inconsistent, poorly structured, irritatingly glamorised and mildly boring throughout. It's impossible to engage meaningfully with a protagonist and supporting cast that consists of an army of Jason Statham clones mucking around on some planet I'm given no reason to care about.
June 5, 2019
The Return of the Bastard Legion. This time they've entered a "limited" conflict between some colonists and a corporation. Limited in that it's more of a gentleman's war full of how things are usually done and a minimum of screwing around. Until the Legion arrives. Using the standard of; if you're not cheating you're not trying, the Legion win battles, acquire equipment, and generally make fools of the corporate forces. This does not go well as their enemy has far deep resources than the Legion expected.
This one is grimmer than the previous two with the consequences higher. The Small Gods make an appearance just in case they weren't considered bugfuck powerful before and we met a glorious gang of Maori who not only pilot battlemechs but also know how to stab bad people to death with wonderfully described bladed weapons. Really wouldn't mind stories during the War in Heaven.
This one is grimmer than the previous two with the consequences higher. The Small Gods make an appearance just in case they weren't considered bugfuck powerful before and we met a glorious gang of Maori who not only pilot battlemechs but also know how to stab bad people to death with wonderfully described bladed weapons. Really wouldn't mind stories during the War in Heaven.
March 28, 2021
A fun continuation of the series, though things keep getting stranger. Cliffhanger ending with no good outcome. We will see how the next one goes.
The whole mercenary war setup was just weird as to the economics and what it shows for how their legal system works. That two mercenary forces fighting each other have very large incentive to drag things out and get paid with minimal loss of life is very true. Whole time I get thinking of the condottieri in Italy.
Very confused about just what the small gods are all about as well, I guess there is a previous book that goes into that war. Will have to pick it up. The concept of AI becoming all powerful with nanotech makes sense, just what they do with the power that seems pretty unimaginative - recreate greek mythology?
The whole mercenary war setup was just weird as to the economics and what it shows for how their legal system works. That two mercenary forces fighting each other have very large incentive to drag things out and get paid with minimal loss of life is very true. Whole time I get thinking of the condottieri in Italy.
Very confused about just what the small gods are all about as well, I guess there is a previous book that goes into that war. Will have to pick it up. The concept of AI becoming all powerful with nanotech makes sense, just what they do with the power that seems pretty unimaginative - recreate greek mythology?
May 4, 2020
Another strong addition to the military sci fi oeuvre from one of my favourite purveyors of the sub genre. This time the Legion have gone to war proper so there’s ample opportunity for Smith to engage in the kind of bullet (also lasers & railguns) riddled action writing he excels at. The World building is particularly strong, this is one of my personal favourite fictional” universes & the series overarching narrative continues to be expanded in a way I’m very curious to explore further. If you’ve enjoyed the Veteran/Age of Scorpio/Bastard Legion (so far) series there’s plenty to appreciate this time around.
January 19, 2020
Non-stop action is the strength and weakness of this series; the premise still either isn't well explained or inherently flawed. The internal conflict of Miska's search to avenge her father's death vs. the black ops reasons to create the Legion don't quite gel and seemed tacked on to the Clancy-esque repetitive techno bable and psychotic violence. But then there's the occasional interesting character flaw, witty remark, or changing group dynamics and it can be quite enjoyable. So, that's why it's a 2 vs. a 3 at this time at least!
January 23, 2020
Another great instalment although I think this book started to lean too much into the military side rather than the sci-fi side. I would like to see more interaction between the characters and more development over the world rather than leaping from one battle to another.
Does anyone know if the series is continuing? Seems there is so much more story to tell
Does anyone know if the series is continuing? Seems there is so much more story to tell
August 28, 2019
Part three of the Bastard Legion trilogy is every bit as 'high octane' as the previous books in this saga.
Great storytelling with great characters and some truly kick ass action there's never a dull moment here. Finishing this book felt like coming of an adrenaline rush.
Highly recommend!
Great storytelling with great characters and some truly kick ass action there's never a dull moment here. Finishing this book felt like coming of an adrenaline rush.
Highly recommend!
February 2, 2019
A smart SF action series that is developing into an intriguing space opera
Full review https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
Full review https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
December 10, 2020
Continues to be crazy and imaginative. Much like a roller coaster ride. Still wishing the main character wasn't quite to psycho. This time she takes on an entire planet.
November 20, 2021
At times I found the story a little irritating, and I had to put it down for over a year, but it makes no grand illusions about what it is; it delivers what it says "on the tin".
December 5, 2019
Another great instalment in the #VeteranVerse. Miska continues her investigations into her father’s death, surviving her own penal legion and corporate schemes. I’ve written more in previous reviews, for anyone unfamiliar with this great series check out the previous books and reviews :-)
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews