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Starfire #1,4
The Stars at War II
Super-Size Your Science Fiction Adventure Sales! Two Complete Novels, One a New York Times Best Seller, in One Huge Volume, Co-Authored by the Creator of Honor Harrington. Contains Insurrection and The Shiva Option.
The war wasn't going well. The alien Arachnids were an enemy whose like no civilized race had ever confronted. Like some carnivorous cancer, the "Bugs" had overrun planet after planet . . . and they regarded any competing sentient species as only one more protein source. Defeat was not an option. . . . The Grand Alliance of Humans, Orions, Ophiuchi, and Gorm, united in desperate self-defense, have been driven to the wall. Billions of their civilians have been slaughtered. Their most powerful offensive operation has ended in shattering defeat and the deaths of their most experienced military commanders. Whatever they do, the Bugs just keep coming. But the warriors of the Grand Alliance know what stands behind them and they will surrender no more civilians to the oncoming juggernaut. They will die first-and they will also reactivate General Directive 18, however horrible it may be. Because when the only possible outcomes are victory or racial extermination, only one option is acceptable. The Shiva Option.And peace isn't always wonderful Once the enemy is defeated, the central governments of the Inner Worlds were anything but willing to relinguish their wartime powers. To insure that their grip on the reins of power remained firm, the bureaucrats are allowing the non-human beings of the Khanate in, while keeping the Fringe Worlds out, smugly confident that this will keep the colonial upstarts in their place. The Fringers have only one answer to that: Insurrection.
The war wasn't going well. The alien Arachnids were an enemy whose like no civilized race had ever confronted. Like some carnivorous cancer, the "Bugs" had overrun planet after planet . . . and they regarded any competing sentient species as only one more protein source. Defeat was not an option. . . . The Grand Alliance of Humans, Orions, Ophiuchi, and Gorm, united in desperate self-defense, have been driven to the wall. Billions of their civilians have been slaughtered. Their most powerful offensive operation has ended in shattering defeat and the deaths of their most experienced military commanders. Whatever they do, the Bugs just keep coming. But the warriors of the Grand Alliance know what stands behind them and they will surrender no more civilians to the oncoming juggernaut. They will die first-and they will also reactivate General Directive 18, however horrible it may be. Because when the only possible outcomes are victory or racial extermination, only one option is acceptable. The Shiva Option.And peace isn't always wonderful Once the enemy is defeated, the central governments of the Inner Worlds were anything but willing to relinguish their wartime powers. To insure that their grip on the reins of power remained firm, the bureaucrats are allowing the non-human beings of the Khanate in, while keeping the Fringe Worlds out, smugly confident that this will keep the colonial upstarts in their place. The Fringers have only one answer to that: Insurrection.
1044 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2005
About the author
David Weber
329 books4,571 followersDavid Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952.
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 4, 2018
This book is really good. I love this book.
Five stars!!!!
Five stars!!!!
December 2, 2010
I'm not sure that this grouping makes sense. But both books on their own are 5 stars, so the combination of the two deserves 5 stars.
August 23, 2023
A superior series.
I read a lot. I mean a LOT. Been doing so for over 60 years. This story and these authors stand at the top with the very best around. The writing is crisp. The stories are well Structured, the pace is good and the characters are well defined and complex. I've read this series three times over the years and I hope to read it again down the road.
I read a lot. I mean a LOT. Been doing so for over 60 years. This story and these authors stand at the top with the very best around. The writing is crisp. The stories are well Structured, the pace is good and the characters are well defined and complex. I've read this series three times over the years and I hope to read it again down the road.
January 31, 2024
why was this not two books?
The book was really two books about 100 to 150 years apart. The first part was about fighting an alien civilization to the death. The second part is about a civil war in the Federation. Both parts were very good and the end set up book three in the series.
The book was really two books about 100 to 150 years apart. The first part was about fighting an alien civilization to the death. The second part is about a civil war in the Federation. Both parts were very good and the end set up book three in the series.
December 15, 2024
A compilation of two books that are wholly separate from each other in the Starfire book series. Why they chose to bundle book #'s 1 and 4 in this title (and bundle books #'s 2 and 3 in another) is the big question here.
March 24, 2018
man this was a long book. I liked the 2nd part better.
May 4, 2018
This is quite a tome. The first book finishes the war while the second concerns the war between the fringe worlds and the core. It keep me engaged.
February 28, 2019
Engrossing military sctft
It was sometimes too wordy but in the end you really care about the people in the book. The battles made sense and the technology was believable.
It was sometimes too wordy but in the end you really care about the people in the book. The battles made sense and the technology was believable.
November 7, 2010
The first of these books continues the Bug war from where it left on in on deadly ground. I'd have grumbled about that except I picked up both Stars at war mega books and I didn't have to go hunting around to get the 2nd half of the war. Lesson 1, be prepared ;)
We're launched back into the cauldron of war against the implacable bugs but it's quickly aparent that the plucky humans are going to get the upperhand. That is the real shame of this book. It's a good entertaining space opera with your favorite characters and there is always that edge of "will all the characters make it to the end of this book" but there isn't really ever the feeling that the federation is in dire trouble. The battles are epic and the explosions are every bit as cinematic as always it's just... the edge of can they win is dulled. I was almost expecting there to be something else to happen. Some kind of twist in the bugs to suddenly have them turn into "not so bad guys".
A satisfying "end" to the bug wars
Insurrection.
For some reason this book annoyed the everliving snot out of me. The seeds of the corporate worlds verses the fringe war was setup way back in the series and built pretty subtly ( considering the pulp sci-fi nature of the books) Reading the book somehow felt flat and formula driven. Even the couple of characters dragged over from previous books left me feeling meh.
It's a shame since the book has all the right elements. Political manuvering, heroic characters and sacrifices that genuinely scar the heros of the novel. I'm not sure if it's the empathy you get from "knowing" both sides of the conflict. Maybe I'd have enjoyed it more if the Rump had stayed loathsomly corprate world until later in the conflict or if every "bad guy" in uniform wasn't named Waldek. It could have been that the whole thing unfolds so neatly that it's hard to see it happening any other way. Maybe I just read too much of the stars at war series in one gulp. I'm not sure but whatever it was it really took the edge of reading this book for me.
We're launched back into the cauldron of war against the implacable bugs but it's quickly aparent that the plucky humans are going to get the upperhand. That is the real shame of this book. It's a good entertaining space opera with your favorite characters and there is always that edge of "will all the characters make it to the end of this book" but there isn't really ever the feeling that the federation is in dire trouble. The battles are epic and the explosions are every bit as cinematic as always it's just... the edge of can they win is dulled. I was almost expecting there to be something else to happen. Some kind of twist in the bugs to suddenly have them turn into "not so bad guys".
A satisfying "end" to the bug wars
Insurrection.
For some reason this book annoyed the everliving snot out of me. The seeds of the corporate worlds verses the fringe war was setup way back in the series and built pretty subtly ( considering the pulp sci-fi nature of the books) Reading the book somehow felt flat and formula driven. Even the couple of characters dragged over from previous books left me feeling meh.
It's a shame since the book has all the right elements. Political manuvering, heroic characters and sacrifices that genuinely scar the heros of the novel. I'm not sure if it's the empathy you get from "knowing" both sides of the conflict. Maybe I'd have enjoyed it more if the Rump had stayed loathsomly corprate world until later in the conflict or if every "bad guy" in uniform wasn't named Waldek. It could have been that the whole thing unfolds so neatly that it's hard to see it happening any other way. Maybe I just read too much of the stars at war series in one gulp. I'm not sure but whatever it was it really took the edge of reading this book for me.
November 23, 2008
If anyone has ever doubted Webber's (and apparently White's) mastery of military science fiction, then this novel (as well as it's predecessor Stars at War) should prove them wrong. Stars at War II is actually two novels in one, The Shiva Option and Insurrection.
The Shiva Option picks up where In Death Ground (the second novel in Stars at War) leaves off, the Grand Alliance and the Bugs at a standoff, both licking wounds and trying to regroup. It is intense, unrelenting, and filled with incredible battles. Though the final conqueror is probably easily anticipated by most readers, the "how" of the journey they take is intense and full of twists and turns. It is definitely hard to put down.
Insurrection takes place several hundred years after the war with the Bugs, and basically follows as the fringe worlds separate from the Terran Federation. Interestingly enough, this novel, unlike the first in the book, actually brings you down to focus more on individuals, as opposed to how The Shiva Option focuses more on the war and what it is costing to win or lose.
Overall this is an excellent book. It is huge - finishing at almost 1040 pages! But well worth it. And when it is all said and done you'll be asking for more!
The Shiva Option picks up where In Death Ground (the second novel in Stars at War) leaves off, the Grand Alliance and the Bugs at a standoff, both licking wounds and trying to regroup. It is intense, unrelenting, and filled with incredible battles. Though the final conqueror is probably easily anticipated by most readers, the "how" of the journey they take is intense and full of twists and turns. It is definitely hard to put down.
Insurrection takes place several hundred years after the war with the Bugs, and basically follows as the fringe worlds separate from the Terran Federation. Interestingly enough, this novel, unlike the first in the book, actually brings you down to focus more on individuals, as opposed to how The Shiva Option focuses more on the war and what it is costing to win or lose.
Overall this is an excellent book. It is huge - finishing at almost 1040 pages! But well worth it. And when it is all said and done you'll be asking for more!
February 2, 2016
The two volume "The Stars at War" series is a marketing masterpiece. Covering three wars of the Terran (Earth) Federation, the first volume has the entire first war, fought against a interesting homonid race, but only a third of the second war, a true bug shoot. The cliffhanger forces purchase of the second volume which contains the overlong rest of the second war. The third war, covered in its entirety, is about a Terran civil war.
The course of the wars are interesting in story line twists but are predictable in terms of plot and characters. The military characters dominate the series; honorable clear-headed professionals saving mush-minded greedy civilian wimps. I think his conservative slant represents sci-fi military authors of his generation., including David Drake, to re-fight and win Vietnam.
A good airplane book for very long round-trips.
The course of the wars are interesting in story line twists but are predictable in terms of plot and characters. The military characters dominate the series; honorable clear-headed professionals saving mush-minded greedy civilian wimps. I think his conservative slant represents sci-fi military authors of his generation., including David Drake, to re-fight and win Vietnam.
A good airplane book for very long round-trips.
November 29, 2011
Not a bad collection... I mean it's Weber and White! But I'm not really sure the two books meshed well. It might of been better to have all the Bug wars books in one collection, together. The two in this one were related by universe and some characters, but not beyond that.
Also I had a minor gripe about some of the formatting in the second book. The intra-chapter sections were not clear, so you'd jump plot lines without any indication, break, etc. That was a little jarring.
Still that said, this book (well books) are a MUST read for any Weber/White fan, space opera nut or hard science fiction lover...
Also I had a minor gripe about some of the formatting in the second book. The intra-chapter sections were not clear, so you'd jump plot lines without any indication, break, etc. That was a little jarring.
Still that said, this book (well books) are a MUST read for any Weber/White fan, space opera nut or hard science fiction lover...
January 3, 2011
The Stars at War II is somewhat bland and formulaic, but on a cold night, that's exactly what I'm after. Characterization reads more as iconography than normal, but Weber and White do an outstanding job of blending their styles.
October 9, 2008
The first three quartes of the book are strictly a continuation of the end of The Stars at War. They are dreck. The final quarter, an independent story, is much, much better.
May 11, 2015
As with all David Weber books, the writing and the story is awesome. For David Weber fans this is a must read, like all his books.
December 25, 2015
Superperb
This book follows the development of a large cast of characters through two genocidal space wars. Their development and the battle scenes are well worth the read.
This book follows the development of a large cast of characters through two genocidal space wars. Their development and the battle scenes are well worth the read.
July 25, 2017
David Weber writes great military Sci Fi
Read
March 1, 2016to-read
Read
July 6, 2016Waiting for more...
August 1, 2017
the continuation of the epic war against the bugs! in my opinion the best book of the whole starfire series, this ties up multiple threads left from the first book, and along with the second novel (this book contains two separate books, as three and four in the series) also finally shows the consequences of the core worlds-fringer conflict that builds from the first chapter of the first book, Crusade which can be found in the Stars At War 1
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews