In Death Ground

Starfire #3

by David Weber, Steve White

Five thousand years after Sun Tzu writes The Art of War, his advice is followed during the Fourth Interstellar War between the terrible Bugs and the humans, who are aided by their catlike Orion allies.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Military Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Fantasy, Audiobook

632 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

David 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...

Reviews

[Dirk Grobbelaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is total war on an interstellar scale. Also, the antagonistic aliens are evil. Period! So not a lot of page time is spent in trying to defend or rationalise their actions.
What? They actually eat their enemies? They look like spiders? Kill them all, says I! Yep, that’s more or less the gist of it. These vile alien invaders are following humans into federation space, butchering everything in their path. Humans respond in kind. Only, it seems that the aliens are rather single minded and purposeful when it comes to their food source, and trounce the humans at every turn. Perhaps trounce is not a strong enough word: thesaurus recommends decimate or slaughter as alternatives. Thus, the scene is set for spectacular space battles and alliances with (other, more agreeable) aliens to try and stem the tide of destruction.

A lot of thought and detail have gone into these engagements on a tactical as well as a strategic level. I suppose it can become a bit much, so it’s fortunate that the battles are handled with quite a bit of flair. Each race has their own unique attributes and as a consequence their own strengths, and these play a part in the depicted battles. Personally, I liked it quite a bit. It’s pretty hectic, to be sure, but it is a fine example of good military science fiction.

In Death Ground has received many favourable reviews and I tend to agree with them. This book does exactly what it sets out to do and moments of nail-biting suspense counterpoint the battle sequences nicely. It is, however, a rather hefty work for this kind of thing and there’s even a sequel weighing in at about a hundred or so pages more (The Shiva Option). If I were to complain about something, this is where I’d start. It would have been nice if the story concluded here. On the other hand, it's so compelling I have already started with the sequel.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whew! Pretty much non-stop battle scenes and action. Lots of Larry Niven influence, at least in the aliens (and one world on the space map was called Niven). Never boring, but not very deep. 3.5 stars

[Per Gunnar · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a good thing that I continued reading this series after having read the first book. The first book is quite okay but, surprisingly, it has little the do with the rest of the series. The first book is not the first in the actual time line to start with and has a lot more space opera and politics in the mix than the following ones.

The latter books, including this one, are great books. They are exactly my cup of tea. Very little politics and heavy focus on military strategy in space and, of course, space battles. There is a tiny little bit of politics where the left-wingers are allowed to be their usual incompetent loud mouthed assholes but it is not much. The bad guys are really bad guys. No need to even contemplate negotiations, just shoot to kill or these guys will not kill you but eat you. The end result is the same though.

I wish that David Weber had brought some more of this space action that he is so good at into his latest Honor Harrington books. The battles are detailed and you get to follow the strategic decisions and build ups to battle. Also the strategy is largely left in the hand where they belong this time, that is in the military hands.

My only gripe in the book is some personnel losses that I could have been without but I guess it’s a way of bringing new characters to the front line, literally.

I hope the next one is as good as this one. I have already started to read it and it looks promising.

[Anatoly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tons and tons of action and not much else. The enemy is rather uninteresting, overdone, and, surprisingly stupid. Some of the plot points, such as suddenly finding new warp points in a system that has been occupied for nearly a hundred *years* is just a bit too much to swallow. Still, it was a relaxing (in "turning off brain" meaning) read.

[Matthew Carson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I originally read this when it first came out. At the time, I thought it was the single greatest military sci-fi novel I had ever read. In fact, it was a definite influence on me to write in that genre. I recently revisited it, and it holds up really well after all this time. This book is one of the best examples of a great story that isn't character based. Having said that, you do feel for the characters when bad things happen, even if you've only been with them a short time. It's pretty impressive how quickly you grow to like the characters, even minor ones. (Minor *spoilers* ahead.) But, as with Game of Thrones, it's best not to get too attached. It's war against an implacable, almost elemental foe, and many characters don't survive to the end.

There are some leftover '90s-era artifacts, however. Anyone who isn't military, or identifies as 'Progressive' or 'Liberal' is considered unpatriotic scum, or a corporate shill. Or are just plain *dumb*. The one military character who has no redeeming qualities is little more than a commissioner for his political and corporate interests. Also, with this reading, I found how easily Ivan Antonov was lured in during Pesthouse more at odds with his expertise and reputation than on my first pass. There were extenuating circumstances, of course, but it was a pretty inglorious end to one of my favorite characters in the series. Hannah Avram's exit was also pretty lackluster. She shows up and the end just to get killed, which again seems like a disservice to such a cool character. The final battle of Alpha Centauri seemed really truncated this time around. Considering the exhaustive detail that goes into some of the other battles, I was surprised that such a climactic battle would cut away when all forces were finally engaged, and then fast forward to the aftermath. That may be a David Weber thing, though. I've noticed he uses that device quite a lot in The Shiva Option, as well as the later Honor Harrington novels.

But, all these things are nitpicks in the grand scheme of things. I would still highly recommend this as a must-read for anyone interested in the military sci-fi genre. I've read a number of books in the Starfire series, and enjoyed them, but I think this one is the best of the series.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Death Ground
Author: Steve White
Publisher: Baen
Published In: Riverdale, NY
Date: 1997
Pgs: 629

REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
Humanity has departed the cradle. The discovery of stable warp points throughout the universe has made travel, commerce, and warfare a faster, more lucrative, and more deadly proposition. The Terran Federation Navy defends the Federation. They have stood against the felinoid Orions. And with the Orions against the Rigellians and the Thebans. Warp point surveys are carried out by Survey Command backed by Battle Fleet whenever possible. Mapping the web of warp points for future opportunities and to seek out potential enemies that they aren’t aware of yet. The Bugs were a surprise. They set a trap for Survey Flotilla 27, savaging the ships, but not before warnings were dispatched up the warp chain to warn the Federation. The Bug advance was relentless. And when word reached the Federation of what was happening to the humans on the occupied worlds, all out war became the only option. When faced with an enemy who sees you as food, you will face dire circumstances. General Order 18 is in effect. A war to the death had broken out. They die or we die. But we won’t be sharing the universe.

Genre:
Aliens
Fiction
Military
Science fiction
Space
Space opera
War

Why this book:
Love this series of books. Great military sci fi. I have read them before and I will read them again.
______________________________________________________________________________

Favorite Character:
Rear Admiral Vanessa Murakuma. Tough as nails in a light frame.

Admiral of the Fleet and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of the Grand Alliance Ivan Antonov and, his vilkshatha brother, Kthaara’zarthan, Lord Talphon of the Orions.

Least Favorite Character:
Bettina Wister, senator and troublemaker, trying to sway opinion to blame the trouble with the Bugs on the Navy. Paraphrasing “If we had only negotiated, as the Bugs were eating us, maybe we wouldn’t be at war.”

Character I Most Identified With:
Love Demosthenes Waldeck who despite the influence of his politically powerful company is a great officer in Fifth Fleet and a loyal compatriot of Vanessa Murakuma.

The Feel:
War with your back against the wall, against an enemy who wants to eat you and who just keeps coming regardless of the amount of casualties you inflict upon him.

Favorite Scene:
When Daikyu sneaks a low emission probe through the area near the warp point leading to the Federation in an attempt to chart the dispositions of the Bugs and their preparations to jump off deeper into Fed space.

The Battle of Third Justin is very well done.

Operation: Pesthouse...the whole section. This novel goes from great science fiction to being a war novel in this chapter. The battle in Anderson Five, the wallering of Second Fleet, the fall of Antonov, the agony of the survivors. The horror of the discovery of the Harhanese. Intelligence species are cattle to the Bugs. Fight to win or be eaten.

The Battles in Centauri and Admiral MacGregor’s speech to stuff the guts back into her officers. Very well done.

Pacing:
Page turner.

Hmm Moments:
The Arachnids aka The Bugs are great villains.

Love the deeper insight into the Orions given by The Kliean Campaign where their worlds came under attack by The Bugs.

When Antonov faces the end in Anderson Five, I had to stop, close the book, and think about it for a minute. The character is very well written. I love it when a book gives you that thoughtful moment when you have to take a moment and appreciate the character and how it was written, effectively mourning the death of a fictional character.

Why isn’t there a screenplay?
Would make an incredible anime. Doubt there would be a stomach for the heavy military flavor of the series, it would be awesome, but I doubt it could be sold to one of the cable or broadcast networks.

Casting call:
Mila Kunis as Rear Admiral Vanessa Murakuma. Rena Sofer would make a good alternate for the role.

Max Von Sydow as Demosthenes Waldeck.

Agamemnon Waldeck should be portrayed by Christoph Waltz. He can portray the exact mix of smarmy and menace of power for powers sake and political leadership to make the character properly come alive.

Would love to see Lev Gorn play Ivan Antonov.
______________________________________________________________________________

Last Page Sound:
That’s awesome.

Author Assessment:
Love White and Weber’s work. Will always give either a look.

Knee Jerk Reaction:
real classic

Disposition of Book:
Keeper

Would recommend to:
everyone
______________________________________________________________________________

[SaberSnail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike the prior two books in the series, this one does relatively little swapping between story lines. Instead, it focuses on the events at a single place at a time. Once those events have resolved, the book moves on to a new location while some number of months go by off stage. This general structure works better than the tangled mess of plotlines that are used in the prior books.

The story is solid, and the characters are reasonably interesting. The book does end on somewhat of a cliffhanger, as the war as a whole is definitely not over yet. At least the end happens after a fairly major battle, so it's a reasonable place to stop.

Nothing particularly outstanding in this book, but also nothing that really causes problems.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

TLDR: This story shouldn't need 1300+ pages to tell.

This time the antagonists are an evil alien race that doesn't even think like humans, which means that 99% of this one is going to be told from the side of the Alliance to defeat them. This means no politics, not even any arguments over how best to fight the enemy. We just get battle after battle, interspersed with characters wallowing in the guilt they feel for not having done better. It's not bad, but after 600 pages it gets a bit tedious.

You can imagine how I was looking forward to the end as the page count dwindled, only to find that this was just part one!

That was when I first read the book when it came out in 1997. By the time the next book came out, FIVE YEARS later in 2002, I'd largely stopped reading fiction, and wasn't going to spend my time slogging through another 700+ pages just to finish the story.

So, here I am over 20 years later, and I've re-read it so I can do just that. Why? I'm starting to ask myself the same question. Probably the same reason I read it the first time: Insurrection and Crusade were good enough to get me interested in the setting, and I wanted to read a little more. That's the problem, I wanted to read a little more, not something that literally exceeds the page count of War and Peace!

But what about the 600 plus pages of this first part of two, was there anything there worth reading? If you read and liked the combat descriptions from the earlier books, then there's a lot of that here. In fact, like I mentioned at the beginning, that's pretty much all there is.

In between battles we get characters wallowing in the guilt they feel for having not done any better than they did. Of course the authors make it clear that they did the best anyone could have done, because the military is full of consummate professionals who do exactly the right thing whenever it's called for. Never mind that there's been 60 years of peace, and that the supposedly best leader of them all leads his fleet into a trap that the reader sees coming way before any of these brilliant military leaders do. Sure, we get mentions of a handful of officers with political connections who are no good, but they're all off screen, and so much the exception to the rule that they hardly matter.

We briefly get a caricature of a politician so hilariously one-dimensional that I have to wonder if it was put there just to make the other characters look more well-rounded by comparison. Also, it's here that we once again get the authors' bizarre take on what being a liberal means (it apparently involves being in the top 1% of wealth and sneering at the military).

So, is there anything here worth reading? I hope you like space battles!

[Gilles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lu en anglais

Tome 3 de la série Starfire

Une exploration de routine pour trouver des points de saut. Mais voilà que l'expédition est attaquée sans sommation par des vaisseaux d'une race extraterrestre inconnue qui se met ensuite en devoir de remonter la chaine des points de saut pour arriver à des systèmes habités humains. Et là, c'est le carnage. La flotte extraterrestre est puissante et ne connaît pas le mot retraite. Les humains doivent reculer sur des systèmes mieux protégés non sans un pincement au coeur en pensant aux civils abandonnés. Et c'est encore pire quand leurs sondes leur font voir que ces extraterrestres les considèrent comme une source de protéine. Pour la première fois, la fédération humaine fait face à un ennemi dont la puissance industrielle est égale ou plus forte que celle de la fédération. L'ennemi s'attaque bientôt aux alliés extraterrestres des humains. Pour l'instant, les alliés ont un léger avantage technologique mais l'ennemi met en position des forces écrasants et n'hésite pas à utiliser des tactiques de kamikaze.

Des ennemis puissants qui visent l'élimination totale et avec lesquels aucune communication n'est possible. Des personnages forts...mais pas immortels. La situation est telle que l'on réactive une directive pour éliminer la race de l'ennemi en entier. Mais, pour cela, il faut gagner et cela se présente mal.

Une histoire menée tambour battant avec des vaisseaux spatiaux de tous types et des batailles spatiales pleines de bruit et de fureur. L'ennemi est impitoyable, ce qui ne l'empêche pas d'être brillant. Un immense souffle épique ... à mon grand plaisir ! L'écriture est serrée et on ne s'embrouille pas avec des discussions politiques comme dans d'autres livres de Weber. En tout cas, l'écriture à deux est réussie dans cette série. Seule déception dans ce livre est que l'histoire se continue dans le prochain tome, contrairement aux deux premiers tomes qui étaient autonomes même s'ils se situaient dans le même contexte de fond.

Bien sûr, j'ai encore a-do-ré et j’enclenche la suite. Une série qui porte la science-fiction militaire à son top niveau.

[Adam Milton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reads like the slightly embellished technical manual of a ttrpg or board game. And thats what this is.
Based in the Starfire universe this novel details a conflict between an alliance of the standard, and unimaginative, aliens(A cat species, a bird species…etc…) and humanity vs aliens that are analogous giant Spiders.

Now I struggled with reading this and frankly I can’t call what I did “finishing the novel.” No. Instead I merely endured this tome detailing the technical, strategic and scientific minutiae of this universe. And least forgivable wasn’t the jargon but there was no on-ramp. You were expected to know what an SMBHAWK was from context clues alone. It took a threadbare page on an all but abandoned wiki to confirm most of what I had suspected about the SMBHAWK.

The politics and inter working of this universe was explained when needed but the author spent most of his efforts on the battles, each one a detailed breakdown of universe specific technologies, ship classes and numbers with no real emotional connection.

This is the second time I read this book, the first was in middle school and I could not finish it and now I remember why.

If you want to read the equivalent of a 4-5 dozen wiki pages of detailing battles that happened only in PC games and table tops then this is for you.

The writing itself isn’t bad and is the only thing saving this book from 2 stars.

Starfire is a board wargame (a "4X", eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate) simulating space warfare and empire building in the 23rd century, created by Stephen V. Cole in 1979.

[Stuart Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purest war porn. Like Itchy and Scratchy, "They fight, they fight, they fight fight fight, fight fight fight." The Hoomans go through a wormhole and find aliens who immediately attack them. Then the aliens come through the wormhole en masse and just kill everybody. They don't attempt to communicate and they fight in swarms with no consideration for their own losses. Thus the XXXVIIIth Interstellar War begins. The aliens are giant spiders with unpleasant eating habits. The Hoomans get pushed back, fight back, hold ground, then push forward. There are numerous space battles and some Marine action. The whole time the aliens remain inscrutable.

It just gets bigger from there. The Hoomans allies the Orions and the Ophiuchusses and some others join in. The battle line spreads out with new fronts, and sometimes the Hoomans win and sometimes they don't. There is trickeration on both sides, new weapons are brought online, and tactics change. There seems no end to the aliens. So the fighting goes on.

There isn't much room with all the battles going on but we do get a little insight into the psychology of some of the officers. Some are near breaking, some are doggedly determined, and some excel. All the while the aliens keep attacking. It's fighting from page 1 right up to the end. If war porn is your thing then this is the book for you; if not then there isn't much else for you here.

[George Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

While a novel based on a science fiction wargame may not sound terribly interesting or exciting, as a military planner, I found it an interesting illustration of how people make decisions in combat, leverage the different capabilities and limitations of people and weapons systems to produce outcomes. It also was an effective illustration of how people misjudge opposition by supposing that they think like you, even when you know they do not.

Weber is best known for the protagonist Honor Harrington, in the "Honorverse" books. Those books are also space military sci-fi. This series (in particular In Death Ground and The Shiva Option) is a more pure military sci-fi action series. To draw an analogy, if the Honorverse is Weber's version of Clancy's Jack Ryan books...this series I am reviewing now is Weber's Red Storm Rising.

[Jim Brown]

This book is truly an old friend. If you are a fan of military history, military science fiction, and futuristic military technology, this book is a must read. White and Weber describe military strategy and technology in great detail, while only presenting their characters with the broadest of brush strokes. In many ways, this book presages Weber's later Honor Harrington series. The book ends in the middle of story, so if you like it, be prepared to read The Shiva Option as well.

[Jeff Crosby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the other books in this series, the primary focus is on tactics and battle scenes. At times this can be grim, but not explicitly graphic. Strategy and politics are secondary. Characterization is a distant third.

The biggest weakness of this particular novel is its scope. It is difficult to establish a geographic stage. As an audio book it is occasionally confusing for brief moments as the locale and characters shift.

However, despite the limitations, I found this novel highly entertaining.

[Remo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Segunda parte de la serie de Starfire. El primero me gustó mucho y en este segundo hay menos de todo salvo batallas espaciales. En una gran guerra de movimientos, presenciamos asalto tras asalto de los Bichos y de la Federación. En algún momento, dado que las batallas son tantas, hay alguna impresión de que las cosas se repiten. pero en general está muy entretenido. ya estoy con la tercera.

[Robert Gilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio book. Great reader he really makes this a fun book. Wow lots of death and destruction in this one. The TFN finds the bugs to be a relentless foe. To the point that the war is continued into the next book. Which I have already added to my Audible app. Exciting space battles and lots of action.

[Captain Marcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is military science fiction at its best- excellent tactics, characterization, technology advances, fun aliens (the Khanate are GREAT), honestly this is some of the best work ever done under the Baen imprint. It and its sequel, the Shiva Option, are far, far better than they have any right to be. Five stars

[Elijah Wolsefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an epic book love the battles with Victora, love the bugs as enemies and love the battles that take place on the ground with the space marines and also love the story of presscpt and all zhaarnak

[Cynik · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorites, have read it several times. Can read it as a stand alone with the follow up Shiva option or you can read it as part of the Starfire series. Weber may be known for his Honor Harrington series more but I prefer these.

[Sean Hillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, sets up Shiva Option to be great but the sequel does not measure up to this one. Still lots of lingo and internal monologues.

[Max Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, engrossing, and fun! Poses challenging, philosophical questions about war, collateral damage, and genocide. On par with Ender's game.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continues to be an excellent space battle series. Kind of like Sharpe in space. :-)

[Clay · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book covers two fronts to the same war. Sixty years after "Crusade" a Terran survey ship stumbles into an empty system. But it's not so empty. A cloaked picket ship of a new enemy to the Alliance notes the presence of this intruder, reports back, and, thus, a relentless assault on Alliance space begins. And it truly is relentless as the enemy is willing to sacrifice a majority of their ships to gain even a slight advantage during each battle. And there seems to be no end to the Fleet.

The first half of the book recounts the initial confrontations and the Alliance getting devastated and pushed back. The second part opens a front near a populated system of the Khanate. While the Alliance has an advantage in technology, the enemy has vast numbers and is a quick study of alien technology and tactics.

While the first part had plenty of space battles, there were some human moments with characterization. All that seems to go out the airlock in the second part. It's not all one battle after another after another. There is time spent on the people manning the Alliance fleet, but these are much too short and the whole thing feels like an endless video game being observed and these character sections are where the game needs to "pause" while loading up the ships and battlefield for the next round.

One small hope that I had for something a little more interesting (or at least less repetitious) was when the Alliance "liberated" an occupied planet that had some remaining native population. After destroying the population's capability to get into space, essentially stranding the enemy and the enslaved natives, a decision needed to be made as to what to do next, which brought up interesting moral questions with regards to what to do in that situation. Unfortunately, it was all left unresolved and unexplored. There is included some perspective from the enemy Fleet to give the reader some view of the plans from that side, but half the text is in italics and I couldn't figure out why. Kind of annoying.

[mantareads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Firstly, title bears absolutely no relation, or even mention to what happens in the book - unless of course, you count the indulgent and massive accounts of starship slaughter and butchery

next: blurb's awful pun on Sun Tzu's name ("one-Tzu-three" really?!) was irrelevant, uncalled for and rather disrespectful for a book that claims to write after the tradition of military navies and strategic thought.

attempts at fleshing out characters fail so stupendously. I think I enjoyed reading more about the battleship and missile descriptions than the authors' awkward attempts at making their admirals distinguishable from one another. usually they "shake themselves" or "snort" or speak in a "quiet voice". the final captain we are introduced to, one Aileen Sommers and her "woman issues" smacked of a desperate attempt by the writers to ram some romance into a very dreary and repetitive plot.

basically iDG is One Final Boss Battle after the Previous Final Boss Battle. the battle scenes are indeed gratifying. but they too wear thin after one too many fights. a war is complicated stuff with multiple fronts and intertwined threads; a novel, however, is a select composition. you would have thought the writers could have bothered to make things more distinct and easier to follow.

where and what the hell is Kliean, Harnah, Alpha Centauri? who cares? just the site of Another Bug Battle. Business as usual. having read Ender's Game this book reads more like a teenage boy's smackdown fantasy: hey, let's just see how many massive warships we can throw at each other; let's see how many repetitive battles readers can endure! throw in a diluted dash of liberal-sneering and oblique racist and sexist slants for Characterisation, and we are all set!

[Scott Holstad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a big book of space battles. That's all it is. No major plot or back plot. No real character development. No real politics, no religion. Just the Terran Alliance (humans and their several alien allies) against the Bugs, who are spider looking aliens who are suicidal killers who like to eat the people they capture on planets they conquer. This is just battle after battle after battle. It's okay at first, because they're fairly good, but then they get redundant. Fast. After all, how many times can you see hundreds of Alliance fighters fight Bug gunboats, all slaughtering each other by the hundreds, before you just go brain dead and fight the urge to yawn? Besides, the Alliance has virtually no ships, ever, and the Bugs have a zillion. And they're constantly getting slaughtered by the hundreds, but they just keep coming, over and over and over again. After awhile, it gets tiring to see the same old thing take place -- 40 Alliance ships, most of them small, against 150 Bug ships, most of them huge. The real kicker of this book is the Alliance gets its ass kicked in the end and they don't win. Instead, they hunker down to play defense for what will obviously be a sequel. Kind of annoying and besides, the authors have created such a one sided situation that I don't see how the Alliance can possibly win in the sequel no matter what they do. So it'll be the extinction of humanity and its allies. It's not bad writing, but it becomes boring fairly quickly, unless you like reading about the same types of space battles over and over again. If you do, you'll love it. Personally, not recommended.

[Troy G · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book. Humanity and its allies face an extinction event in the form of an invader. This is made most interesting by the fact that humanity knows how to fight this invader. Their tactics and technology are effective at killing the invasion force. But it just doesn't matter.
"She wasn't fighting a navy. She was fighting an elemental force, something forged in the bowels of Hell to smash anything in its path, and she was afraid. So afraid."

The first half of the book follows a series of tactical victories that result in strategic defeats. Following the losing side of a war is interesting in itself, but we are also allowed to understand a bit of what is going through the heads of those fighting. Some can tolerate losing more than others. For some the loss of battles correlate to a loss of sanity.

We get just enough from the bug's point of view to understand that they are thinking creatures, even if they are very alien and unrelatable.

The second half of the book is about the growth of humanity and its allies. Alliances must become tighter. Tactics must become better. Leaders must emerge. All of the hope for survival is tied to growth. If they can grown enough fast enough, they might survive. If not...

I love this book. I recommend it to anyone at all interested in military stories, and all fans of science fiction. This is, to me, the greatest example of military science fiction ever written.

[Marcus Knowles · Rating 2 out of 5]

REVIEW: Starfire Series by David Weber & Steve White Another SF series that I picked up on a recommendation. Or perhaps not a recommendation, more of a wondering on that person's description of the books, which I will paraphrase.
 
"A small space battle, followed by a bigger space battle, followed by an even bigger space battle, followed by a desperate space battle, followed by an even more massive and desperate space battle, followed by..."
 
As you might guess, these books are about space battles.
 
This summary, by the way, is absolutely correct. There are characters, but they are nothing but archetypes designed to pull the plot forward so we can have another space-battle. That's what everything is geared towards. You can even notice it in the descriptions as before any battle commences the authors will drone up an exact listing of the number and types of ships about to engage in battle. It gives the entire thing a sort of a spreadsheet like quality. Consistent, but never exciting.
 
Final verdict
A solid read if you like... space battles! The descriptions are serviceable and as long as you aren't expecting deep mystery nor character development that isn't along standard archetype lines, you can pick this up to read while you veg out.
 
 
 

[Kenneth · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Death Ground (3/5) draws inspiration from Heinlein & Niven for a tale of galactic invasion by bug-like aliens. I enjoyed the "better mouse trap" arms race depicted between the humanity-led federation and the all-consuming Bugs, but the writing can be dry in places as the action reads more like a battle report, and less like a novel.

There are a few notable, and well-fleshed out, military characters, but these tend to be admirals or other high-ranking characters. The book occasionally switches to the point of view of grunts, but not for long; more of that would have helped break up the battles-turned-butchers' bills.

The book's non-military characters are almost uniformaly portraited as opportunistic, political buffons who stand between the military and their job of defending humanity. The political could have added some real drama to the book, but the homefront vs. battlefront tensions never materialize.

In Death Ground is a decent book, and it scratched that military SF/starship battle itch I've had all summer. Military SF fans should enjoy it, as should anyone who's spent their weekends playing marathon sessions of Starship Battles or Battlefleet Gothic should love it.

[Scotty Marinara · Rating 5 out of 5]

i remember hearing about this book when i was in high school a friend told me that the book was all space battles against a true alien enemy i skipped lunch that week, saved my money snuck to the mall on saturday picked it up and was hooked, i spent all night reading and all that sunday, i stayed up way late on a school night reading iti have returned to this series many times over the years and it is still really great some of the characterizations havent aged well, like bettina wister for example i feel like wewber is modelling her off of how fox news makes california progressive politicians and it stinksi am told that the fascist hyper capitalistic core worlds get their critique in insurrection, which i am working my way towards, in short this series is delightful space battle porn, the techno babble and military equipment jargon can be a little oiff putting but once it starts getting to me i skip a page and it is done looking back at this from 2023 i feel there is some orientalism with the character of makamuraenhough about her damn" jsade eyes flashing! lol

i recommend this book and series its a fun romp, just turn off your modern filters and critiques and uou will enjoy it,

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm reading this book and I'm feeling 'This reads just like a game of Starfleet Battles'. I do a little bit of research and it turns out that Mr. Weber worked on Starfleet Battles back in the 70's as well as a game called Starfire, upon which this book is based.

It's a military procedural in space - in the Tom Clancy vein. Lots of action, pretty much only action as the members of the Terran Federation Navy battle the nearly unstoppable 'bugs' they discover in the first chapter. Beyond a fairly gripping description of large scale navals actions in space, Mr. Weber sprinkles some decent characters, mostly just enough to make us care for the stresses the military is undergoing. The military characters are treated with respect and understanding as each grapples with the seemingly impossible task she or he is faced with. The roots of Mr. Weber's fine later Honor Harrington series are all here. Mr. Weber's authorial care and respect are not extended to characters not in the military, most of whom are presented as one-note buffoons. It's a glaring weakness.

Fast-paced, fun and chilling in equal amounts.