Warstrider

Warstrider #1

by William H. Keith Jr.

Dev Cameron was planning to join the Navy when he was drafted into the Guard - 'groundpounders' consigned to do the dirtiest work of interplanetary warfare. But before the situation can be rectified, the reluctant warrior's heavily armored unit is rocketing to the stars to do battle with the Xenos - an inscrutable, illogical and terrifying race of alien monsters committed to the annihilation of all other galactic species.

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

340 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1993

About the author

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)

Reviews

[Charles van Buren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best military sci-fi, January 10, 2016

This review is from: Warstrider (Warstrider Series, Book One) (Kindle Edition)

This is a well written book but to my mind there are problems which prevent it from being a great book. Others have pointed out the lack of realism in the military relationships among the characters. One of those problems is the main characters' often openly rebellious attitude toward superiors. At the end, the main characters' conversation with the emperor is even worse. In fact the entire Japanese empire idea does not meet the realism test. The aliens in the novel are very imaginative as are some of the combat scenes but the whole is hampered as military sci-fi as the military is not believable. Three stars as military sci-fi but written well enough and with enough imagination that I am giving four stars. All in all, I am glad that I got this via Kindle Unlimited rather than purchase.

January 14, 2016. An addendum: Something about suspension of disbelief in this novel has been bothering me. When communication is finally established with one of the Xenophobes, it asks questions including, "What is god?" When I first studied sociology, I learned about something called the god sense. This means that no people, no matter how isolated, how primitive or how advanced, do not have a sense of something outside themselves, outside the physical world, that is a sense of some kind of god. I can not suspend disbelief to the extent of believing that a sentient species does not have something akin to the god sense, even if members of that species decide to dismiss it as superstition.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keith's Warstrider is a definite blast from the past and an early work before he started publishing military science fiction under the name Ian Douglas. If you recall, in the 1980s and early 90s, Japan, and its industrial and technological might burst into the popular imaginary of the West, especially in the USA, where Toyotas and Hondas flooded the streets and chunks of prime real estate were being bought by Japanese (like the Rockefeller Center in NYC). Keith builds on this in the world he creates in spades. Although five centuries into the future, here Japan developed the first FTL tech and lead the colonization of the stars. Earth is ruled by the Hegemony, but the Japanese Empire controls all the spaceships and is clearly the 'most equal' among equal nations.

Some 50 years or so before the start of the novel, some strange aliens, deemed 'Xenophobes' started to emerge on some of the colonies, burrowing up from deep underground and using nanotech to transform everything. Humanity fought the Xenos, but largely to no avail, eventually losing colony after colony to the aliens. Our lead, Dev Cameron, was born on Earth in the former United States; a protectorate of basically second-class citizens under the Japanese Empire. His father, however, worked in the Japanese Imperial Fleet, and managed to get Dev hooked up with 'jacks' that all one to 'jack in' AI systems and such. Basically, some nanotech grows in your brain and allows via the jack one to interface with AIs, communication networks, whatever. Most second-class citizens cannot afford such tech, however, and never leave Earth (or indeed, their arcologies there). Dev, however, manages to attend college and eventually become a starship pilot, working on freighters.

Pilots 'jack in' to their ships and, along with powerful AIs, manage to achieve FTL, with the pilot navigating the 'Quantum sea'. Yet, (long story), when he tries to join the Imperial Navy, he ends up being a 'strider'. Striders and massive robot-like beings that serve in the 26th century as basically tanks-- armed to the teeth and layered in armor. These striders have become the front line against the strange aliens, who emerge from deep underground and start using nano disassemblers on the surface. So we are treated to Dev's trials and tribulations as a Strider, and then, a grunt (crunchie) infantry.

Warstrider is pure bubblegum, but very tasty bubblegum, with a very cyberpunk feel (everyone seems to be jacking into ViR entertainment (even sex) and humanity has mostly become somewhat cyborgish. Besides the Xenophobes, we also along the way encounter another strange alien race and lots of adventure and pitched high-tech battles. If you like military science fiction, this is definitely worth a shot. 4 nanotech stars!!

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wel....I like the book. I think the ending was a little weak (as we've all seen it before, several times if we've read much science fiction). Still we get a good story.

This is another story where the young protagonist has some poor choices about his future and signs up for the military hoping for one thing, only to be slotted where the military wants him.

I could say a lot about the way the military is portrayed here. I've noted before that while we're in we tend to bellyache, complain and in general express discontent. Then later we realize the positive side of things. That's after we are no longer in of course.

The story here is attempting to express how things have changed over the years and how the military deals with a new threat from an alien threat that seems to be intent on wiping out all life in the universe except itself.

So...without spoilers, good story I think you'll probably enjoy it if you like the military/scifi/fantasy/ fiction. Enjoy

I'll comment on the ending below so don't look if you don't want to know.

The end...right. It's another where everyone misunderstood each other and once we find a way to communicate there's hope and light shines again. sigh.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is starting out to be a great series. I have previously read and reviewed another series by Ian Douglas (AKA: William Keith), Star Corpsman - Books 1 & 2, and I am enjoying the Warstrider series just as much.

I will say that these are basically the same books in that they use almost the exact same writing formula. The characters and settings are different, the technology and service branches are different, and the bad guys and plot problems are different.

However, both series start out with a main character that is new to his career. He gets thrust into an overwhelming situation. He prevails and happens to be the one person who has the skills to do what needs to be done. The unlikely hero also happens to stumble upon the key to unlocking the mystery of everything that is causing conflict in the story and he saves the day.

Shakespeare said that every story that will ever be told has already been told, and Ian has told this story before. But that doesn't take away from Warstrider's enjoyment factor. The characters are still interesting, the tech he created is engrossing, and the scenes are well written. If I hadn't read Star Corpsman, I think this book would have been less predictable, but no less enjoyable.

Overall, this is a great story whether it's your first Ian Douglas book or your twentieth. I highly recommend picking it up. And with Amazons new Kindle Unlimited program, I downloaded this book for free! Sort of, if you don't count my $10 a month subscription fee for the program. But on a side note, this a great program especially for indie authors. If you download Warstrider and don't like it, at least read past 10% so the author can get paid by Amazon for your download.

[AudioBookReviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

ABR's full Warstrider audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Warstrider is an interesting twist on the alien invasion theme. Ian Douglas creates a much more realistic scenario about how strange aliens might be. So alien in fact, that we can’t communicate with them, have no idea why they’re attacking us, or what we can do to stop them. It is a horror story idea and one that sounds far more plausible than giant insects.

The alien invaders are called Xenophobes (I know, “fear of strangers,” but that’s what Douglas chose to call them) and they have wiped out several human worlds and are attacking more. The Xenos (as they are also called) have never been seen, but they are able to send out billions of nanobot warriors who disassemble anything in their path, they can also take over machines and turn them against the humans. Zombie robots and liquefied humans, what’s not to like?

Dev Cameron is a space ship pilot who decides to join the military to increase his wealth and prestige; leaving behind a son and wife with barely a glance – nice. He ends up getting pushed further and further down the military ladder until he ends up a foot soldier, or “crunchy,” with a serious downgrade in his expected life-span. Luck and brainpower help him slowly climb back up to become a Warstrider pilot. A warstrider is a gigantic transformer-like machine that is controlled by the operator’s mind. It has some serious fire power, defenses and sounds like a heck of a lot of fun to operate.

The plot is simple enough, destroy the Xenos before they destroy us. The humans might keep them at bay for a while, but the war seems to be endless. And worst of all, what if the invaders make it to Earth? Dev is a Job-like character (as in the Bible), thrown around by the powers above him. He seems rarely able to make his own luck, but has luck none-the-less, along with a lot of disappointment. It makes him quite human and likable (we’re supposed to forget the wife and son by now).

Narration is by David Drummond who does an excellent job. He has a distinctive and articulate voice that made the story enjoyable for this listener. The production quality is excellent, no complaints. He reads the story well without getting in the way.

If you are looking for some good Sci-Fi soldier action with an intelligent take on alien species, there is a lot to like about Warstrider. It does start a little slow, but give it a chance and you won’t be disappointed.

Audiobook provided for review by the publisher.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 1st book in the Warstrider series by William H. Keith a.k.a. Ian Douglas. I only started reading books by William H. Keith a.k.a. Ian Douglas in the last couple of years. I read his newer material first and really liked it so I decided to go back and read this series which was written more than 20 years ago. I must say his older material is just as good as his newer material. This is a great example of Military Science Fiction which is his main forte. I like this one so much that I have ordered the next 2 in this series and can't wait to read them. I am also waiting for his latest installment in his Star Carrier series, that he writes under the pseudonym Ian Douglas, which comes out on April 25th. In this one a young man named Dev Cameron joins the military in the hopes of becoming a starship pilot in the Imperial Navy. Instead he becomes a "Groundpounder" in the Hegemony Army. He is assigned to the planet Loki to fight the Xenos, a race of aliens who attack seemly without provocation. He finds out that things are not what they seem however. I recommend this series to all fans of Military Science Fiction and of William H. Keith a.k.a. Ian Douglas.

[Per Gunnar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mechwarriors is not my favorite subgenre of science fiction but I have enjoyed several of the authors books in the Heritage, Legacy, Inheritance and Star Carrier series of books so when I saw that this was a republishing of a book series that I had not read by this author I just I had to give it a try.

I have to say that it is a good solid read. I cannot say that it makes me go totally wow or anything but I never lost interest and after having finished the book I felt no hesitation when I added the second book in the series to my “to-read” shelf on Goodreads.

As can be deduced from the book blurb the book is primarily about young Dev Cameron who wanted to fly starships but ends up as a Warstrider pilot instead. Even this was hanging on a thread for some time and I have to say that I felt some despair half way through the book.

Luckily the book is not just about mechwarriors slugging it out but there are some rather interesting alien enemies using nano-technology making things interesting. The political mechanics of the book is also a big part of the story with its Japanese dominance of the human affairs. The main characters in the book are quite well done as are the background story. There are some rather intense action going on but, as I wrote before, the book avoids the trap of turning the entire thing into one big slugfest. In the last third of the book some interesting developments are happening which, to me at least, elevated the book a notch. For any readers not yet having read the book I will of course not reveal any details but the last third of the book was what really made me interested in reading the next book in the series.

In short, a good solid read with something for both the mechwarrior fantast as well as the more general science fiction lover.

[Mike Moondog · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starving readers

Let's face it, I was not impressed. I believe the book should have been reworked to make for a more exciting, action packed story. Less talk, more action. Who really cares about political details in a fictional universe, not me. I want Godzilla sized mechanisms, controlled by humans , fully armored and shielded with weapons of epic destruction to fly in, quake land right in the face of the bad guys, do the robot dance and say, COME GET SOME Nancy, COME on, don't a shy, there's plenty for everyone, make my day Punk.
Unfortunately this book had no grit. As written, the system of human rule and process destroyed any chance of it.

[BobA707 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: I quite enjoyed this book, good take on the aliens, good military SF, but I didn't think the characters were particularly strong, and although the revelations about the aliens was interesting it was not particularly believable and the plot didn't bear too much thinking. Nevertheless I look forward to the next in the series

Plotline: Sort of works possibly could have been strengthened, a few things didn't quite work and a bit too linear.

Premise: Generally good, but again some big weakesses

Writing: Simple descriptive. Could have done with some stringer characters

Ending: the beginning of the end ?

Pace: Never a dull moment!

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good. I went into this with skepticism, mainly because I've been having a bad run of "unknown author kindle unlimited" books, but this was a surprise. Story was good, if not highly original, and the same with the characters. The most surprising part was the quality of writing, which was quite high. For an interesting enough story, I can force myself through some pretty sophomoric writing, and it was delightful not to have to.

[Mojo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting to read this. I'm a fan of his later works like the Star Carriers and the Heritage Marine series. You can clearly see the seeds of those stories here. A little rough around the edges and not nearly as polished. Overall a fun quick read

[Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Either this guy came from the future or he just has a terrific imagination for what could happen.

[M Hamed · Rating 1 out of 5]

weirdly boring as usual

[Gilles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un roman de science-fiction militaire et de cyberpunk.

Quelques centaines d'années dans le futur, la puissance dominante est le Japon impérial, auquel est subordonnée l'Hégémonie, une fédération de 57 nations. Quelques étoiles proches ont aussi été colonisées. Mais, un ennemi mortel menace, les Xénophobes, qui s'attaquent à toute forme de vie. Les Xénophobes ont un contrôle poussé de la nanotechnologie qui leur permet de circuler sous terre, comme un poisson dans l'eau, et aussi de manipuler la matière pour l'annihiler ou l'adapter pour ses besoins. On peut les combattre, mais pas les vaincre, et les planètes succombent l'une après l'autre. Ce qui est surprenant, c'est que nul n'a vu de vaisseaux Xénophobes. Comment passent-ils d'une planète à l'autre ?

Le roman suit le jeune Dev Cameroun, le fils d'un amiral déchu. Son rêve est de piloter les vaisseaux de guerre, mais il est refusé à cause de son profil psychologique. Il se retrouve donc dans les blindés, des marcheurs gigantesques, contrôlés par des connections en prise directe sur les cerveaux de l'équipage.
La guerre semble perdue d'avance, ce n'est qu'une question de temps. Mais voilà qu'une base de recherche éloignée est entrée en contact avec un vaisseau extraterrestre. Peut-être l'aide dont on avait besoin.

Des humains connectés, des univers virtuels, des liaisons homme-machine, de l'action à revendre. Tout cela écrit par un ancien vétéran du Vietnam, ce qui ajoute de la crédibilité à l'environnement militaire, aux tactiques et aux combats, sans compter une science plutôt crédible. Plusieurs de ses romans sont publiés sous le pseudonyme Ian Douglas.

Une écriture serrée, des personnages bien décrits, des extraterrestres vraiment différents, j'ai beaucoup aimé ce roman. Et cet auteur, pas du tout traduit en français, est un de mes auteurs favoris.

[Steven Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was trying to give space opera (my #1 read genre) a break, then the first book in the Warstrider series came in the mail from Paperback Swap. I have wanted to read this series for many years, but they are difficult to find in used book stores.

I have been aware of this series for quite some time, always had it in the “to read” pile if I ever got the chance. The Warstrider series is often derided as a Battletech rip off which itself is derided as a gaijin inspired rip off of the Japanese Robotech series. Perhaps his experience at writing mech combat is why this author was asked to write several Battletech books.

I have not read any of this author’s other works, as I was not that interested in game-inspired fiction. I did not expect to really like the first book in the Warstrider series expecting to give it a “meh” and toss it on the to-trade pile on Paperback Swap.

I gobbled this book in one day. I found the characters engaging that I could empathize with many of their situations. About the only thing I found irritating was Katya’s vacillating feelings for Dev. It seemed that one moment Katya was deeply in love with Dev, and the next she merely liked Dev; woman needs to make up her damn mind.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed the first book so much that I have now purchased all seven in Kindle format from Amazon.

[Star · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew up reading the BattleTech novels, many which were written by William H Keith Jr. The mechs pictured at the beginning of the books are blatant rip offs of other BattleTech mechs which were rip-offs of several anime mecha. The story setting feels like it could be switched over to Battletech. The Hegemony locales visited feels like it's the Inner Sphere and FRR with the Imperial Japan a stand-in for the Draconis Combine. I didn't care for the budding relation between Cameron and Katya. The main character's got to get his girl and it has to be his commanding officer I guess. The mech combat was as good as what Keith wrote for the BattleTech Universe. Some info-dump that is easy to just speed read through without much loss. The nano-tech, cyber-interface stuff, and exotic alien tech were cool setting pieces for the story to use and build on. I'm gonna read further in the series. Mainly for the mechs. I love me some mechs and Keith knows how to write them.

[Grep · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook, and I was pleasantly surprised until the last 10 percent of the book.

The ending made me take an extra star off. It was kind off a throw back book for me since the Japanese haven't been portrayed in Sci-Fi as the global/universal power since the late 80s, just goes to show you, if you live long enough everything becomes retro.

But damn, the conclusion of this book was just not believable nor satisfying. It really felt like the author wrote an outline and just copypasted from his original outline even though it didn't match who the characters were by the end of the book.

I also got a real "Speaker of the Dead" vibe at the end, and I never want to come close to another book like that again, once is enough.

[Jaysen Huculak · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable sci-fi military novel. This one takes a little while to get going and shares some elements from his BATTLETECH novels as well as some from The Fifth Foreign Legion. I was really into those in the 90s and this is very similar. Age has changed some of my tastes but I still found it enjoyable. If you’ve read his other works and liked them this will work for you. Not sure I would start here though.

[Adam Roll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super clever, incredibly readable, and similar to the Star Carrier series by the same author, Warstrider was a page turner that kept moving from beginning to end. Whereas a lot of space opera can be overly verbose, this military science fiction actually is as far spanning with a less common sense of brevity. A great read and not demanding.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story, interesting characters, and throw in some mech-suits and you cannot go wrong. Join the journey of humanity to the stars as we encounter a seemingly hostile alien that is bent on our total destruction using technology beyond anything we have encountered before.

[Medusa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars, as the ending was a bit pat. But I really enjoyed this book, and can’t believe I didn’t find this series years ago. Mechs! Combat ! Cool technology and reasonably perceptive psychology. A cut above the usual fare in this category.

[David A. von Roemer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok but not great.

Way too wordy. Details way above what's needed to make the point. Crossing back and forth between Japanese and English is very confusing , slows the flow of the scene and is hard to track and keep a modicum of understanding.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally someone that thinks the mind is infinite complex and yet integrates it with technology.

[C.S. Areson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Language a little strong and some suggestive scenes but a very interesting view of the future.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

An OG Expanses series. More military and hard SciFi. Definitely worth the time.

[Florin]

DNF.

I've found myself 12% into the book and while reading my mind was going other places..

Didn't manage to connect with the story / the world setup/ the character(s).

[Curtis Jensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cross between Starship Troopers and Ender's Game.

[Luke Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good start, this novel introduces a lot of technology that is still thought provoking even though it was written in the 90s. Artificial intelligence, linking machines directly to our nervous system and nanotechnology used for medical purposes and tech engineering are all featured in this book. I recently saw The Edge of Tomorrow and many elements of the movie reminded me of this book. This authors style is engaging and I like the universe he has created I will continue to read the rest of this series .

[Dimitri · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazingly unique premise and a great piece of writing.

Starting this book was hard because like any sci-fi book terminology has to be provided and learned, this book had quite a bit of distinct terms to be learned. Once that hurdle has been passed though the book becomes easy to enjoy. The characters are well developed enough to make it easy to want to continue the adventure. I look forward to reading the next book in the series!

[Andrew Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throwback mech action

Throwback mech action

For those that miss the old Battletech series with Michael Stackpole, this reissue of another mech series will be a welcome sight. When Dev's dream of flying starships is dashed he is stuck with the groundpounders in a mech.