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Starfist #5
Technokill
A terrifying secret, an evil coterie of ruthless masterminds, a murderous battle of cunning and deadly skill—it’s time to send in the Marines!
After the Confederation makes a shocking discovery on an alien world, a nefarious band of opportunists from the highest echelons of power plot to steal the vast riches for themselves. Along with the ability to crush any resistance, these moguls possess spacecraft, unlimited resources, and a deadly arsenal of cutting-edge weapons.
The only one without a price tag is the Confederation president. Now she is sending Gunnery Sergeant Bass, the men of third platoon, and a single special agent to expose the shadowy figures behind the corruption. And so, on an obscure planet, home to unimaginable treasure and an unsettling species, the toughest fighters in Human Space confront their fiercest battle. For there will be no losers in this war, only the triumphant, the dead, and the vanished . . .
After the Confederation makes a shocking discovery on an alien world, a nefarious band of opportunists from the highest echelons of power plot to steal the vast riches for themselves. Along with the ability to crush any resistance, these moguls possess spacecraft, unlimited resources, and a deadly arsenal of cutting-edge weapons.
The only one without a price tag is the Confederation president. Now she is sending Gunnery Sergeant Bass, the men of third platoon, and a single special agent to expose the shadowy figures behind the corruption. And so, on an obscure planet, home to unimaginable treasure and an unsettling species, the toughest fighters in Human Space confront their fiercest battle. For there will be no losers in this war, only the triumphant, the dead, and the vanished . . .
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 8, 2000
9 people are currently reading
195 people want to read
About the author
David Sherman
67 books99 followersDavid Sherman was the author or co-author of some three dozen books, most of which are about Marines in combat.
He wrote about US Marines in Vietnam (the Night Fighters series and three other novels), and the DemonTech series about Marines in a fantasy world. The 18th Race trilogy is military science fiction.
Other than military, he wrote a non-conventional vampire novel, The Hunt, and a mystery, Dead Man's Chest. He also released a collection of short fiction and non-fiction from early in his writing career, Sherman's Shorts; the Beginnings.
With Dan Cragg he wrote the popular Starfist series and its spin off series, Starfist: Force Recon—all about Marines in the Twenty-fifth Century.; and a Star Wars novel, Jedi Trial.
His books have been translated into Czech, Polish, German, and Japanese.
David passed away in November 2022.
He wrote about US Marines in Vietnam (the Night Fighters series and three other novels), and the DemonTech series about Marines in a fantasy world. The 18th Race trilogy is military science fiction.
Other than military, he wrote a non-conventional vampire novel, The Hunt, and a mystery, Dead Man's Chest. He also released a collection of short fiction and non-fiction from early in his writing career, Sherman's Shorts; the Beginnings.
With Dan Cragg he wrote the popular Starfist series and its spin off series, Starfist: Force Recon—all about Marines in the Twenty-fifth Century.; and a Star Wars novel, Jedi Trial.
His books have been translated into Czech, Polish, German, and Japanese.
David passed away in November 2022.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 16, 2022
So bloated and boring in most parts. The authors seemed to consider breaking into a ship to apprehend a few extremely side characters the climax of the book, when they had a WHOLE ALIEN AVIARY SPECIES to work with who, though cheesy, were far more interesting than the overhyped Marines (which makes a lot more sense once you know that one of the authors was a Marine).
What broke my immersion and irritated me slightly were the constant references to the 20th century. Scifi does this a lot, understandably, because writers are working within their own frame of reference -- but it just paints the picture of this static world where human history has essentially halted and nothing significant has happened in the past 500 years. This would be the equivalent of all my cultural references coming from the 1500s, and ONLY the 1500s. "You know who Elon Musk reminds me of? Cardinal Wolsey, with his fingers all up in everything."
Also, since this book had tons of content that DID NOT NEED TO BE THERE, we aren't spared a few spiels and heavy-handed metaphors that come with decidedly ICK racial overtones: there's a lot of talk about "superior civilizations" (which, coincidentally, always happens to be Europe and the West), even when it doesn't make much sense, like between 16th-century Portugal and Japan. Speaking of, it's both tasteless and bewildering when one Marine goes off on a spiel about how he thinks the Japanese "were all psychopaths," because 1) are you f**king kidding me, 2) his only examples are the feudal ritual of seppuku and WWII suicide bombers, 3) did Japan just??? stop existing after the 20th century???? Why is he talking about Japanese people like they're some kind of mythical beast??
What broke my immersion and irritated me slightly were the constant references to the 20th century. Scifi does this a lot, understandably, because writers are working within their own frame of reference -- but it just paints the picture of this static world where human history has essentially halted and nothing significant has happened in the past 500 years. This would be the equivalent of all my cultural references coming from the 1500s, and ONLY the 1500s. "You know who Elon Musk reminds me of? Cardinal Wolsey, with his fingers all up in everything."
Also, since this book had tons of content that DID NOT NEED TO BE THERE, we aren't spared a few spiels and heavy-handed metaphors that come with decidedly ICK racial overtones: there's a lot of talk about "superior civilizations" (which, coincidentally, always happens to be Europe and the West), even when it doesn't make much sense, like between 16th-century Portugal and Japan. Speaking of, it's both tasteless and bewildering when one Marine goes off on a spiel about how he thinks the Japanese "were all psychopaths," because 1) are you f**king kidding me, 2) his only examples are the feudal ritual of seppuku and WWII suicide bombers, 3) did Japan just??? stop existing after the 20th century???? Why is he talking about Japanese people like they're some kind of mythical beast??
December 4, 2021
This book is worth the cost and time to read it. The author again has several problems that I find unsettling. The first is the author's lack of historical knowledge. When trading with primitive people the more civilized always attempt to trade beads and mirrors to get started and work up from there. In this book, they made and traded guns from the start. They collected an expert on the nativities but never asked his advice on what to trade. From a shoot 'em up western, this makes sense, even if not historically correct. Another problem is how they collected the bowel stones. They had slaves of the bird people collect the poop, and bring it up where they could run it through a small portable machine, and collect a few stones at a time. If they knew they were going to collect the stones from the sanitary pit, why didn't they build a large machine and suck up the contents and remove the stones at once? The machine could have been conveyed in the landcar and saved a lot of work. Also, why not locate an abandoned rookery and cleaned that pit out. Then they wouldn't have had to trade at all.
July 7, 2018
Looked like an over the top Star Trek episode but quite entertaining.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
September 17, 2025
More aliens! Cool. Doesn't seem like the marines did a whole lot in this book though.
December 31, 2012
This book in the Starfist series was not exactly the strongest card in the deck. Actually I was somewhat disappointed. The title, as well as the book blurb, led me to believe that this would be some high-tech action but actually it’s quite the opposite.
The bad guys do not really have any cutting edge weapons. The planet the marines go to are inhabited buy a primitive alien presence and, thanks to a directive not to expose modern technology to the aliens, the marines are given minimal weaponry and technical support. Not exactly what I expected.
As a matter of fact, the biggest obstacle for the marines is probably the asshole scientist that commands the research station in orbit around the planet. The entire book is more of a police intervention against a bunch of smugglers than anything else.
The fact that the authors have ventured into languages they do not seem to understand (not the first time) doesn’t help. For instance a space ship called Marquis de Rien which roughly translates into Marquis Nothing? Maybe it was meant to be funny but I didn’t really get the fun part in that case.
Okay, it wasn’t a really really bad book and I did enjoy reading it but it was really not up to the standard of the other books in the series that I’ve read so far.
The bad guys do not really have any cutting edge weapons. The planet the marines go to are inhabited buy a primitive alien presence and, thanks to a directive not to expose modern technology to the aliens, the marines are given minimal weaponry and technical support. Not exactly what I expected.
As a matter of fact, the biggest obstacle for the marines is probably the asshole scientist that commands the research station in orbit around the planet. The entire book is more of a police intervention against a bunch of smugglers than anything else.
The fact that the authors have ventured into languages they do not seem to understand (not the first time) doesn’t help. For instance a space ship called Marquis de Rien which roughly translates into Marquis Nothing? Maybe it was meant to be funny but I didn’t really get the fun part in that case.
Okay, it wasn’t a really really bad book and I did enjoy reading it but it was really not up to the standard of the other books in the series that I’ve read so far.
May 10, 2014
I read Technokill by David Sherman. Sherman was writing to entertain his readers. I know this because he tells a story that he came up. The theme of the book is: Just because politicians have power, does not mean they can get away with crimes they organize. The villain is a politician that organizes a smuggling operation of valuable gems on a planet inhabited by a bird-man race with pre-stone age technology.
The story is told in narrative because of the chronological order of events that happen in the book. The story is very descriptive on the conflict scenes and happen in order or catch up to the others.
In my opinion the book is a great read. I liked how descriptive it is and the sci-fi theme. I would have had more conflicts in the book, but I expect nothing less quality of a story by Sherman form his Star-Fist Series.
The story is told in narrative because of the chronological order of events that happen in the book. The story is very descriptive on the conflict scenes and happen in order or catch up to the others.
In my opinion the book is a great read. I liked how descriptive it is and the sci-fi theme. I would have had more conflicts in the book, but I expect nothing less quality of a story by Sherman form his Star-Fist Series.
March 26, 2010
Kind of strange story. Not too sure why the Marines were called in to stop some smugglers that the Navy could have handled by destroying their starship in the first place. Little far-fetched having a planet with an intelligent species of birds. Really had to dig to find something they had that was valuable to smugglers.
March 25, 2016
Space marines. IN SPACE. Semi-novel premise (If you've never seen star trek.... or read any sci-fi) of preventing high-technology from falling into primitive alien hands. Not bad, but a bit of a snooze at points with the typically overdone combat. But hey, they've done something right, I've now paid for 5 of the books.
December 15, 2009
In the middle of it right now but I am spending a lot more time reading about the bad guys than I am about the marines that I have developed a liking for, action is a little slower paced.
January 8, 2011
Ahhhh what a way to go a gas pit of waste ewww.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews