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Falkenberg's Legion #b
West of Honor
Reprints the Laser Books (1976) paperback original. Military science fiction, part of Pournelle's "Falkenberg's Legion" series.
213 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
76 people are currently reading
430 people want to read
About the author
Jerry Pournelle
263 books546 followersDr Jerry Eugene Pournelle was an American science fiction writer, engineer, essayist, and journalist, who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte, and from 1998 until his death maintained his own website and blog.
From the beginning, Pournelle's work centered around strong military themes. Several books describe the fictional mercenary infantry force known as Falkenberg's Legion. There are strong parallels between these stories and the Childe Cycle mercenary stories by Gordon R. Dickson, as well as Heinlein's Starship Troopers, although Pournelle's work takes far fewer technological leaps than either of these.
Pournelle spent years working in the aerospace industry, including at Boeing, on projects including studying heat tolerance for astronauts and their spacesuits. This side of his career also found him working on projections related to military tactics and probabilities. One report in which he had a hand became a basis for the Strategic Defense Initiative, the missile defense system proposed by President Ronald Reagan. A study he edited in 1964 involved projecting Air Force missile technology needs for 1975.
Dr. Pournelle would always tell would-be writers seeking advice that the key to becoming an author was to write — a lot.
“And finish what you write,” he added in a 2003 interview. “Don’t join a writers’ club and sit around having coffee reading pieces of your manuscript to people. Write it. Finish it.”
Pournelle served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1973.
From the beginning, Pournelle's work centered around strong military themes. Several books describe the fictional mercenary infantry force known as Falkenberg's Legion. There are strong parallels between these stories and the Childe Cycle mercenary stories by Gordon R. Dickson, as well as Heinlein's Starship Troopers, although Pournelle's work takes far fewer technological leaps than either of these.
Pournelle spent years working in the aerospace industry, including at Boeing, on projects including studying heat tolerance for astronauts and their spacesuits. This side of his career also found him working on projections related to military tactics and probabilities. One report in which he had a hand became a basis for the Strategic Defense Initiative, the missile defense system proposed by President Ronald Reagan. A study he edited in 1964 involved projecting Air Force missile technology needs for 1975.
Dr. Pournelle would always tell would-be writers seeking advice that the key to becoming an author was to write — a lot.
“And finish what you write,” he added in a 2003 interview. “Don’t join a writers’ club and sit around having coffee reading pieces of your manuscript to people. Write it. Finish it.”
Pournelle served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1973.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
October 22, 2014
One of the John Falkenberg, CoDominium books. Not what I was expecting as I'd gotten it confused with another after all these years. Actually, I didn't remember this much at all, but it's probably been over 30 years since I last read it. I enjoyed it quite a lot. It raises a wonderful moral dilemma for the armed services, diplomacy, & Colonial government. Better, it does it in a fast moving, action packed story with likeable characters. Even the bad guys aren't... well, read the book. it's a tough situation he posits & one that is historically accurate.
He also gives some great examples of sustainable & mismatched technologies that could very well be encountered in the future if we colonize & terraform planets. High tech mixing with very low tech in believable ways.
Fun, quick read. Highly recommended.
He also gives some great examples of sustainable & mismatched technologies that could very well be encountered in the future if we colonize & terraform planets. High tech mixing with very low tech in believable ways.
Fun, quick read. Highly recommended.
July 21, 2014
-Ejemplo de Ciencia-Ficción militar basada en fuerzas de tierra convencionales.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. El planeta Arrarat fue un planeta prisión en el que ahora hay ciudadanos libres, personas que viven al borde la legalidad y reos que conviven de forma precaria en una sociedad entre lo medieval y la Norteamérica de la época de los pioneros del oeste. El capitán Falkenberg , salido hace poco de la Academia, y la compañía 501 de Infantes de Marina, son destinados a Arrarat para ayudar a las fuerzas de autodefensa locales a sofocar una insurrección muy activa con bases legales, económicas, sociales e incluso religiosas. Segunda parte de la serie Historia del Futuro, pero editado un año antes que la primera y también anterior según la línea temporal de la trama.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. El planeta Arrarat fue un planeta prisión en el que ahora hay ciudadanos libres, personas que viven al borde la legalidad y reos que conviven de forma precaria en una sociedad entre lo medieval y la Norteamérica de la época de los pioneros del oeste. El capitán Falkenberg , salido hace poco de la Academia, y la compañía 501 de Infantes de Marina, son destinados a Arrarat para ayudar a las fuerzas de autodefensa locales a sofocar una insurrección muy activa con bases legales, económicas, sociales e incluso religiosas. Segunda parte de la serie Historia del Futuro, pero editado un año antes que la primera y también anterior según la línea temporal de la trama.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
August 17, 2022
7/10. CF bélica entretenida, clásica y con mucha acción. No da para grandes profundidades, claro, pero entretiene mogollón.
Mas conocido este autor por su colaboración con Larry Niven en algunas muy buenas como "La paja en el ojo de Dios"
Mas conocido este autor por su colaboración con Larry Niven en algunas muy buenas como "La paja en el ojo de Dios"
June 28, 2018
Bel romanzo di fantascienza militare. Intrecci e intrighi di guerra che ricordano il miglior Heinlein.
January 16, 2013
I first read this book as a teenager. I don't remember if I read it, serialized in a magazine, or if I read it as a book. I re-read it today, forty years later. I thought this was a good book, but then I enlisted, and spent 28 years in the Military.
Now, I know it is a GREAT book, and something that certainly should be mandatory reading for every young man or woman who wants to be an officer candidate - Academy, ROTC or OTS. I was ten years enlisted before I went to OTS, and I've learned all the hard lessons that Major - and Doctor - Pournelle was trying to teach me with this book - and the whole saga of John Christian Falkenberg. If you wish to lead troops in battle, you should read this book...if you wish to somewhat understand the psychology of military people, you MUST read this book.
Psychological treatises by learned psychologists who have never been in battle, are like reading a sex manual written by a virgin.
Jerry Pournelle has been there and done that - and has distilled that experience into an entertaining and gritty tale that teaches a lot of bitter-hard-won lessons...IF you've the wit to understand.
Now, I know it is a GREAT book, and something that certainly should be mandatory reading for every young man or woman who wants to be an officer candidate - Academy, ROTC or OTS. I was ten years enlisted before I went to OTS, and I've learned all the hard lessons that Major - and Doctor - Pournelle was trying to teach me with this book - and the whole saga of John Christian Falkenberg. If you wish to lead troops in battle, you should read this book...if you wish to somewhat understand the psychology of military people, you MUST read this book.
Psychological treatises by learned psychologists who have never been in battle, are like reading a sex manual written by a virgin.
Jerry Pournelle has been there and done that - and has distilled that experience into an entertaining and gritty tale that teaches a lot of bitter-hard-won lessons...IF you've the wit to understand.
July 2, 2021
A merely okay military sci-fi romp by modern standards. This isn't a snipe against Pournelle, rather a recognition that the genre has advanced and grown a lot.
The CoDominium is a neat universe, but by and large this novel was a relatively thin action story with some, by current eyes, tired tropes. Honorable soldiers and dishonorable politics, etc. Not to say this isn't somehow a valid observation to modern readers, more that it's a bit ham-fisted in its approach to it.
Most of the characters are flat and one dimensional, and despite "introducing" one of the key characters of the CoDominium universe (Falkenberg) it tells you almost nothing about him beyond "He Is Smart And He Is Respected".
The action, such as it is, is weirdly stilted and flat. Lots of "We shot them and they shot back" descriptions. As for adding explanation and background to the "world", it doesn't do much of that really.
Honestly, it felt like a novella that was padded out to make it full length. A lot of fluff in there.
Anyways, tl;dr;. Glad I read it for the sake of completion, but otherwise unremarkable and probably won't be revisiting it again any time soon.
The CoDominium is a neat universe, but by and large this novel was a relatively thin action story with some, by current eyes, tired tropes. Honorable soldiers and dishonorable politics, etc. Not to say this isn't somehow a valid observation to modern readers, more that it's a bit ham-fisted in its approach to it.
Most of the characters are flat and one dimensional, and despite "introducing" one of the key characters of the CoDominium universe (Falkenberg) it tells you almost nothing about him beyond "He Is Smart And He Is Respected".
The action, such as it is, is weirdly stilted and flat. Lots of "We shot them and they shot back" descriptions. As for adding explanation and background to the "world", it doesn't do much of that really.
Honestly, it felt like a novella that was padded out to make it full length. A lot of fluff in there.
Anyways, tl;dr;. Glad I read it for the sake of completion, but otherwise unremarkable and probably won't be revisiting it again any time soon.
November 21, 2020
Christian Johnny takes the stage
This is the first story of Falkenberg's Legion told through the eyes of a green lieutenant on his first assignment. Pournelle is an excellent storyteller when it comes to military sci-fi & draws on the history of the French Foreign Legion to provide realistic action & characters.
This is the first story of Falkenberg's Legion told through the eyes of a green lieutenant on his first assignment. Pournelle is an excellent storyteller when it comes to military sci-fi & draws on the history of the French Foreign Legion to provide realistic action & characters.
December 12, 2017
Today’s review is for “West Of Honor” (1978©), written by Jerry Pournelle. Pournelle is a famous Science Fiction writer who not only wrote great individual novels, he also wrote story lines which spanned several books – much like Robert Heinlein’s “Lazarus Long” story / timeline. In Pournelle’s case, the premise is that the United States and the Soviet Union come together to form a “CoDominium” to 1) control the Earth and the exploration of space; and, 2) maintain their relative positions in the “new” age of space exploration. The “future” is strangely both dystopian and optimistic. Dystopian in that surplus population is forced into space (as cheap labor) and optimistic as some of the planets manage to build workable civilizations. The faster than light Alderson stardrives used in the book / series “was” invented in 2004 and first used to go beyond the solar system in 2008. LOL!! So far, not even close…
The main character in the time-line is a “Napoleonic” figure named John Christian Falkenberg. This book is the story of Falkenberg’s pacification of a planet. The story is told as a first person narrative by one of Falkenberg’s junior officers – Hal Slater. This really is a “good, old-fashioned” modern war story which just happens to take place on another planet. You read about planetary politics, military (and medical) technology and all that, but in the end war comes down to men bleeding and dying. To the extent Pournelle is able to convince you to believe the technology, you buy the SciFi. To the extent he convinces you to believe in the battles and the drama, you buy the war story. I “bought into” both and enjoyed the book tremendously. Interestingly, victory does not necessarily lead to a “happy” ending.
Full disclosure: I first read this book back in the early 1980’s. I also read a number of other books in the series, but I no longer have those. I’m not sure how or when I lost them, but I suppose it was when we moved to Liverpool (or back). In any case, I’m probably going to end up re-buying them and re-reading them. Final recommendation: highly recommended!! Particularly if you like SciFi Military Lit.
The main character in the time-line is a “Napoleonic” figure named John Christian Falkenberg. This book is the story of Falkenberg’s pacification of a planet. The story is told as a first person narrative by one of Falkenberg’s junior officers – Hal Slater. This really is a “good, old-fashioned” modern war story which just happens to take place on another planet. You read about planetary politics, military (and medical) technology and all that, but in the end war comes down to men bleeding and dying. To the extent Pournelle is able to convince you to believe the technology, you buy the SciFi. To the extent he convinces you to believe in the battles and the drama, you buy the war story. I “bought into” both and enjoyed the book tremendously. Interestingly, victory does not necessarily lead to a “happy” ending.
Full disclosure: I first read this book back in the early 1980’s. I also read a number of other books in the series, but I no longer have those. I’m not sure how or when I lost them, but I suppose it was when we moved to Liverpool (or back). In any case, I’m probably going to end up re-buying them and re-reading them. Final recommendation: highly recommended!! Particularly if you like SciFi Military Lit.
August 9, 2021
A... book. The plot was alright. It was dated, certainly, an artifact of its time, but that can be waved away. It does show some forward thinking concepts, and certainly the author is trying.
The problem then, is that the combat is stupid. Much of the warfare concepts are utterly irrational and it appears like the author did not do his research. Even worse, because Jerry interlinked politics and his imagining of war so inextricably, you can't help but think how utterly insane it is. For example, single shot rifles and Nemourlon, aka Space Kevlar. we skip hard body armor and all that, and now the only thing that can pierce the armor is the equivalent of a sniper rifle or higher end DMR, 7x55mm or better. But then it's established that pistol rounds can threaten the armor, and that two will injure a grown human, as well as disable him for a moment. It begs the question, what would a burst of modern light rifle rounds do? It wouldn't be a problem but then we have the problem of combat being recurring, so logical loopholes are placed into your face repeatedly.
What of manufacturing? Apparently nobody does piracy. Apparently copyright still exists in the age of the Super Space 3D Printer. I have to give him credit for thinking of that, but then remove them twice over because he... well, yeah.
The problem then, is that the combat is stupid. Much of the warfare concepts are utterly irrational and it appears like the author did not do his research. Even worse, because Jerry interlinked politics and his imagining of war so inextricably, you can't help but think how utterly insane it is. For example, single shot rifles and Nemourlon, aka Space Kevlar. we skip hard body armor and all that, and now the only thing that can pierce the armor is the equivalent of a sniper rifle or higher end DMR, 7x55mm or better. But then it's established that pistol rounds can threaten the armor, and that two will injure a grown human, as well as disable him for a moment. It begs the question, what would a burst of modern light rifle rounds do? It wouldn't be a problem but then we have the problem of combat being recurring, so logical loopholes are placed into your face repeatedly.
What of manufacturing? Apparently nobody does piracy. Apparently copyright still exists in the age of the Super Space 3D Printer. I have to give him credit for thinking of that, but then remove them twice over because he... well, yeah.
January 19, 2021
3.5/5
- The same problem as with Django Wexler's ''Thousand Names'' which could take place during Napoleonic wars in North Africa or Middle East, not in some fantasy world. "West of Honor" is 95% military fiction - no a lot of Sci-Fi in this Sci-Fi ;)
- this one was written 45 years ago, so, some things are already dated, like computer battle simulation and hyperdrive are only visible technological advancement compared to 1975.
+ military side seems very good and realistic (checked up some reviews of soldiers)
+ Sci-Fi part (as tiny as it is) seems probable: ''we see space ships and horses side by side. In West of Honor, Lt. Slater considers the irony of taking an interstellar craft to fight on a planet with pack mules and wooden steamboats.'' Lack of fuel is a bitch ...
+ altogether, well written and realistic, with open look and without good guys vs bad guys bulshit
- The same problem as with Django Wexler's ''Thousand Names'' which could take place during Napoleonic wars in North Africa or Middle East, not in some fantasy world. "West of Honor" is 95% military fiction - no a lot of Sci-Fi in this Sci-Fi ;)
- this one was written 45 years ago, so, some things are already dated, like computer battle simulation and hyperdrive are only visible technological advancement compared to 1975.
+ military side seems very good and realistic (checked up some reviews of soldiers)
+ Sci-Fi part (as tiny as it is) seems probable: ''we see space ships and horses side by side. In West of Honor, Lt. Slater considers the irony of taking an interstellar craft to fight on a planet with pack mules and wooden steamboats.'' Lack of fuel is a bitch ...
+ altogether, well written and realistic, with open look and without good guys vs bad guys bulshit
November 1, 2023
While written second, this book in the Falkenberg's Legion series covers a campaign before John Christian Falkenberg is cashiered and becomes a mercenary. He is a Captain leading replacements called for to aid a planet that is becoming a failed state.
Seen through the eyes of one of his subordinate officers, this book is not quite as tight and well-writte as "The Mercenary", but still quite good. Pournelle's military and political experience both show in the believability of those elements of the story. The characterization isn't quite as good as that in the first book and the military details, filtered through a single character's eyes, aren't quite as compelling either, though there is a particular siege action that is extremely well done.
If you liked the first book, it's quite likely that this book will be well-received as well.
Seen through the eyes of one of his subordinate officers, this book is not quite as tight and well-writte as "The Mercenary", but still quite good. Pournelle's military and political experience both show in the believability of those elements of the story. The characterization isn't quite as good as that in the first book and the military details, filtered through a single character's eyes, aren't quite as compelling either, though there is a particular siege action that is extremely well done.
If you liked the first book, it's quite likely that this book will be well-received as well.
August 27, 2018
Good military SCI-FI. I’ve read several Jerry Pournelle novels. Most of them years ago. I recently discovered (rediscovered?) that many of his novels share the same universe (CoDominion) of which a few I have read not knowing, or at least not remembering, that they are set in the same universe.
I looked for a reading order which was problematic due to Pournelle’s books being reprinted in various editions. I think West of Honor seemed like the best place to start. It was a quick read/listen. I will probably continue reading through them.
FYI The Audible narrator wasn’t that great.
I looked for a reading order which was problematic due to Pournelle’s books being reprinted in various editions. I think West of Honor seemed like the best place to start. It was a quick read/listen. I will probably continue reading through them.
FYI The Audible narrator wasn’t that great.
June 8, 2017
A good but dated book. Vietnam ended in '75 and this was published in '80. The combat is only slightly advanced from Vietnam era and the politics really aren't. Soldiers are forced into dishonorable actions because of politics and even when they manage to fight against oppression the victory is tainted by the politics that created problem in the first place. Nevertheless, Pournelle writes an intelligent and enjoyable hero story and I'm glad I took the time to listen to it.
May 6, 2019
Reading it again
I readed this book back in 1978. I was in highschool. I reread it almost ten years later for the second time. I was in the desert on my tank in Eygpt. The thrid time l was out of the Army and enjoying civilian life. Now it's the fourth time l have reread this story. I know that I'm not the same person I was back over the years, but I think this story has spoken to me in different ways each time.
I readed this book back in 1978. I was in highschool. I reread it almost ten years later for the second time. I was in the desert on my tank in Eygpt. The thrid time l was out of the Army and enjoying civilian life. Now it's the fourth time l have reread this story. I know that I'm not the same person I was back over the years, but I think this story has spoken to me in different ways each time.
February 18, 2022
Is the co dominion still possible?
A strong entry in the co dominion series. Written by what was perhaps the best educated sci fi writer of all time. A world is being fought over by a young falkenberg, raises many questions about the validity of the military lifestyle? Do not read if college has scrambled your brain.
A strong entry in the co dominion series. Written by what was perhaps the best educated sci fi writer of all time. A world is being fought over by a young falkenberg, raises many questions about the validity of the military lifestyle? Do not read if college has scrambled your brain.
January 2, 2024
This is very Heinleinesque - perhaps not surprisingly. With its defence of military action for the greater good whether they like it or not, this is typical Baen Books material. The characters - mainly men, occasionally women - do things because they have to, without question, defeating enemies and sacrificing themselves for 'what is right' and because that's what they're paid to do.
Even though Pournelle's politics are definitely not mine, I quite like reading them when I'm in the mood. 40 years ago I lapped this stuff up - now I'm much more cautious. They show how much things have changed, I guess.
Even though Pournelle's politics are definitely not mine, I quite like reading them when I'm in the mood. 40 years ago I lapped this stuff up - now I'm much more cautious. They show how much things have changed, I guess.
August 24, 2017
The Legion
A classic military scifi, short on the science, long on the military. This starts the John Christian saga which is best appreciated by reading The Prince...unfortunately unavailable electronically or new hardcover.
A classic military scifi, short on the science, long on the military. This starts the John Christian saga which is best appreciated by reading The Prince...unfortunately unavailable electronically or new hardcover.
September 27, 2017
I think I read this as part of The Prince collection. Can't be sure.
June 2, 2019
If you like military sci fi, you’ll enjoy this. Set on an alien planet where former convicts have been running roughshod over the populace, our hero’s save the day.
July 3, 2019
Read decades ago. Remember liking the book a lot. I remember someone telling me that from their experience in the military, what he wrote really rang true.
June 10, 2022
Great book
My only frustration with this series is that Amazon gave me book 5 without telling me about others like this in the series. Great read.
My only frustration with this series is that Amazon gave me book 5 without telling me about others like this in the series. Great read.
August 20, 2023
A tyrannical government in space has bred a class of warriors to fight its battles and they break away for independance.
September 2, 2025
I'm enjoying these books about John Christian Falkenberg. Good military sci-fi from one of the Masters of the genre.
September 2, 2023
A must read for lovers of military fiction!
Pournelle was a soldier himself, which gives him a personal investment to 'get it right'. Written in the 70s, he may have missed about the Soviet Union hanging around, but the author is spot on with what happens when the government begins turning dissent into treason. Sound familiar? Good, maybe there's hope for you.
The author makes his main character (not the narrator), Captain John Christian Falkenburg, the pivot on whom everything else turns. The narrator is our window into the world of war in an alternate future where mankind has been traveling to the stars for fifty-six years. At first, only volunteers were accepted, so the CoDominium government has gladly allowed its detractors the chance to leave Earth and get out of their Collective hair (pun intended of course).
Then some bureaucrat has to go and pee in the cornflakes.
The government figures out they can dump criminals and political enemies onto these worlds while providing no support to the people living there and busting their humps to make an honest living. Sound familiar? Good, you're keeping up.
Into this mess the 501st Line Marines are dropped. Undermanned and grossly undersupplied for everything, they are expected to bring stability to the city of Harmony on the planet Arrarat. They are not allowed to do the job that Marines are supposed to do. Instead, they are supposed to act as military police and shake their fingers at the bad guys until they feel chagrined enough to behave. Sound familiar? Good, now sit back and enjoy the rest of the book (most of it anyway).
Falkenburg cleverly goes around the political appointee, Governor Swale (along the lines of Pontius Pilot but without the integrity), and actually resolves the problem he faces. Does everything get wrapped up in a bow? No. Are there going to be problems in the future? Of course there are! Is it up to the bureaucrats who screwed it up in the first place to fix it? Yes.
Sound familiar? Ha! Large, 10,000mg dose of reality really sucks sometimes doesn't it? Ha!
Be that as it may, the final eight pages give you hope for this universe. You keep your personal honor and do what you can when you can to make things better. That applies to everyone, or at least it should.
Sound familiar? Good. Maybe there's hope for us yet.
FIND IT! BUY IT! READ IT! NOW!
Pournelle was a soldier himself, which gives him a personal investment to 'get it right'. Written in the 70s, he may have missed about the Soviet Union hanging around, but the author is spot on with what happens when the government begins turning dissent into treason. Sound familiar? Good, maybe there's hope for you.
The author makes his main character (not the narrator), Captain John Christian Falkenburg, the pivot on whom everything else turns. The narrator is our window into the world of war in an alternate future where mankind has been traveling to the stars for fifty-six years. At first, only volunteers were accepted, so the CoDominium government has gladly allowed its detractors the chance to leave Earth and get out of their Collective hair (pun intended of course).
Then some bureaucrat has to go and pee in the cornflakes.
The government figures out they can dump criminals and political enemies onto these worlds while providing no support to the people living there and busting their humps to make an honest living. Sound familiar? Good, you're keeping up.
Into this mess the 501st Line Marines are dropped. Undermanned and grossly undersupplied for everything, they are expected to bring stability to the city of Harmony on the planet Arrarat. They are not allowed to do the job that Marines are supposed to do. Instead, they are supposed to act as military police and shake their fingers at the bad guys until they feel chagrined enough to behave. Sound familiar? Good, now sit back and enjoy the rest of the book (most of it anyway).
Falkenburg cleverly goes around the political appointee, Governor Swale (along the lines of Pontius Pilot but without the integrity), and actually resolves the problem he faces. Does everything get wrapped up in a bow? No. Are there going to be problems in the future? Of course there are! Is it up to the bureaucrats who screwed it up in the first place to fix it? Yes.
Sound familiar? Ha! Large, 10,000mg dose of reality really sucks sometimes doesn't it? Ha!
Be that as it may, the final eight pages give you hope for this universe. You keep your personal honor and do what you can when you can to make things better. That applies to everyone, or at least it should.
Sound familiar? Good. Maybe there's hope for us yet.
FIND IT! BUY IT! READ IT! NOW!
May 16, 2013
On the planet of Arrarat, the decidedly low tech folks who are struggling with making a simple living on the planet have been invaded by convict gangs. J.C. Falkenberg and his brand new 501st Line Marine unit made up of newly minted officers, some veteran non-coms and mostly new recruits had been sent to garrison the place and keep the peace. Harlan Slater is the narrator, a new Lt fresh from the CoDomimium academy, he joined the Marines to avoid the legal problems he had gotten into on Earth.
There is plenty of action, as local militia, small convict gangs, and the powerful Association which has been recognized as a local government by the CoDominium Governor and the farmers and ranchers who first populated the planet as a freehold vie for some balance in this unstable and dangerous political climate. The 501st, and Captain Falkenberg will need to navigate the situation and find a way to bring some peace to the planet, but is that what they are supposed to do? Is Falkenberg the right man for this job? Will Slater be up the the challenge of command? There are a great many ways this could all go wrong.
Jerry Pournelle has done it right, kept the story taught and well paced, right up to the end. This short novel is a fine example of great story telling, and the ambiguous nature of what has been won at the end of the day.
There is plenty of action, as local militia, small convict gangs, and the powerful Association which has been recognized as a local government by the CoDominium Governor and the farmers and ranchers who first populated the planet as a freehold vie for some balance in this unstable and dangerous political climate. The 501st, and Captain Falkenberg will need to navigate the situation and find a way to bring some peace to the planet, but is that what they are supposed to do? Is Falkenberg the right man for this job? Will Slater be up the the challenge of command? There are a great many ways this could all go wrong.
Jerry Pournelle has done it right, kept the story taught and well paced, right up to the end. This short novel is a fine example of great story telling, and the ambiguous nature of what has been won at the end of the day.
July 26, 2012
West of Honor (is there a clue in the title?) starts as a Space Western. In an anti-technology future on a frontier planet struggling ranchers are menaced by marauding bandits. The Marines (read US Cavalry) are sent to restore order.
Sounds standard space opera, but Jerry Pournelle is an intelligent and thoughtful writer, there's a whole lot more to the story than these basics. Deriving it's impetus from the 'military sf' genre - which Pournelle, if he didn't invent, certainly took to prominence – it adds a political/philosophical subtext not unlike that found in, another sf master, Robert Heinlein's books. I should add though that this is never so didactic as to get in the way of a reader's enjoyment of the action.
West of Honor is set in the same CoDominium universe as my all-time favorite sf book Mote in God's Eye which Pournelle co-wrote with Larry Niven. The CoDominium, like Asimov's Empire series, covers millenia-long swathes of civilization's rise and fall. This is an early entry in the saga and was later incorporated in a longer book Falkenberg's Legion which was itself then incorporated in a compilation work The Prince.
Sounds standard space opera, but Jerry Pournelle is an intelligent and thoughtful writer, there's a whole lot more to the story than these basics. Deriving it's impetus from the 'military sf' genre - which Pournelle, if he didn't invent, certainly took to prominence – it adds a political/philosophical subtext not unlike that found in, another sf master, Robert Heinlein's books. I should add though that this is never so didactic as to get in the way of a reader's enjoyment of the action.
West of Honor is set in the same CoDominium universe as my all-time favorite sf book Mote in God's Eye which Pournelle co-wrote with Larry Niven. The CoDominium, like Asimov's Empire series, covers millenia-long swathes of civilization's rise and fall. This is an early entry in the saga and was later incorporated in a longer book Falkenberg's Legion which was itself then incorporated in a compilation work The Prince.
November 21, 2011
This is a very good space-military adventure book, the first in a series with John Falkenberg. Pournelle has a great knack of making military adventures understandable and enjoyable to non-military types, but this is not on the same par as Legacy of the Heorot. The book is too short to really develop much empathy to the characters. Still, it's well worth the read.
This was my first e-book read.
This was my first e-book read.
March 13, 2015
An older book--from the 70s, I think--about a junior Marine officer's first tour of duty off-world. Written near the end of the Cold War, the author (Jerry Pournelle) imagines a future where America and the Soviet Union create a 'Codominium" in outer space and rule over a vast empire of planets with an iron fist. I love military sci-fi, and this one is a lot of fun. I had not heard of this series before, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of them.
July 6, 2012
Well written Pournelle, very well written. But, the story—the elites of both the west and east have screwed the world into a mediocre fascist pseudo-state, then they not solve the problems they themselves caused by killing lots of people. Perhaps if the soldiers turned their weapons on their commanding officers and then went home, things would be better?
December 21, 2007
read 06.01.84
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