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Sand Wars #1
Solar Kill
Ingrid, Charles, Solar The Sand Wars Book 1
301 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 4, 2010
good book. INCREDIBLE OPENING. I was in the first gulf war and would have bet that the author had been there as well because of the description expressed in the opening pages.
Surprised to see that charles ingrid is a pen name. Actual author is a Rhondi A Vilott Salsitz... She writes mysteries and fantasy as well under a posse of pen names Emily Drake, Anne Knight, Elizabeth Forrest, Charles Ingrid, Rhondi Vilott Salsitz, R.A.V. Salsitz, Rhondi Vilott, Jenna Rhodes, and Rhondi Greening. Please read this series.
Surprised to see that charles ingrid is a pen name. Actual author is a Rhondi A Vilott Salsitz... She writes mysteries and fantasy as well under a posse of pen names Emily Drake, Anne Knight, Elizabeth Forrest, Charles Ingrid, Rhondi Vilott Salsitz, R.A.V. Salsitz, Rhondi Vilott, Jenna Rhodes, and Rhondi Greening. Please read this series.
August 10, 2020
That was pretty good! It's an 80s pulpy sci-fi action-thriller-adventure story with aspects of military sci-fi in it. The author writes with a deft hand and made it fun - and also covered the horror of war and PTSD very well, too.
The plot: Jack Storm (oh yes) is the sole survivor of a nasty war against alien bugs, thanks to a malfunctioning cryo-sleep unit. He settles on a planet to be a forest ranger as he recovers from the PTSD, but then someone blows up the planet and he barely escapes, winding up on a mega-city on the run from everyone. There he meets Amber, our heroine - she starts as kind of a side-kick but moves up into importance, as she's got some odd psychic ability that lets her help Jack figure out his power armor.
See, his power armor might have an alien mind in it, or it might be infested, or it might spontaneously turn him into a berserker and kill him. But it's his best weapon and the only way he can survive. So. Jack and Amber team up, and there's intrigue and the ever-present question: what really happened at the end of the titular Sand Wars? Why was Jack the only survivor? Who bombed his peaceful forest planet?
These questions aren't answered in book one, of course, but the book finds a satisfying stopping point anyways. I'm looking forward to reading the rest eventually, and I really love how the power armor is depicted, as a mixture of insanely cool Iron Man-esque armor and something stranger, more horrifying.
PS Shoutout to the author for being one of the earliest women writing military sci-fi, that's rare in the genre!
The plot: Jack Storm (oh yes) is the sole survivor of a nasty war against alien bugs, thanks to a malfunctioning cryo-sleep unit. He settles on a planet to be a forest ranger as he recovers from the PTSD, but then someone blows up the planet and he barely escapes, winding up on a mega-city on the run from everyone. There he meets Amber, our heroine - she starts as kind of a side-kick but moves up into importance, as she's got some odd psychic ability that lets her help Jack figure out his power armor.
See, his power armor might have an alien mind in it, or it might be infested, or it might spontaneously turn him into a berserker and kill him. But it's his best weapon and the only way he can survive. So. Jack and Amber team up, and there's intrigue and the ever-present question: what really happened at the end of the titular Sand Wars? Why was Jack the only survivor? Who bombed his peaceful forest planet?
These questions aren't answered in book one, of course, but the book finds a satisfying stopping point anyways. I'm looking forward to reading the rest eventually, and I really love how the power armor is depicted, as a mixture of insanely cool Iron Man-esque armor and something stranger, more horrifying.
PS Shoutout to the author for being one of the earliest women writing military sci-fi, that's rare in the genre!
October 1, 2025
This was the first book I ever read from one of the Little Free Library boxes.
I was hyped about the concept and discovering the larger world of Rhondi Salsitz and her plethora of pennames.
Unfortunately this book kinda ass.
It started hot and the last 3-4 chapters were pretty good. Almost made up for the slog that was the rest of the book, but not really. Everything is so inconsistent especially the main character.
The cover art is amazing and there are some cool ideas but I wish I had a better time reading this book.
I was hyped about the concept and discovering the larger world of Rhondi Salsitz and her plethora of pennames.
Unfortunately this book kinda ass.
It started hot and the last 3-4 chapters were pretty good. Almost made up for the slog that was the rest of the book, but not really. Everything is so inconsistent especially the main character.
The cover art is amazing and there are some cool ideas but I wish I had a better time reading this book.
May 29, 2014
Have you ever picked up a book with anticipation, only to find 17 pages into it that you're not remotely interested in reading it and finishing it? That rarely happens to me, but it did this time. I can't even tell you why. Maybe it was just one more power armor novel that just didn't connect with me. Perhaps I've read too many like it. There's only so much you can do with that concept. Sorry for the lousy review. I have nothing to say. Others might like it....
November 27, 2019
A solid story, fast read, entertaining.
Just straight forward military style story telling. Not great, not bad.
Just straight forward military style story telling. Not great, not bad.
September 22, 2025
Better than I expected, but not sure about the rest of the series.
(Razor says two paws because of the scary armor.)
(Razor says two paws because of the scary armor.)
March 12, 2013
This book has an interesting and original take on the old scifi standby of powered armor. However, almost all of the combat action takes place in the beginning. After the initial good start, the story slows down to a slog, with the main character spending most of the time sneaking around the slums with a bland street urchin in tow.
May 13, 2012
This felt like a rough draft. A lot of stuff is left unfinished and half described, half answered. A lot of things happen that we never know why they happened, so not sure if the author did not know why they happened or just didn't feel like telling.
October 18, 2015
I honestly didn't get very far into the book simply because of the language. I'm just not very big on reading a lot of cursing. The story itself seemed OK, but I didn't try pressing through the language issue based on the other poor reviews given to the book.
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June 21, 2009Science Fiction
May 22, 2024
I read this as a teen. Quality of the series (for me) dropped off pretty sharply after this first book.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews