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Star Carrier #1
Earth Strike
In the vein of the hit television show Battlestar Galactica comes Earth Strike—the first book in the action-packed Star Carrier science fiction series by Ian Douglas, author of the popular Inheritance, Heritage, and Legacy Trilogies and one of the most adept writers of military sf working today. Earth Strike rockets readers into a vast and deadly intergalactic battle, as humankind attempts to bring down an evil empire and establish itself as the new major power. Fans of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers and Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, welcome aboard the Star Carrier!
367 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 6, 2010
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Ian Douglas
99 books574 followersIan Douglas is a pseudonym used by William H. Keith Jr..
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August 13, 2016
I would say this is a very conditional 4 stars. Depending on your proclivities it could easily be a terrible 2 star book. While this could obviously be said about any work of literature, I think this book is very good in a very, very narrow niche which I happen to enjoy.
Succinctly put, Earth Strike is a Military Pulp Hard Science Fiction. If you don't like any of those constituent parts I do not think you will like this book.
Hard Science Fiction: Douglas talks a lot about the advanced technologies both the humans and the antagonists use. Atomic weapons, shields, miniature artificial singularities, light speed limitations etc. These elements play an import part of the development and tension in the story. If you are the kind of person whose eyes glaze over at the mere mention of time dilation caused by near light speed travel I would steer clear of this book.
Military Sci-fi: The first quarter of this book is, literally, a space battle. Either the elements immediately leading up to it or the narrative describing the action. I would say ~80% of the book is one sort of space battle or another with a minimal amount of character development and plot progression wedged in. I will say this though, Douglas has done an excellent job formulating a realistic type of space warfare and doing an excellent job describing it without becoming droning or dry.
Pulp Fiction: As I mention previously the majority of this book is describing various space battles with a minimal of character development or depth. There were a couple stereotypical tropes (the meddling and petty political officer, the highly component (neigh, visionary) fleet admiral that is constrained by military politics, the elitist star fighter pilot corps, etc.). I did find the starfighter pilot who was grappling with a personal identity crisis compelling, but he was really the only character that didn't feel like a cardboard cut out. However, Douglas does a splendid job keeping the tension ratcheted up throughout the entire book. I had a lot of difficulty putting this book down because I kept wanting to know what would happen next even if it was just another couple scenes from the on going battle.
By all accounts I should find this book trite and shallow (characters are laughably stereotypical and have as much depth as a puddle in the Sahara during the dry season; the plot is basically don't let Earth get blown up), but for whatever reason I enjoyed the heck out of it. Maybe it is just the little boy in me that evokes the "Gee whiz, space battles are awesome!!11!11!!" reaction but I could not put this book down.
So, long story short: lots of vividly described space battles, the bare minimum of character development, and lots of potential for the subsequent novels. But, like I said at the top of this review, if you are cold or lukewarm on any of the main elements I have identified you will probably want to skip this one.
Succinctly put, Earth Strike is a Military Pulp Hard Science Fiction. If you don't like any of those constituent parts I do not think you will like this book.
Hard Science Fiction: Douglas talks a lot about the advanced technologies both the humans and the antagonists use. Atomic weapons, shields, miniature artificial singularities, light speed limitations etc. These elements play an import part of the development and tension in the story. If you are the kind of person whose eyes glaze over at the mere mention of time dilation caused by near light speed travel I would steer clear of this book.
Military Sci-fi: The first quarter of this book is, literally, a space battle. Either the elements immediately leading up to it or the narrative describing the action. I would say ~80% of the book is one sort of space battle or another with a minimal amount of character development and plot progression wedged in. I will say this though, Douglas has done an excellent job formulating a realistic type of space warfare and doing an excellent job describing it without becoming droning or dry.
Pulp Fiction: As I mention previously the majority of this book is describing various space battles with a minimal of character development or depth. There were a couple stereotypical tropes (the meddling and petty political officer, the highly component (neigh, visionary) fleet admiral that is constrained by military politics, the elitist star fighter pilot corps, etc.). I did find the starfighter pilot who was grappling with a personal identity crisis compelling, but he was really the only character that didn't feel like a cardboard cut out. However, Douglas does a splendid job keeping the tension ratcheted up throughout the entire book. I had a lot of difficulty putting this book down because I kept wanting to know what would happen next even if it was just another couple scenes from the on going battle.
By all accounts I should find this book trite and shallow (characters are laughably stereotypical and have as much depth as a puddle in the Sahara during the dry season; the plot is basically don't let Earth get blown up), but for whatever reason I enjoyed the heck out of it. Maybe it is just the little boy in me that evokes the "Gee whiz, space battles are awesome!!11!11!!" reaction but I could not put this book down.
So, long story short: lots of vividly described space battles, the bare minimum of character development, and lots of potential for the subsequent novels. But, like I said at the top of this review, if you are cold or lukewarm on any of the main elements I have identified you will probably want to skip this one.
December 15, 2021
Can anything really compare to the sheer adrenaline and inherent danger of deep space dogfighting? In my admittedly limited experience, the answer is a resounding "no".
I've been fascinated with space combat, especially fighter combat, since childhood. Like most folks my age, I experienced it first with movies and shows like Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, followed by cartoons like Robotech and Star Blazers. Books soon started to capitalize on the space combat frenzy, including the novelizations of Robotech, which dialed up the warfare to 11.
But then came the penultimate experience...computer games! PC games like FreeSpace, Elite, Wing Commander, and X-Wing & Tie Fighter allowed us wannabe pilots our first real chance at duking it out with enemies, both human and otherwise, in the cold reaches of space. Sure it was virtual, and sure there were varying levels of quality, but the combat was visceral, epic, and fun.
And, more importantly, WE were the ones behind the controls.
So what does all that have to do with Star Carrier: Earth Strike?
Well, there are moments in this book where that same level of fun is evoked. Admittedly, I hunted this book down after revisiting an old space-sim classic, FreeSpace 2. It only took a couple of sorties in that game to bring back that excitement from my younger years. The pure joy of dogfighting was addicting enough that I wanted more in that same vein. When I couldn't be virtually blasting enemy fighters to bits, I wanted to be reading about someone else doing it.
After a quick search on Goodreads, this is the book that I selected.
I guess the question at this point is; knowing my existing expectations, does Star Carrier deliver the goods?
Well...yes and no. When the characters are heavy in the action, then the book is pretty awesome. But when the action dies down, so does the pace of the tale. It's not that the book is boring. It's just that it's attempting to tell not only a combat story, but political stories behind the scenes as well.
Mileage of these sections of the book vary wildly; some are interesting and help enhance the narrative, while others are repetitive and could have been trimmed. But since this is a book about an interstellar aircraft carrier, there is much action to be had.
Like any epic space yarn, Star Carrier: Earth Strike features multiple viewpoints, including a few chapters where we experience things from the antagonists points-of-view. But the majority of the book takes place between two perspectives; fighter pilot Captain Trevor Gray and Rear Admiral Alexander Koenig.
Admiral Koenig, being the commander of the battle group, which includes the carrier America as flagship, bears the brunt of the unfolding conflict on his shoulders. As one of only a few human officers of high rank who has fought the alien enemy, he is in a better position than most to make tactical decisions.
Sadly, all of his decisions are questioned by his Senate appointed Political Liaison (think Russian political officers on nuclear submarines, a la The Hunt for Red October), which causes more than a bit of tension. Admiral Koenig is a good sort, though he is a commander first and foremost. While he cares about the men and women under his command, his first priority is the safety of Earth, Mars, and the other Human colonies.
We do get some snippets into his personal life, but mostly his chapters are relegated to command decisions and their fallout. This is not a knock against his chapters at all, as someone at his level isn't going to be in the thick of things very often.
Where Admiral Koenig is the one making far-reaching tactical decisions, Captain Trevor Gray is a pilot, and much more in the actual thick of things. He is also more where the heart of the story lies. We get quite a bit of backstory for Captain Gray, which include how he ended up joining the Navy and becoming a pilot in the first place.
While most of the Human citizenry have multiple implants that enhance their perceptions and access to digital systems around them, Capt. Gray grew up without technological benefits, and has an uphill battle in a very tech-savvy society. This informs some of his behaviors, and gives him a bit more dimension. While I appreciated the attempt to make Capt. Gray the heart of the tale, it didn't always come across well. Sometimes earnest, and sometimes clunky, it was a tough fit inside a tale of interstellar conflict against an alien race.
There's a good chunk of the book where Captain Gray is not behind the controls of his fighter craft. Thankfully we get additional combat scenes from the viewpoint of Allyn, Captain Gray's flight leader. She is essentially the only other Human character with recurring chapters. She's mostly a cypher, as we really don't know much about her at all. But her chapters give us additional combat scenes, and as a rather exceptional pilot, the moments we spend with her rarely disappoint. I have no doubt that, if she appears in later books in the series, we'll get to learn more about her and who she is.
As for the chapters from the viewpoint of the enemy, an alien race called the Turusch, they are few and far between. We basically get one character's point-of-view, and it's usually just a reaction to the events taking place around it. The alien psychology and physiology is pretty unique, and the interactions that this character has does sort of fit into a plot point later. Still, its chapters are the least engaging, and really didn't make much of an impact.
But I didn't pick this book up for a character study; I picked it up for space combat. There's a lot of action in the first quarter, and a lot of action in the last quarter. Like I stated earlier, when the book isn't about the warring, it does slow down a bit. I'm fine with going through the downtime, as "all action all the time" would certainly get tiring. It's just that it's obvious that Ian Douglas enjoys writing space combat, and so those chapters are frenetic and engaging. On the flipside, the non-combat chapters just don't have the same level of care it seems. But thankfully, after a slow middle section, the final engagement of the book really amps up the tension and the threat, and even if I think the resolution was a bit too convenient, the action is well done. I wanted fighter combat, I got fighter combat. Can't really be disappointed there.
I'll be the first to admit that the science of the gravity caused by celestial bodies, light-speed travel, gravity distortions, and singularities generally escapes me. I understand it at a macro level, but to base whole tactics around these things (and to then make heads or tails of it) is a little beyond my mental capacity apparently. I get the concepts of time-dilation and such, and I understand that in the vastness of space, things are measured in light-minutes, light-hours, light-years, etc. But there's things that take place in books like this that I can only grasp in abstract ways. I'm like a child laughing at a joke the grown-ups made...I only tangentially understand it, but I'm laughing because I want to be part of it anyways. And much like a child, I prefer the science of Star Wars, where you pull a lever and the ship goes WHOOSH and our heroes are quickly somewhere else. Still, though I don't always understand it, I definitely appreciate the attempt to put actual science to the science-fiction. There are universal rules that we all must contend with, and it's always interesting to see how the heroes and villains work with those rules, finding ways to bend them or ignore them, while still retaining a degree of plausibility.
So, all in all, I was entertained. Despite the slow middle segment, and a general lack of truly compelling characterization, I had a good time with Star Carrier: Earth Strike. I wouldn't mind coming back to the carrier America and seeing what is next for her and her fighter squadrons.
I've been fascinated with space combat, especially fighter combat, since childhood. Like most folks my age, I experienced it first with movies and shows like Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, followed by cartoons like Robotech and Star Blazers. Books soon started to capitalize on the space combat frenzy, including the novelizations of Robotech, which dialed up the warfare to 11.
But then came the penultimate experience...computer games! PC games like FreeSpace, Elite, Wing Commander, and X-Wing & Tie Fighter allowed us wannabe pilots our first real chance at duking it out with enemies, both human and otherwise, in the cold reaches of space. Sure it was virtual, and sure there were varying levels of quality, but the combat was visceral, epic, and fun.
And, more importantly, WE were the ones behind the controls.
So what does all that have to do with Star Carrier: Earth Strike?
Well, there are moments in this book where that same level of fun is evoked. Admittedly, I hunted this book down after revisiting an old space-sim classic, FreeSpace 2. It only took a couple of sorties in that game to bring back that excitement from my younger years. The pure joy of dogfighting was addicting enough that I wanted more in that same vein. When I couldn't be virtually blasting enemy fighters to bits, I wanted to be reading about someone else doing it.
After a quick search on Goodreads, this is the book that I selected.
I guess the question at this point is; knowing my existing expectations, does Star Carrier deliver the goods?
Well...yes and no. When the characters are heavy in the action, then the book is pretty awesome. But when the action dies down, so does the pace of the tale. It's not that the book is boring. It's just that it's attempting to tell not only a combat story, but political stories behind the scenes as well.
Mileage of these sections of the book vary wildly; some are interesting and help enhance the narrative, while others are repetitive and could have been trimmed. But since this is a book about an interstellar aircraft carrier, there is much action to be had.
Like any epic space yarn, Star Carrier: Earth Strike features multiple viewpoints, including a few chapters where we experience things from the antagonists points-of-view. But the majority of the book takes place between two perspectives; fighter pilot Captain Trevor Gray and Rear Admiral Alexander Koenig.
Admiral Koenig, being the commander of the battle group, which includes the carrier America as flagship, bears the brunt of the unfolding conflict on his shoulders. As one of only a few human officers of high rank who has fought the alien enemy, he is in a better position than most to make tactical decisions.
Sadly, all of his decisions are questioned by his Senate appointed Political Liaison (think Russian political officers on nuclear submarines, a la The Hunt for Red October), which causes more than a bit of tension. Admiral Koenig is a good sort, though he is a commander first and foremost. While he cares about the men and women under his command, his first priority is the safety of Earth, Mars, and the other Human colonies.
We do get some snippets into his personal life, but mostly his chapters are relegated to command decisions and their fallout. This is not a knock against his chapters at all, as someone at his level isn't going to be in the thick of things very often.
Where Admiral Koenig is the one making far-reaching tactical decisions, Captain Trevor Gray is a pilot, and much more in the actual thick of things. He is also more where the heart of the story lies. We get quite a bit of backstory for Captain Gray, which include how he ended up joining the Navy and becoming a pilot in the first place.
While most of the Human citizenry have multiple implants that enhance their perceptions and access to digital systems around them, Capt. Gray grew up without technological benefits, and has an uphill battle in a very tech-savvy society. This informs some of his behaviors, and gives him a bit more dimension. While I appreciated the attempt to make Capt. Gray the heart of the tale, it didn't always come across well. Sometimes earnest, and sometimes clunky, it was a tough fit inside a tale of interstellar conflict against an alien race.
There's a good chunk of the book where Captain Gray is not behind the controls of his fighter craft. Thankfully we get additional combat scenes from the viewpoint of Allyn, Captain Gray's flight leader. She is essentially the only other Human character with recurring chapters. She's mostly a cypher, as we really don't know much about her at all. But her chapters give us additional combat scenes, and as a rather exceptional pilot, the moments we spend with her rarely disappoint. I have no doubt that, if she appears in later books in the series, we'll get to learn more about her and who she is.
As for the chapters from the viewpoint of the enemy, an alien race called the Turusch, they are few and far between. We basically get one character's point-of-view, and it's usually just a reaction to the events taking place around it. The alien psychology and physiology is pretty unique, and the interactions that this character has does sort of fit into a plot point later. Still, its chapters are the least engaging, and really didn't make much of an impact.
But I didn't pick this book up for a character study; I picked it up for space combat. There's a lot of action in the first quarter, and a lot of action in the last quarter. Like I stated earlier, when the book isn't about the warring, it does slow down a bit. I'm fine with going through the downtime, as "all action all the time" would certainly get tiring. It's just that it's obvious that Ian Douglas enjoys writing space combat, and so those chapters are frenetic and engaging. On the flipside, the non-combat chapters just don't have the same level of care it seems. But thankfully, after a slow middle section, the final engagement of the book really amps up the tension and the threat, and even if I think the resolution was a bit too convenient, the action is well done. I wanted fighter combat, I got fighter combat. Can't really be disappointed there.
I'll be the first to admit that the science of the gravity caused by celestial bodies, light-speed travel, gravity distortions, and singularities generally escapes me. I understand it at a macro level, but to base whole tactics around these things (and to then make heads or tails of it) is a little beyond my mental capacity apparently. I get the concepts of time-dilation and such, and I understand that in the vastness of space, things are measured in light-minutes, light-hours, light-years, etc. But there's things that take place in books like this that I can only grasp in abstract ways. I'm like a child laughing at a joke the grown-ups made...I only tangentially understand it, but I'm laughing because I want to be part of it anyways. And much like a child, I prefer the science of Star Wars, where you pull a lever and the ship goes WHOOSH and our heroes are quickly somewhere else. Still, though I don't always understand it, I definitely appreciate the attempt to put actual science to the science-fiction. There are universal rules that we all must contend with, and it's always interesting to see how the heroes and villains work with those rules, finding ways to bend them or ignore them, while still retaining a degree of plausibility.
So, all in all, I was entertained. Despite the slow middle segment, and a general lack of truly compelling characterization, I had a good time with Star Carrier: Earth Strike. I wouldn't mind coming back to the carrier America and seeing what is next for her and her fighter squadrons.
January 15, 2021
This was so totally not what I was expecting. In a good way. I read his Heritage trilogy a bunch of years ago and loved that series. Good story, good action, it was a good experience. I see that this is a pretty long series and all the books are out and it doesn't hurt that a few people whose opinions I value rated this highly. I thought it was gonna be some light space opera with some big battles sprinkled in. It does have tons of action, the first hundred pages are nothing but, however there is also a lot going on in the background and some seriously mind-blowing alien concepts in terms of biology and psychology. He only gets into one race in this book, although other alien races are hinted at and foreshadowed, but the attention to detail and originality are what sets it apart. The aliens aren't humanoid and they don't speak English with a British accent as all movies seem to do. They are completely alien and seem to make sense, I don't know I'm not a scientist, and it's really cool figuring them out along with the humans in the story. The ending sort of slapped me in the face and took a extremely dark turn as you get equal parts elation and horror in the final pages. It does set up things nicely for book two and makes me want to continue with the series.
March 2, 2022
For the next several seconds, the combat was a confused blur of fast-moving ships, black space, and fireballs. Twice, her Starhawk AI intervened to throw the ship one way or the other to avoid hurtling pieces of whitehot debris. She saw her CPG beam spear through an oncoming Toad just ahead, and then the sky lit up with an eye-searing explosion, pelting her outer hull with highvelocity bits of shrapnel. Warning tones sounded in her ear as gravitic missiles locked on and accelerated toward her. Sand canisters thumped into the void, blocking the enemy thrusts.
Ahead, two massive battlefleets engaged….
So I’ll come right out of the blocks and just say it: fully the first third (or more) of this novel is taken up by a single military engagement (and its direct aftermath, which includes Search and Rescue operations) in a distant star system. As such, it’s very clear right from the outset what sort of story this is. Military Science Fiction in distilled form.
Nothing remained now but rock and glass. From up here, he could even see places where the rock had run liquid, bubbled, then frozen in mid-boil. There was a high background rad count now, though the EM screens were keeping most of the hard stuff out. In the darkness, parts of that landscape now glowed with an eerie, pale blue light.
The capacity for technic intelligence to devastate a world was shocking, nightmarish.
I’m not entirely sure why, but for some reason I expected this to be fairly low-tech, near future affair, probably limited to the immediate solar system.
Not the case at all. When the novel opens humanity has already colonized a decent number of star systems and have entered into trade with alien races. After declining to become a subservient client race of the Sh’daar empire (who have a thing about technological advancement and possible threats to their empire), and not adhering to a subsequent trade embargo, all hell breaks loose.
Speaking of technological advancement, there is some cool stuff going on here. I especially enjoyed the sequences dealing with the Starhawk space fighters, but there are all kinds of next-level weapons of mass destruction and self-repairing / defensive technologies on display, to ensure that destruction levels can be maintained at optimum level.
Another flight of gravfighters howled through the thick air, following the Rattlers. These were Navy Starhawks, their black outer hulls shifting and morphing as they passed, preparing to transition from atmospheric flight to space. A kilometer from the Marine perimeter, they brought their noses up, then accelerated almost vertically, punching through the orange-red overcast. A moment later, four mingled sonic booms echoed and rumbled across the plain.
You may have surmised, by reading the above, that this is one of those “Navy in Space” type Military Science Fiction stories. And it is. But this is one of the authors I find myself gravitating towards when I have a Military SF itch to scratch. I enjoy the real time (on the fly, so to speak, ho ho) inclusion of technical and scientific details, as well as die additional tactic and strategic viewpoints of the various role players.
There’s a technique that the author employs here, that is similar in principle (although not in execution) to a technique he employs in Star Marines. I’m mentioning this because I particularly enjoy the importance that velocity and energy plays in these encounters. The author occasionally treats the war engagements like physics challenges, and he clearly gives some thought to how extremely high speeds over extremely high distances can affect how events may play out.
To be honest, this is probably a 4 star book, but I enjoyed the hell out of it: I liked the protagonists, the tech was awesome and the battles were nail biting affairs. So I am just going to throw the maximum number of stars at it and go see if I can get hold of the next entry: Center of Gravity
Ahead, two massive battlefleets engaged….
So I’ll come right out of the blocks and just say it: fully the first third (or more) of this novel is taken up by a single military engagement (and its direct aftermath, which includes Search and Rescue operations) in a distant star system. As such, it’s very clear right from the outset what sort of story this is. Military Science Fiction in distilled form.
Nothing remained now but rock and glass. From up here, he could even see places where the rock had run liquid, bubbled, then frozen in mid-boil. There was a high background rad count now, though the EM screens were keeping most of the hard stuff out. In the darkness, parts of that landscape now glowed with an eerie, pale blue light.
The capacity for technic intelligence to devastate a world was shocking, nightmarish.
I’m not entirely sure why, but for some reason I expected this to be fairly low-tech, near future affair, probably limited to the immediate solar system.
Not the case at all. When the novel opens humanity has already colonized a decent number of star systems and have entered into trade with alien races. After declining to become a subservient client race of the Sh’daar empire (who have a thing about technological advancement and possible threats to their empire), and not adhering to a subsequent trade embargo, all hell breaks loose.
Speaking of technological advancement, there is some cool stuff going on here. I especially enjoyed the sequences dealing with the Starhawk space fighters, but there are all kinds of next-level weapons of mass destruction and self-repairing / defensive technologies on display, to ensure that destruction levels can be maintained at optimum level.
Another flight of gravfighters howled through the thick air, following the Rattlers. These were Navy Starhawks, their black outer hulls shifting and morphing as they passed, preparing to transition from atmospheric flight to space. A kilometer from the Marine perimeter, they brought their noses up, then accelerated almost vertically, punching through the orange-red overcast. A moment later, four mingled sonic booms echoed and rumbled across the plain.
You may have surmised, by reading the above, that this is one of those “Navy in Space” type Military Science Fiction stories. And it is. But this is one of the authors I find myself gravitating towards when I have a Military SF itch to scratch. I enjoy the real time (on the fly, so to speak, ho ho) inclusion of technical and scientific details, as well as die additional tactic and strategic viewpoints of the various role players.
There’s a technique that the author employs here, that is similar in principle (although not in execution) to a technique he employs in Star Marines. I’m mentioning this because I particularly enjoy the importance that velocity and energy plays in these encounters. The author occasionally treats the war engagements like physics challenges, and he clearly gives some thought to how extremely high speeds over extremely high distances can affect how events may play out.
To be honest, this is probably a 4 star book, but I enjoyed the hell out of it: I liked the protagonists, the tech was awesome and the battles were nail biting affairs. So I am just going to throw the maximum number of stars at it and go see if I can get hold of the next entry: Center of Gravity
April 1, 2015
What we have here is a good solid, "not bad" space opera read. I like military science fiction. Give me fleets clashing in space or ground troops in future armor fighting giant bugs, or robots, or droids or...whatever and I'm happy. Generally if you blow up enough stuff I'm not to concerned about redeeming sociological themes and so on.
This starts out on the right road but it does a sort of left turn and tries to become...relevant. Like a lot of books set in the "not too distant future" (say 500 years or so) the need was felt to "stop and show us how we got here. As in a lot of books lately the results of "global warming" are on display here. You know high ocean levels, flooded coastal cities... tribes of ragged, starving dissidents living the ruined cities (though I'm not quite sure how global warming brought that about). We get to see that bigotry and prejudice still walk among humans and so on. Then...happily we get back to the actual plot of the book without losing more than say a quarter of the text.
So, pretty good book. Another story where we meet another intelligent species with whom there's just no getting along. It seems they'd be happy if we'd just sort of...be what they want us to be, "one of the guys" so to speak (no slur against female readers intended there), like every other race and/or species they know of. See we actually met another species who aren't the species I already spoke of but they work for that species..sort of but see they're so alien we can't really understand what they want and so....
Wait, wait, let me start over. See there comes a time for any sentient species when they seem to be reaching "a" or "the" singularity.(See technological singularity...I can't go into all that. Suffice it to say "when human brain/intelligence can interface with machine intelligence). Well the Sh'daar are dead set on keeping anyone...or anything for that matter from reaching said singularity.
So, we sort of disagreed with them, emphatically. This involved space fleets, missiles, kinetic weapons, lots of explosions, lots of dead "beings" and some emotional angst of course.
So, aside from the angst and social conciseness I mostly like it and can recommend it. Enjoy.
This starts out on the right road but it does a sort of left turn and tries to become...relevant. Like a lot of books set in the "not too distant future" (say 500 years or so) the need was felt to "stop and show us how we got here. As in a lot of books lately the results of "global warming" are on display here. You know high ocean levels, flooded coastal cities... tribes of ragged, starving dissidents living the ruined cities (though I'm not quite sure how global warming brought that about). We get to see that bigotry and prejudice still walk among humans and so on. Then...happily we get back to the actual plot of the book without losing more than say a quarter of the text.
So, pretty good book. Another story where we meet another intelligent species with whom there's just no getting along. It seems they'd be happy if we'd just sort of...be what they want us to be, "one of the guys" so to speak (no slur against female readers intended there), like every other race and/or species they know of. See we actually met another species who aren't the species I already spoke of but they work for that species..sort of but see they're so alien we can't really understand what they want and so....
Wait, wait, let me start over. See there comes a time for any sentient species when they seem to be reaching "a" or "the" singularity.(See technological singularity...I can't go into all that. Suffice it to say "when human brain/intelligence can interface with machine intelligence). Well the Sh'daar are dead set on keeping anyone...or anything for that matter from reaching said singularity.
So, we sort of disagreed with them, emphatically. This involved space fleets, missiles, kinetic weapons, lots of explosions, lots of dead "beings" and some emotional angst of course.
So, aside from the angst and social conciseness I mostly like it and can recommend it. Enjoy.
December 26, 2014
Oh dear. Quite poorly written, for starters. Check out this sample from page 1, narrating the arrival of the fleet flagship in space containing a planetary theatre of war:
She was ... enormous, by far the largest mobile construct ever built by humankind. The three dots are actually in the text, that is not me omitting something to make the quote shorter.
Clearly, the omission is designed to convey to the reader that the narrator is lost for words in view of the staggering dimensions of the spacecraft. But who is lost for words exactly? The spacecraft is viewed from the outside, ie the narrator's perspective is from space. Hence, the narrator cannot be Rear Admiral Alexander Koenig, the fleet's commander, who makes an appearance one page later. The narrative perspective is therefore 3rd person omniscient! So are we invited to believe that a Dickensian-style narrator, who provides commentary on what is going on through inner monologues, is so lost for words that he cannot think of an adjective appropriately capturing the spacecraft's dimensions? Let us remember that omniscient narrators are literary devices employed to do a job within the narrative structure of a novel. They are not actual characters in the novel. They do not normally have defining character traits. Hence, to present an omniscient narrator shown to be actually lost for words shows a pretty poor understanding of the tools of a writer's trade.
And a page later the narrator changes his mind about who he is. Without warning, the perspective changes from omniscient to 3rd person. Now events are presented as seen through Koenig's eyes. I guess Ian was aware of this change in narrative perspective and did not simply lose control over his narrative? If not, the reader would need to believe that Koenig had been floating in space earlier, observing the arrival of his own spacecraft, utterly lost for words at its dimensions.
Ok so I am going on about this and maybe I am a bit of a git. But on page 57 Ian does this again, this time to illustrate Koenig's dismay at the ignorance of his political liaison. So by now I am sure Ian thinks ellipsis is a great device to define his characters, and hence I am no longer sure the swap in narrative perspectives on page 2 was accidental. Possibly Ian deliberately devised an omniscient narrator with a flawed character.
Who knows. Another thing that is unclear is what this novel is actually about. On page 60, we were still in the middle of some battle that started on page 1, with no sign that we would ever emerge from descriptions of warcraft, alien foes, weaponry, flight manoeuvres, tactics and logistics.
Pretty pointless, and poorly put together. I stopped reading on page 60.
She was ... enormous, by far the largest mobile construct ever built by humankind. The three dots are actually in the text, that is not me omitting something to make the quote shorter.
Clearly, the omission is designed to convey to the reader that the narrator is lost for words in view of the staggering dimensions of the spacecraft. But who is lost for words exactly? The spacecraft is viewed from the outside, ie the narrator's perspective is from space. Hence, the narrator cannot be Rear Admiral Alexander Koenig, the fleet's commander, who makes an appearance one page later. The narrative perspective is therefore 3rd person omniscient! So are we invited to believe that a Dickensian-style narrator, who provides commentary on what is going on through inner monologues, is so lost for words that he cannot think of an adjective appropriately capturing the spacecraft's dimensions? Let us remember that omniscient narrators are literary devices employed to do a job within the narrative structure of a novel. They are not actual characters in the novel. They do not normally have defining character traits. Hence, to present an omniscient narrator shown to be actually lost for words shows a pretty poor understanding of the tools of a writer's trade.
And a page later the narrator changes his mind about who he is. Without warning, the perspective changes from omniscient to 3rd person. Now events are presented as seen through Koenig's eyes. I guess Ian was aware of this change in narrative perspective and did not simply lose control over his narrative? If not, the reader would need to believe that Koenig had been floating in space earlier, observing the arrival of his own spacecraft, utterly lost for words at its dimensions.
Ok so I am going on about this and maybe I am a bit of a git. But on page 57 Ian does this again, this time to illustrate Koenig's dismay at the ignorance of his political liaison. So by now I am sure Ian thinks ellipsis is a great device to define his characters, and hence I am no longer sure the swap in narrative perspectives on page 2 was accidental. Possibly Ian deliberately devised an omniscient narrator with a flawed character.
Who knows. Another thing that is unclear is what this novel is actually about. On page 60, we were still in the middle of some battle that started on page 1, with no sign that we would ever emerge from descriptions of warcraft, alien foes, weaponry, flight manoeuvres, tactics and logistics.
Pretty pointless, and poorly put together. I stopped reading on page 60.
February 10, 2017
inconsequential Rant regarding the pointless
is it better to totally ignore the Existence of Islam like 95% of science fiction ,or to introduce a deformed view reflecting what we think the religion represents.full of savagery and killing and allah akbar and death to the infidels is shouted from mobs that prefer boys than girls and don't understand logic ...oh and don't forget to throw the (J) word in there preferably preceded by nuclear ,i mean nuclear jihad ,how barbaric is that.
i really hate to talk about religion at all , but at one point you have to say something .
the writer says that at some point in history the Qur'an is rewritten obviously to remove all the violent parts out.for any one who is familiar with Islam ,knows that this simply can't happen .the entire faith is based on that a single word can't and will not ever be changed.
some time later ,it is said that..........................you know what . I'm not going to talk about it,when the writer sums 2000 years of argument and analysis and complex religion so he could draw a conclusion for something that is peripheral to the plot .no one should really care .it's to be read and forgotten .
and yeah,a huge HALO vibe.
is it better to totally ignore the Existence of Islam like 95% of science fiction ,or to introduce a deformed view reflecting what we think the religion represents.full of savagery and killing and allah akbar and death to the infidels is shouted from mobs that prefer boys than girls and don't understand logic ...oh and don't forget to throw the (J) word in there preferably preceded by nuclear ,i mean nuclear jihad ,how barbaric is that.
i really hate to talk about religion at all , but at one point you have to say something .
the writer says that at some point in history the Qur'an is rewritten obviously to remove all the violent parts out.for any one who is familiar with Islam ,knows that this simply can't happen .the entire faith is based on that a single word can't and will not ever be changed.
some time later ,it is said that..........................you know what . I'm not going to talk about it,when the writer sums 2000 years of argument and analysis and complex religion so he could draw a conclusion for something that is peripheral to the plot .no one should really care .it's to be read and forgotten .
and yeah,a huge HALO vibe.
August 25, 2012
When you hear the title Star Carrier it evokes images of massive Aircraft Carrier style ships like we've seen before in many well known and famous movies and TV shows; a Star Destroyer from 'Star Wars' or the Carrier Saratoga from 'Space: Above and Beyond'. In many cases the technology is different but the idea is the same, a simply massive vessel capable of launching ridiculous numbers of fighters against an enemy force. In these books however that may not be the case.
The Star Carrier America as it is described in the book is by no means a sleek, agile warship, instead she is portrayed as vulnerable, slow and nowhere nearly powerful enough to go head to head with an enemy destroyer or cruiser. Instead she relies on her fighters which is where most of the action takes place, in the cockpit of a Starhawk!
And incredible machines they are. Able to reshape themselves for different tasks and situations from the Sleek aerodynamic "Sperm Mode" for Faster Than Light travel to the swept back wing configuration for atmospheric flight; the very idea of these craft are extraordinary from the out and the way Ian Douglas describes how they work and the way the pilots interact with both their craft and each other is truly fascinating; its easy to get lost in the details of such descriptive narrative that the story almost takes on a background role at times as you will undoubtedly find yourself contemplating just what it would be like to live in a world where you have your own personal PA in your head.
From both a story stand point and a technology stand point the Star Carrier series delivers it all.
A truly outstanding book and a must read.
The Star Carrier America as it is described in the book is by no means a sleek, agile warship, instead she is portrayed as vulnerable, slow and nowhere nearly powerful enough to go head to head with an enemy destroyer or cruiser. Instead she relies on her fighters which is where most of the action takes place, in the cockpit of a Starhawk!
And incredible machines they are. Able to reshape themselves for different tasks and situations from the Sleek aerodynamic "Sperm Mode" for Faster Than Light travel to the swept back wing configuration for atmospheric flight; the very idea of these craft are extraordinary from the out and the way Ian Douglas describes how they work and the way the pilots interact with both their craft and each other is truly fascinating; its easy to get lost in the details of such descriptive narrative that the story almost takes on a background role at times as you will undoubtedly find yourself contemplating just what it would be like to live in a world where you have your own personal PA in your head.
From both a story stand point and a technology stand point the Star Carrier series delivers it all.
A truly outstanding book and a must read.
December 5, 2018
If you are in the mood for some fast-paced military scifi, this might be the series for you. Do not expect anything deep or profound.
November 4, 2012
If you are in the mood for fairly mindless military sci-fi this is a good choices. Basically:
Not exactly mind bending, but good entertainment and not too mentally taxing even if it is a bit predictable at times. Yes, I enjoyed it!
The first book in the epic saga of humankind's war of transcendence
There is a milestone in the evolution of every sentient race, a Tech Singularity Event, when the species achieves transcendence through its technological advances. Now the creatures known as humans are near this momentous turning point.
But an armed threat is approaching from deepest space, determined to prevent humankind from crossing over that boundary—by total annihilation if necessary.
To the Sh'daar, the driving technologies of transcendent change are anathema and must be obliterated from the universe—along with those who would employ them. As their great warships destroy everything in their path en route to the Sol system, the human Confederation government falls into dangerous disarray. There is but one hope, and it rests with a rogue Navy Admiral, commander of the kilometer-long star carrier America, as he leads his courageous fighters deep into enemy space towards humankind's greatest conflict—and quite possibly its last.
Not exactly mind bending, but good entertainment and not too mentally taxing even if it is a bit predictable at times. Yes, I enjoyed it!
May 2, 2012
Like the kindle sample, and his story in Armored. Military sf with an above average level of science.
His short story was on Starshipsofa too.
page 54/357 (10 hours?) - Lots of outer space action right away. I'm enjoying this. I think the science makes everything the more vivid and real, even describing the clouds and water on the alien planet. Not a lot of huge character exposition.
page 287/357 - Almost done. Last 100 pgs are pretty exciting. Kind of a lull in the middle but amazingly I kept going.
page 329/357 - I'll polish this off in less than an hour later today. It's pretty exciting. Pretty cool aliens and singularity elements. I wonder how he'll end it, since it's book one of a trilogy.
All done. Pretty good.
His short story was on Starshipsofa too.
page 54/357 (10 hours?) - Lots of outer space action right away. I'm enjoying this. I think the science makes everything the more vivid and real, even describing the clouds and water on the alien planet. Not a lot of huge character exposition.
page 287/357 - Almost done. Last 100 pgs are pretty exciting. Kind of a lull in the middle but amazingly I kept going.
page 329/357 - I'll polish this off in less than an hour later today. It's pretty exciting. Pretty cool aliens and singularity elements. I wonder how he'll end it, since it's book one of a trilogy.
All done. Pretty good.
April 11, 2023
Pozycja dla fanów ogromu wartkiej akcji, technicznych opisów i bitw międzygwiezdnych - jeśli ktoś oczekuje bliższego poznania bohaterów i ich życiowej „prywaty” to tutaj tego nie znajdzie. I mam wrażenie, że właśnie tego trochę mi brakowało. Pierwsze 100 stron bardzo mnie przemęczyło, bo nie działo się nic ciekawego lecz później akcja się rozkręca i nie ma się do czego przyczepić 🫶 Fascynujący wątek poznawania obcych (zarówno ich obyczajów, ciał jak i psychiki) zdecydowanie pogłębił moją miłość do tego gatunku! Możliwe, że sięgnę po kolejne tomy, chociaż ten jakoś ogromnie do tego nie zachęca.
January 13, 2012
Earth is now the center of what used to be a far flung confederation of human worlds. Unfortunately that confederation of worlds is shrinking due to the Sh'daar and their subservient species the Turusch. The Sh'daar are the big bullies of the universe and they have given earth an ultimatum - give up all technological progress that would lead humans to the "tech singularity event" (where we would transcend our biological forms) and become another client species, or be destroyed. Being humans, though, most of us don't take to well to ultimatums like that and despite heavy losses of colony world we are trying to find a way to fight back.
Enter Star Carrier America and the battle group lead by Rear Admiral Alexander Koenig, tasked with trying to rescue marines and civilians (although the later are expendable according to the Political Liaison) from the planet Mufrid which is under attack from the Turusch. The book revolves around a few main characters Koenig, and Lieutenant Trevor Gray, a navy Starhawk pilot. Where as Koenig has years of experience of battle and politics Gray is young and mostly an outcast due to his roots as a prim someone who was raised outside of the commonwealths health and orderly ways.
It takes a little bit to get into the history of what has happened on earth, it is given a bit in flashbacks about Grey's life but it meshes well with the action that goes on the book and it tells how much times have changed from today to 200 years in this future.
The book moves from the space battle above the planet to the people on the planet - both the marines and the civilians they were trying to save back to earth and the battles that need to be fought there, not all of them with aliens.
Enter Star Carrier America and the battle group lead by Rear Admiral Alexander Koenig, tasked with trying to rescue marines and civilians (although the later are expendable according to the Political Liaison) from the planet Mufrid which is under attack from the Turusch. The book revolves around a few main characters Koenig, and Lieutenant Trevor Gray, a navy Starhawk pilot. Where as Koenig has years of experience of battle and politics Gray is young and mostly an outcast due to his roots as a prim someone who was raised outside of the commonwealths health and orderly ways.
It takes a little bit to get into the history of what has happened on earth, it is given a bit in flashbacks about Grey's life but it meshes well with the action that goes on the book and it tells how much times have changed from today to 200 years in this future.
The book moves from the space battle above the planet to the people on the planet - both the marines and the civilians they were trying to save back to earth and the battles that need to be fought there, not all of them with aliens.
February 18, 2014
I did not enjoy this book, and I doubt anyone but a hard science SF fan would. It's definitely got some gems in it - the strong point was definitely the book's xenobiology and description of a fascinating new alien species - but all in all, there were so many negatives that the experience was spoiled. Here are a few big ones:
-The main character sucked. His name was Grey, and he was about as exciting as his name suggested. You could tell the author didn't care about him, so neither did I. He shares very little emotion with the reader, developed 0 meaningful relationships with other characters, and comes off as a passion-less robot. Sort of dislikable, even. The Admiral Koenig character was better, but similarly underdeveloped.
-The hardcore science took all the joy out of fleet combat. I have never in my life read a book with more redundant writing about the positioning and timing of objects in space. For every sentence of actual battle description - you know, ships blowing up, pilots facing life-or-death situations, exciting stuff - there was about a page describing in meticulous detail how many hours, minutes, and seconds a ship was away from another ship, but then taking into account trajectory and angle and velocity and gravitational pull and... you get the point. I applaud hard science in SF, but this was overkill. It was a textbook in paperback form.
-Some of the combat-specific details of fleet combat were questionable. In the first major battle, a squadron of 12 fighters lasts multiple hours in a dogfight against 60 enemy capital ships and hundreds of fighters. The 'good guy' fighters still take out around 15 capital ships. Seems legit... Not. It takes the fun out of the story when you don't believe it could be real.
-The main character sucked. His name was Grey, and he was about as exciting as his name suggested. You could tell the author didn't care about him, so neither did I. He shares very little emotion with the reader, developed 0 meaningful relationships with other characters, and comes off as a passion-less robot. Sort of dislikable, even. The Admiral Koenig character was better, but similarly underdeveloped.
-The hardcore science took all the joy out of fleet combat. I have never in my life read a book with more redundant writing about the positioning and timing of objects in space. For every sentence of actual battle description - you know, ships blowing up, pilots facing life-or-death situations, exciting stuff - there was about a page describing in meticulous detail how many hours, minutes, and seconds a ship was away from another ship, but then taking into account trajectory and angle and velocity and gravitational pull and... you get the point. I applaud hard science in SF, but this was overkill. It was a textbook in paperback form.
-Some of the combat-specific details of fleet combat were questionable. In the first major battle, a squadron of 12 fighters lasts multiple hours in a dogfight against 60 enemy capital ships and hundreds of fighters. The 'good guy' fighters still take out around 15 capital ships. Seems legit... Not. It takes the fun out of the story when you don't believe it could be real.
November 30, 2015
Battlestar Above and Beyond
Military SF is as American as testy insularity and fructose-induced obesity. There are moments in Earth Strike where you practically want to punch the air and shout “Hell yeah! America!” In a book about a multinational organisation, all the major characters are American, serving aboard a spaceship called America. But it is military SF; Douglas knows his market. Written to the best-seller beat of frequently repeated information, breathless infodumps and throttle-yanking action, Earth Strike at least has a pace that drags the reader along.
The plot is artfully straightforward: Mankind is approaching a Vingean singularity. An alien empire of extreme vintage and vast power would like us to stop, please. As nobody tells the Americans what to do, war begins.
Packed to the galactic gunwhales with hard speculation on near-lightspeed combat, it’s superior to Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet and other war-stories that cover similar ground by dint of its crisp readability. The science is explained clearly and repeated often enough for all to grasp it – cool stuff, if implausible in parts. The characters and aliens fit into the usual slots – the aliens have lots of apostrophes, Admiral Koenig could only be played by Edward James Olmos – but it’s forgivable shorthand. And there is the exception of one of the lead characters, a technology-hating outsider, who adds a bit of freshness.
That old Republican lament about hard-working military types being undermined by politicians is front and centre, but again, military SF, isn’t it? Fun, fast-paced war.
Military SF is as American as testy insularity and fructose-induced obesity. There are moments in Earth Strike where you practically want to punch the air and shout “Hell yeah! America!” In a book about a multinational organisation, all the major characters are American, serving aboard a spaceship called America. But it is military SF; Douglas knows his market. Written to the best-seller beat of frequently repeated information, breathless infodumps and throttle-yanking action, Earth Strike at least has a pace that drags the reader along.
The plot is artfully straightforward: Mankind is approaching a Vingean singularity. An alien empire of extreme vintage and vast power would like us to stop, please. As nobody tells the Americans what to do, war begins.
Packed to the galactic gunwhales with hard speculation on near-lightspeed combat, it’s superior to Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet and other war-stories that cover similar ground by dint of its crisp readability. The science is explained clearly and repeated often enough for all to grasp it – cool stuff, if implausible in parts. The characters and aliens fit into the usual slots – the aliens have lots of apostrophes, Admiral Koenig could only be played by Edward James Olmos – but it’s forgivable shorthand. And there is the exception of one of the lead characters, a technology-hating outsider, who adds a bit of freshness.
That old Republican lament about hard-working military types being undermined by politicians is front and centre, but again, military SF, isn’t it? Fun, fast-paced war.
February 25, 2021
On some absolute scale this may not be that good a book, but compared to much science fiction offered today, it's a great story. Yes, it's a jingoistic space opera, but Douglas paid attention to the physics of his world enough that the reader is not insulted to read it.
Obviously a story of interstellar conflict, Earth Strike also manages to develop the humanity of the cast enough that its not all singularities and lasers.
A very good read.
Obviously a story of interstellar conflict, Earth Strike also manages to develop the humanity of the cast enough that its not all singularities and lasers.
A very good read.
April 30, 2014
I have to start out by saying I really wish I could give this book a better rating. The underlying frame of the story wasn't exactly new but the layers on top of it made for a rather unique and enjoyable story. The characters could have used a bit more work but didn't drag down the story too badly. There was just too many unnecessary descriptions slowing down the pace of the story, and that's not a result of this being hard Sci-Fi either. More on that in the Cons section.
Pros
The story is quite intriguing. I don't want to spoil anything but the gist of it is that Humanity is up against a group of aliens ruling a large portion of the galaxy that are more technologically advanced than us. The part that makes it interesting though is the balance of humanity's struggles not only against the aliens but against itself. Earth, while more united than ever before, still struggles with nations and unions of nations fighting for the upper hand. Despite the alien threat we still seem to be unable to fully cooperate with each other. There's also the age-old problem of the military and the government getting along. The military wants freedom to conduct war as it sees fit and the civilian government of course wants to make sure they don't try remove them from power or leave them unprotected. While none of these pieces of plot are new, they are woven in a way that makes them unique and interesting.
I should also mention that the aliens, while rather few, are fairly unique as well. Don't think I have ever seen a few of the concepts he used for them before.
Cons
The characters aren't really anything special. Most of them conform to easily recognizable archetypes and don't venture outside of that. Even the protagonist, Trevor Gray, is rather flat. He has plenty of back-story revealed to make him a unique character but those past - and future - events never seem to have more than a superficial effect on him. For the most part he remains rather static through this book. When changes do happen to him, they end up coming rather abruptly and leave you wondering what brought that change on.
The thing that killed this book for me however was the author's obsession with repeating things. It was as if he expected the reader to put his book down every couple of chapters and let it sit for a few months. After reading the exact same paragraphs describing how the various technologies work for about the 6th time you begin to just start skipping them whenever you run into one.
It goes beyond technology descriptions though, this same thing applies to common actions. Every single time they launch fighters he will tell you how fast they are shot out of the tube (167 m/s), how fast they accelerate (50,000 gravities or ~500,000 m/s), what their cruising speed is (0.997c), and how long it takes them to reach cruising speed (~10 minutes). Yes, I did recite those numbers all from memory. This is paired with descriptions of how the singularity blinks on and off in front of the fighter, how the pilot doesn't feel the acceleration since it is a gravitational force as well how much time was passing for the pilots compared to the galaxy at large due to them cruising near light speed. He even makes sure to repeat the dangers of what might happen if something went wrong. The descriptions of how this all works is repeated very nearly word for word and takes up a full page, or more if he feels the need to repeat absolutely everything about a launch.
This happens for pretty much every action taken by the main characters, from docking fighters or traveling between star systems to something as mundane as ordering food or drink since they use new technology to create them too. By golly you WILL remember how all of this technology works whether you like it or not. After finishing the book I found myself looking for the quiz. He also repeats the same background information for characters numerous times just in case you forgot. I don't know just how many words are wasted repeating things the readers were already told but I wouldn't be surprised if it was as high as 10% of the book's content. I'm nearly certain there is at least one paragraph of duplicate text on every other page.
I can understand why he felt the need to be so detailed since this is a hard Sci-Fi book but that doesn't mean you need to repeat your descriptions and numbers every time a character performs an action. Every other hard Sci-Fi book I have read did the logical thing and gave verbose descriptions the first time around then generic ones after that, e.g "The fighters began boosting towards their target" with a smattering of new things if they were relevant like new distances and travel times. It is worth noting that this is the first book I have ever had a problem with the prose that actually affected my reading and I have read a substantial number of books, I would estimate somewhere between 500-750 novels.
Religion
Religion seemed rather haphazardly thrown in as if the author decided he needed to include it but had no idea how to actually work it into the story in a purposeful way. Most of the time when he mentions that someone or some group is religious he then proceeds to do nothing with it. No enlightening of a characters decisions or using it to create meaningful conflict, though there are a few exceptions. I have to specify "meaningful conflict" because he does use it to create conflict occasionally thanks to the "White Covenant" law, which makes it illegal to discuss religion with anyone else. The characters break this law several times of course but it usually amounts to nothing. When it is used to have an effect on a character it is generally just so other characters can think the person/people who believe in it are stupid. This includes the protagonist, who isn't religious, and this ironically makes him a bit of a hypocrite given his background.
All in all I wasn't impressed with how it was handled. If you are going to put religion in a book you had better have a good reason for doing it, some way of impacting the story with it. Otherwise given how strongly many people feel about it you're likely to annoy many of your readers for no reason, either those who are for it or those who are against it. In the end the impression I got was that the author disliked religion very strongly and felt the need to express his view through his book. Generally speaking I prefer my novels to be about the story and not a soapbox to push personal agendas. Personal views are great and all but trying to cram them down the reader's throat doesn't help the story in any way and story is king for fiction.
Conclusion
A rather interesting story that is brought down by needless repetition of technology and mundane action descriptions. Had the author not repeated himself so much the book probably would have gotten a 3.5 or 4 star rating. If you can ignore the needless repetition then the book will probably be very enjoyable for you.
Ratings
Story: 4
Characters: 2
World: 3
Style: 1
Overall: 2
NOTE: The overall score is not a direct product of the individual scores.
Reviews of other books in this series:
Book 2, Center of Gravity
Book 3, Singularity
Book 4, Deep Space
Pros
The story is quite intriguing. I don't want to spoil anything but the gist of it is that Humanity is up against a group of aliens ruling a large portion of the galaxy that are more technologically advanced than us. The part that makes it interesting though is the balance of humanity's struggles not only against the aliens but against itself. Earth, while more united than ever before, still struggles with nations and unions of nations fighting for the upper hand. Despite the alien threat we still seem to be unable to fully cooperate with each other. There's also the age-old problem of the military and the government getting along. The military wants freedom to conduct war as it sees fit and the civilian government of course wants to make sure they don't try remove them from power or leave them unprotected. While none of these pieces of plot are new, they are woven in a way that makes them unique and interesting.
I should also mention that the aliens, while rather few, are fairly unique as well. Don't think I have ever seen a few of the concepts he used for them before.
Cons
The characters aren't really anything special. Most of them conform to easily recognizable archetypes and don't venture outside of that. Even the protagonist, Trevor Gray, is rather flat. He has plenty of back-story revealed to make him a unique character but those past - and future - events never seem to have more than a superficial effect on him. For the most part he remains rather static through this book. When changes do happen to him, they end up coming rather abruptly and leave you wondering what brought that change on.
The thing that killed this book for me however was the author's obsession with repeating things. It was as if he expected the reader to put his book down every couple of chapters and let it sit for a few months. After reading the exact same paragraphs describing how the various technologies work for about the 6th time you begin to just start skipping them whenever you run into one.
It goes beyond technology descriptions though, this same thing applies to common actions. Every single time they launch fighters he will tell you how fast they are shot out of the tube (167 m/s), how fast they accelerate (50,000 gravities or ~500,000 m/s), what their cruising speed is (0.997c), and how long it takes them to reach cruising speed (~10 minutes). Yes, I did recite those numbers all from memory. This is paired with descriptions of how the singularity blinks on and off in front of the fighter, how the pilot doesn't feel the acceleration since it is a gravitational force as well how much time was passing for the pilots compared to the galaxy at large due to them cruising near light speed. He even makes sure to repeat the dangers of what might happen if something went wrong. The descriptions of how this all works is repeated very nearly word for word and takes up a full page, or more if he feels the need to repeat absolutely everything about a launch.
This happens for pretty much every action taken by the main characters, from docking fighters or traveling between star systems to something as mundane as ordering food or drink since they use new technology to create them too. By golly you WILL remember how all of this technology works whether you like it or not. After finishing the book I found myself looking for the quiz. He also repeats the same background information for characters numerous times just in case you forgot. I don't know just how many words are wasted repeating things the readers were already told but I wouldn't be surprised if it was as high as 10% of the book's content. I'm nearly certain there is at least one paragraph of duplicate text on every other page.
I can understand why he felt the need to be so detailed since this is a hard Sci-Fi book but that doesn't mean you need to repeat your descriptions and numbers every time a character performs an action. Every other hard Sci-Fi book I have read did the logical thing and gave verbose descriptions the first time around then generic ones after that, e.g "The fighters began boosting towards their target" with a smattering of new things if they were relevant like new distances and travel times. It is worth noting that this is the first book I have ever had a problem with the prose that actually affected my reading and I have read a substantial number of books, I would estimate somewhere between 500-750 novels.
Heads Up!
Don't think you're only going to have to ignore this nuisance for the 1st book. This trends continues in the 2nd and 3rd books as well, though it appears the author got wise during the 4th book because it is much reduced in that one.
Religion
This section here is for anyone who might find themselves upset if religion is handled in way that doesn't align with their view of it.
Religion seemed rather haphazardly thrown in as if the author decided he needed to include it but had no idea how to actually work it into the story in a purposeful way. Most of the time when he mentions that someone or some group is religious he then proceeds to do nothing with it. No enlightening of a characters decisions or using it to create meaningful conflict, though there are a few exceptions. I have to specify "meaningful conflict" because he does use it to create conflict occasionally thanks to the "White Covenant" law, which makes it illegal to discuss religion with anyone else. The characters break this law several times of course but it usually amounts to nothing. When it is used to have an effect on a character it is generally just so other characters can think the person/people who believe in it are stupid. This includes the protagonist, who isn't religious, and this ironically makes him a bit of a hypocrite given his background.
All in all I wasn't impressed with how it was handled. If you are going to put religion in a book you had better have a good reason for doing it, some way of impacting the story with it. Otherwise given how strongly many people feel about it you're likely to annoy many of your readers for no reason, either those who are for it or those who are against it. In the end the impression I got was that the author disliked religion very strongly and felt the need to express his view through his book. Generally speaking I prefer my novels to be about the story and not a soapbox to push personal agendas. Personal views are great and all but trying to cram them down the reader's throat doesn't help the story in any way and story is king for fiction.
Conclusion
A rather interesting story that is brought down by needless repetition of technology and mundane action descriptions. Had the author not repeated himself so much the book probably would have gotten a 3.5 or 4 star rating. If you can ignore the needless repetition then the book will probably be very enjoyable for you.
Ratings
Story: 4
Characters: 2
World: 3
Style: 1
Overall: 2
NOTE: The overall score is not a direct product of the individual scores.
Reviews of other books in this series:
Book 2, Center of Gravity
Book 3, Singularity
Book 4, Deep Space
March 18, 2022
Did I like it? No. Was it bad? No. It’s just not for me, to me it just seemed like there was too much complexity and technicalities that completely put me of and distracted me from the storyline. This is the reason I’ve attempted to finish this book many times and given up shortly after. I only finished it to finish it, not because I liked it.
March 24, 2012
Earth Strike has got to be one of the most technical books I've ever read in Si Fi.
Pros: The amount of time he put into thinking up the tech in this book and coming up with good uses for it staggers me. I love the space ships he uses and the alien species that he introduces. The combat and tactics of the space battles are pretty average but still fun to read. The ending I didn't see coming AT ALL so I love it when something like that happens.
Cons: His characters (if you can call them that) in this book are almost as flat and cardboard cut out as they come. I still don't know what the Read Admiral looks like. I got no insight in any of their feelings or struggles(except Grey who is considered the "Main" main character out of the 3). The description of the surroundings are great...if you enjoy reading three pages of it without any dialogue. I found myself skipping over description parts from time to time cause it just got so annoying to read the same thing over and over in different ways.
Overall: Good book with wonderfulling thought out universe. Tech and space battles are what this book is made of with slight hits of emotion from the main character. But if you are wanting character development from sub main characters or minor characters then not the book for you.
Rating: 3.5/5
Pros: The amount of time he put into thinking up the tech in this book and coming up with good uses for it staggers me. I love the space ships he uses and the alien species that he introduces. The combat and tactics of the space battles are pretty average but still fun to read. The ending I didn't see coming AT ALL so I love it when something like that happens.
Cons: His characters (if you can call them that) in this book are almost as flat and cardboard cut out as they come. I still don't know what the Read Admiral looks like. I got no insight in any of their feelings or struggles(except Grey who is considered the "Main" main character out of the 3). The description of the surroundings are great...if you enjoy reading three pages of it without any dialogue. I found myself skipping over description parts from time to time cause it just got so annoying to read the same thing over and over in different ways.
Overall: Good book with wonderfulling thought out universe. Tech and space battles are what this book is made of with slight hits of emotion from the main character. But if you are wanting character development from sub main characters or minor characters then not the book for you.
Rating: 3.5/5
July 26, 2016
This is the 1st book in the Star Carrier series by Ian Douglas. This book is set in a different universe than the books in his other series but is still a very good work in the Space Opera/Military Science Fiction category. In this one Earth is facing total destruction at the hands of an unknown but technology advanced alien species. This species has given Earth an ultimatum, become a slave species to them or be destroyed. Earth chooses to fight back and it's Space Navy and Space Marines are it's only defense. This book has great battle scenes and several interesting story lines about several different characters. I recommend it to all fans Of Ian Douglas's other series and fans of Space Opera/Military Science Fiction.
June 19, 2015
I do prefer action over touchie feelie in my military space opera--but it's kind of overdone here; a skirmish (not even a decisive battle) takes up nearly the entire first half, the characters are completely typecast and thinner than onionskin, and all the behind the scenes politics and personal relationships are strictly paint by numbers. The dialog is as trite as it gets. All that being said, the author earns points for fun future tech and for really thinking about how a space battle would go at relativistic speeds...even doping out a credible way for spacecraft to turn and reverse course!
But there wasn't enough storytelling here to tempt me into the sequels.
But there wasn't enough storytelling here to tempt me into the sequels.
February 9, 2020
This book depictes Muslims too stupid and primitive which can't be realistic in the future with that much advanced development of thought and technology. They are more like ISIS. Even now in the 21st century, a low percentage of Muslims are this fanatic and extremist. It seems to me that the writer doesn't have a very strong grasp of a realistic condition of Muslim's beliefs and act as a western oustsider whose knowledge is just rises from propaganda and western media. I'm not a Muslim but this book is anti-Muslim in my view.
I mean the women even fucking use veil on their helmet and chador on their space suit! Wtf!?
I mean the women even fucking use veil on their helmet and chador on their space suit! Wtf!?
December 8, 2020
Nice SiFi story. Interesting use of science for the tech. Good Read. Recommended
May 5, 2018
Literature it ain't. Fun, it is, if you like military tactics in space. Plus, there's some cool alien stuff.
July 14, 2022
Good, solid, military space opera. 'We were the good guys, they were the bad guys, and they made a very agreeable thump.'
High technology that doesn't go the space magic route, but extrapolates well from what we know. Alcubierre drives and singularity manipulation meet nanotech, gene-tech, and AI.
A good start to a trilogy, book 2 will be bumped up the list.
High technology that doesn't go the space magic route, but extrapolates well from what we know. Alcubierre drives and singularity manipulation meet nanotech, gene-tech, and AI.
A good start to a trilogy, book 2 will be bumped up the list.
June 15, 2020
I am not usually into space military but this came across my Kindle and I found it pretty engaging. Unknown enemies and capabilities means you don't know what is on the next page. It was also well written, if as ever USA-centric.
January 12, 2022
Even though it recycles some ideas from other media, "Earth Strike" is still well written and entertaining piece of military sci-fi. If you are a fan of the genre, I strongly recommend this book.
August 25, 2024
Action was good, most of the inbetween stuff was meh
November 1, 2019
New favorite words "near-c impactors"
Awesome book
Awesome book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 28, 2019
I like Ian Douglas's works and he is a clever writer. But the depth of the scientific side of the stories means I skip a good eight of the book. I don't really want to know how the starship engine works other than than it gets you from A to B but if you push it too hard it will have consequences.
Other than that the story line is excellent and the characters believable.
Other than that the story line is excellent and the characters believable.
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