The Scoundrel Worlds

Star Risk #2

by Chris Bunch

Skyball is popular, challenging, and violent. In other words, the greatest sport in the universe. The mercenary team of Star Risk, Ltd. has been hired to watch it ... closely. Two opposing worlds are neck and neck, and lately the game's been a real killer. Riots, murder, a real madhouse for loyal fans. It's up to Star Risk to keep it galaxy-friendly. Good luck to them. They don't stand a sporting chance.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Military Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fantasy

352 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2003

About the author

Christopher R. "Chris" Bunch was an American science fiction, fantasy and television writer, who wrote and co-wrote about thirty novels.

Born in Fresno, California, he collaborated with Allan Cole on a series of books involving a hero named Sten in a galactic empire. (Cole married Bunch's sister, Kathryn.) He served in Vietnam as a patrol leader. He also wrote for Rolling Stone and was a correspondent for Stars and Stripes. He died in his hometown of Ilwaco, Washington, after a long battle with a lung ailment.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its been a while since I have read any books from Chris Bunch and I must admit I forgot how much I enjoyed them,

This is the second in the Star Risk series, basically a security firm made of up the rejects, cast offs and escapees from various criminal operations, military forces and traitorous competition.

What makes this so much fun is the banter and attitudes captured with the various main characters of Star Risk - it's summed up when one of the characters proudly boasts that he has managed to sell out the rest of the team to the competition (okay its a ruse to feed them misinformation) only to be dismissed by his colleague because he didn't do it that well - in other words make more money out of it.

So basically you have a rag tag team how do not mind using any means - fair or foul to get the job done and yet through out it all you feel that there is an undercurrent of morals and principles, imaginary lines that they will not cross and will penalise severely those who do.

But less of the characterisations and subtle messages hidden within the plot - what you have here is just one long chaotic romp as Star Risks take on another impossible situation where failure is almost guaranteed. A case of when not how. The dialogue between the characters is sharp and suitably dark and the action is impressive and brutal.

This is not a record breaking or career defining story it is however action packed and a great change in gear to my recent reads. Sometimes that is all that is needed lose yourself in a fun new story.

[Chris Branch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hadn’t read anything by Bunch before, and I realize I started in the middle of a series, but it seemed like the kind of thing that could stand alone.

That turns or to be true, but I can’t say that I was overly impressed with this one. It’s polished and well plotted, for sure, but I found the writing a bit flat. It has a sort of a clipped, just-the-facts tone that isn’t bad, exactly, but isn’t my favorite writing style.

Then there’s the nature of the characters - a sort of A-Team / James Bond combination that seems like it ought to be fun - but this group is unrepentantly violent, and largely humorless, so while they’re morally preferable to the “bad” guys, their actions demonstrate that they aren’t much better. Some readers may like this sort of “when they go low, we go lower” type of dynamic, but for me it would have needed a lighter touch to really be enjoyable.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

The good people at STAR RISK LTD are hired first to deal with a bunch of deranged footballers and later are hired to exonerate a political prisoner on a planet with a secret police as well as corrupt government (but the TRAPPINGS of democracy). I really enjoyed this one and felt the enemies were more interesting this time around. I was worried Cerberus would once more be used as a villain but we had plenty of twists and turns that didn't need them.

[Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh.

Forgettable Space Opera with little to do with either space or opera.

Steer Ye Clear!

[DemetraP · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read. I liked how the mercenaries kept the referees safe and prevented a riot at the sporting event.

[Христо Блажев · Rating 4 out of 5]

Светът на мошениците прилича на нашия: https://knigolandia.info/book-review/...

След спортното приключение, което, както казах, заема само първите тридесетина страници, екипът на “Звезден риск” е привикан да се отправи към планетата Дампиер, където трябва да се опитат да спасят затворник, осъден на смърт за шпионаж. Предполага се, че е действал в полза на смъртните врагове на дампиерци от близката планета Торгут, с които си оспорват властта върху Белфортските светове, разположени точно между тях. Планетите си воюват отколе, но сега плановете за защита на Дампиер са откраднати и опасността от катастрофално поражение е настроила местните доста агресивно. Включително по улиците се вихрят маскирани бандити, които пребиват невинни граждани по зададен сигнал, за да натягат напрежението.

Издателска къща БАРД
https://knigolandia.info/book-review/...

[William Bentrim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scoundrel Worlds by Chris Bunch
This is the 2nd of the Star Risk, LTD books. This is a violence prone private eye type agency.
This book deals with proving the innocence of a prisoner on a distant planet.
This book just didn’t do it for me. It was okay but that is as effusive as I can get. The characters didn’t seem as fleshed out this time. Same “people” as before just seemed shallower this time.
The violence was still there but for some reason it just didn’t seem as exciting. I don’t see myself reading the remaining three books in spite of owning them.

[Dr susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great sci fi adventure

But I can't handle the violence and body count. I love the Star Risk crew; King with a concussion was funny. The worldbuilding continues to be good, and the story is fascinating.

[Zara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and interesting.

[Andy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was hard work,,, I won't be reading any more of these I'm afraid...

[Scott Holstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mercenary team from Star Risk, Ltd are back for their second book/mission and for some reason, the publisher's marketing flunky who came up with the book's back cover synopsis blurb apparently didn't even bother reading the book, because even though it begins with security for a major sporting event, that's not at all what the book is about, nor what the vast majority of the book is about, so for the synopsis of the book to describe it in that way is to do a gross disservice.

Anyway, M'Chel, Freidrich, Grok, Jasmine, and Chas are back and this time they are hired by Premier Reynard of Dampier, who has recently been dethroned and wants his power back. But that's not his primary reason for hiring them. He wants one of his friends and colleagues who has been framed for treason, tried and found guilty by a kangaroo court, sentenced to death, and is in a heavily guarded prison on death row, freed and the "real" traitor found to replace the innocent man. Dampier has a nearby star system it has gone to war with three times over yet a third star system that they both claim for themselves and each is saber rattling again. Star Risk agrees to take the job and soon appears on Dampier, where they find a lot of lawlessness and violence awaits them. And a lot of people are anticipating their arrival and are none too happy about it, including the police, the intelligence service, the secret police, etc. Soon, they, and the mercenary sub-contractors they hire, are under assault from all sides and they have to go into ultra violence mode to teach some people a few lessons about who's the damn boss. It doesn't help that the big boys on the mercenary block, Cerberus Systems, is also in the picture, mysteriously working for the other side. There's also a mysterious religious cult and a group of armed revolutionaries and it's a complete mess.

While everyone is off doing their own thing, Freidrich decides to visit this other planet, Torguth, to see how much truth there is to the Dampierian rumors of their military buildup. Turns out they're fairly accurate. He also goes to establish contact with and extract information from two sources the revolutionaries have on planet. Torguth is a dictatorial, heavily militarized planet where pretty much everyone wears a uniform of some sort. It's a very dangerous place to be. He meets both people and agrees to meet them again in a day or so. And he's sold out. Fortunately, he's ex-military and in good shape and he's hidden small weapons around the city in anticipation of just such an event, so he escapes, barely, and is glad to do so.

At the same time, there's a group of thugs called The Masked Ones going around beating up and even killing groups of demonstrators and protesters with the approval of the police who do nothing to stop them. Star Risk doesn't approve of their actions, tries to find their identities, finds some success, finds some of them tied in with the secret police (shockingly), and slaughters a number of them to teach them a lesson. This doesn't sit well with the chief of the secret police, but he does nothing to them -- for the time being.

Meanwhile, they've been visiting the prisoner in the off-planet prison, softening things and people up, making plans to spring him. Their plan is ingenious.

One cool thing about this book is the role ex-Marine M'Chel Riss plays. She plays a much bigger role than in the previous book, I believe, and is a major, major bad ass. I like it. She plays for keeps and kicks ass. I like her character a lot. Another cool thing about the book is the plot is so convoluted and complex and everything is such a mystery that it's almost impossible to unweave until the end. The downside is, the ending is actually so incredibly obvious that I thought it was far too obvious and thought there was no way it could actually be THAT and assumed it would have to be someone else (the traitor), someone no one had considered before, but I was wrong. It was one of the two most completely obvious suspects and that was really disappointing. I think Bunch did his readers a disservice here and should have worked harder as an author to make things more complicated than that. He took the easy way out and if I hadn't have enjoyed the book so much, I'd consider knocking the rating down by a star, but I'm not going to because it's still a very good book.

So, if you like a good sci fi mystery with ultra violence, conspiracies, assassinations, poisonings, military assaults, etc, this is the book for you. And even though it's the second book of a series, it's really a stand alone book. You don't need to have read the first one to enjoy this one. It's not the best book I've ever read and I'm not completely convinced it's worth five stars, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't think of any real good reason not to give it five stars, so I'm going to go ahead and do so. I just think it's a really good book. Definitely recommended, as is the series.

[Harold Ogle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A much more brazen military romp than the first Star Risk novel, The Scoundrel Worlds returns with all the same characters (M'Chel, Freidrich, Grok, Jasmine, Chas, Redon) now hired by a flamboyantly histrionic politician to prove the innocence of his party member accused of treason, preferably by uncovering the real traitor. It would seem like there's a lot of potential for mystery here, with a lot of detective work, but very little if any of that actually happens in this book. As such it's a significant departure from the first book, in which there was some tension regarding "whodunit." This book, by contrast, has the company converting a mansion into an operations base at the outskirts of the capitol city, and then spends most of the book in military actions: espionage, assassination, pitched gun battles, dogfights...the detective work they do amounts to just poking a stick in the ant's nest of competing factions and stirring up trouble until someone attacks them.

There are definite overtones in this book of the occupation of Iraq, particularly the mansion reminded me strongly of what I've read about the Green Zone in Baghdad, with all the security checkpoints and mercenaries, much less all the infighting between factions. Bunch's death toll in this book is cavalierly high, but the action is well-depicted and engaging enough that I can admit to enjoying it. Chas, Grok and Redon remain the most engaging characters, though Redon gets short shrift for most of the book. Similarly, the question of Jasmine's identity is pretty much completely dropped. The story, sadly, mostly follows M'Chel and Friedrich, characters who are likable without being distinct personalities from each other in the slightest. Friedrich handles most of the political interactions, and M'Chel does most of the violence, though they trade off from time to time.

Bunch tries to get a lot of mileage out of repeatedly having characters boggle at the sight of the blue furry alien Grok (in this book his full name is changed slightly), because they've never seen an alien before then. This stretches credulity in the internal consistency of the universe Bunch has created, though: non-humans might be rare, but it makes little sense that cosmopolitan worlds like the ones here would never have any alien visitors. Also, Grok is entertaining in this book, but he has been transformed into more of a "Data" character, where he often is shown striving to understand "those crazy humans and the weird things they do," and occasionally trying to humorously emulate some aspect of human behavior (at one point, he agrees to betray Star Risk by feeding certain intelligence to its enemies, and then runs back into the mansion, babbling with excitement to tell them the news: "I did my first double-cross! Didn't I do good, boss?"). It's fun, but it's also a little sad that he's become so much a caricature.

I don't really need or want to go into the plot any more than that; they meet the various factions, all composed of differing degrees of slimeballs, they start pissing people off, they get attacked, they retaliate by killing a bunch of people, this cycles a few times, they spring the accused inmate from jail, they identify the real traitor, they set him up for a fall, the end. It's a fun read, but it's not a mystery and it's not complex.

[Per Gunnar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book presents us with some more “A-team in space” adventures. The reference to A-team is of course a rather loose one. Star Risk is more violent (people get killed), less benevolent and not really on the run from some crime that they were set up to take the fall for. They are however a likable bunch of scoundrels working to resolve the tasks they were hired for in various imaginative ways.

I do not know why the text in the book blurb was chosen for this book. It is like whoever wrote it never read the book but just opened a few random pages and then put together some text. Yes there is a very short part in the beginning of the book about Skyball but that part is but a fraction of the book. The main story is a quite different one and much more interesting. In the main story we get to follow Star Risk when they free a falsely (maybe) accused person from death row and prevents a war between two systems at the same time.

I generally liked this book more than the first one in the series. Star Risk is less amateurish in their work, the humor is better and in general the author seems to be more confident in his writing. The conversation between the members, I especially like Grok, are sometimes quite funny and the action is not bad.

The story itself is fairly light but okay. It ties the various action sequences together in a reasonable manner and is not too full of holes and unbelievable elements. On the whole it was an enjoyable book to read. After the first book I decided that I was going to read one more book in the series but I was not sure whether I was going to read the entire series. After this book I think I will probably continue to read all the books in the series.

[Radi Radev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Първата книга от Крис Бънч, която прочетох бе "Далечно царство", писана в съавторство с Алън Кол. Това беше едно класическо фентъзи следващо традициите на най-добрите в жанра - Робърт Хаъурд и Майкъл Муркок (по-специално "Перла в черепа").
С учудване открих, че Крис е всестранно надарен автор и може да пише и много добра научна фантастика. Между другото Бънч е бивш рейнджър във Виетнам, по-късно работил като репортер и редактор. Явно досегът с войната изостря въображението на творческите личности, понеже ако си спомняте най-добрият разказвач на къси фантастични истории Робърт Шекли е бил военен кореспондент в Корея.
"Светът на мошениците" е книга в жанр приключенска научна фантастика. Но тя не е в стила на любимия на всички ни Жул Верн. По-скоро напомня "Стоманеният плъх" от Хари Харисън.
Представете си нещо средно между охранителна фирма и детективска агенция, съставена от най-добрите сред добрите. Това е "Звезден риск". Тя се състои от Аманандрала Грокономонслф, извънземен наричан накратко Грок, Джасмин Кинг, Мшел Рис, Чес Гуднайт и Фридрих фон Балдур.
Те са наети да охраняват седмина рефери, които ще свирят на финалните мачове на играта скайбол. "Звезден риск" се подготвят внимателно за задачата взимайки със себе си фрагментиращи гранати и бластери. Те разчитат и на известна въздушна подкрепа.
Впрочем книгата е изпълнена със зашеметяващи бойни схватки, а действието се развива в Космоса, във въздуха, на земя и под вода. Като бивш войник авторът описва сблъсъците по много автентичен и дори брутален начин.
Впрочем ето как действат "Звезден риск":

"- Слава на небесата - прошепна Рис. - Защото нямаме опит в потайните, лишени от шумотевица и предсказуеми дела."

http://radiradev.blogspot.com/2014/09...

[steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read, by no means to be taken as anything other than what it is. Quick action, minor space opera, guns blazing and fun all 'round without all that silly depth to get in the way.

[Andy R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Series is a fun read, A-Team in space basically.

[Ayesha Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

i dont think i was paying much attention when i was reading this series but im pretty sure its good. i am going to read the series again.

[Arya Tred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant!

[Howard]

11

[Connor Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Runs a little fast, minimal detective work - for a space themed book, it seems to focus more on personal action.