SF Signal: REVIEW: Starfist: Flashfire by David Sherman, Dan Cragg

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REVIEW: Starfist: Flashfire by David Sherman, Dan Cragg

REVIEW SUMMARY: A book full of stereotypes and a simple plot that is overall a mediocre effort. Worse yet - it was booksplit without being that long of a novel.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: When 12 worlds of the Confederation decide to succeed, its up to the Marines of FIST to help bring them back into the fold. The circumstances around this civil war are laced with politics as well as fighting in what is the 11th book of the Starfist saga.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: The universe is rich with a solid backdrop to the situations that develop. You can tell somebody has done a good job creating the big picture. The overall story isn't that bad and the action moves quickly.
CONS: Every character in here is a stereotype you've seen before done better. Think of every decent military sci-fi book you've read and you'll find those ideas here. The book is poorly edited to boot - there are several pages devoted on an impending inspection of the unit that matters not at all to the plot. There is a divergence into dealings with a backwater thug that is just discarded without further mention. I can't help but wonder if all these things couldn't have been left out and allowed the story to fit in one book.
BOTTOM LINE: It has action sequences and an interesting universe to exist in, but I suspect the best books in this series are well before this one. The worst part is how the book abruptly ends at a point that's not even logical. I can appreciate that it the entire 2-book effort would have been too much for 1 novel, but at least the authors ought to create a decent point to split it. Unless you're a huge fan of this series you can give this book a pass.

EXTENDED COMMENT: What keeps you reading a book that ultimately gets 1 star? In my case I was stuck on an airplane with this as my last book for the vacation I was on. Otherwise, I would have likely quit this one in in the first 100 pages.

Let me count the stereotypes used here:

- We have a tough as nails Sergent named Hammer who has the heart of a lion but is really just a sweet teddy bear inside once you get to know him.
- We have the new recruit who wants to fit in but doesn't understand his unit because they've all seen combat together and he hasn't.
- We have the smart leader who alienates the brass with his honest opinions on the unfair way he sees other officers treated and is put into a posting that's supposed to be a mothball assignment yet turns into a major conflict where he can once again show his stuff.
- We have the hard-fighting unit put under the command of the politico staff officer who can't figure out how to use them.
- And of course we have the officer who ignores the overall commander and does the 'right thing' in the face of orders he considers foolish.

Sigh, been there, done that.

Now these two authors can write - there's no question about it. The action sequences work and the military tactics and strategy make sense. But the characters are so thin it is really sad. I kept thinking of David Drake's Hammer's Slammers series and how much better it is and how many ideas seem stolen from that body of work. If you want decent military SF, read Drake, or SM Stirling, or Harry Turtledove instead.

I think part of the issue with the tried and worn out cliches is that this book would have to be number 10 in the series. Furthermore, you have to look at it from the target market perspective and I think they are looking to appeal to the audience that likes those cliches. I know I still watch old WW2 movies for that exact same reason. I thought they did okay in Jedi Trial, but there is alot of other military SF out there...

Posted by Tim on Friday June 02, 2006 at 3:50 PM

I guess I understand that - I think we can argue that the characters in the Harry Potter series don't really change that much from book to book in order to continue to cater to the audience.

But then I look at something like the TV show 24 where they aren't afraid to have the characters change radically or the longevity in Drake's series and see that it can be done. You can satisfy the target audience and have a good story to go with it.

The main complaint here is that the characters are so paper thin! The characters in my 7-year old son's Captain Underpants book have more depth (no seriously, they do.)

Posted by Scott on Saturday June 03, 2006 at 12:45 AM

Dang gragg and david, hav so said been sliping in ther writeing, i'm 14 and been reading his series. I find tht these books are some of the best Sci Fi books every writen, (in my opion). The book Flashfire really is jst a redo of steel gauntlet. Not saying, great book but i lost interest in it.

But in the end, totaly not ther best work, this is JAKE loging off, i'll never post here again... lol... C'ya

Posted by Jacob on Wednesday March 26, 2008 at 7:05 PM

But in the end, totaly not ther best work, this is JAKE loging off, i'll never post here again... lol... C'ya

Posted by Jacob on Wednesday March 26, 2008 at 7:05 PM

Well, I'm not going to comment on the last two comments...but a spell checker (or a dictionary) is a wonderful book to read!

As for the review: "When 12 worlds of the Confederation decide to succeed, its up to the Marines of FIST to help bring them back into the fold."

Succeed? Nah. Secede. Succession. The Late Great Unpleasantness. The War Between the Brothers. That kind of secede.

I must have been sleeping the day the review went up. Thanks to Jacob for bringing it to my attention!

Posted by Fred Kiesche on Wednesday March 26, 2008 at 9:35 PM

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