Blackcollar: The Judas Solution [Mass Market Paperback]

I have waited on this book for 20 years. Timothy Zahn's last Blackcollar book was written and published in 1986. I wish I could say it was worth the wait!!! I WISH I could give it 5 stars but I am stretching it to give 3 stars. I have read the first 2 books at least 10 times and even bought the hard back copy so I could continue to read them when I need a little "Derring Do" in my life. In the first two books all of the characters were fully developed and Mr. Zahn made you care about what happened to them. No so much in this book. The character were pretty lackluster, there was none of the drama of the first two books between the characters. In fact there was no real tension between any of the characters except the aliens. In this book although he tied up a lot of loose ends and the Humans finally rid the TDE of the EVIL aliens, it was more of a "What the Hell, lets leave the poor humans alone" instead of the Good Guys defeating the Bad Guys. Also in the first books the Ryqril were supposedly the fiercest of warriors and even a "Blackcollar" hesitated about taking one on in a hand-to-hand fight. But in this book five, six and more were killed by individual Blackcollars. And this was treated as"Eh no big deal - business as usual"'

Jamus Galway's plan: to turn the Blackcollars and their combat skill into unknowing tools of the Ryqril was OK but to think that he could do so on a permanent basis was "too hard to swallow" Also having the clone Judas act as a spy was very original but the clone played a Very small role in the book. Basically he stood around and let everyone do everything. He didn't even make a very convincing spy.

I am sure that if I were new to the books and just now reading all three together then my opinion might be different. But after waiting 20 years for the good guys to win, I felt it was too little, too late.

Timothy Zahn is one of my favorite sci-fi authors, but his quality has been decreasing somewhat as of late (Manta's Gift and Angelmass for instance). But this new edition to the Blackcollar series was superb!

"The Judas Solution" would be an enjoyable read without reading the previous Blackcollars. However, the story is fairly complicated and it continues right where the others left off, so I would highly recommend that you read them first - they are great! It had been awhile since I had read them and it took me a few chapters to remember what had gone on and who was who.

This book had lots of twists and a deep plot, it also wrapped up the series nicely. I would recommend it to anyone who likes action sci-fi.

The Judas Solution (2006) is the long awaited conclusion to the Blackcollar trilogy, following The Backlash Mission. In the previous volume, thirty years after the Ryqril conquest, the blackcollars were getting old and searching for the secret of making others of their kind. Blackcollars were trained in various martial arts and other armed and unarmed combat methods, but they were also treated with Backlash, a drug that enhanced their reflexes.

A blackcollar team from Plinry came to Earth to find the secret. They found a way to enter the locked Aegis Mountain stronghold where they found the Whiplash formula. But it was not what they were seeking. Instead, it was a drug to break down Ryqril loyalty conditioning.

In this novel, Damon Lathe is a commando commander -- comsquare -- of blackcollars. He has been looking for an effective weapon against the Ryqril conquerors. The discovery of Whiplash appears promising.

Rafe Skyler is an enhanced blackcollar in Lathe's team. He is basically second in command of the group.

Chelsey Jensen is an enhanced blackcollar. He is their best pilot, but the team is worried about his depression over the loss of his friend Novak during the recovery of three TDE Nova-class warships.

Allen Caine is a trained blackcollar, but he has never been treated with Backlash. He is a clone of Alain Rienzi and was prepared by the Resistance for a ploy that was never used. He later joined Lathe's blackcollar team.

Will Flynn is a blackcollar trainee. He has learned a lot of tricks from Mordecai, the best martial artist on the team.

Jamus Galway is the loyalty conditioned Security Prefect on Plinry. By now, he is fully aware that a coterie of blackcollars are dwelling on his planet. He comes up with a scheme to trap the team.

Karl Judas is another clone of Alain Rienzi. He is tracked down and recruited by Galway to impersonate Allen Caine as part of the scheme.

Sam Foxleigh lives in a hermit's cabin in the foothills near Aegis Mountain. He had observed the Resistance group that developed Whiplash and then the blackcollar raid on the mountain. By the time that he had made up his mind, the Resistance group and blackcollars were gone.

In this story, Galway confronts Judas and takes him away for training. It will take at least eight months to obtain sufficient proficiency to pose as an unenhanced blackcollar. Meanwhile, Judas will receive loyalty conditioning.

Lathe is still training young volunteers as blackcollars. While they will not have the reflexes of the enhanced blackcollars, they will be fully trained small unit commandos.

After Flynn passes his final test, Lethe receives a call from General Lepkowski, commander of the Novak. He has learned that the Ryqril have built a tactical coordination center on Khala. Lethe knows that it is probably a trap, but decides to reconnoiter the site.

There is already a group of blackcollars on Khala lead by tactor Shaw. Tactors are senior officers who command several teams of blackcollars. Lathe probably can get information and personnel from these teams.

Meanwhile, the Ryqril and Galway are listening to the encrypted signal. Although they cannot understand the words, Galway is convinced from Lathe's tone of voice that the blackcollars will be going to Khala.

Lathe travels to Khala -- with Mordecai, Spadafora, and Caine -- to checkout the new Ryqril center. Simultaneously, Skyler takes another team -- including Hawking, O'Hara, Jensen and Flynn -- to Earth for another look at Aegis Mountain. They plan on confusing the Ryqril.

Sam Foxleigh finally meets a blackcollar face-to-face. He really wants to get into Aegis Mountain and figures that the blackcollars can show him the way.

This tale shows the Ryqril as rather clueless soldiers. They seem to have stolen most of their technology. The warriors are fast and skilled, but are not very subtle. They are definitely not in the same class as the blackcollars.

The Blackcollar from DAW Books started the first series by the author. Consequently, he started the Cobra Trilogy from Baen shortly after the first Blackcollar novel. So the Blackcollar and Cobra series ran concurrently and competed for reader attention. Naturally, many SF fans bought both series.

The Cobra trilogy was completed in 1988, but the Blackcollar series was left hanging after The Backlash Mission. Two decades later, the trilogy was finally completed. The storyline still contains some dangling threads, so the possibility of a sequel is not totally infeasible. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Zahn fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of martial arts, alien invaders, and personal combat.

-Arthur W. Jordin

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