Watchdogs of Space [Paperback]

I stayed up half the night reading WATCHDOGS OF SPACE recently, unable to put it down, after having waited most of 13 years for a continuation of the STAR COMMANDOS series. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys SF adventure with a very healthy helping of character development and some truly satisfying long-term relationships among former-enemies-turned-friends-and-lovers-and-family.

As background, I should note that P.M. Griffin's STAR COMMANDOS is a series whose first nine novels were published between 1986 and 1991, and then NOTHING about those characters (that I had seen) since 1991. (Griffin had also published books in Andre Norton's Solar Queen, Time Traders, and Witch World universes and various short stories which I'd very much enjoyed and enjoyed re-reading, as well, but I hadn't seen anything new from her for some time, until a random search on Amazon revealed that she'd published the first of three new STAR COMMANDOS novels in 2002.) I discovered the first paperback novel (titled, simply enough, STAR COMMANDOS) quite by accident in the tiny public library of a small town in Iowa in 1989, read it because it was recommended by Andre Norton, and enjoyed it so much that I immediately set about trying to find a copy of my own. I completed my collection of all nine Star Commandos novels in 1991 and have been using them as "comfort food" or a "virtual spa" for mental and emotional escape by re-reading them all at least once every year or two since then.

I enjoyed the 10th book, WATCHDOGS OF SPACE, very much, even though I got the feeling, at first, that many of the situations were reminiscent of earlier adventures (a sort of refresher course in everything our heroes had been through in the previous nine novels, I initially thought).

For anyone else familiar with cult TV shows, WATCHDOGS was kind of like the 6th season of "Buffy", in that the "nemeses" of our heroes (in case of STAR COMMANDOS, the most-highly-decorated-in-the-history-of-the-Terran-Federation Commando team headed by Islaen Connor and her former-alien-foe-turned-devoted-husband-and-second-in-command Varn Sogan) seem a tad petty and mundane, though still deadly. But then -- in the case of BtVS -- you realize that the real enemy Buffy and Co. faced in season 6 wasn't meant to be the nerd trio at all, but rather an inner crisis of meaning and confidence and identity. And in WATCHDOGS OF SPACE, the real enemy was the fact that our heroes (for once) didn't have a sufficiently over-whelming external enemy to face, to keep up the pounding, unrelenting, adrenaline-filled, life-or-death, fate-of-the-galaxy-at-stake-so-no-time-for-healing-old-wounds pressure that they'd been living with since they all hooked up two years earlier. Instead, they were being 'nibbled to death by ducks', almost -- confronting old wounds that had never had a chance to heal properly in themselves and contending with the petty greed and prejudices that peace and prosperity seem to encourage in some people.

The real purpose of this tenth book, I think, was to revisit some old wounds and open them up slightly, preparatory to finally tending to them in depth. That, and to reinforce old friendships (like the mutant Malkites' and Sogan's mutual fondness and loyalty for one another, despite all odds), introduce some promising new friends for our heroes (including a Terran High Admiral and the mostly mutant maintenace crews who'd happily take a laser bolt for Sogan-the-presumed-mutant-hater, once they get to know him), and finally give Varn a chance to tell the Arcturian Empire which had once condemned him and chucked him out with the garbage where to go and what it could do with itself when it got there!

WATCHDOGS comes to a very satisfying conclusion of its own, but it also lays some valuable groundwork for the final two books in the series, which deal with and finally get a chance to resolve some of the questions and problems and sources of despair that have been troubling our heroes from the beginning.

If I had to sum up in one word my review of these last three STAR COMMANDOS novels published between 2002 and 2004, it would be "maturity." These books show that Griffin has not wasted those 11 years between #9 CALL TO ARMS in 1991 and #10 WATCHDOGS OF SPACE in 2002. What these books demonstrate to me is a mature and joyful sense of priorities, as well as the confidence to face one's own demons and defeat them, with more than a little help from one's friends and one's 'family' of fellow mutants and mutant-lovers.

My only complaint with the last three books is that things ended so well and so promisingly, that I'm reluctant to accept WAR PRINCE (#12) as the absolute final book in the series. Couldn't I at least get STAR COMMANDOS: THE NEXT GENERATION at some point? From my point of view (as an ardent and annual re-reader also of the works of Lois McMaster Bujold), I see Islaen and Varn having just arrived, after two years of marriage and saving the world(s) on a regular basis, at the place where Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan and Aral are at the end of Bujold's SHARDS OF HONOR and BARRAYAR, and it's time to see what kinds of trouble the next generation of Commandos and extended family and friends can get themselves into and get back out of again.

If you were weaned on the SF adventures of Andre Norton and enjoy the works of Lois McMaster Bujold, Barbara Hambly, and others who manage to mix saving the galaxy with building strong relationships, I think you'll find the whole STAR COMMANDOS series a piece of quality escapism, not to be missed.

When I first read the first 9 books of this series, I wanted to see some progress in the characters' resolution of their feelings about their issues. I stopped purchasing the series when it appeared the same problems were going to be repeated. I decided to acquire Book 10, Watchdogs of Space, after reading one of the other reviewer's information. This was a really good book. I have just finished Book 11 as well and I'm looking forward to the last book War Prince when it is shipped to me.

I enjoyed the addition of Gray Jack Dundee as an important character. There are still similar trials and tribulations regarding Sogan's Acturian birthright, but all the characters' overall mental health situation is much improved and I appreciated that very much. It is what led me to get the last 2 books of the series. I highly recommend the entire series and I would really like to see the author write additional books featuring these characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, the tenth volume of Ms. Griffin's Star Commandos series. Once again, her gift of storytelling shines in her description of her characters, fast-paced action, and just enough background to enhance the tale. From the first paragraph, a reader feels as if he or she is there, watching the events as they occur, sharing the risks and the triumphs of the Star Commando team as they complete their mission. I could not lay the book aside until the last page had been read. I found the Watchdogs of Space to be a very pleasant and entertaining read; one that I recommend highly to any reader of science fiction.

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