By Blood Alone (Paperback)

The novel is not without several strengths. The author's deft use of the conquered Hudathans in an unexpected manner definitely scores points in my book. His utilization of "geekheads" and hackers to get the word out on the true realities of earth's new government also plays well in the context of the story. However, while By Blood Alone actually ended up being a better novel than I expected early on, it is plagued with several problems. The characterization is somewhat weak over all, as these characters never come vividly to life; a number of actions are frankly hard to buy into; and too much happens outside the scope of the pages themselves. The actions of earth's new rulers border on the ludicrous, the reluctance of the Confederacy of Sentient Beings to react in any way to the dire events taking place on the planet of its most erstwhile defenders seems contrived, and – perhaps most of all – the elaborate plot involving several planetary leaders is not easy to embrace or give credence to. Several turning points in the drama come about outside the scope of the pages, and that is truly bothersome. You spend a number of chapters wondering how the author is going to deal with a certain issue, and then you are told the issue has been dealt with and the story quickly moves along to something else.

Then there are the characters; several are strong and heroic, but few stand out. My biggest complaint concerns the women of this futuristic universe. All of Dietz's prominent female characters (and this furthers a trend noted in previous books), no matter how important militarily, politically, or scientifically, seem to be part sex objects and part sexual predators. The entrance of any formidable female into a scene is constantly muddied with descriptions of men's physical reaction to what they are seeing and, as often as not, the female's thoughts on possible relations with the men she meets. There is little romance in the love that sometimes develops between a man and a woman, but Dietz always takes it upon himself to describe a couple of naughty excursions by two relative strangers (usually of mixed ancestry and heritage). Such interludes seem to serve no purpose other than to "sex up" a military science fiction plot quite capable of standing on its own too feet. As each Legion novel comes and goes, a growing sense of character shallowness takes more and more away from the reading experience.

Readers should note that, unlike Legion of the Damned and The Final Battle, the conclusion of this particular novel is rather open-ended, setting the stage for the events chronicled in the next book in the series (By Force of Arms). The introduction of two new civilizations, the Thraki and the Sheen, doesn't fit in well with the story of the mutiny on Earth, but it sets the stage for what is to come later. By Blood Alone is a stimulating read filled with enough action to keep one's attention throughout, but it leaves too much unexplained and thereby fails to impress itself upon the reader's mind. What is categorized as a battle for Earth seems, in the end, more like a squabble. In my opinion, this book represents a slightly disappointing effort by an author capable of taking the genre to vast new heights.

Even though (most) of the characters are separated from previous events by a generation, the story relies heavily on past events and will make much more sense if it read in series.

I enjoyed this book (and its predecessors). Nothing particularly
outstanding in the realm of military sf, but a solid contribution.