Customer Reviews

Stark's War

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Jack Campbell spins another space opera, this time on the moo, in this the first book in the Starks Was trilogy.

Stark is just a simple Segeant who finds himself with the most incompetent senior officers. It's really not their fault as they are micro managed by the next step up the military ladder and those at that level are in fact micromanaged by their bosses.

The big bosses rotate through every 6 months to add another location to their resume in their quest for promotion. Now that a direct video feed is available from troops in the field there must be action action action. Even if it has to be created at the expense of the lives of those involved. After all, good ratings make for faster promotions and field staff are just assets to be used to attain your promotional goals.

On a regular basis Stark sort of inprovises, particularly as it relates to the 12 people in his squad, and he has been successful to this point. However the current campaign involves throwing as many troops as possible at the enemy with the intent of shocking them. That really doesn't work on the moon as thousands of troops who are advancing on order, are slaughtered with even more put forward as sacrifices.

Stark endures it for a short period of time but soon feels compelled to act before everyone else dies.

To what ends will Stark move ?

Is Stark leadership material or just a hot head ?

Is the new strategy, unsuccessfully used by Napolean, actualy going to work on the moon ?

Lots of top class military sci fi from one of the best in the field

Highly recommended book and series

Other two books in the trilogy are Stark's Command and Stark's Crusade

I am very excited that this trilogy is being re-released. My current copies are very dog-eared because they have been read so frequently. Since it was out of publication, many of my friends were borrowing them from me and everyone has asked to re-read them many times over. I hope that a kindle version will be released as well.

I understand that some people argue that it is not 'realistic' to have the combat described in the trilogy on the moon, but if you are able to put this aside I think you will enjoy the book. As you read through the trilogy you do learn more about the characters. Stark is one of my favorite characters, and I highly recommend this trilogy.

OK, I picked up the book, and like so many other people here I could not put it down until I finished it (the last time I did that I was reading "The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted")

My only peeve is the book turned out to be part of another "triology" or something, so I felt cheated. People have accused the author of milking it, but I know publishers are big on pushing these things, and actually refusing to buy works unless they are made into triologies, so don't always blame the author!

On the other hand...

One can tell which writers are ex-military and Hemry is one of them. You can feel the military funkiness.

Not only that, but he writes clear, coherently and intelligently (more than I can say for 80% of what passes for military science fiction these days).

And the book is an unpretentious, to-the-point story about soldiers caught in a moon war (the very first one by the looks of it), and how they try to get through the whole blasted thing in one piece.

Unlike other writers of military SF, Hemry is has no pretense, only a story to tell. There is no "buckle your seat belt because all heck is gonna break loose" type of attitude so prevalent in other works of military SF, nor the hip-swinging, gloating, bragging, punning and hot air also prevalent in other works of this type. Stark and his guys are just a group of soldiers stuck in dire circumstances in which they try to do their best to survive.

Story-wise, I had to wince once more at the tough female militray personality that seems to be the staple in these types of books (just go into the military and tell me how many females you see in the frontline combat arms). Also, I can't believe I had to read two to four pages of Stark feeling sorry for himself (oh well, maybe that's keeping it real).

And finally, the big crisis at the end gets resolved a bit too quickly and conveniently for my tastes (a coup? on the moon? during war? piece of cake!)

But the story plays, and in the end, it keeps you wanting to come back and see how the whole thing turns out (yes (argh!) by reading the sequels!).

At least it's a story worth finishing.

If you like the camaraderie of military fiction and the adventure of outer space, you'll enjoy this series! Stark is a talented, experienced noncom pushed into ever higher levels of responsibility and leadership. His skills as a leader are obvious, though he manages to remain believably human. We're spared the aggravating omnipotence or crippling self-doubt so prevalent to sudden heroes -- Stark is a man simply doing what is needed.

Also, while providing enough information about battle armor and weapons to satisfy the tech wizards among us, and bring the moonscape to life, Hemry's descriptions don't require the reader to have an engineering degree. He makes the hardware interesting and integral to the story, not a substitution for plot and character. Reminded me of my favorite Heinleins. ;-)

At best an uneven book. When it is dealing with the small unit tactics, combat, and interactions, fantastic. When dealing with the socio-political enviroment, ther leaves a large area where I just could not swallow the world the story is set in.

As long as the military action is the heart of the story, very good. The society seems like Orwell's 1984, but without the talent to make it believable.

From what I've been told by my ex-army buddies this is about as accurate as it comes in terms of laying out army life. Moron officers, cheap equipment, faulty weapons built by the lowest bidder and an overriding stupidity and rigidness from above.

This book doesn't glorify anything and is one of the better military scifi I have read.

When I bought this book I was prepared for the old 'leader dies and main character has to take command' book. I was pretty much surprised, which makes this book worth reading. Basically, Stark is a warrior fighting a war that is run by people who don't know war and politicians backed by American companies. Everything takes place from the point of view of Stark, and although there are a few time lags that are annoying, it comes out well. It is the old 'don't want to be a hero just save my men' kind of hero story, where he only tries to do what is right and ends up getting far more than he wants. The action is pretty good, and interesting, even involving some armored (tanks) combat. If you are looking for some fun on the moon and some rebelious action against your (insane) superiors then Stark's War is for you.

I read this book essentially in one day. The plot is predictable right down to the obligatory hospital scenes and male/female buddy bonding scenes that are so fashionable right now. What I find most disturbing isn't the lack of credibility in the story line or the weapons or the characters. What is most disturbing is this book is an obvious set-up for follow on novels.

Mr. Hemry seems to have taken one large novel and broken it down into seperate books. One wonders if this is for the monetary or artistic ways this can play out. If you write a book about the Moon and war thereon, don't stop half way and tease. Write the whole thing and publish it. If Robert Heinlein had tried to publish "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" in this manner he would have been laughed out of his publishers office.

The authors of today should stop trying to milk the endless sequel cash cow and just get back to the business of writing enjoyable self contained novels.

This book is a decent read, it takes a situation which many have postulated (corporations taking over control) and carried it to a satirical extreme. The situation portrayed of a military hwere the officers are mostly interested in advancing in rank, have no concept of their jobs, duties and responsibilities is wildly overplay. UNfortunately, from my experience and my brother's in the army, there are a few officers like the ones in this book. Thankfully not a lot. The book kept me interested in the lead character and his response to the end. Like in the real military, it is the NCOs who keep everything moving in the right direction and take care of the men. A good book to read on a trip, where you have no distractions.

This book is in some ways the flip side of Ian Douglas' Heritage Trilogy. In both stories, American soldiers are fighting United Nations troops in space for similar reasons, but in the Heritage Trilogy the Marines wear the white hats, while Stark's platoon is fighting to protect greedy corporations with extremely idiotic officers calling the shots. The characters are well-drawn and likable, but the overall story is very depressing, and you'll be tempted at many points in the book to go buy a gun and shoot yourself to keep from seeing any of these trends come to pass. So, if you're looking for more of the hoo-rah gung-ho military SF that's standard fare nowadays (and just so there's no hard feelings, I personally love that hoo-rah gung-ho stuff), this book isn't it. If, however, you want something hard and gritty, then this is about as gritty as it gets.