Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #258671 in Books
• Published on: 1990-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Customer Reviews

Starts well, but tails off a bit towards the end
A man from a primitive society is enlisted (against his knowledge) by a sophisticated alien race in order to fight in an ongoing intergalactic war. He is just one of many thousands of troops recruited from a number of species over many generations and across many planets to fight on behalf of the mysterious Therem in their conflict against the Yal, who also make up their military with other lesser species.

As is typical in military sci-fi, we follow a group of trainees through basic training and then a number of battles in various scenarios. There are some slight diversions along the way involving R&R, but the majority of the book centres around the combat action, which is generally pretty well written and exciting. However, a major portion of the book is a very thinly disguised futuristic version of a stereotypical Vietnam movie, and hence it's pretty easy to see what's coming. The conclusion to the story does add an interesting element that's not often seen in this sort of book, but I won't give it away here.

All in all this is a pretty good book with some interesting aspects to the fictional military situation. The characters aren't amazingly interesting, but they're different enough to tell apart and do have their own personalities to some extent. If you like military sci-fi then this is a pretty solid effort that you'll probably enjoy.

Breaking Point...
Hark was a hunter, armed with spear and club, seeking game to feed his tribe - until a prophecy led him to the Valley of the Gods, where he was herded with others like himself into the belly of a terrifying metal monster...
Suddenly Hark was fighting a war against machines and aliens for a mysterious and ruthless race called the Therem. His base is the spaceship Anah-5, his weapons lethal, high-tech power lasers like nothing he's ever seen before, his battle armour a symbiotic suit that almost has a life of its own...
Battle is tough and human life worthless. But Hark and his companions ask no questions. That is, until they plunge into a hellish war zone against impossible odds. Outnumbered and left for dead, they realise just how little their lives mean to the Therem. And for the first time, they are determined to carve out a destiny of their own...