2014 military science fiction, twelfth novel in the Legion of the
Damned series (and last in the prequel sub-series). "McKee" is
still hiding from the usurper Empress.
Much of this book feels like marking time. Sure, things happen,
but our titular heroine spends her time fighting as part of the
Foreign Legion rather than pursuing the goal of vengeance that, we
were asked to believe in the first book of this sub-series, has
informed her every decision since the usurpation. Of course she
eventually gets to kill the Empress (that's not even a spoiler, it's
the kind of series where anything else would be shocking), but it's
none of her doing that they happen to end up on the same planet.
A potentially interesting NPC is introduced, then killed off before
she can realise that potential. The resistance movement on Earth is
casually wiped out. Fight fight fight on the same alien planet as last
book, really stupid decision in hyperspace piloting, oh no the Empress
has been captured by the enemy, we must go to rescue her even though
we hate her because we are Good Soldiers.
The big enemy, the alien Hudathans, come over as a more naturally
treacherous version of humanity rather than as anything particularly
alien. The thing that struck me in this book, though, was that
although the humans regard them as the bad guys, they aren't the
Generic Evil that milsf enemies often are; they are simply pursuing
their own goals by means that seems reasonable to them, and they're
just as subject to the friction of large operations as everyone else.
(And, alas, just as flavourless, as they're Generic Military first and
people second.) Sure, they torture prisoners, but so do our heroes. If
the book were rewritten to show the Hudathans as the good guys, the
individual passages wouldn't need to be changed, there would just be
more from their viewpoints.
It's all a bit dull. And when I am bored by a book I notice other
things that are wrong. For example:
Avery had done a little bit of research so he knew that the LC 8654
(Light Cruiser) Victorious was more than two miles long. The ship
could carry twelve fighters, twelve shuttles, and boasted a crew of
a thousand men, women, and robots.
OK, my standard reference for a big warship is a Nimitz-class carrier.
(Which, granted, is not spacegoing.) This one is nearly ten times as
long, so assuming the proportions are the same about 900 times the
volume – but has one-sixth the crew. If the ratio of livable space to
total space is the same as aboard a Nimitz, each of them should have
nearly the equivalent of an entire Nimitz to rattle around in. And yet
there are still cramped cabins, presumably because cramped cabins are
a thing that happens on military ships.
Oh, and the happy ending involves going off to live on a hardscrabble
farm (literally) miles from anywhere. Yeah, call me when you get
bored, kids. It won't take long.
Bah. This started reasonably well but devolved into generic faux-1970s
military action with all the clichés. There are no interesting people
here. After these three books I have absolutely no intention of
reading the main series. Money and time saved!
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