From archive (archive) Subject: COBRA by Timothy Zahn (mild spoiler) From: duane@anasazi.UUCP Organization: Anasazi, Phoenix Az. Date: 6 Jun 86 14:46:25 SDT The jacket reads: "The colony worlds Adirondack and Silvern fell to the Troft forces almost without a struggle. Outnumbered and on the defensive, Earth made a desperate decision. It would attack the aliens not from space, but on the ground -- with forces the Trofts did not even suspect. Thus were created the Cobras, a guerilla force whose weapons were surgically implanted, invisible to the unsuspecting eye yet undeniably deadly. But power brings temptation...and not all the Cobras could be trusted to fight for Earth alone. Jonny Moreau would learn the uses--and abuses--of his special abilities, and what it truly meant to be a Cobra." This is another instance of a novel put together using, in part, pieces of short stores written earlier. The main character ages about 20 years between first story and the last. This might be considered a successor to "Starship Trooper" with a touch of 6 Million Dollar Man. There's some attention to the technology, but most of the emphasis is split between adventure and the relations between Cobras and "normal" people. We hardly see the alien Trofts at all. The author does a creditable job of balancing the excitement of war with the realities of death and destruction, and most of the book doesn't take place during the war anyway. I enjoyed the book. Though I prefer a novel that covers a shorter period of time and is woven from one fabric, I though the stories here were well done. I give the book 3.0 stars out of 4.0 (pretty good). -- Duane Morse ...!noao!{mot|terak}!anasazi!duane (602) 870-3330 From archive (archive) Subject: Deadman Switch by Timothy Zahn (mild spoiler) From: duane@anasaz.UUCP (Duane Morse) Organization: Anasazi Inc., Phoenix AZ Date: 13 Sep 89 03:06:26 GMT Time: hundreds or thousands of years from now Place: other planets SF elements: advanced technology, aliens, different cultures Introduction: Gilead is a Watcher, a member of a religious group trained in close observation of nature and people. Despite his background, he has been an advisor to a business tycoon for many years. The latter has just acquired access to the mineral-rich planet Solitaire, and Gilead is sent with his boss's son Randon to take a look at the planet. Getting to Solitaire is special; only a dead man can guide a star ship through the cloud which surrounds the solar system. And Gilead finds that the selected felon to be the guide for the return trip is a Watcher -- and innocent! Main storylines: learning about Gilead and his abilities, the planet Solitaire and it's peculiarities, the story behind the other Watcher, and the reason for the "Cloud". Critique: this is the 7th book I've read by this author, and I'm still impressed. The story has enough science to satisfy my need for explanations and enough character development for me to root for some people and hate others. The story builds at a very satisfying pace. First there's the interest in Gilead's abilities; then the complication of the other Watcher. The stakes are raised when the party reaches Solitaire, and even that is soon topped. Rating: 3.5 out of 4.0 - very, very good - a keeper and one to recommend to others. The only reason this doesn't get a 4.0 is that one of the major characters inexplicably slides out of view way too early. -- Duane Morse ...{asuvax or mcdphx}!anasaz!duane (602) 861-7609 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!news.tele.fi!uunet!boulder!ucsub.Colorado.EDU!brock From: roberts@mukluk.decus.ca (Rob Slade) Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.books,rec.arts.sf.written Subject: Review of Warhorse by Timothy Zahn (fiction) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.books Date: 30 Nov 1994 01:16:57 GMT Organization: Decus Canada Communications Lines: 47 Approved: brock@colorado.edu Message-ID: <3bgjq9$s7l@CUBoulder.Colorado.EDU> Reply-To: roberts@mukluk.decus.ca NNTP-Posting-Host: ucsub.colorado.edu Originator: brock@ucsub.Colorado.EDU Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.books.reviews:58 rec.arts.sf.reviews:689 rec.arts.books:103317 rec.arts.sf.written:82392 BKWRHRSE.RVW 941021 "Warhorse", Zahn, 1990, 0-671-69868-0, U$4.50/C$6.95 %A Timothy Zahn %C 260 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10001 %D 1990 %G 0-671-69868-0 %I Baen Publishing Enterprises %O U$4.50/C$6.95 %P 347 %T Warhorse Jolly good fun. The good guys (Earth) win again, and our right-wing authority to dominate the universe pretty much as we see fit is affirmed. One interesting feature is Zahn's use of large numbers. Without more information on the initial conditions of some maneuvers it is difficult to be sure, but I'm fairly certain that some of them are impossible. What I *am* sure of is that I would *not* want to crew with this group. They spend a lot of time at two gravities, are often pulling four or eight, and spend minutes at a time at twelve gees. The really interesting item in the book is the "space horse". Horses, plural, actually. We aren't told how they "telekene", "jump" (across light years), or even move, nor are we told much about where they get their energy source. One reference suggests radiation and local sunlight, but with beasts weighing tens of millions of tonnes, able to propel themselves, and cargo, at four gee for hours at a time, there has to be some pretty significant "horse" power somewhere. The plot makes use of chemical communication. Pheromones and scent-tracking are well known, and communication of learned behaviours through chemical transfers has been demonstrated in the lab. The communication of history and intent, though, from one species to another seems to be reaching a bit. One also wonders at the evolutionary process that would drive such development, as well as the evolution that would produce an interstellar jump capability. It wouldn't seem to have much survival value to develop an ability to become suddenly (very) far from home, and in a completely strange environment. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994 BKWRHRSE.RVW 941021 ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94311-0/3-540-94311-0 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!uunet!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!ix.netcom.com!netcom.com!postmodern.com!not-for-mail From: ingram@u.washington.edu (Doug Ingram) Subject: Review: The Star Wars Three-Book Cycle by Timothy Zahn Message-ID: <3beb3r$8bb@nntp1.u.washington.edu> Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Sender: mcb@postmodern.com (Michael C. Berch) Organization: University of Washington, Seattle Date: Tue, 29 Nov 1994 22:40:14 GMT Approved: mcb@postmodern.com (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Lines: 146 The Star Wars Three-Book Cycle by Timothy Zahn Review copyright (c) 1994 by Doug Ingram Maybe the biggest obstacle I had to overcome in writing this review was trying to figure out what to call this series. "The Star Wars Trilogy" is certainly inappropriate since that's how I usually hear the three movies named. In the end, I chose to just use the descriptive phrase from the cover. Future trilogies (like the "Jedi Academy Trilogy") will probably avoid this, just so they can be differentiated from Zahn's books. So...if you're like me, you're a big Star Wars fan. When _Heir_to_the_Empire_ first hit the stores, I was very happy. I definitely wanted to devour as much as possible about the Star Wars Universe, but I had always been reluctant to buy and follow the comic book continuations of the Star Wars story. I really wanted a novel, and a well-done novel at that. When Timothy Zahn brought his Hugo credentials to the table, I figured it would be good. All I had to do was wait two years for the whole thing to come out in paperback. The setting is shortly after the events in "Return of the Jedi". The Alliance (or the Rebel Alliance, if you prefer) is trying to consolidate government in their galaxy in the wake of the chaos caused by the collapsing Empire. Several factions in the alliance are demanding more power, and there is a lot of distrust between races in the government itself, which is leading to a lot of headaches and intrigue for council members like Han and Leia. Meanwhile, the new Head Bad Guy representing the Empire is Grand Admiral Thrawn, who takes the title by virtue of his commanding ability, his military rank, and his control of the last several remaining star destroyers from the Empire. Thrawn begins attacking the Alliance by trying to exploit weak spots, such as planets or shipyards rich in materials to support the Empire's war effort. Thrawn is an incredible military genius, and he uses his unorthodox talents and methods to get a lot of bang for his tactical buck, slowly building himself into a serious threat to the Alliance. One of Thrawn's gambits is an attempt to recruit a dark jedi living in seclusion and long thought dead...C'baoth. Thrawn wants to use C'baoth's mental powers to instantaneously communicate with his fleets both near and at great distances for an enormous tactical advantage. In return, Thrawn promises to send his Imperial mercenaries to capture Luke and/or Leia and deliver them to C'baoth, who wishes to subvert them to start a new generation of dark jedi. Eventually, Han and Lando share a mission to attempt to recruit help among their former smuggling community while Leia tries to keep the Alliance government from collapsing due to internal strife and sabotage. Meanwhile, Chewie is trying to protect Leia from the Empire's mercenaries, and Luke is trying to help everyone and still track down C'baoth. The main thrust of most of the books' plot threads goes like this: Thrawn tries some clever gambit to get a leg up for the Empire. The Alliance tries to either escape the trap or set up a counter-attack to defeat Thrawn. Zahn is very adept at writing a plot that evokes a good chess match, and the twists he throws in are genuinely unpredictable, which is no small feat given the serious constraints of having to write within the context of the Star Wars universe. The subplot involving the Alliance's interactions with the smuggling community are the strongest. The characters are fairly realistic and well-drawn (except for the excessive melodramatics from Mara Jade, the only really disappointing character in the entire series, arguably). It is amusing to watch Han and Lando attempt to talk a bunch of cynical old smugglers (just like Han used to be) to follow in Han's footsteps. There are some very good skirmishes over a large derelict fleet and a few vital worlds Thrawn tries to attack, perhaps the most entertaining parts of the series. The subplot involving internal council politics and Leia's encounters with the Empire's mercenaries are also fairly entertaining. There was the suspense of hunting out spies and saboteurs while at the same time being hunted by a very interesting new race that acts as the Imperial mercenary army. Perhaps the least satisfying subplot had to do with Luke and C'baoth. With Thrawn finding a way to partially neutralize C'baoth's powers, C'baoth loses a lot of the presence Vader or the Emperor could command, both among the reader and among the rank and file of the Empire. Even when uninhibited and confronting Luke, C'baoth comes across as slightly more threatening than a doddering old man, though this may well be intentional on the part of Zahn. The long-awaited confrontations in the latter part of the series just didn't amount to all that much, unlike the Vader/Luke confrontations in the original Star Wars series. On the other hand, what was lost in the transition from Vader/Emperor to C'baoth was perhaps gained in going from someone like Grand Moff Tarkin (from Star Wars IV: A New Hope) to Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn commanded every single scene he was in and was definitely the best new character introduced by Zahn in this series. In sum, I definitely recommend this series as a great way to enjoy an entirely new Star Wars story. Zahn remains true to everything that made the original trilogy so popular, though these novels are probably a bit too complex to resonate with the same popularity as the storylines of the original movie trilogy. I only hope that future attempts at Star Wars continuations will meet up to this same high standard. As a side note, allow me to comment that Alan Dean Foster's _Splinter_of_the_Mind's_Eye_ that was released around 1979 was also quite good and is now widely available as a re-release. It doesn't take in to account the revelations about Vader/Luke in the "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi", but that is only a minor point and easily overlooked. Doug Ingram -- ingram@u.washington.edu // "Carpe Datum." More SF reviews: http://www.astro.washington.edu/ingram/books.html %A Zahn, Timothy %T Heir to the Empire %I Bantam Spectra %C New York %D 1992 %G ISBN 0-553-29612-4 %S The Star Wars Three-Book Cycle %A Zahn, Timothy %T Dark Force Rising %I Bantam Spectra %C New York %D 1993 %G ISBN 0-553-56071-9 %S The Star Wars Three-Book Cycle %A Zahn, Timothy %T The Last Command %I Bantam Spectra %C New York %D 1994 %G ISBN 0-553-56492-7 %S The Star Wars Three-Book Cycle