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Title: For More Than Glory by William C. Dietz ISBN: 0-441-01091-1 Publisher: Ace Books Pub. Date: 07 October, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (4 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Good draft of a novel
Comment: Characters, story flow, ideas...all make this a fun read. But the repeated, glaring editing problems stick out and taint the experience. It's as if nobody actually read the last proof - there are no less than 50 typos and some other simple errors that you would not expect to see in a major hardcover release. Dietz is a very gifted writer, he just needs someone to proofread before publishing.
Rating: 5
Summary: Duty and Honor Among the Peasants
Comment: For More Than Glory is the fifth novel in the Legion of the Damned series, following By Force of Arms. In the previous volume, during the retaking of the Clone World BETA-018, Legion First Lieutenant Antonio Santana commanded the anvil forces in a battle and his commander, the Ramanthian Hakk Batth, led the hammer forces. When the attack drove out Thraki females and cubs from the defensive positions, Santana is ordered to fire upon them, but refused and was relieved of command. The subsequent court of inquiry reprimanded Hakk Batth for poor judgement and demoted Santana for disobeying orders.
In the vicinity of Arbulla, the Confederacy infiltrated the Sheen fleet and disabled the Hoon. When the Thraki admiral refused to believe that the Sheen had been neutralized and attempted to launch "the twins", the Confederacy vaporized the ship carrying these weapons. Although the Thraki attacked the Sheen anyway, they encountered no resistance and finally accepted the situation after destroying some of the Sheen warships.
The Battle of Arballa, as the press called it, was followed by extensive negotiations that eventually included the Thraki as members of the Confederacy. The Hudathans had proved themselves as allies in battle, so their home world was opened to commerce with the Confederacy; individual Hudathans had taken a liking to the Legion and remained in service. The Clone Hegemony, however, had withdrawn all its soldiers from the Legion.
In this novel, Legion renegades from the mutiny have formed the Syndicate and are raiding commerce among the Rim Worlds. General Booly leads a raid on Syndicate Base 012 in search for the cruisers Ibutho and Guerrero. After fighting their way in, they discover that the warships had departed only a few hours before their attack.
On the planet Hive, the Ramanthian Senator Alway Orno returns to report to the Queen that he has negotiated successfully for the additional planets needed for the tricentennial hatching, but that he was unable to obtain the ships required to transport the five billion hatchlings to their new homes. When queried as to how such transportation would be provided, Orno stated that they would steal it.
On the planet Hudatha, Hasa-ba is installed as the third member of the Triad and accepts the acclaim of the populace. Unknown to the other Triad members, Hasa-ba is plotting with Orno to steal warships from the mothballed Sheen fleet.
On the planet LaNor, Legion Second Lieutenant Antonio Santana arrives on the tramp freighter Rim Queen. First he reports in to Captain Seeba-Ka, the Hudathan second-in-command, at the Legion barracks in the Foreign Legation compound adjacent to the Imperial City of Mys. Captain Seeba-Ka is fully aware of Santana's prior record and performs an attitude adjustment prior to covering his future duties. Then he informs Santana that his former superior, Hakk Batth, is commander of the Ramanthian detachment in the Foreign Legation.
This novel interweaves the four major plots noted above and numerous minor ones. The main story, however, is the most inconsequential in terms of galactic history. Based on the Boxer Rebellion, it involves a large scale rebellion against a corrupt, yet locally powerful empire ruled by a Dowager Empress. One of the tenets of this rebellion was the pollution of the local religion by foreign ideas and this leads to the slaughter of foreign missionaries and their local converts. The Foreign Legation comes under siege by both the rebels and the imperial troops.
The Boxer Rebellion is one of many smaller conflicts in American and European history. The rebels were numerous but usually poorly armed and trained. The imperials were also numerous and better trained than the rebels, but were not as determined and were not as well armed as the Westerners. The fighting was fierce and bloody, with heavy casualties among the rebels and imperials. The final outcome changed China forever.
This story is a striking portrayal of ordinary people in a crisis that demands more from them than they have ever given before. Even the veteran soldiers are staggered by the situation, despite their familiarity with war and bloody death. The garrison troops soon become veterans or casualties. The civilians quickly learn to strip away the nonessentials of life and to think like soldiers.
Highly recommended for Dietz fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of daring and courage in a SF setting.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good, but not his best.
Comment: For More Than Glory is a well written piece of Military Sci-Fi. It lacks some of the development of Dietz's former works. Some parts of the book seem rushed. Such as the Ramanthian prespective, which is touched upon, but could have been expanded upon greatly. Then ending seem to just come, it paves the way for another book, but leaves many small questions unanswered. For More Than Glory lacks the completeness and detail of the previous books in the Legion series. This may be due to the failure of Dietz's DeathDay and EarthRise novels. Prompting him to push out another Legion book, due to the previous success of the series.
Although a new main character is introduced in addition to Booly. Dietz's characters seem to be canned. Their great duty to honor is universal, and in this book, so predictable that it's borring. Though Santana has a few black marks in his history, none of them are substantial, and the character could just be another Booly from a previous book.
If you're new to the Legion series, this book may be confusing. Events in the previous books, and even the technology itself isn't explained for those who might not have read a previous Legion book.
This isn't a good book to start the Legion series with, I recommend you start at the beginning with Legion of the Damned. By the time you've come to this book, you'll read it anyway, no matter how negative the reviews are. Just like all the other Legion fans out there.
It's a good book, just not Dietz's best.
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