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Friday, September 21, 2012

STARFIST: FORCE RECON - BOOK I - BACKSHOT

DEL REY

Written by David Sherman & Dan Cragg

Copyright 2005 by David Sherman and Dan Cragg

All rights reserved.



Backshot, written by David Sherman and Dan Cragg, is the first book about the men and women of Marine Force Recon who carry out the intelligence-gathering and small-unit raids behind enemy lines.

On the agricultural planet Atlas, the charismatic leader, as well as father, Jorge Lavager zealously guards an agricultural research facility. Fourth Force Recon's second platoon of Marines are dispatched to Atlas to find out what is really at the research facility.

What is scary is that a sniper team was also dispatched to Atlas with specific orders - depending on the news of what is found at the research facility, if the research facility is an agriculture facility or a military facility. I liked the fact that the sniper team's immediate superior tried to find out what their mission was because the sniper team were his people - but of course he could not find out about their mission because of operational security of the highest order. Having the "Queen of Killers" holed up with her male spotter in one of the planet's hotels was interesting. Too bad that everything concerning world of Atlas was politically motivated on Earth, instead of wanting to secure the safety of the Confederation. The Marines special forces, of course, are not aware of the politics - the Marines were just following the orders they were given. Of course, the Marines would follow their orders as the orders were lawfully given. They had no reason or suspicion as to question the morality of their orders. Although it was sad that the Marines had to kill an innocent to prevent the knowledge of their secret arrival on Atlas. This is a shame that they had to do that to the innocent by-stander - since Lavager as a leader was a pretty decent guy - but that is the fortunes of war for the innocent. My favorite scenes of Lavager were of him and his motherless daughter at home.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.



Saturday, September 1, 2012

STAR WARS - CLONE WARS GAMBIT - STEALTH


DEL REY

Written by Karen Miller

Copyright 2010 by Lucasfilm Ltd. and Registered or Trademarked where indicated. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpt by Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast copyright 2009 by Lucasfilm Ltd. and Registered or Trademarked where indicated. All Rights Reserved.



In the first of the two-part series, Stealth - written by Karen Miller, and based on the animated TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are sent to the planet Lanteeb, a backwater planet which has suddenly drawn the attention of the Separatists during the Clone Wars.

After an investigation, Senator Padme Amidala, Kenobi, and Skywalker are convinced that the Separatists are developing a deadly bio weapon on Lanteeb. On Lanteeb, Separatist General Lok Durd is forcing Dr. Bent'ena Fhernan to develop this bio weapon for the Separatists - or he will kill all of her friends and family.

While the virus was decidedly vile and deadly, the fact that Fherman is being blackmailed into creating this virus was horrible for me to consider. The fact that Obi-Wan was willing to sacrifice Fherman's family for the big picture of saving the Galactic Republic made me feel for both Fhernan and Anakin. Anakin only wants to protect Fhernan and her family and made me feel as if Obi-Wan did not care about anybody. I felt for Fhernan in that, why should she sacrifice her family and friends - the people that she loves - for an entire galaxy that she does not know and of whom the galaxy does not know of or care of for Fhernan? What makes the galaxy more important than Fhernan's family and friends?

Back home, I liked that Ashoka - while undergoing medical treatment to get back to health after being injured from a mission - still cared for her clone troopers who were also injured with her under her command, especially after their communication systems were sabotaged during that mission.

Since the book was based on the cartoon series, instead of the movie, I kept picturing the characters from the cartoon series and their cartoon character voices instead of the real-life actors like Natalie Portman.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.





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