Star’s End (Starfishers #3) 2.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Star’s End
Series: Starfishers #3
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 247
Words: 75K

It is a good thing this was the final book in this trilogy. It was empty. Every character was a morass of neuroses and hangups and was so internally focused that they couldn’t and wouldn’t care about anyone else, no matter who they were. That is a revolting mindset to be in.

I have determined that I really don’t like Cook’s science fiction. As such, I’m going to stop exploring his stuff that I haven’t read (not really much by this time to be honest) and concentrate on re-reading his Black Company books, which I really enjoyed the first time around. When the best thing you can say about a book or even a trilogy is that it makes you want to re-read something else by the author, well, that’s just pathetic. That’s probably a good way to end this review. Pathetic...

★★✬☆☆

From the Publisher

At the edge of the galaxy lies the fortress known as Stars’ End, a mysterious planet bristling with deadly automated weapons systems, programmed to slaughter anyone fool enough to come within range. But who built this strange planet of death, placing it within view of the Milky Way’s great lens… and tantalizingly close to the hydrogen-filled feeding grounds of the interstellar dragons known as Starfish and the priceless ambergris they create?
Should the harvestships of the High Seiners, known as Starfishers, gain control of that arsenal, they need never fear the Confederation’s navy nor the armies of the human-like Sangaree again. But intelligent life everywhere now needs the might of Stars’ End—and the expertise of agents Mouse Storm and Moyshe benRabi. For in the midst of the Sangaree wars, a far more sinister enemy approaches, coming from the depths of the galaxy, in hordes larger than a solar system.

Starfishers (Starfishers #2) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Starfishers
Series: Starfishers #2
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 211
Words: 72K

The boy narrator from the previous book is now just one of two undercover agents for Luna Command, the military machine of humanity. They have infiltrated a Starfisher world ship to discover its secrets for all of humanity. The Sangaree, the humanoid aliens also from the previous book, have also sent their own undercover agent. She ends up outing BenRabi and Mouse but they for some inexplicable reason don’t out her. This allows her to get a Sangaree Clan fleet to attack the world ship and then there’s some space sharks (I’m not kidding) and there’s big battles, blah, blah, blah.

The whole time BenRabi has been having an existential crisis and he’s as whiny as a 15 year old. It gets real old real fast. I wanted to slap him across the face so many times and tell him to grow up and stop being such a baby. Why Cook chose to write him this way is beyond me.

In the end BenRabi chooses to abandon Luna Command and join in with the Starfishers. Which is what they also wanted. However, Mouse is Luna Commands long term bullyboy BenRabi going over was all part of his plan. Aye yi yi.

This wasn’t a waste of my time and I actually enjoyed this a tiny bit more than the first book, but my goodness, BenRabi made it very hard to enjoy the story. It almost seems like Cook is deliberately writing his SF to be as unpalatable as possible. Why, I have zero idea. Maybe Cook has a split personality and the side that wrote SF hated everybody, but especially the people who read his SF? OR! Cook didn’t actually write his SF. He subcontracted it out to guy named Vladimir Gonzalez from China who only wrote in Bavarian and then used a corgi to re-translate it into english. Hey, that works for me! It neatly explains everything.

The REAL Glen Cook

★★★☆☆

From the Publisher

Starfish: Treasure troves of power. They were creatures of fusion energy, ancient, huge, intelligent, drifting in herds on the edge of the galaxy, producing their ambergris, the substance precious to man and the man-like Sangaree alike. In deep, starless space the herds were protected by the great harvestships of the Seiners, or Starfishers - the independent, non-Confederation people who dared to skirt the deadly boundaries of Stars' End and battle the Sangaree. It is with them on the harvestship Danion that Confederation agents Mouse Storm and Moyshe BenRabi have to fly and fight, probing mystery and myth. And where BenRabi, man of many names, must surrender his dreams and his mind itself to the golden dragons of space and their shepherds, the gathering... Starfishers.

Shadowline (Starfishers #1) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Shadowline
Series: Starfishers #1
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 311
Words: 94K

It’s been about four years since I last visited Cook (the last Garrett, PI book in fact) but considering how that series whimpered out, I’m not surprised I took so long to return. At some point in the near future (defined now as within two years) I plan on re-reading his Black Company, as that is probably my favorite of his stuff. Before I do that however, I want to broaden my view of his writings. I’ve read 33 books/stories by him so far, so I feel like I’ve got a decent grasp on him but am always looking to learn more.

One thing I learned with this is that I do not care for Cook’s science fiction. His only other SF book I’ve read (to date) is The Dragon Never Sleeps. I gave that 3.5stars but it didn’t make me want to read more if it had been part of a series. This book was exactly the same. I didn’t hate the time, but I wasn’t experiencing Book Nirvana of any sort. I already have the rest of the trilogy on my ereader though which is why I’ll finish it off. I can’t say exactly WHY I don’t care for his SF, whether it is the characters or the plot or what. I’d like to think it is his writing, but until I re-read Black Company and see how the writing is, I don’t feel comfortable stating it is that. But man, this doesn’t “feel” like the same guy who wrote BC.

Anyway. This story is about a mercenary company that is family run, near the end of the galactic era of mercenaries. Betrayal, revenge and old fashioned stupidity are the points of this story. The “Starfishers” that this series takes its name from are mentioned and they show up to act as go-betweens for about 2-3 paragraphs. Beyond the fact that they are humans living on giant fleets that scoop up material, I don’t know a thing about them. I sure hope the next two books deal more directly with them.

This is really close to a 2 ½ star rating in terms of enjoyment in reality, but it didn’t quite dip that low so I kept it at a 3. However, if the next two books are similar in terms of enjoyment, I’ll definitely take the rating down. Don’t say I’m not generous!

I’ll end things by showing the older cover and the newer one. While the newer one is slick and semi-eye catching, it has no soul, no emotion, nothing that grabs you and makes you want to read this book. The older cover at least has some character. It’s bit more honest about the contents. You know you’re getting some groundpounder reading instead of Starfisher Space Action. It might not be the best cover ever, but at least it’s got some soul and isn’t just some slop like the new cover.

★★★☆☆

From the Publisher

The vendetta in space had started centuries before "Mouse" Storm was born, with his grandfather's raid on the planet Prefactlas, the blood bath that freed the human slaves from their Sangaree masters. But one Sangaree survived - the young Norborn heir, the man who swore vengeance on the Storm family and their soldiers, in a carefully mapped plot that would take generations to fulfill. Now Mouse's father Gneaus must fight for an El Dorado of wealth on the burning half of the planet Blackworld. As the great private armies of all space clash on the narrow Shadowline that divides inferno from life-sheltering shade, Gneaus' half- brother Michael plays his traitorous games, and a man called Deeth pulls the deadly strings that threaten to entrap them all