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In Death Ground | Rating | |
| A | |||
| David Weber and Steve White | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| Starfire | Crusade, In Death Ground, The Shiva Option, Insurrection | ||
First of all, I have to say this is a very oddly-written series. Not by its content, mind you, but by its order. If the internal chronology (which is how I have it shelved and listed here) goes 1-2-3-4, then it was written 4-1-2-3. And that is merely to date - there are mentions of other, earlier, wars that might get their own books someday. That makes this the third book written, but the second chronologically.
The universe the authors have created is as full of life as ever. It is also fairly devoid of plot - humanity explores some more of space, meets enemy, must defend the Federation from the swarms - but that's kind of a hallmark of space opera. But the book doesn't just concentrate of fleet dispositions and battles between them, it also has great characters. A handful are even characters that were also in Crusade.
The enemy is actually kind of cliche. They are an alien insect race that actually does have a hive mind and mentality thanks to some form of telepathy. Like I said, cliche. But it's done well, and the authors take it places that some others have not - arguably because this is a book concentrating on the battles and those other books were not. But it is extremely difficult to understand the Bugs' strategic doctrine, and the way their portions are written only emphasizes their alien mindset. Well done, that.
The book is good in two other respects. The technology is notably more advanced than it was in Crusade, but it is not much more advanced. Getting the mix correct can be tricky. It would have been nice for a few twists in technology, though, rather than everything being a logical extension of what had already been written of and used. Though, with book four already written, perhaps that can be excused. The other good thing is that people do die. Anyone who reads a Weber book knows this, but some of the people who die here are important.
I do have one warning, though, to mention before you get this book. Well, two. The first, of course, is that if you don't like books that concentrate on space warfare to the detriment of plot, then this is not for you. The second, though, is that this is actually book one of a two-book miniseries within the setting. Nowhere on the cover or inside does it ever actually say so, and a reader who buys it without this foreknowledge may find himself a bit annoyed.
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