Scott G. Gier

This is the fourth in this space war series. Pick up this book quick if you are a fan of space war. There was an almost continuous series of battles in space. I cared about the characters, and wanted to follow what would happen to each one. I am even embarrassed to say I was interested in what was going to happen to the hideous evil enemy leaders.

I don't agree with the explanation of the evolution of the Ullagi. I would think phylogenetic forces would be a greater influence than availability of prey to the evolving Roons. The sexually dimorphic separation between male and female Ullugi is extreme and disturbing. Also disturbing, for me, are the analogies made between humans and Ullagi. Fist a'Yerg even says as much to Cassy Quinn at one point. Cassy denies the similarity, and I want to agree with her. While humans have been incredibility violent and overly war oriented, there is a difference. Humans have the potential to see the light and stop warring, at least temporarily.

Sharl Buccari is still the main hero of the story. She is surrounded by a cast of thousands of supporting stars. I am glad the body count of the main characters is pretty low. Enough characters we have gotten to know lose their lives to keep the threat and tension high, without turning me off with killing many major characters. Buccari has important roles to play on Earth and on Genellan and her role becomes even more important in this book.

This book is for people who are OK with reading about war. There is a great deal of world building going on. And there are stories about 4 different space faring species. And humans are having children and falling in love. I don't think you can enjoy this story if you don't enjoy space battles. I would tell most people to read the books in order. Each book builds on the characters and stories from each of the books earlier in the series, But this one is very different. This was all about the war in space. I could not put it down when on the last 100 pages. I want the author to make a sequel, please!… (mer)

I enjoyed it even more than book one. We go many places, back to Earth, two new colonies, both Konish planets, into space and even to the south hemisphere of Genellan. We finally meet the fleet destroyers. We see duplicity and untrustworthiness among all races. The little flying hunters make in into space. Our heroine is as amazing as always. I don't agree with all her decisions. but she makes the story more interesting with every decision she makes.

I am racing to get number three in the series, so I can plow into it. It was a quick read for me, because I was reading in every spare moment I could dig up.

This book would probably appeal to space opera fans. There is fighting at many technical levels. Alot of fighting against the strange natural beasts of the new colony worlds. There are space battles and many attempts to avoid fighting through diplomacy. For this book diplomacy is combat through alternate means. There are alot of characters and action on multiple planets to keep track of. I could imagine many readers might not like that aspect. I enjoyed it, although, of course, there are some storylines I am more interested in than others.

My one complaint with the series is that every single female gets pregnant or wants to get pregnant. I don't know what it is with the author, but I want him to accept that in the future not every female has to serve to carry babies to term.

I enjoyed the book and looking forward to the following books.… (mer)

I enjoyed Genellan: Planetfall. It has the elements I like in a space epic: Marines check, women leaders check, paranoid alien species check, friendly aliens check, battles between crafts in space check, battle with small units on the ground check, difficult situations to survive check.
The story maintained a balance between hope and unlikelihood of survival.

It was frustrating that almost every female on the human team becomes pregnant. Although it is great that the team is fighting to protect their babies, you can't get better motivation than that. But, is that the what women are consigned to in the future? I always like when horses can be made to play a part in a space adventure! We don't get that enough.

The military tactics seemed rudimentary, but that is OK for me, I don't see this as military fiction. During many battles, I was thinking, why don't they move their units differently, But after all the leaders are not experienced soldiers, they are doing the best they can. The final battle sequence was heartbreaking and the question was in doubt until the very end.

I think the ideal audience for this book is someone looking for light space adventure. It is not hard science or hard military. The reader must like horses, bats and babies. I enjoyed it and have bought the next one in the series to start.… (mer)

The survivors of a space battle semi-crash land on a habitable planet and learn to survive and even proper a bit.

Space marines land on Genellan and find that their training comes in handy in surviving. Genellan is a hard place to live and the marines find that out all too quickly. Winter just about conquers them when they make contact with natives who take them in.

The marines are getting along ok, even having babies, when highly paranoid aliens from a sister planet arrive and make trouble.

A fun read. Quick and entertaining.… (mer)