Hi there, this is John Fairhurst with my review of ‘Star Watchman’ by Ben Bove. The story is copyrighted 1964 and the copy of the book I’m reviewing was published by Sphere in 1977. Although there are a couple of other books in the same universe, they are effectively independent of each other. This book is sort of dependant on the first book, but the relevant information is infodumped into the story reasonably effectively.
Although this book is definitely in a military setting, the story is more to do with the character development of the eponymous Star Watchman.
About a hundred years before this story, the Terrans had overthrown the rule of the Masters and found themselves thrown taking on the role of those they’d overthrown so long ago. On the planet of Shinar, the locals find their Terran overlords are forcing them to change their ancient agricultural practices and are objecting. First, just with words, then with open rebellion, especially amongst the young. This rebellion probably wouldn’t have got far, except the Shinaran rebels brought in a Kormani clan, eager for their own chance to take on the Terrans. As the situation deteriorated, the Watch sent in a Mobile Force, followed by newly minted Star Watchman Vorgens with orders to negotiate a peace.
The commander of the Mobile Force is less certain of this hopeful outcome and orders Vorgens to take command of a scouting mission that looked more like a suicide mission to Vorgens and his team. And indeed, so it turned out, and Vorgens and the two surviving members of his team end up in the camp of the Kormani and the more hot-headed Shinaran youngsters. Vorgens gets to see first-hand what he’s up against. Whilst in the camp, Vorgens gets to know the Shinaran rebels, particularly the rebel leader’s girlfriend and lieutenant, who was having her own doubts about allying with the Kormani. The fact that Vorgens wasn’t actually a Terran also counted in his favour, though his being a Star Watchman double counted against him . After getting the Shinaran girl to help his sergeant and his other soldier escape, Vorgens is taken into the presence of the Kormani khan where he tries to make his plea for peace, only to find the reason he had been called into The Presence was to learn about his execution. Altai, the Shinaran girl, and a Shinaran priest help Vorgens escape. Vorgens gets back to the Mobile Force to warn them of an upcoming attack on their position and he implores the commander to make a breakout of their current position before they are overwhelmed. However, the commander refuses and Vorgens, after looking into his history works out that the man wants a victory in a stand-up fight, not an ignominious fighting retreat. This leaves Vorgens in a quandary – should he accept the commander’s assessment, risk the destruction of the Mobile Force, and destabilisation of greater Terran empire, or should he take command in place of the Commander on his authority as a Star Watchman. Vorgens takes control of the Mobile Force, confining the former commander to quarters as he fought a successful fight to escape the trap. But this is just the beginning as the fighting devolves into a series of platoon level contacts with Vorgens forced to bring the former commander to oversee this type of fighting. Throughout the story Vorgens has to balance the Shinarans against the necessity of dealing with the Kormani threat while looking as if they were of some importance to the Terran empire as a whole. There’s also a discussion of how the Terran Empire could better take account of the various races it administers. It’s this growth in Vorgens’ character that really makes this story, while still having a decent level of action. Some of that action is a bit simplistic by today’s standards, though, particularly when trying to relate the size of the Mobile Force’s vehicles to modern armoured fighting vehicles. The Mobile Force also seems to have an appallingly casual attitude to the use of nuclear weapons in the fighting.
When I first came to look at this book, I thought it would be a satirical take on the Vietnam war, but it doesn’t really come across like that and it is a trifle early for cynicism over the conflict to have had an effect on popular culture (comments below – the book was published in 1964 don’t forget!). Overall, the book has aged fairly well, except, perhaps the heavier weaponry used by the Mobile force as mentioned earlier. ( )

Adventure on a planet. Average SF story from Bova. This is one of his early efforts and it is not as good as his later works. ( )

The creation of the Terran Empire is chronicled in Bova's 1st novel The Star Conquerors.(1959) Earth in a struggle to keep itself free from domination by a race known as the Masters it leads a coalition of planets in an interstellar war that ultimately encompasses the entire galaxy. As a consequence of winning the war Earth must care for and ultimately must rule the planets that the Masters once ruled. Thus the Terran Empire was born This is at its heart a vignette on problems of an Empire. It takes place on a minor planet in the Terran Empire 100 years after its accidental creation. Winning a war and managing an empire take different skills. The cultures that were once useful allies transform. A warrior who once lead armies and fleets to victory can be a poor planetary governor. And there is the issue maintaining peace at the same time dealing planets who begged for your help and now resent your presence. These are the situations newly minted Star Watch Junior Officer Emile Vorgens is dumped into when he assigned to the planet Shinar. Vorgens assignment peacefully settle a dispute between Shinarians who have invited Empires former allies the barbarian Komani help them fight against Terran Empire for the ability to rule themselves. Each side Shinarian, Komani and Terran has an agenda both political and militarily. The Terran Empire's resources required to feed, rule, maintain are almost at the breaking point. They can't afford to have a planet in open rebellion. The Shinar want to govern themselves free from the Empire's interference. The Komani clan on Shinar sensing the Empire's vulnerability want to expose it and exploit it in order get other clans to participate in a war to create their empire., Bova does an excellant job in exploring these themes in a relatively few pages. I found the novel refreshing. It does not belabor the points Bova wants to make with over reaching details common in most present day space operas. The ending leaves more room for other tales from Terran Empire. Bova's next story the Dueling Machine,(1969) and As on a Darkling Plain (1972) does just that. In truth I hoped this was where he was going with his Grand Tour series, or his Star Quest Trilogy. The Watchmen stories are his earliest books they still stand up well in today's literary market. ( )

The Best Story I have every read. Beats all movies even Star Wars and Star Trek. I could just hear the sounds of the futuristic battlefield poping out of the pages and could almost hear suspense music as the story climaxed. ( )