Day of the Damned

I've read all three of David Gunn's Death's Head novels and for anyone looking for hardcore fast paced military SF action it's hard to go past this continuing series. I'm not going to discuss the plot of Day of the Damned as others have already done so, what I would like to make clear is that the particular narrative style that David uses is the perfect medium for the main character. Descriptions of places, spaceships, hardware and people, not to mention alien creatures and equipment, are brief but evocative, giving the reader just enough information for their own imagination to draw a picture of what the author is describing. David Gunn doesn't waste time on the non essentials. The main character and the action is what drives his Death's Head tales and he's got that down pat. I think that with Day of the Damned the author has fully established himself as the current number one author of action packed military SF. Book three is tighter, more refined and broader in scope than the first two novels in the series. The main character is growing nicely and there's plenty of room for more hard as nails adventure as the series progresses. David Gunn might be the new kid on the military SF block but in the short time he's been writing his Death's Head novels he's proved that being new doesn't mean being boring or using the same old themes and scenarios. With his tense and tough first person narration as seen through the eyes of futuristic soldier Sven Tveskoeg the three novels that currently make up the Death's Head series are fast paced and realistic. No starship troopers sense and sensibility saga here, Sven's world is down and dirty and plenty nasty. There's no heroes and possibly no good guys, per se...only a small cog in a big machine trying to survive the only way he knows how, by sheer brutality and rat cunning. Sven's a great character and I forsee David Gunn as being a writer to keep an eye on. I don't see anyone else writing the kind of gutsy MilSF that David is penning. If you like hardcore SF action and adventure with a military base then the Death's Head series should be on your list. I will say it's not for everyone. It's violent, sexy, dark and gritty and isn't anything like Heinlein's classic MilSF novel. There's no pages of social commentary or a whole chapter devoted to the in and outs of life in the futuristic universe. It's just fast paced fun and exitment, with enough plot twists to keep the reader interested. Think of Sven as the Mack Bolan of the spaceways and you'll have a pretty good idea of what the Death's Heads books are like. I'm looking forward to the next novel in this continuing series. As for those reviwers who've said that book three isn't as good as the first two novels, or that book three lacked a plot...well I'm afraid I'm really going to have to disagree...book three had a very decent plot...and one has to remember that we've looking at evrything through Sven's eyes as events happen to him and around him. The reason w

Great story, not too believable, but do we read SF because we believe it or for entertainment. This is great entertainment and pure escapism. Worked great for a trip from Louisville to Denver. Short trip.

Following his last bloody operation (see MAXIMUM OFFENSE), not quite human DNA, Army killing machine Lieutenant Sven Tveskoeg takes some deserved R & R at the home of theWildside. That ends abruptly when his Commander General Jaxx sends a message to perform a cleansing mission with a new unit in his home city Farlight; the capital is in the midst of a brutal civil war; the reign of boyish looking Emperor OctoV spanning several millennia and tens of thousand planets is in jeopardy of ending. Sven sans his combat arm or his AI Sag handgun and his squad try to prevent a successful coup d'etat while he still attempts to avoid unnecessary collateral damage in this urban warfare zone while the enemy couldn't care less if planets are destroyed let alone a city to achieve the mission.. The intelligence is weak as no one knows that the rebels have support from the allegedly peace seeking United Free Empire that has plans to annex OctoV's tens of thousands of planets into their spans of control. However the plotting of rulers means nothing to Sven. He lives for two reasons: the promise and the kill. The third Death's Head far futuristic in space science fiction is an incredibly fast-paced thriller that never takes a breather once the General sends Sven on his mission (almost at the very start of the book) and never decelerates. As the speed of light story line moves bloodily on and on, David Gunn also answers much of the questions from the previous Sven's adventures; not an easy task for a writer whose prime color in the minds of the audience is red. Readers will appreciate this bleak look at mankind in outer space still fighting one another. Harriet Klausner