Europa Strike: Book Three of the Heritage Trilogy

Just when you thought the plot had ended in part two, Ian Douglas pulls us right back with a big twist, the UN may be disbanded and reformed into the Confederation but China is not keeping still especially with the discovery on that icey moon of Jupiter called Europa. An excellent end to this trilogy which I enjoyed reading.

This has got to be one of the best sci-fi stories ever written. I was amazed. Normally, I like casual sci-fi, if even that. I picked up this series as a fluke. Just kinda curious about it, I figured, hey, This one has gotten pretty good reviews. So I picked up all three, and started reading. By the time I was only a hundred pages into the first book, I couldn't stop. By the time I was really aware, I had read all three books, and looking for the first of the Legacy series. Let me say, anyone who likes military fiction, like Clancy or Brown, or any type of Sci-Fi, PICK UP THIS SERIES!!!!!!!

"Europa Strike" is an excellent finale for the Heritage Trilogy and lead-in for Douglas's Legacy Trilogy. Some of the alien mythos developed in the first two books come together, but yet again, more questions are brought up than answered. Once again, the combat is fantastic. The story provides interesting parallels to both the Battle of Wake Island and the Korean War (Chosin Reservoir in particular). Despite taking place 25 years after "Luna Marine," Douglas once again manages to use characters from the previous two books while introducing new ones. Unfortunately, this is the last time you'll see any of them, as the next book takes place another 71 years into the future. If you enjoyed the previous two books, this one probably won't disappoint unless you're looking for all your questions to be tied up perfectly.

Europa Strike is the final of three books in the Heritage Series, a well written trilogy that combines some excellent military fiction with an engrossing science fiction plot that borrows heavily from the speculative archeology in Graham Hancock's "Fingerprints of the Gods". The characters are interesting and multi dimension, the plot is imaginative and the dialog is gritty and realistic. Once you get started, these books are hard to put down.The third book takes place 27 years after the first, in 2067, when scientists have discovered an alien artifact trapped under the ice locked oceans of the Jovian moon Europa. In a desperate bid for power, the Chinese rush an invasion team to make first contact with the machine. All that is standing between them and the knowledge that could make China supreme on Earth is an outnumbered band of US Marines.

The author's series of books describing marines in space is nothing short of brilliant. Why brilliant? His attention to detail in taking today's frontiers of physics and extrapolating them into applications in space travel and warfare is extraordinary. He also does a commendable job of making the warriors real people not super heros or one dimensional automatons. I highly recommend all 3 books in this series as a fun yet intellectual treat.