Demontech: Onslaught

This book was awesome. If your looking for a high action book this ones for you. Or there is also romance in this book if you like that. There are also 2 more books in the series and if you liked this book you'll love the next two. But the publisher has decided to stop the series and unless people sart buying the series the last 3 books won't be written. Me and a bunch of other people want to know how the book ends. so get the word out and tell friends and family how good the book is and encourage them to read it.

The first book in a new Science Fiction/Fantasy series built on the concept of what the impact of USMC training would be on the inhabitants of a low tech society. I found the concept interesting, the book well written, and look forward to future volumes in the series.

With no new books in the series I have been reading, I decided to try Onslaught. I am glad I did. The story keeps you on the end throughout the book. Give it a try.

Onslaught (2002) is the first novel of the Demontech series. On a world elsewhere in the multiverse, the human inhabitants share the planet with little folks and other magical beings, whom they call demons. In Jokapcul, Lord Lackland, the Dark Prince of Matilda, calls upon the demons to bring him knowledge of war and is answered with a stack of US Army Field Manuals. On the same night, in Frangeria, a philosopher calls upon the demons to show their existence, but his pronunciation is bad and the demons think he is asking for leadership, and is answered with a US Marine Gunnery Sergeant in full dress uniform. After the magicians of Jokapcul comprehend the contents of the field manuals, they undertake the invasion of New Bally, a freeport adjacent to the Duchy of Bostia. There they encountered the Frangerian sea soldiers called Marines. Haft and Spinner are having port liberty when they are awakened in the night by very agitated women who insist that they must leave NOW. When Spinner learns that the Jokapcul have invaded, he takes Haft with him out into the night. As they cautiously move toward the sounds of battle, they find a unit of Jokapcul light infantry with prisoners, one of which is Rammer, their lead sergeant. Before they can think of a way to free him, Rammer silently mouths the word "Go". Haft and Spinner then sneak to the docks and board their ship, take weapons, equipment and the manual Lord Gunny Says, and then return to the town. There they note the strength with which the prisoners, including their fellow marines, are guarded and reluctantly conclude that they will not be able to free them. Then they encounter an old man who is a former Frangerian Sea Soldier called Tiger. He feeds them and shows them a concealed way to get to the forest outside the walls. As they leave, they promise him to return with an army to free New Bally. Haft and Spinner must return to Frangeria to warn them of the invasion, but to reach their nation they must travel across the continent and then over the Inner Ocean. As they walk through the tunnel that is the first leg of the journey, Spinner wonders why he has promised Tiger to return. This novel is, in an entertaining way, a demonstration of the large difference between information and knowledge. US Army field manuals contain general information that should be taught to every soldier, but US Marine Gunnery Sergeants contain additional knowledge learned from their own predecessors as well as actual field experience. While the Jokapcul have read the books, the Frangerian Marines have been taught by a man who knows his trade thoroughly, including the parts that never get into the books. This novel is similar in plot to the Mardukan March series by Weber & Ringo, a trek across land and sea, and some of the characters are also similar to Haft and Spinner, but the details are greatly different since there are only two marines, not a company. Thus, as another reviewer pointed out, this

Niven's Law states: "Any sufficiently advanced Magic is indistinguishable from Technology First off, let me say, that if Louis Lamour wrote sword and sorcery...this is the kind of story he'd write. The plot line is pretty standard...an alternate world where Magic is becoming advanced enough to resemble Technology. The eternal War of good and evil has come to a stalemate. The leaders of each side look for help - and the capricious pagan gods of this universe decide to have a good joke. The forces of Evil seek Knowledge of War...and so they recieve a US Army Field Manual Library. The forces of Good ask for Leadership...and they recieve a Gunnery Sergeant of the US Marines. Two decades pass - and the bad guys make their move - a classic blitzkrieg, they sweep across the land like an unstoppable juggernaut. Two young Marines are cut off in a captured city, avoid the swarming evil hoardes, and make their way home, a classic escape-and-evade story. Along the way they destroy a nest of slavers, rescue a Golden Girl from durance most vile, and start collecting the nucleus of an army. And so you say, I've seen this plotline before...why buy this one? Well, David Sherman is a fellow that's been out there in the bush, and he can tell the story. He's been out there, playing hide-and-seek with live ammo, and he knows the people and situations that he writes about. Spinner and Haft are fully fleshed out characters - their spirtual brothers are walking the high deserts of the "-stans" right now. Silent - the quiet giant who lives to fight and wander and see new things - I knew a guy like him in Boot Camp. The under-equipped magician, cursing the cost-cutting bureaucrats that sent him out without the proper weapons or decent intel - yep, just about every GI knows that situation...And I really like Alyline, the Golden Girl. They find her as a slave dancing girl and rescue her, but she isn't a fairy tale Princess - she doesn't automatically fall in love with her rescuer...turns out she's some kind of aristrocrat back home, more interested in a musician, and kind of annoyed that this boorish young prole won't get the message and keeps on trying to hang around her. She's an interesting character with a whole lot of deep seated issues, traumas and emotional baggage - in short, a real person.As an aside, one of my complaints about this genre is that most male authors in S & S treat women characters as either side characters, or "Chicks in Chainmail" - male characters with a thin veneer of female traits. The three female characters in this book, Alyline, Doli and Zweepee - all show strength and character. I've got the feeling all three will be central to the series. I've been reading David Sherman's work for 17 years now - he was the first one to write Viet Nam fiction that rang true to me. The Starfist series is some of the best Mil-Fic you can lay hands on, in my opinion...and DemonTech? Well, my only complaint is, where's the next book! Write, David, Write!