Starfist: School of Fire

The first book of the series (Starfist: First to Fight) was great. This one is, in my opinion, even better. It will keep you guessing all the way to the end. It is a must read for warfare and science fiction lovers. The writers' style is great for keeping you hooked. All in all, it is one of the best books I have ever read.

"School of Fire" (ISBN 0-345-40623-0) by David Sherman and Dan Cragg is the second book in the series chronicling the history of the 34th Fleet Initial Strike Team (FIST) L Company Third Platoon of the Confederation Marine Corps. The authors, in my view, have again brought the reader into the realm of the infantryman. Returning to Thorsfinni World the 34th FIST has begun replacing the men and equipment lost on Elneal. Staff Sergeant Charlie Bass' exploits during the mission has added to his legendary status in the Marine Corps, Ensign Vanden Hoyt, Third Platoon's new officer, Private First Classes Joe Dean and Rackman Claypoole have proven themselves in combat and learned how to overcome the fears of the battlefield. A new mission deploys the 34th FIST, before the unit has replaced all the Marines lost on Elneal, to the Confederation world of Wanderjahr. Wanderjahr's nine-member government has attempted to stop a rebellion that threatens the political and economic stability of the world by forming a paramilitary police force, called the Feldpolizei, to deal with the rebels. The Feldpolizei fail to stop the rebels because the force is not properly trained in modern military tactics. The 34th FIST's assignment is to train the Feldpolizei to counter the rebel threat. Private First Classes Joe Dean and Rackman Claypoole of L Company Third platoon are assigned to Headquarters' F-2 Intelligence section as analysts, while Staff Sergeant Bass and the rest of platoon train the Field Police of Wanderjahr. However the Marines soon find that there is hidden power struggle going on behind the scenes that makes their job harder. Another good story by the team of David Sherman and Dan Cragg.

This is some of the best military science-fiction I have ever read, from guys who know their stuff, because they have been there. If you compare their stuff with Heinlein (one of my favorite authors), you will notice a better quality of realism as far as military matters are concerned, especially from the point of view of the ground-pounder. This is because Heinlein never served in combat (through no fault of his own). Some speakers of German might not like the use of German words in this book. I had a problem with it, as I do speak and read German. I couldn't help laughing at some of the names, and they can detract from the enjoyment to a certain extent, for a German speaker. The country of Arschland, for example, translates somewhat vulgarly since "Arsch" is, not to put too fine a point on it, the part of the anatomy that one sits on. I ended up busting up in laughter at Ambassador Misthaufen (manure pile). Other names, such as for vegetation, "grospalm" (big palm) and "hochbaum" (tall tree) are not genuine words in German, but on a planet with really big palm trees and very tall trees maybe the words might get invented: German is, after all, an agglutinative language. Here is a legitimate German word: "Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitaen". Means "Danube Steamship Company Captain." Dave Sherman told me that they were deliberately playing with German words when they made up some of the character and place names, it was no mistake. I would have preferred it if they had confined their cleverness to the plot and action, but I didn't REALLY mind all that much. There is a lot of subtle (and not-so-subtle) political commentary in this book (and Starfist 1, as well), and the astute reader will pick it up and gain something from it. The superficial reader will see only the action. But that is OK, too. I highly recommend the entire series! In case anyone is interested, a new fan website dedicated to the work of the Starfist authors has been created: http://www.starfisthq.org

This book was awesome! I like how the authors carried the story over from the first book and continued developing the characters in the second book. I can't wait to read the third book!

If you like Mil-SF, you NEED to read this book. If you might ever have to train and lead troops, especially in a military assistance program, you REALLY NEED to read this book. If you ever have had to work a military assistance program, well, Chapter 7 gives you an entertaining look at several good ways to train indiginous forces, all of them good. Personal experience, I've used all of these techniques sucessfully. To me, it was worth the price of the book all by itself. Which is not to say that this is a military textbook with a slight fictional overlay. There's a well-thought out world scenario, extremely realistic 3D characters, a plot with more twists and turns than a mountain road, lots of plausible technology, lots of action - a definite page-turner. As a military professional, I can place a real-life name of a personal acquaintance to just about GI in this book. But the people of Wanderjahr, on both sides of the war, are also rich, detailed, believable characte! ! rs. The situations, given the assumed technology, are also totally believable. About the only "flaw" here, is that these guys always do it right, and the technology never lets them down. You might find that a little hard to swallow, but I went to Joint Endeavour, so yeah, I gotta agree that this is really possible. The first book in this series was good - this one makes me hungry for the next one. IMHO, if you want high-tech, mil-SF, in a believable scenario, with realistic characters, you're a fool if you don't get this one.