Friday, August 14, 2020

The Cruel Stars / John Birmingham

The Cruel Stars
(Cruel Stars #1)
by John Birmingham

Space Opera

copyright 2019
read in August 2020

rated 8/10: really quite good

Rude, crude, violent -- and hugely enjoyable. Plus, written in Australia.

This book is first of a trilogy -- and Birmingham knows how to write a first book of a trilogy: there is plenty of action, lots of plot & plot development, an introduction to a whole lot more -- yet with an entirely satisfactory ending.

This book can be read by itself. The ending is entirely satisfactory. You are left satisfied -- and wanting more. Lots more.

And speaking of more: The villains were, apparently, beaten soundly several centuries ago. This is the *return* of the Sturm... Is there an earlier book? Or is this just a well-crafted backstory?!

Amongst the violence there is a lot of humour, just not for the faint-hearted. It's more a chuckle as yet another over-the-top action takes place. So over-the-top that it is ridiculous... and ridiculously funny... if you are in the mood for it... And I am :-)

The heroes / heroines are truly heroic. The villains are villainous and traditional cartoon Nazis. (The eternal villains.) The villains are not entirely stupid... but... they just don't stand a chance against the super-smarts of the goodies. Sure, people are killed. But -- overall -- the goodies will always win. I like that.

And to top it all off, a lot of the book is ridiculously Australian. From the simple Royal Armadale Navy / RAN / Royal Australian Navy. To the language, the attitudes and... I don't know, it just hits me as being so Aussie that I should really be insulted.

I hope he hurries up with the rest of the trilogy :-)



Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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"Please do not feed the fears" … graffiti on a toilet wall

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