Cobra (Venture SF Books) [Paperback]

"Cobra - the most deadly guerrilla warriors mankind has ever produced." The Cobra series are based on the lives of the Moreau generations. The first book, "Cobra", is about the life of Johnny Moreau, one of the first Cobras.

The alien Troft forces have taken over the colony worlds of Adirondack and Silvern. Outnumbered and on the defensive, the humans on Earth make a decision to not atttack the aliens from space, but on the ground. Thus the Cobra units were created, a guerilla force whose weapons and other devices are surgically implanted, invisible to the human eye yet deadly. When Johnny Moreau signs up for the army, he is surprised to be among the few to be made into Cobras. He is sent to Adirondack to fight the Trofts. But being a Cobra isn't at all what Johnny expects it to be, and must learn the uses and abuses of his abilities. From Trainee to Warrior, Veteran to Loyalist, then finally to become from Politician to Statesman, Johnny will learn what it really is to become... a Cobra.

Timothy Zahn is truly one of my most favorite Science Fiction writers and "Cobra" is a truly good example of one of his best books. I love all the twists and turns in the plot, so many surprises at every corner. And I really liked the character of Johnny Moreau. He is smart, thoughtful, and always tried to help others. I felt so sorry for him when he returned home after the war. Everyone was afraid of him and despised him for being a Cobra. Another of my favorite characters in the books is Cally Halloran, another Cobra from Johnny's unit.

As I said, this is the first book of the Cobra Series. The next books are "Cobra Strike" and "Cobra Bargain". "Cobra Strike" is about Johnny's son, Justin Moreau, who becomes a Cobra and is sent on a dangerous mission to an unknown planet. "Cobra Bargain" is about the daughter of Justin whose dream of becoming the first woman Cobra comes true. Though these books are very hard to find, if you can get them, I'm sure you'll love them!

This 1985 military science fiction novel introduced the cybernetically and biomechanically-enhanced "Cobra" soldiers, and is the first book in a series of six - two trilogies written a quarter of a century apart.

The first trilogy consists of:

1) Cobra, published 1985, story begins in 2403
2) Cobra Strike, published 1986, set a generation later
3) Cobra Bargain, published 1988, set in 2474.

Much more recently Zahn has revisited this series to produce a second set of three books known as the "Cobra War" trilogy, which is set another generation later (the heroine of "Cobra Bargain" is the mother of one of the main characters in the Cobra War books). This consists of

4) Cobra War Book 1: Cobra Alliance
5) Cobra War Book 2: Cobra Guardian
6) Cobra War Book 3: Cobra Gamble (Due for publication in 2012).

"Cobra" and "Cobra Strike" were also published together in one volume as "Cobras Two" and the first three books are also available in one volume as the Cobra Trilogy.

As this book begins, some four hundred years in the future and many light years away on the frontier of human space, a group of human colony worlds are under attack from an aggressive alien race known as the Troft. The first planet they attacked was over-run in only three weeks. In a desperate attempt to stop the invaders, the Dominion of Man creates the enhanced "Cobra" guerillas: the name stands for COmputerised Body Reflex Armament.

The Cobras are indistinguishable from a normal human from the outside, but with a whole host of computer-controlled weaponry and enhancements built into their bodies and their very bones. These soldiers are deadly in combat but the process of turning a normal human into a Cobra is irreversible - which means that those who survive the war will have all manner of problems returning to civilian life afterwards. The novels examine some of the personal and social consequences of turning people into supermen - have they given up their own humanity to save humankind?

"Cobra" tells the story of Jonny Moreau, who is one of the first generation of Cobra guerillas, from the point when he joins up as a young man a few months after the first Troft attack, through his time as a front-line solider, until thirty years later, as a senior political leader on his home planet, Aventine, Jonny has to make a choice - whether to buy peace at the price of cutting both the Cobras and the world of Aventine off from the remainder of the human race.

This book and the other two novels in the original "Cobra" trilogy are reasonably well-written, entertaining, and exciting. Having been published in the eighties during the early days of Timothy Zahn's writing career, I don't personally feel that they are in the same league as the best of the brilliant novels which he has produced over the following decades.

If you read the first three Cobra novels expecting anything like "Warhorse," "Deadman Switch, "The Icarus Hunt" or any of the "Grand Admiral Thrawn" books set in the "Star Wars" universe, you may be disappointed.

Nevertheless if you are into Military SF it is extremely likely that you will enjoy these books, and you will also find that some of the ideas in them appear to have inspired a number of more recent books by other popular SF writers.

This is one of my all-time favorite books, and I consider it to be one of the best SF books (series) I've ever read. While Zahn keeps things very interesting with his descriptions of the COBRA equipment and fighting, the book really concentrates on the protagonist and how he matures through his experiences. I would highly recommend this book as well as the two follow-ups (or pretty much anything by Zahn in general). I got into Zahn through his original Star Wars books, but was particularly impressed with the Cobra Series, Blackcollar, and Spinneret. Happy reading!