- Mass Market Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Baen Books (1 Mar 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0671877097
- ISBN-13: 978-0671877095
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.7 x 1.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,220,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Some days it just didn't pay to be a soldier. Captain Rick Galloway and his men had been talked into volunteering for a dangerous mission -only to be ruthlessly abandoned when faceless CIA higher-ups pulled the plug on the operation. They were cut off in hostile territory, with local troops and their Cuban "advisors" rapidly closing in. And then the alien spaceship landed...
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is a series (Janissaries is just the first book of a series of 3) that is hard to find. I bought it just because I liked J. Pournelle's work and it was a good move.
Captain Rick Galloway finds himself in a bit of a pickle when his (CIA) support in Western Africa falls through and he and his men are left to their own devices. Certain death (torture etc. etc.) at the hand of Cuban mercenaries seems unavoidable until an UFO appears (bear with me).
Between a hard place and a rock... Galloway orders his men aboard the UFO. They are sent to a remote planet - their mission is to carve out an empire and grow a crop of alien narcotics before the UFO returns... (if not the planet will become the target of orbital bombardment by the aliens)
The planet quickly turns out to be quite a challenge as people from different cultures, time-periods and ethnic backgrounds have been dropped there during earlier 'drugruns' by the aliens . Scottisch highlanders, Imperial Romans etc.
Galloway's knowledge of 'the art of war' (modern, classic and medieval warfare) and basic military technology prove essential to their survival...
A very original spin on the space-marine concept...
P.S. Janissaries were slave-soldiers of the Ottoman empire -
they became all powerfull although they were 'mere' slaves.
Captain Rick Galloway finds himself in a bit of a pickle when his (CIA) support in Western Africa falls through and he and his men are left to their own devices. Certain death (torture etc. etc.) at the hand of Cuban mercenaries seems unavoidable until an UFO appears (bear with me).
Between a hard place and a rock... Galloway orders his men aboard the UFO. They are sent to a remote planet - their mission is to carve out an empire and grow a crop of alien narcotics before the UFO returns... (if not the planet will become the target of orbital bombardment by the aliens)
The planet quickly turns out to be quite a challenge as people from different cultures, time-periods and ethnic backgrounds have been dropped there during earlier 'drugruns' by the aliens . Scottisch highlanders, Imperial Romans etc.
Galloway's knowledge of 'the art of war' (modern, classic and medieval warfare) and basic military technology prove essential to their survival...
A very original spin on the space-marine concept...
P.S. Janissaries were slave-soldiers of the Ottoman empire -
they became all powerfull although they were 'mere' slaves.
Format:Paperback
The other review gives the background to the book and mentions that this is book 1 of 3. Please be aware that the publishers decided to make book 2 illustrated and due to the production costs, did not print many, so the 2nd part is very difficult to get hold of. I suggest you find a copy of the second book first before buying 1 and 3. It is worth it, quite a brilliant read.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
17 reviews
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Alternate history / Galactic Background
12 Feb 1999
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The true motivation for this series of books (so I believe) is not the superficial one you can read about in the other reviews. Jerry Pournelle likes to experiment with "what if" notions of military history - on the planet Tran you find a mixture of Roman legions, Celts, medieval knights, mongol hordes etc... plus the newly added American mercenaries. Thus what you get is essentially a series of battles between armies that could never have faced each other historically - and it makes fascinating reading. If you like this kind of thing, see also Pournelle's "King David's Spaceship".
The book has quality beyond the military element. I particularly liked the "historical" accuracy of the characters suffering from saddle-sores, poor water, and worrying about their teeth without any knid of modern dentistry. I liked too the way they resort to getting the idea of germ theory across to the natives - there are tiny demons in the world that can be purified with the ritual washing using boiled water.
Over and above this world, there is an important sub-plot. This world of colonists is part of a black market drugs business by certain powerful alien interests - and it could become vital as there is a debate going on that the earth should be sterilised before the feral humans get out of hand... so Tran could become the last outpost of humanity. However, the American mercenaries realise that Tran has been periodically bombed back into the Stone Age... so at the same time as fighting their wars, they endeavour to prepare for a nuclear assault as best they can. The only thing that might ultimately save them are human sympathisers who work for the aliens.
The series goes on for 3 books so far - alas with declining quality... but still enough to be engrossing. I join the call for a 4th book - I desperately want to see how this story concludes.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Kidnapped by aliens!
8 Feb 2005
Format:Paperback
Upon opening the book and discovering the illustrations, I was prepared for a cheesy space opera, especially since the story starts with space aliens abducting a group of mercenaries from the jungles of Africa. However, from this rather pedestrian opening, the author has developed an intriguing story.
Set against a backdrop of an old and large galactic civilization that uses humans as administrators and servants, this is a story of survival. One race of aliens is illegally kidnapping humans and transporting them to a secret planet to cultivate periodic crops of an intoxicating drug. The mercenaries are dropped, with their equipment, into the middle of a human culture trapped in the middle ages. Can they gain the control and cooperation of the exisiting human society and produce the drugs required by the aliens? Should they even try? Can they use their twentieth century knowledge to help the humans prepare for the impending climatic shifts?
This book includes interesting analyses of military tactics from various periods of human history, together with a unique setting and a plausible science-fiction story. It also provides interesting food for thought, especially regarding the proper uses of military power and the use of advanced knowledge to improve the human condition.
Set against a backdrop of an old and large galactic civilization that uses humans as administrators and servants, this is a story of survival. One race of aliens is illegally kidnapping humans and transporting them to a secret planet to cultivate periodic crops of an intoxicating drug. The mercenaries are dropped, with their equipment, into the middle of a human culture trapped in the middle ages. Can they gain the control and cooperation of the exisiting human society and produce the drugs required by the aliens? Should they even try? Can they use their twentieth century knowledge to help the humans prepare for the impending climatic shifts?
This book includes interesting analyses of military tactics from various periods of human history, together with a unique setting and a plausible science-fiction story. It also provides interesting food for thought, especially regarding the proper uses of military power and the use of advanced knowledge to improve the human condition.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Unweird, believable science fiction.
27 Jan 1999
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Facing almost certain death at the hands of Cuban military forces in the civil war in Angola, Captain Rick Galloway and his small band of mercenaries are suddenly given the opportunity for life -- by the intervention of a alien spaceship. Rick and his band eventually end up on the planet Tran where they discover the reason for their rescue. When I read this book on its first publication in the 1970's, it was great. I recently obtained a new copy and find it's still a great science fiction story, well worth the $5 or $6 monetary outlay and two or three evening investment in time. If you like unweird, believable (within obvious parameters) science fiction you'll probably like Janissaries. P.S. I discovered Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven as writers in their classic end of the world tale, Lucifer's Hammer. Forget about Armegedden and Deep Impact! Lucifer's Hammer was one of the first comet hits world stories and is still one of the best.
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