or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
or
Amazon Prime free trial required. Sign up when you check out. Learn more
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Legion of the Damned
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Legion of the Damned [Mass Market Paperback]

William C. Dietz
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
Price: £4.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.
Only 1 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).
Want guaranteed delivery by Friday, June 1? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --  
Mass Market Paperback £4.99  
Audio Download, Unabridged £13.49 or Free with Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details.

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Armor £5.24

Legion of the Damned + Armor
Price For Both: £10.23

Show availability and delivery details

  • This item: Legion of the Damned

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • Armor

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Ace Books; Reissue edition (31 Dec 1993)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0441480403
  • ISBN-13: 978-0441480401
  • Product Dimensions: 17.7 x 10.6 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 177,683 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William C. Dietz
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Visit Amazon's William C. Dietz Page

Product Description

"When all hope is lost--for the terminally ill, for the condemned criminal, for the victim who cannot be saved--there comes one final choice. You can choose life--as a cyborg soldier in the Legion. Both more and less than human, these steel warriors with determined human minds are the most elite fighting force in the Empire. They are fearsome--and expendable. They are the... LEGION OF THE DAMNED ...God help them."

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Daniel Jolley HALL OF FAME TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I'm quite pleased that I finally got around to sampling the wares of William C. Dietz, a writer with an impressive number of science fiction novels under his belt already. Legion of the Damned is a well-paced, absorbing novel of futuristic military science fiction based on a premise I find fascinating. A couple of centuries into the future, murderers and their ilk are still being executed, but they are given a second chance - of sorts - to evade the permanent clutches of the Grim Reaper. Those who choose the option of resuscitation are, if approved, reborn in the form of cyborgs - basically, these are gigantic robots of death consisting of a human head inside an artificial and quite deadly body. (For the record, other humans, such as the terminally ill, also have the chance to opt in to the cyborg program.) The cyborgs serve under the command of the Legionnaires, a military force founded on the twentieth-century French Foreign Legion. While they serve in the military of imperial Earth, the Legion is their country (just as their motto says). By the time of the events described herein, the Legion has finally been granted a home of their own, exercising a form of self-autonomy on Algeron, near the outer rim of the Empire's control. Of course, there are many human Legionnaires, but the cyborgs pack most of the punch. Training is so rigorous that many fall along the way, and some even hope for a second death in order to finally fall into oblivion.

There is great trouble in the Empire. The Hudathans, a militaristic alien race, have begun decimating imperial planets on the outer rim and are obviously working their way toward Earth itself. The Admiral of the Imperial Navy is an opportunistic and power-hungry individual who supports a retreat of the Imperial Navy, ostensibly to prepare an overwhelming attack against the Hudathans when they move farther into the empire's region of space; in actuality, her desires are fuelled largely by a determination to make a hero out of herself and to finally rob the Legion of its might and power. Many on the home world (especially those with an economic interest in the planets that stand to be abandoned) argue that Earth's forces should engage the enemy now, while they are still in the outer rim. To the misfortune of everyone concerned, the Emperor is basically insane - as mad as Nero and possibly even more decadent. At least Nero didn't have seven advisors hard-coded into this brain as a child and left to fight amongst themselves inside his mind.

Obviously, a major space battle between Earth's Imperial Navy and the Hudathan fleet is to be expected as this novel wends its way to a conclusion. However, a war between the Imperial Navy and the Legionnaires on Algeron, a localized imperial civil war, looms even closer on the horizon, for the Legion is quite unwilling to give up its home base and allow its forces to be dispersed. Basically, a lot of action is to be found in these pages, and Dietz excels at describing the militaristic aspects of his plot. There are a number of sub-stories incorporated into this fictional fabric involving the formation of a cabal to oppose the Emperor on Earth, an inter-species love story (that never completely clicks, in my opinion), legalistic power-plays among the alien Hudathans themselves in preparation for cosmic war, and a coming together of two cyborgs who "met" in a most unusual fashion in their prior human lives. The ultimate conclusion seems to come a little too quickly and easily, but all in all this is a thoroughly enjoyable novel that all fans of military science fiction should quite enjoy reading.

Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Outstanding ! 24 Aug 1998
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
One of Dietz's best and my personal favorite. The story features one of today's most fantasized military units, the French Foreign Legion. But in this future, the Legion is created of volunteers of condemned criminals, patients with terminal illnesses, and those who have simply given up on life. So upon death, their brains are removed and installed in high-tech military cyborgs which are armed with all sorts of deadly weapons. These thousands of cyborgs form the "Legion of the Damned." Their principle enemy...a highly aggressive race of aliens who want to turn earth into a giant crater. Chock full of action, suspense, and intrique. Definitely alot of fun to read.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I've just finished Legion of the Damned, and I'm not too pleased about that. I had a hard time putting the book down; Just wanting to read another page, another chapter, before turning in. The book is a great joyride, it's not without a few flaws, but it has a great deal of well-written action, fun characters and a great background setting. I'm truly hoping I will learn more about both the characters and the universe they live in, in the course of the next few books. Yes, that's right; I am definitely getting those books.
That being said, the book does have a few action-settings that aren't really that well explored; the last, climactic battles, especially, could definitely have used a few more pages, and some of the characters are just a little too flat.
Nevertheless, I heartily enjoyed myself reading the book and I'm really glad I spent my money on it. What more can you really ask for?
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Look for similar items by subject


Feedback


Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges