| ||||||||||||||||||
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
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Captain Maneka Trevor was the sole human survivor of the Dinochrome Brigade's 39th Battalion...but she hadn't wanted to be one. The Bolo known as "Lazarus" - Unit 28/G-179-LAZ - was the 39th's sole surviving Bolo...but he hadn't been hers. The doctors and the Bolo techs have put them both back together again, yet there are wounds no doctor or technician can heal. And now Maneka and Lazarus must serve together once again, in a war whose stakes are literally the survival or extermination of the human race. They are all that stand between a desperate, secret colony of humanity and destruction: a Bolo commander torn by survivor's guilt and a Bolo whose very existence reminds her of all she has lost. The odds against them are heavy, the stakes are huge, and surrender is not an option. "The Dinochrome Brigade" is used to that, but can Maneka and Lazarus survive their own shared past to defend the present?
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
"Welcome to Sage, Captain." Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
"Welcome to Sage, Captain." Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
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
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have to confess a bias: I think David Weber is, by some distance, the best science fiction writer currently writing. In Old Soldiers he explores the role and relationships of the Bolo further and produces a novel that is both highly readable and holds an interesting conceit. Although it lacks some of the raw passion of his Harrington series he manages to make the potentially two dimensional Bolo, Lazarus, very human and the interactions with Maneka are beautifully constructed and developed. His action scenes won't let down die-hard fans and it is nothing if not a page-turner. However, with all that said, if you haven't read any of David Weber's other work I wouldn't start here; it is still highly engaging but not his best work. For the fan though, put it in your basket!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The best part about "Old Soldiers" (the second Bolo-novel written by Weber, in the universe created by Keith Laumer) is that in this 372-page paperback novel, Weber doesn't have the space to "bloat" his story like he has done in other recent works. Instead, it forces him to focus on all-out action - something he excels at writing! The story clips along at a furious pace, dragging the reader with it like he/she's being hooked behind a Bolo travelling with the pedal-to-the-metal.
Complex tactical strategies, as viewed in detail from both sides, will have you scratching your head as you try to figure out how our heroes will be able to beat the vastly superior 'Dog Boys' when the remnants of the Concordat and the Melchonian empire finally start butting heads with all guns blazing.
Minor drawback is, that for the better part of this novel most of the characters are no more than standard cardboard-cut out people that don't really come alive, except for headliners Maneka Trevor and Unit 28/G-179-LAZ, a.k.a. "Lazarus". It's only when battle is fully joined that characters (especially the bad guys!) really start to "breathe".
I am not going to spoil it by telling what happens, but the ending is somewhat surprising (not standard "Hollywood"-fare so to speak), although it is surprisingly suitable to the overall theme of this novel. So, for everyone who enjoys an action-filled, roalercoaster-ride of a read, buy this novel!
Complex tactical strategies, as viewed in detail from both sides, will have you scratching your head as you try to figure out how our heroes will be able to beat the vastly superior 'Dog Boys' when the remnants of the Concordat and the Melchonian empire finally start butting heads with all guns blazing.
Minor drawback is, that for the better part of this novel most of the characters are no more than standard cardboard-cut out people that don't really come alive, except for headliners Maneka Trevor and Unit 28/G-179-LAZ, a.k.a. "Lazarus". It's only when battle is fully joined that characters (especially the bad guys!) really start to "breathe".
I am not going to spoil it by telling what happens, but the ending is somewhat surprising (not standard "Hollywood"-fare so to speak), although it is surprisingly suitable to the overall theme of this novel. So, for everyone who enjoys an action-filled, roalercoaster-ride of a read, buy this novel!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
19 reviews
30 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Terrific novel...
8 Aug 2005
Format:Hardcover
Captain Maneka Trevor, of the Dinochrome Brigade, is one of the few to have survived the horrible battle on the planet Chartres. Though still active military, she carries guilt of surviving when her Bolo "Benjy" and the others in her brigade did not. Maneka is surprised to find herself before Rear Admiral Sedgewood until she learns why she was summoned. Maneka has been chosen to be part of a special mission called "Operation Seed Corn". The Melconian Empire is winning the war. The Humans are losing. Those chosen for this special mission are to travel far away, find a new habitual planet, and begin a new human colony.
Commodore Lakshmaniah was to be in charge. However, when the Puppies arrive she and her people go out to meet them head on, in hopes of keeping them away from the transports and industrial ships. They mostly succeed. Both teams seem to wipe each other out. Yet some of the "Seed Corn" convoy is also destroyed. Maneka and Lazarus, the Bolo who is assigned to her and was also at Chartres, are now in charge. Commodore Lakshmaniah, before her death, had believed there was at least one Puppy ship under stealth somewhere. Though Maneka prays the info is incorrect, she takes all precautions. (The reader knows from the beginning that Lakshmaniah's info IS correct. The stealth ship shadows the convoy until, over a year later, a new planet is found by the Humans.)
The new planet is named "Indrani". As the humans settle in, the Melconians prepare to attack. They intend to wipe out the human race and take the human's higher tech equipment as their own. Only two Bolos stand in the way of the overwhelming number of Melconian troops.
**** This is David Weber's second Bolo novel. The first is compiled out of several stories, like an anthology where the stories all link together eventually. This novel, however, is one long story. The author, David Weber, is famous for having complex tactical strategies in his works. This book is no different. The readers get to see the tactical equations taken by the Humans AND the Puppies. Many of these are utterly brilliant! All-in-all, another winner for Weber. I look forward to his next release, which is to be another "Honor Harrington" novel (due out in October 2005.) Stellar reading here! ****
(...)
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Better, Much better on the whole.
17 Sep 2005
Format:Hardcover
The books is a take off of one of the stories from David Weber's Colletion of Bolo stories entitled "BOLO!" and I found it a decent read.
Captain M is a wounded Bolo commander and would like nothing better than to have died with her Bolo... But soldiers sometimes aren't given a choice and she is sent off to defend a secret mission to establish a colony where hopefully the Dog Boys won't find it.
But unfortunately things don't go according to plan and the enemy does find them. To make a long story short, victory while costly doesn't destroy the colony... But it does give Captain M a much longer lease on life as a Bolo commander...
I found this book to a good deal better than the previous effort by Weber's Bolo! Definately a good read if you like David Weber and Bolo's!
Captain M is a wounded Bolo commander and would like nothing better than to have died with her Bolo... But soldiers sometimes aren't given a choice and she is sent off to defend a secret mission to establish a colony where hopefully the Dog Boys won't find it.
But unfortunately things don't go according to plan and the enemy does find them. To make a long story short, victory while costly doesn't destroy the colony... But it does give Captain M a much longer lease on life as a Bolo commander...
I found this book to a good deal better than the previous effort by Weber's Bolo! Definately a good read if you like David Weber and Bolo's!
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
a Bolo as the antithesis of a Beserker
4 Nov 2005
Format:Hardcover
For years Keith Laumer wrote Bolo stories, and now, after his death, David Weber skilfully continues the storyline. There are certainly places in this text where you can see Weber's style of writing from his Honor Harrington series.
This book could have been improved with a map of the land conflict between the humans and the Dog Boys. Think back to such classic military SF as Pournelle's Janissary series, or Stirling's General books. Both series came with simple maps that greatly helped the narrative.
You may already be aware of another long running series - about Beserkers, by Fred Saberhagen. Weber's book, and the earlier Bolo stories, are a nice antithesis to the bleak universe containing Beserkers. Or to the entire idea that dates back to Frankenstein, of a machine turning against its creator. The Bolo in this book is crucial in preventing a group of humans from being wiped out. Indeed, the backdrop of the book is a larger genocidal conflict between humans and the Dog Boys, where the humans are outnumbered and losing.
While there are some logical discontinuities between this story and earlier Bolo tales, some readers will surely wish that Weber writes more in this setting.
This book could have been improved with a map of the land conflict between the humans and the Dog Boys. Think back to such classic military SF as Pournelle's Janissary series, or Stirling's General books. Both series came with simple maps that greatly helped the narrative.
You may already be aware of another long running series - about Beserkers, by Fred Saberhagen. Weber's book, and the earlier Bolo stories, are a nice antithesis to the bleak universe containing Beserkers. Or to the entire idea that dates back to Frankenstein, of a machine turning against its creator. The Bolo in this book is crucial in preventing a group of humans from being wiped out. Indeed, the backdrop of the book is a larger genocidal conflict between humans and the Dog Boys, where the humans are outnumbered and losing.
While there are some logical discontinuities between this story and earlier Bolo tales, some readers will surely wish that Weber writes more in this setting.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
