Recoil (Starfist: Force Recon) [Mass Market Paperback]

I have enjoyed the StarFist series since I stumbled on it 5 years ago. The Force Recon series has been decent so far but this book really put it over the top.

The story dovetails nicely with the main series without detracting from it. The characters are well written but the names can sometimes be off putting.

If you have read any of the other Force Recon series, this is a definite read for you. If you are new to the series, you could read this standalone and still be able to get what is going on.

Another solid effort from Sherman and Craig.
I am looking forward to the next book to see how this all turns out.
There are plenty of worse ways to be entertained or waste an evening.

The only problem that I am having with this series is that time doesn't make sense. We're told that a starship can take several weeks to arrive yet drones and ships and messages seem to arrive almost instantly. Other than that the book is excellent and the action exciting.

I am grateful that the authors do not hesitate to kill off characters. This allows room for others to develop.

I really enjoyed some of the commentary on pentecostal worship. A different spin in the series.

Continues to surprise.

Recoil (2008) is the third SF novel in the StarFIST Force Recon series, following Pointblank. A StarFIST novel -- Firestorm -- covers the intervening period. In the previous volume, General Lyons learns that the riot at Fort Seymour was a setup. He has Colonel Raggel interrogate the informant and then sends orders to the Seventh MP battalion for the arrest the responsible parties.

Lieutenant Colonel Cogswell cancels all scheduled activities and throws a beer bust for the troops. Puella wins a bet with her top sargeant about ingestion of chocolate covered slimies. And Charlette is rescued by the marines.

In this novel, Jak Daly is now an Ensign and has been assigned back to his old outfit. It is very unusual to assign an newly commissioned officer to the same unit where he had been a noncom. But General Indrus wanted him back in the Fourth Force Reconnaissance Company.

Jimmy Jasper is a lay preacher in Tabernacle on Kingdom. He had been abducted by the Skinks during the war, but showed up after the Skinks left. He seems to believe that the Skinks are Angels of the Lord.

Puella Queege is a corporal in the Seventh Independent Military Police Battalion. Puella had been a clerk in one of the MP companies and had been awarded a Bronze Star for warning the Coalition forces of the attack by Confederation Marines. She had also won a shootout with the Mayor and two flunkies, who were robbing a bank during that attack.

Moses is a young skink. He had been found in some bulrushs near the river, hence the name. He has been adopted by the Brattle family of New Salem on Kingdom.

Anders Aguinaldo is a General in the Confederation Marines, the only four star general in the Corps. He commands Task Force Aguinaldo, a joint command that was created in response to the Skinks.

Rene Raggel was a Colonel in the Coalition forces, an aide to General Davis Lyons. Now he has been preempted by Task Force Aguinaldo. He is given a personal interview with the general and gets temporary command of the Seventh MP battalion.

In this story, Jimmy raises a missionary fund and buys two one-way tickets to Earth. At the port, he meets Sally Consolador and gives her the other ticket. She is also a former abductee of the Skinks.

On Earth, Jimmy starts having pentecostal style revival meetings. His audience grows larger -- over a hundred thousand at one revival -- and his private meetings begin to reach the rich and influential. His message of the Angels of the Lord begins to affect public policy.

The President's staff want to arrest Jimmy as a traitor. Yet the president wants to know more about him. She has a private meeting and Jimmy walks out, deeming her too freethinking for his message.

Dr. Joseph Gobels, and his assistant Dr. Pensy Fogel, come to Kingdom to get Moses. They tell the Brattle family that the alien will be returned in a month after the noninvasive tests are completed. His foster father feels obligated to release him to the Confederation, but the scientists have no intentions of returning the young alien.

The scientists take Moses to Earth and torture him in secret to learn his limits. After the specified month has past, Zechariah Brattle sends an inquiry to Universal Labs and finds that they know nothing about Moses. So Zechariah sends a message to Charlie Bass explaining the situation.

Puella is recalled from pass and told that the battalion is departing for Arsenault. She is drunk at the time of recall, but dries out on the voyage. When they reach Camp Swampy, she finds that drinking is not allowed while on duty and only in moderation while on pass.

Colonel Raggel sits down with his new Command Sargeant Major and scans the personnel files of every person in the battalion. The worst of the lot -- the former commanding officer -- had resigned before his unit was preempted for Task Force Aguinaldo. Others are returned home from Camp Swampy.

Raggel listens to his CSM's suggestions and usually concurs. The CSM recommends sending back Puella. Yet Raggel considers Puella as a special case and he does need a good chief clerk.

He meets with Puella and explains his needs. He is willing to promote her to sargeant, with a possible second promotion to senior sargeant if she does well. He also warns her to stay off the booze.

Fourth Force Recon Company has returned from Ravenette and they have taken their two week leave. The company commander receives a mission order just before learning of the return of Ensign Daly. When Daly reports to his commander, he is assigned as assistant S-3 rather than as a platoon leader.

The commander calls a meeting of his staff -- including Daly -- and explains the situation on Haulover -- missing settlers and devastated homesteads -- and orders his staff to begin planning a mission with two squads and an officer to handle political affairs. Unknown to Daly, the commander has already decided that he will be the officer in charge. The men will come from Daly's former platoon. Some are his former subordinates and others are recent replacements.

Daly and his men get to Haulover before the news of the Skinks reaches that far. The Marines keep checking the burnt and leveled homesteads and finding little evidence. Then the Skinks decide to take a Marine as prisoner and the resulting firefight raises some eyebrows.

This tale has Daly realizing that the raiders are aliens. Somewhat earlier, Fourth Fleet Marine headquarters concluded that Skinks are on Haulover. Confederation forces converge on the planet, but the Skinks are expecting their arrival.

This story tells more about the Skinks. They appear remarkably similar to the Japanese military during World War II. Probably just sheer coincidence.

The timing is a bit distracting, with the flashbacks and parallel views of some scenes. Naturally, the shipboard sequences are shortened or the book would be three times as big. But the time lags in ships and drones cause several overlaps in messages and responses.

Notice the alteration of novels about the 34th FIST and the 4th Force Recon company. Force Recon usually goes in first to develop intel and the FISTs come afterward. So, this is the intel mission and the next book has the fire missions.

This story concludes with numerous dangling plot threads. The next installment -- Wings of Hell -- will have the 34th FIST facing Skinks again. Read and enjoy.

Recommended for Sherman & Cragg fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of armed combat, small unit tactics, and alien military.

-Arthur W. Jordin