Extremis
Author: Steve White and Charles Gannon
Publisher: Baen Books
Publishing Date: 2011
Pgs: 856 pages
Dewey:
Disposition: Inter-Library Loan from Theodore Jones Branch Library - Beaumont Public Library, Beaumont, TX via Irving Public Library - South Campus, Irving, TX
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REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
From the depths of space the threat of the Arduans comes. They didn’t discover the warp point network until we showed it to them. Their star went nova. They need a place to live. Humans have colonized some of those planets in the Arduans path. They are coming. Telepathic cohesion in battle. Adaptation v. Adaption. Punch-counterpunch. Fleet action. Death. War. And as they battle, the Tangri are watching and awaiting their chance to raid the losers...or the victors.
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Genre:
Science Fiction
Space Opera
Military Science Fiction
Space Colonization
War
Aliens

Why this book:
Space fleets hurling missiles and destructive beams at one another. I love this stuff.
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Least Favorite Character:
Heine is a wheedling little scumbag.

Urkhot is slime as well. A juxtaposition fanatic in agreement with Heine. They could have been on a collision course that would’ve put them in each other's pocket. Urkhot reminds me of too many religious leaders and politicians in the modern world

Character I Most Identified With:

Plot Holes/Out of Character:
Considering what Sandro went through being suspected of being a traitor, his treatment of Jennifer is horrible. And if she forgives him, and everything is all good, then this character is unrealistic. He helped them take her baby away from her. The aliens didn't even do that. So the guy who is the father of her child is going to treat her like she's a traitor to humanity and everything is going to be okay. I don't think so. These personality types as created here wouldn’t do that, whatever the additional emotional baggage. The deep scars caused by Sandro’s actions would mar their relationship beyond repair, baby or no baby.

Favorite Scene:
When Commander Van Felsen was snatched up and bear hugged by the Sergeant who she'd just given the best news in the world to.

Favorite Quote:
“Take us away from here before Lt Weathermere can break anything else.” - The Orion carrier commander to his helmsman.

Trevayne staring at the wreckage of fleets falling inward toward a distant sun and said that this isn’t a sufficient funeral pyre not for his old enemy, become his ally, First Space Lord Li Han.

Favorite Concept:
I love good fleet action science fiction.

The priest won't live to regret challenging the elder. Saw that coming...still satisfying.

Hmm Moments:
The description of the Arduan’s Deshotaz caste. Their rapid reflex towards resolutions of conflict through violent resolution, their impetuous embrace of physical peril, their predilection for hero worship, their dismissive attitude toward the cultures of others, all point towards a devolution: interesting societal commentary when taken in context of the America we’re living in right now.

WTF Moments:
Damn, the Tangri don’t mess around. Raiding and nuking the planets from orbit.

Meh / PFFT Moments:
Ossian Weathermere is a bit of Mary Sue and trying too hard to have a young Kevin Sanders still in the books. If they wanted to do this, they should have come up with a way for Sanders to still be young instead of coming up with a King Arthur bit for Ian Trevayne.

Well of course Heide is going to do something that atrocious. When you let spies and amateur spymasters run things, they act like everything is a spy game. Hearts and minds aren’t their kind of thing. And Heide is a shitty person too, so…

Sorta bull in the china shop the way that Mags and Ian’s relationship is hammered at us. Admiral Li has far greater things to worry about than who her daughter is dating, even if it is the resurrected enemy of her youth...especially returning to the wool gathering as many times as she does.

Wisdom:
The showdown in the council chambers is a bit preachy, but considering what the situation is about, it should be preachy.

The Unexpected:
An antique AK-47 in space. No digital sights. No smart bullets. Unexpected...but not surprising. Considering the staying power and omnipresence of the AK, it wouldn’t shock me that they will still be being made and moved around in the distant future.
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Pacing:
The pace is much better than the previous book in the series.

Last Page Sound:
Pretty good.
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I think for now, the series, the universe, of Starfire has reached its conclusion. That White and his writing partners have lost their way is evident in that this book is 850+ pages of the second half of the story. And the first book was over 500+ pages of material.

This book though changes things up a little with the Humans adopting tactics, which has been sadly lacking in the early book. There it was getting to be repetitive and that was boring. How many times do you want to read about Acronyms fighting it out in space. That is what the game of Starfire is but the best writing in this series still is Insurrection and Crusade.

Once David Weber took himself and developed the early Honor Harrington material this began to suffer. And by trying to tell so many fronts, instead of concise vignettes that would have done the job, we have long chapters that drag things out in some cases too too much.

If the Starfire series ever does get returned to, they might take a page or two from other series that have told wars in the space of a few hundred pages. It is more than possible and would help this series tremendously. ( )

A good entry in this quite good series. The philosophical discussions get a little tedious at times but are tangibly relevant to the plot. Really well done battle scenes with a strategic overlook that can remind history buffs of the US vs. Japan in the Pacific during WW2. ( )

The Arduuans or Baldies are fighting themselves as well as the Alliance in and effort to decide their fate. A very good book combining religious, political, and military stories all in one. ( )

Couldn't finish. ( )