Ian Douglas: Luna Marine

Avon Science Fiction (Paperback), ISBN 0380788292

John Wayne: “Well hell, don’t send in a boy to do a man’s job. Send in the Marines….”

Ian Douglas rockets into the second book of The Heritage Trilogy with Luna Marine, continuing the trilogy’s action-packed, gung-ho space war between the United States and the United Nations.

Alien remains found throughout the solar system offer insights into advanced technologies that could bring a quick and bloody end to the long-running conflict between U. S. and U. N. forces. This discovery shifts the focus of the fighting from gaining territory for territory’s sake to the capture of certain key archaeological sites.

America and its allies won control of the Mars site in book one of Douglas’s trilogy. Now the allies seek control of the lunar site. Their success or failure depends on three unlikely heroes: Jack Ramsey (a boy who longs to become a space marine), Lieutenant Kaitlin Garroway (a soldier trying to live up to her father’s reputation) and Dr David Alexander (the world’s foremost authority on alien artifacts).

Luna Marine reads well. The book’s fast pace, small dollops of scientific fact (given to the reader in digestible, bite-sized doses), and definite Sixties space opera feel seem guaranteed to please.

Unfortunately, the virtues of Douglas’s technique only serve to highlight the jingoistic nature of his tale. In each and every major battle, small forces of American Marines invariably outclass the dull-witted United Nations forces.

Douglas’s simplistic descriptions of major scientific breakthroughs also rings false. For example, our heroes stumble across a Rosetta Stone of alien languages and immediately crack the code. It took scholars over 30 years to translate the original, but they didn’t have to worry about paperback page counts.

Nevertheless, the book’s pacing and non-stop action kept turning the pages, wanting to know what happens next. If you’re a Star Wars, Star Trek or Flash Gordon fan this book might just prove to be your cup of all-American coffee.

Stephen Smith

Stephen Smith divides his talents between Webmastering, fiction writing and house keeping. Currently possessed by the Demon Comedic Muse, he is writing a comic fantasy entitled, Huw’s the Hero, an urban fantasy, vampire detective novel, Valencius Covers his Tracks. His science fiction romance Cyberius III was published in December 2005 by New Concepts Publishing under the pseudonym of S.J. Willing and he is working on the sequel, Poseidon VII. More information can be found at his normal website and at S.J. Willing’s webpage.