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Semper Fi (The Corps #1)
The first Corps novel--the first Corps "New York Times" bestseller.
Semper Fi sets the stage for World War II and brings to life the men of the Marine Corps--their loves and their loyalties--as they steel themselves for battle, and prepare to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Semper Fi sets the stage for World War II and brings to life the men of the Marine Corps--their loves and their loyalties--as they steel themselves for battle, and prepare to make the ultimate sacrifice.
ebook, 352 pages
Published
November 1st 1986
by Jove Books
(first published January 1986)
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Mar 02, 2010
Kevin
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
History buffs, War nuts, anyone who just loves a good story!
W.E.B. Griffin's "The Corps" series are not simply books about war. The war is a backdrop for vignette's about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. His characters are detailed, living, breathing, flawed creatures... just like you and I.
Book 1 "Semper Fi" follows Ken J. 'Killer' McCoy. It is just before America gets involved in WWII and follows through the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the fall of Wake Island (Phillipines). McCoy is a 'China Marine' or a Marine stationed in Shanghai Chi...more
Book 1 "Semper Fi" follows Ken J. 'Killer' McCoy. It is just before America gets involved in WWII and follows through the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the fall of Wake Island (Phillipines). McCoy is a 'China Marine' or a Marine stationed in Shanghai Chi...more
Nov 26, 2011
Mike
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction,
nookbook-read
Well I was very surprised by this book. The book has received countless four and five star reviews and I thought I would love it. Historical fiction about marines in the lead up to World War II? How could a guy like me not love it?
I am so disappointed by this book. I am not one of the people on these sites that finds incredibly popular books and rips them to be contrarian. I usually fall in with the masses. This book is the great exception to that rule.
First of all, there is little to no action...more
I am so disappointed by this book. I am not one of the people on these sites that finds incredibly popular books and rips them to be contrarian. I usually fall in with the masses. This book is the great exception to that rule.
First of all, there is little to no action...more
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Somehow refreshing variant on the typical ultrapatriotic Marine-Stories and World War historical novels.
E.g. does the author skip most of the cliché-ladden stuff from basic training (a little bit of it returns with the "platoon leader programme") to start at an more interesting point of this marines personal life...
All in all ther ARE some "stu"ish scenes where the protagonist seems to be blessed too much to be true, but in the whole context of the story those moments are few and far between, so...more
E.g. does the author skip most of the cliché-ladden stuff from basic training (a little bit of it returns with the "platoon leader programme") to start at an more interesting point of this marines personal life...
All in all ther ARE some "stu"ish scenes where the protagonist seems to be blessed too much to be true, but in the whole context of the story those moments are few and far between, so...more
Was a great read....was interesting to see how Griffin tells a story from the WWII era.....the first series I read of his was from the present day. As always his books are fun to read and you never want to put them down. Can't wait for the 2nd one to arrive at the library.
One other thought on Griffin, I am now going between books from Griffin and Brad Thor.....the one thing I see that makes all the Griffin books stand out is the amount of detail and character information you get. You feel as if...more
One other thought on Griffin, I am now going between books from Griffin and Brad Thor.....the one thing I see that makes all the Griffin books stand out is the amount of detail and character information you get. You feel as if...more
An odd little number this one - with a title of "Semper Fi" and describing itself as " a novel of the corps" you might expect a chunk of WW2 marine action, but you would be wrong. This is about a smart young private/corporal whose wits get him into field intelligence in China in 1941. McCoy is a little too good to be true, a linguist, street smart and wise beyond his young years. And Semper Fi is McCoy's tale set within the environment of a US not yet at war with Japan and the book ends just aft...more
This entire series does for the Marine Corps, what The Brotherhood of War series does for the U.S. Army soldier. Breathes life into historical events in a tremendously entertaining way, but also brings the reader into the very hallowed halls of the likes of Roosevelt, MacArthur, Truman and all the surrounding "players". On the other side, the reader lives through the events of World War II and Korea, seen through the eyes of the ordinary men and women who lived through such times as these. You w...more
My first experience in reading Griffin’s work was actually in reading his Brotherhood of War series from end to end. I thought perhaps that I had read the crown jewel of his efforts, but I was sorely mistaken. Semper Fi kicks off a series that I found to be far superior to the Brotherhood of War, and what I consider to be Griffin’s best work to date.
Click cover to buy
at Barnes & Noble
It’s January, 1941, and Private First Class Kenneth McCoy finds himself on the precipice of promotion to Corp...more
Click cover to buy
at Barnes & Noble
It’s January, 1941, and Private First Class Kenneth McCoy finds himself on the precipice of promotion to Corp...more
People have been handing me Griffin books for years now, but I was intent on reading a 'book one' regardless of the series. I finally came across The Corps Book One and dove in, curious as to what Griffin is all about. I was pleasantly surprised. I was worried that, as a historical novel, it would be so full of facts and technical information, that it would be boring and hard to get through. I was absolutely wrong and could not read this book fast enough. Instead of a continuous onslaught of his...more
Apr 17, 2010
Shannon C.
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical,
action-adventure
I love WEB Griffin's books. Not only are they amazing historicals, they have great character development, lots of action and adventure and a bit of romance. My grandfather was career military, a retired Maj Gen in the Marines. I especially enjoyed reading this series as it made me feel closer to him and what he went through, following his death.
If you don't want to read about military men, he also has a very good police procedural series Badge of Honor.
If you don't want to read about military men, he also has a very good police procedural series Badge of Honor.
Surprisingly enough, though WEB Griffin is a prolific author, with more than 6 major series and 100 books (under a variety of pseudonyms), The Corps series is the only one I ever really got into. The characters somehow got under my skin and I couldn't help but empathize with them when they got into trouble or were in danger of being killed. This was an excellent book and a great introduction to one of my favorite series of all time.
Going into this book I wasn't sure I would like it, since I wasn't looking for a book about war. Rather, I wanted to get a better idea of what life was/is like as a US Marine. After reading several other reviews, I decided that this series would be good because it was about people and not solely about the War.
Griffin's writing is fluid and very easy to read. The characters are people you can relate to and the stories aren't that unbelievable. I look forward to reading the rest of the series now!
Griffin's writing is fluid and very easy to read. The characters are people you can relate to and the stories aren't that unbelievable. I look forward to reading the rest of the series now!
A solid series. If you read all the WEB Griffin, as I do, you see a lot of similarities (some might call it a formula) in his work. His heroes are, for the most part, highly courageou,s yet flawed noncomformists who drink too much and disregard the rule book on their way to victory. Despite the fact that the books all sort of run in together in my mind, I find them pretty compelling while I am reading them.
I actually read the third book in this series, "Battleground" first. I found that interesting enough to backtrack to "Semper Fi" the first book. "Semper Fi" introduces several of the characters of that reappear in later books. McCoy is quite an interesting character and you feel yourself pulling for him. If I have one criticism, Griffin seems a little too interested in the very wealthy characters in his series and outside of McCoy paints a picture of the influential and moneyed. And, in my humbl...more
I've been wanting to read this series for a while now.....it was worth the wait. This follows the trials of Kenneth "Killer" McCoy as he progresses from a Marine corporal in China spying on Japanese occupation to a commissioned lieutenant in D.C. during the time right before the invasion of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Along the way he makes friends, mistakes, and meets a few women. A hard-nosed look at the Marine Corps during WWII, and I am looking forward to the next few in this series.
Jul 25, 2012
Gingermuse
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
w-e-b-griffin,
the-corps
Much like Griffin's Brotherhood of War series, this series called The Corps is fictitious stories & characters based on facts, actual battles, and historical character. Griffin is so good at weaving the fiction and facts together I find it impossible to tell the difference and easily lose myself in the stories. This series begins with the days just prior to the USA's horrible induction into WW II
A highly entertaining and historically grounded view of life from the inside of the Marine Corps. The flood of profanity, while it may be realistic, was too much for me. The constant specificity in referring to a character's rank, or the make and model of weapons are annoying and yet effective in bringing the reader into the mindset of a marine, at least as this author imagines a marine.
I gave this a 4 only because I love Griffin's explanations of the training, weapons, customs of the Marine Corps and I love WWII books. But most of the characters are rich except the main character and they all fall in love a minute after meeting and go to bed in 2 minutes after meeting.
This is a series of 5 books and I'm going to read all five but jump over the sophmoric love interests.
This is a series of 5 books and I'm going to read all five but jump over the sophmoric love interests.
It's hard to explain why I am obsessed with WEB Griffin's books because the male characters are insufferably arrogant, the women characters either madonnas or whores (usually whores), and the language is foul. However, while I was working at Putnam Berkley, I picked this first in the series up one night when I needed something to read on the subway, and was up until 3 am devouring it. Griffin really captures the essence of men at war, and I particularly enjoy his characterizations of real people...more
This started it and I have been a faithful fan through out all of his series. Moving over into The Brotherhood of War and Badge of Honor was so easy to follow his style of writing. And learning about the other services with the Aviators and Special Ops gave me pride and enjoyment of the adventures Griffin tells with historical perspective is wonderful.
WEB Griffin is again starting a good series.
I read the Brotherhood of War recently and was hungry for more of
these characters. Some of the same persona are recognizeable, of
course. There is the rich young man entering the service, one who
will doubtless turn out to be a dashing warrior. There is the whiz
kid who comes from a poor background who has entered the Marines to
get away from his past. All soap opera characters, but very
entertaining.
I read the Brotherhood of War recently and was hungry for more of
these characters. Some of the same persona are recognizeable, of
course. There is the rich young man entering the service, one who
will doubtless turn out to be a dashing warrior. There is the whiz
kid who comes from a poor background who has entered the Marines to
get away from his past. All soap opera characters, but very
entertaining.
I've read all of the books in The Corps series. If you love WWII history, particularly in the Pacific, these books are great reads. The personal stories are compelling and written in the language of the day. I could hear my father, uncles and grandfathers, all officers from that era, talking about their experiences.
Entertaining and technical read. I say technical, because the amount of detail given to the make and model and rank of every character and gun and vehicle is a bit distracting, although I’m a sucker for things like that. Formulaic and troubled heroes, but likeable as they fight through daunting odds to achieve freedom.
This series stunk! I read the entire series hoping for some kind of combat action, but was disappointed time after time. The main character seemed to miss every major action of WWII...the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the invasion of the Philippines, etc. I would not recommend this series to anyone I liked!
We are introduced to Ken McCoy, a marine corporal, who is
recruited into intelligence work in Shanghai in early 1941. He is
involved in some action and sent back to the States, goes to
Officer Candidate School and returns to the Pacific via Hawaii
and the Phillipines immediately after Pearl Harbor.
recruited into intelligence work in Shanghai in early 1941. He is
involved in some action and sent back to the States, goes to
Officer Candidate School and returns to the Pacific via Hawaii
and the Phillipines immediately after Pearl Harbor.
A book about a young soldier in the Marines with promise. The character development in this book is fantastic and you really begin to care about Kenneth "Killer" McCoy and his buddy "Pick". Much more a book about the characters and their experiences in the Marines at the time of World War II than a pure War historical.
I'm starting to re-read "The Corps" series of W.E.B. Griffin. The first two, possibly three novels in this series are among Griffin's best. I remember my consternation when he skipped from the middle of WW2 to Korea, then abruptly terminated the series. At his best, Griffin "gets it right" about military life.
Aug 12, 2012
Kendra
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
action, thriller, suspense, mystery
Don't put off reading "The Corps" just because you think you don't like war or military stories. I can honestly say that there is nothing by W.E.B. Griffin that is not only highly readable, but ultimately exciting and engrossing. You will love this book!
You have to get used to the way that Griffin writes,(lot of unnecessary back story if you've read the previous books in the series) but it really gets into the minutiae of military life. It also delves into the history of pre-war America and China.
(#1 of the Corps Series)-This was a very interesting book. It is not really a book I would have picked out to read. However, the ladies in book-club highly recommended this so I thought I would give it a try. I am glad I did. I was fascinated by the subject line. This was about Ken McCoy, a Marine who was enlisted right before the attack on Pearl Harbor. You get some really great info on the Marines and the hierarchy of this part of our armed forces. But the author also had a great fictional sto...more
Another one of my favorite authors, WEB Griffin. All books are military related fiction. It is fun to follow the same characters through an entire series. He has several different series that you might enjoy. Kath
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W.E.B. Griffin is one of several pseudonyms for William Edmund Butterworth III.
From the Authors Website:
W.E.B. Griffin is the author of thirty-six epic novels in six series, all of which have been listed on The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly and other best-seller lists. More than forty million of his books are in print in more than ten languages, including Hebrew, Chine...more
More about W.E.B. Griffin...
From the Authors Website:
W.E.B. Griffin is the author of thirty-six epic novels in six series, all of which have been listed on The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly and other best-seller lists. More than forty million of his books are in print in more than ten languages, including Hebrew, Chine...more
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