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Starship: Mercenary (Starship #3)

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 372 ratings · 12 reviews

The date is 1968 of the Galactic Era, almost three thousand years from now. The Republic, created by the human race but not yet dominated by it, is in the midst of an all-out war with the Teroni Federation. Captain Wilson Cole, a man with a reputation for exceeding orders but getting results, found himself the victim of a media feeding frenzy, a political scapegoat despite...more

Hardcover, 323 pages

Published December 31st 2007 by Pyr

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Nov 25, 2010 Perry Reed rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm going to write one review for this entire series...

The Starship series premise had me interested. Set well into the future when mankind is at war with the Teroni Federation, one naval officer finds reason to mutiny (hence, the first book, "Starship: Mutiny". Over time he becomes a pirate (book two: "Starship: Pirate"), a mercenary (book three: "Starship: Mercenary"), then rebels formally against the human government (book four: "Starship: Rebel") and finally takes on the humans directly (boo...more

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Aug 19, 2010 Robert rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009-10-season

Resnick maintains the quality of the series with this third installment. Adding a few new memorable characters (particularly the Platinum Duke), introducing a cool new setting (Singapore Station) and once again changing the nature of the hero's mission (as the titles imply: progressing from Mutineer to Pirate to Mercenary), Resnick has once again written 300 pages that feel like 30, leaving you wanting more RIGHT NOW. The only question that remains is how long he can keep it up? (Cheating tells...more

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Apr 19, 2013 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-read, 2013-read

Staship: Mercenary is the third book in Mike Resnick's Starship series, preceded by Starship: Mutiny and Starship: Pirate. It picks things up where they were left in Pirate, with Wilson Cole and the crew of the Teddy R giving up on the piracy game and deciding to go into the mercenary business. Again, Resnick manages to mix things up and delivers another solid story that keeps much of the same that made the first two books so successful, but adds more to the story to keep the reader more than sa...more Staship: Mercenary is the third book in Mike Resnick's Starship series, preceded by Starship: Mutiny and Starship: Pirate. It picks things up where they were left in Pirate, with Wilson Cole and the crew of the Teddy R giving up on the piracy game and deciding to go into the mercenary business. Again, Resnick manages to mix things up and delivers another solid story that keeps much of the same that made the first two books so successful, but adds more to the story to keep the reader more than satisfied. Read on for more...

With David Copperfiled now living on board the Teddy R due to the events in Pirate, and also acting as their job finder, their is a new dynamic to the ship. Copperfield brings some light comedy to the novel, a welcome addition, and his interactions with Cole are great, sometimes even the highlight of the novel. His cowardice is a particularly amusing aspect, and his character seems at odds with the military mentality on board the Teddy R. He thinks only of the end results - cold, hard profit - and the story that comes from this helps flesh out Cole's personality and morals even more than in the previous books. He thinks nothing of putting the ship up against odds others would scoff at, but with his contacts throughout the Inner Frontier he is almost second to none in acquiring jobs for Cole and the crew.

It is through Copperfield that we meet the Platinum Duke, owner and ruler of Singapore Station, a vast space station free of any law but his and home to thousands of humans and aliens. The Platinum Duke is a human with many modifications and augmentations, his appearance giving him his name. He's a fresh new character that brings a new dimension to the series, giving a deeper glimpse into life on the Inner Frontier. He helps Cole get new jobs and with his knowledge he is able to advise what they may be up against, an invaluable resource for the Teddy R.

We've still got the main characters - Cole, Sharon, Forrice and Val - and now some of the other crew members of the Teddy R are starting to come into their own. I feel so comfortable in reading their exploits and can often see where things are going, but never quite imagining just how Cole will deal with the situations they are in.

It's an excellent story because of the characters, but I was slowly starting to feel that there are no surprises in store. Cole always manages to think his way out of any given situation and the tensions starts to suffer because of this. However, Resnick, to his credit, has written a military space opera that reads well and has plenty of fast action sequences, but it's not a full military SF series. This is good, mainly because the pace is never slowed by over thought space battles or missions and doesn't get bogged down in unnecessary detail. The ending also throws up some surprises and it left me grinning from ear to ear the way a good novel should.

At the midpoint of the series I just can't wait to see how the final two novels pan out and I'm putting Mike Resnick right up there with authors that I will read without hesitation. Pick them up!!(less)

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Feb 17, 2013 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, space-western, space-opera, military-space-opera, military-science-fiction

The only problem I have with this series is how fast the ships seem to be able to move from place to place, both between systems and in-system...

But besides that, this is a great "space western" series, with a snarky hero that rides in an saves the day. And a hero that's willing to do the right thing in a wrong world...

It's just a good ole fashioned good pulp science fiction read....

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Jul 29, 2011 Derrick rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, scifi

The Crew become mercenaries and win battle after battle, usually through brain, not brawn. Clever, witty. Same as the previous books. If you liked them, you'll like this.

The shine is starting to wear thin on the Captain's brilliance though, which is why this got 3 starts instead of 4.

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Mar 15, 2012 Samuel Proulx rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An okay read. It's not hard military SF, but it's entertaining enough to fill time during a commute.

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Jan 02, 2009 Craig rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sciencefiction

Good third title in the series.

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May 10, 2012 Peter rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: space-opera, science-fiction

AS far as I went with this series

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May 11, 2012 William rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

Listen as audio book 2012

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Feb 17, 2012 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi

Sadly, Resnick’s writing starts becoming repetitive and the indefensible becomes routine.

Read the rest of my review @ my blog

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Sep 27, 2009 Jeff Yoak rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2009, audio-collection

Book 3 is where this series really started to pick up for me. Our heroes are groping toward a cause one can sympathize with me. The cast of awesome characters is now full, and we know them well enough to really care about their well-being.

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Dec 20, 2008 Stephen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: signed-first-or-limited-edition, easton-press, audiobook, 2006-2010, science-fiction, military-fiction, space-battles

4.5 to 5.0 stsrs. This series keeps getting better and better. Peopled with great, interesting characters and lead by Wilson Cole, this is superb military space opera. Highly recommended!!.

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May 22, 2013 Kamal Syed marked it as to-read

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May 04, 2013 Felix Golden is currently reading it

May 03, 2013 Drenan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Apr 29, 2013 De Jan marked it as to-read

Shelves: 21st-century-sf, resnick

May 10, 2013 Ben Stoker rated it 3 of 5 stars

Apr 28, 2013 Greg rated it 3 of 5 stars

Apr 23, 2013 Bkepub added it

Shelves: speculative, fiction

Apr 23, 2013 Łukasz Boryczko rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 21, 2013 Terry Stiles rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 18, 2013 Joseph Cook rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: gfhgfhfgh

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About Mike Resnick

Michael "Mike" Diamond Resnick (born Chicago, March 5, 1942), better known by his published name Mike Resnick, is a popular and prolific American science fiction author. He is, according to Locus, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction. He is the winner of five Hugos, a Nebula, and other major awards in the United States, France, Spain, Japan, Croatia and Pola...more

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Starship: Mercenary (Starship #3)

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