What do you think?
Rate this book
The Martian Wars Trilogy #1
Rebellion 2456
In the 25th century Mars struck back.
Mars is a terraformed wonderland made possible by the exploitation of Earth's resources by a monolithic corporate nation from Mars, known as RAM, which combines the worst traits of capitalism and communism. Genetically modified Martians swarm through the Coprates Metroplex, sail the polar Boreal Sea, and ride into space via the Pavonis Space Elevator.
Earth is a polluted ruin, dominated by seedy urban sprawls and fortresslike arcologies. The people of Earth writhe under the lash of physical, economic, and military slavery. Their only hope rests with the New Earth Organization's freedom fighters, whose organization is weakened by dissension and treachery.
Enter a man from a golden age, nearly five centuries before, miraculously kept alive in suspended animation. His mission is Save Earth or die trying.
Mars is a terraformed wonderland made possible by the exploitation of Earth's resources by a monolithic corporate nation from Mars, known as RAM, which combines the worst traits of capitalism and communism. Genetically modified Martians swarm through the Coprates Metroplex, sail the polar Boreal Sea, and ride into space via the Pavonis Space Elevator.
Earth is a polluted ruin, dominated by seedy urban sprawls and fortresslike arcologies. The people of Earth writhe under the lash of physical, economic, and military slavery. Their only hope rests with the New Earth Organization's freedom fighters, whose organization is weakened by dissension and treachery.
Enter a man from a golden age, nearly five centuries before, miraculously kept alive in suspended animation. His mission is Save Earth or die trying.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
1 person is currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
M.S. Murdock
13 books9 followersMelinda Seabrooke Murdock (born 30 April 1947; age 70) is a Star Trek novelist, author of Pocket TOS #10: "Web of the Romulans". Murdock has also contributed a series of novels to the Buck Rogers line.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 21, 2020
The only thing that’s really “retro” about Buck Rogers: The Martian Wars Trilogy Book One: Rebellion 2456 is the intellectual property Buck Rogers in the 25th Century which TSR, Inc., former publisher of Dungeons & Dragons and pioneer in the role-playing genre, shortened to simply Buck Rogers when they packaged the book series, the characters from the classic pulp adventure, the line drawing repeated at the front of each chapter showing a ‘50s sci-fi style of drilling machine, and the call-sign “Crabbe” for one of the pilots, referring back to the original actor who played Buck Rogers in the movie serial. So, I think that’s why the entire trilogy has languished on my shelf for almost three decades. Instead of “retro,” I was getting computer viruses, sentient artificial intelligences, and hacking. It must not have felt right because I put the book down at least three times after looking at the first chapter.
This week, I saw the three volumes sitting on the shelf and decided that I would either start reading them or give them away. I started with Rebellion 2456 and accepted the fact that it was still Buck Rogers and Wilma Deering, even if the technology and even the imagined technology was updated. Indeed, I appreciate the character of Princess Ardala as a more, pardon the chauvinistic pun, well-rounded character. Her role as an information-broker extraordinaire makes more sense to me than any of her appearances in the serial or other IP products. And, though it is only hinted at in this volume, I get the sense that more about Killer Kane than betraying the NEO for money will be revealed. At least, there is some complexity involved in his motivation.
The symbolism of a totalitarian RAM versus a New Earth Order, particularly with the Russian names given to the RAM executives and some of the computer entities, has a nice Cold War flavor ret-conned into this futuristic war of independence. The fact that the NEO forces have a pirate ally with a ship named Free Enterprise doesn’t hurt convey the message, either. It’s freedom versus the tyrants. It’s those who value life (especially human life) versus those who do not.
The set-up, particularly the way the NEO’s space station has managed to survive, seems more credible than as presented in earlier iterations of the IP. The concept of technology so old that it exploits weaknesses of newer technologies so advanced they didn’t even consider the archaic implementations is almost a trope, but it really works in this novel and in a different way than I expected.
And, although I read a lot of action-oriented protagonists who surprised their love interest by quoting poetry, it makes sense that a U.S. military veteran displaced in time and space might be familiar with Wordsworth’s “Ode to Duty” (p. 279), based on a line from one of Seneca’s letters where the old cynic says that he is not only able to do what is right, but sed nisi recte facere non possim (“but not able to do (anything) except to do right.”) It’s worked nicely into the scene in Rebellion 2456, as well.
So, even though it took three decades to pull Rebellion 2456 off the shelf and even though it wasn’t quite what I expected, it was nice to read and now, I have scheduled the next two books into the rotation of books to read (I never read trilogies one after another).
This week, I saw the three volumes sitting on the shelf and decided that I would either start reading them or give them away. I started with Rebellion 2456 and accepted the fact that it was still Buck Rogers and Wilma Deering, even if the technology and even the imagined technology was updated. Indeed, I appreciate the character of Princess Ardala as a more, pardon the chauvinistic pun, well-rounded character. Her role as an information-broker extraordinaire makes more sense to me than any of her appearances in the serial or other IP products. And, though it is only hinted at in this volume, I get the sense that more about Killer Kane than betraying the NEO for money will be revealed. At least, there is some complexity involved in his motivation.
The symbolism of a totalitarian RAM versus a New Earth Order, particularly with the Russian names given to the RAM executives and some of the computer entities, has a nice Cold War flavor ret-conned into this futuristic war of independence. The fact that the NEO forces have a pirate ally with a ship named Free Enterprise doesn’t hurt convey the message, either. It’s freedom versus the tyrants. It’s those who value life (especially human life) versus those who do not.
The set-up, particularly the way the NEO’s space station has managed to survive, seems more credible than as presented in earlier iterations of the IP. The concept of technology so old that it exploits weaknesses of newer technologies so advanced they didn’t even consider the archaic implementations is almost a trope, but it really works in this novel and in a different way than I expected.
And, although I read a lot of action-oriented protagonists who surprised their love interest by quoting poetry, it makes sense that a U.S. military veteran displaced in time and space might be familiar with Wordsworth’s “Ode to Duty” (p. 279), based on a line from one of Seneca’s letters where the old cynic says that he is not only able to do what is right, but sed nisi recte facere non possim (“but not able to do (anything) except to do right.”) It’s worked nicely into the scene in Rebellion 2456, as well.
So, even though it took three decades to pull Rebellion 2456 off the shelf and even though it wasn’t quite what I expected, it was nice to read and now, I have scheduled the next two books into the rotation of books to read (I never read trilogies one after another).
January 30, 2014
From the Department of Tying Up Loose Ends: The next several months for me have a couple of life changes heading my way, among them getting married and moving to a new house. In preparation for moving, I've been packing up many, many boxes to hold the many, many books that I've come to own over the years. In the process of that as I was packing a shelf that had been double stacked I came across this volume and remembered that close to twenty years ago I had bought volumes one and three of this series in a used bookstore. The bookstore didn't have volume two and although I kept an eye out for some time, it never surfaced and as I'm one of those people who won't even start a series until I have every book in hand, the two books merely got filed away in the place wherever abandoned hopes and dreams belong.
Fast forward to finding the volumes again and I realized that with the magic of the Internet (and the fact that these probably are not hot commodities) it should be relatively easy to find the missing volume two at a reasonable price. And huzzah, so it was. Now, with the series complete I can finally discover what my fifteen year old self was missing all along. He'd be so thrilled.
If I'm remembering correctly, the TSR Buck Rogers was also of a piece with their role-playing game system and while related to the old Buck Rogers serials with Buster Crabb, the main similarity is "guy from the past wakes up in the future, reminds them what Awesome is", sort of if you gave Captain America rayguns but took out his need to fight the Axis. I don't know which came first with TSR, the novels or the games (knowing them, it was probably hand-in-hand) . . . I was more familiar with the computer games, of which there were two (and Matrix Cubed was hard as all heck, I don't think I ever finished it) and the basic setup was the same. In the future Earth is crushed under the red-dusted bootheel of the Russian-American Mercantile (or RAM). Stalwart rebels NEO are attempting to fight off the giant corporation that is cramming all that is good about Earth down their profithole, and aren't doing a very good job of it, making tiny bites here and there but being more annoying than anything else. Enter Anthony "Buck" Rogers and get ready for a world to know the sweet taste of freedom once again.
It's actually fortunate that I remember so much of the computer game system as this series pretty much assumes you've read the prequel ("Arrival", I presume, a series of short stories detailing Rogers' entrance into the 25th century and introducing pretty much everyone you see here . . . which I did read, presumably back when Bill Clinton was President) and doesn't really go out of its way to introduce anyone beyond "here they are". So we have Buck, kickbutt Wilma Dering (and perhaps future love interest), a couple NEO soldiers, loyal pirate Black Barney (who is already loyal when this starts, thanks to Buck giving him a smackdown that wins his respect) and then the various RAM operatives at various levels who mostly plot ways to make NEO's life miserable, or at least figure out when to cut their losses. In the mix you also have Cornelius "Killer" Kane, former NEO soldier and now freelance, and some lady that buys and sells information and that the author likes to describe in great detail her clothing and every luxuriously curve of her body.
Oh, and the computer simulations. In the 25th century the software programs seem to be sentient and based on real people. In what must be a plotline carried over from "Arrival" evil program Masterlink and a splinter of it with a Russian name plot on the side how to kill Buck Rogers. This mostly involves them talking to each other IN ALL CAPS and their dialogue winds up being hilariously snippy, as the two of them bicker more like an old married couple than a pair of computer programs, to the point where you expect them to just start making out. It's sad that the world of fan-fiction ignores the potential for romance and evil here (sidestepping that they're kind of the same program, but that only makes it more juicy), but the sequence get a lot funnier if you imagine the cast of "Dynasty" reciting the lines. Whether it was meant to come across as that funny I have no idea and I can't tell if it was meant as a sort of satire or we're supposed to take all this seriously.
Meanwhile, the plot happens in all this. It's fairly basic, as everyone starts out with a goal that's stated pretty early and more or less sticks to it throughout the entire novel. Its bookended by setpieces of RAM invading a NEO base and NEO repaying the favor later but for the most part everyone sticks to the character template. Buck Rogers doesn't come across as particularly charismatic, just a typical 20th century Yankee showing what some ingenuity and two fists can accomplish . . . mostly you get the impression that everyone follows him because no one else has any better ideas. There are very few twists and turns, for the most part Buck Rogers comes up with a plan and then goes and does it and mostly succeeds. Murdock's space battles aren't too much to write home about, but get the job done, which is the general feeling I get from this book. Its probably because of the span of years, as there was a time in my life when I ate up every TSR book but here it feels like the general house style alternates between flattening out any attempt at stylistic flair or treats us all as idiots reminding us of the same details over and over, as if the chapters really were in serial format (it's explained to us about the software program's eyes looking faraway means its accessing data pretty much every time it happens, which is often). The locations don't always come alive, either, it took me a while to process that the big base they were attacking was on Earth, not Mars, and its' often not clear who is where at any given time. I'm not sure how well it works as a model of the future (there's not many nods toward practical considerations, like Buck and the future cross-contaminating each other with new diseases or ones that haven't been seen for five hundred years, or the communication difficulties that would result from a language drift over the centuries), but you can tell the thought that went into the setup (even if the author isn't the one who came up with it), although its missing a sense of wonder in the midst of relentlessly steering itself toward the climax. To be fair, the next book fixes that slightly.
But its professional and competently done. Teenage-me would have thrilled to every minute of it. And I have to say, it's nice not to be taxed for once as while it's never super-exciting, it's never embarrassing. It pushes you along from chapter to chapter and if you want to accuse it of coasting, I don't know if TSR really would have argued with you. Its meant as a playground for the setting, and nothing more, so if you want to perceive any flatness as "just good enough", you probably wouldn't be too far off the mark.
Fast forward to finding the volumes again and I realized that with the magic of the Internet (and the fact that these probably are not hot commodities) it should be relatively easy to find the missing volume two at a reasonable price. And huzzah, so it was. Now, with the series complete I can finally discover what my fifteen year old self was missing all along. He'd be so thrilled.
If I'm remembering correctly, the TSR Buck Rogers was also of a piece with their role-playing game system and while related to the old Buck Rogers serials with Buster Crabb, the main similarity is "guy from the past wakes up in the future, reminds them what Awesome is", sort of if you gave Captain America rayguns but took out his need to fight the Axis. I don't know which came first with TSR, the novels or the games (knowing them, it was probably hand-in-hand) . . . I was more familiar with the computer games, of which there were two (and Matrix Cubed was hard as all heck, I don't think I ever finished it) and the basic setup was the same. In the future Earth is crushed under the red-dusted bootheel of the Russian-American Mercantile (or RAM). Stalwart rebels NEO are attempting to fight off the giant corporation that is cramming all that is good about Earth down their profithole, and aren't doing a very good job of it, making tiny bites here and there but being more annoying than anything else. Enter Anthony "Buck" Rogers and get ready for a world to know the sweet taste of freedom once again.
It's actually fortunate that I remember so much of the computer game system as this series pretty much assumes you've read the prequel ("Arrival", I presume, a series of short stories detailing Rogers' entrance into the 25th century and introducing pretty much everyone you see here . . . which I did read, presumably back when Bill Clinton was President) and doesn't really go out of its way to introduce anyone beyond "here they are". So we have Buck, kickbutt Wilma Dering (and perhaps future love interest), a couple NEO soldiers, loyal pirate Black Barney (who is already loyal when this starts, thanks to Buck giving him a smackdown that wins his respect) and then the various RAM operatives at various levels who mostly plot ways to make NEO's life miserable, or at least figure out when to cut their losses. In the mix you also have Cornelius "Killer" Kane, former NEO soldier and now freelance, and some lady that buys and sells information and that the author likes to describe in great detail her clothing and every luxuriously curve of her body.
Oh, and the computer simulations. In the 25th century the software programs seem to be sentient and based on real people. In what must be a plotline carried over from "Arrival" evil program Masterlink and a splinter of it with a Russian name plot on the side how to kill Buck Rogers. This mostly involves them talking to each other IN ALL CAPS and their dialogue winds up being hilariously snippy, as the two of them bicker more like an old married couple than a pair of computer programs, to the point where you expect them to just start making out. It's sad that the world of fan-fiction ignores the potential for romance and evil here (sidestepping that they're kind of the same program, but that only makes it more juicy), but the sequence get a lot funnier if you imagine the cast of "Dynasty" reciting the lines. Whether it was meant to come across as that funny I have no idea and I can't tell if it was meant as a sort of satire or we're supposed to take all this seriously.
Meanwhile, the plot happens in all this. It's fairly basic, as everyone starts out with a goal that's stated pretty early and more or less sticks to it throughout the entire novel. Its bookended by setpieces of RAM invading a NEO base and NEO repaying the favor later but for the most part everyone sticks to the character template. Buck Rogers doesn't come across as particularly charismatic, just a typical 20th century Yankee showing what some ingenuity and two fists can accomplish . . . mostly you get the impression that everyone follows him because no one else has any better ideas. There are very few twists and turns, for the most part Buck Rogers comes up with a plan and then goes and does it and mostly succeeds. Murdock's space battles aren't too much to write home about, but get the job done, which is the general feeling I get from this book. Its probably because of the span of years, as there was a time in my life when I ate up every TSR book but here it feels like the general house style alternates between flattening out any attempt at stylistic flair or treats us all as idiots reminding us of the same details over and over, as if the chapters really were in serial format (it's explained to us about the software program's eyes looking faraway means its accessing data pretty much every time it happens, which is often). The locations don't always come alive, either, it took me a while to process that the big base they were attacking was on Earth, not Mars, and its' often not clear who is where at any given time. I'm not sure how well it works as a model of the future (there's not many nods toward practical considerations, like Buck and the future cross-contaminating each other with new diseases or ones that haven't been seen for five hundred years, or the communication difficulties that would result from a language drift over the centuries), but you can tell the thought that went into the setup (even if the author isn't the one who came up with it), although its missing a sense of wonder in the midst of relentlessly steering itself toward the climax. To be fair, the next book fixes that slightly.
But its professional and competently done. Teenage-me would have thrilled to every minute of it. And I have to say, it's nice not to be taxed for once as while it's never super-exciting, it's never embarrassing. It pushes you along from chapter to chapter and if you want to accuse it of coasting, I don't know if TSR really would have argued with you. Its meant as a playground for the setting, and nothing more, so if you want to perceive any flatness as "just good enough", you probably wouldn't be too far off the mark.
May 21, 2023
Book one of the Martian Wars Trilogy (book 2 in TSR's Buck Rogers in the 25 century line). The story takes place a while after the events of the book Arrival. Apparently a lot happened in the intervening time which is alluded to in this work, but never really in detail. Buck Rogers has joined up with New Earth Organization (NEO). The NEO is at best a rag-tag group of freedom fighters trying to throw off the yoke of oppression from RAM, a corporate monolith that controls a great deal of known space. Unfortuantely RAM attacks the NEO base where Rogers was waiting and is able to destroy most of it.
Buck and Wilma Deering manage to escape and make their way to another hidden NEO base.
Buck decides that the NEO hasn't done enough to free earth (and the way the author sets things up suggests that the NEO is made up of a council that has trouble agreeing upon plans). He sets out to even the odds for NEO by stealing some of the best space fighters available and then being able to take the fight to RAM.
Overall the book is enjoyable. There's some interplay with Buck and those around them as he's still trying to adjust to the new time period but as there's been some 'story' since he was thawed and the beginning of this novel he's already starting to adjust. Because of a variety of characters the author has to utilize chapter breaks switching points of view with the protagonist and the various antagonists of the novel. Also space while large and open, has shrunk to enable flight between, mars, earth and various other points operate at the speed of plot rather than realistic travel time.
Buck and Wilma Deering manage to escape and make their way to another hidden NEO base.
Buck decides that the NEO hasn't done enough to free earth (and the way the author sets things up suggests that the NEO is made up of a council that has trouble agreeing upon plans). He sets out to even the odds for NEO by stealing some of the best space fighters available and then being able to take the fight to RAM.
Overall the book is enjoyable. There's some interplay with Buck and those around them as he's still trying to adjust to the new time period but as there's been some 'story' since he was thawed and the beginning of this novel he's already starting to adjust. Because of a variety of characters the author has to utilize chapter breaks switching points of view with the protagonist and the various antagonists of the novel. Also space while large and open, has shrunk to enable flight between, mars, earth and various other points operate at the speed of plot rather than realistic travel time.
March 5, 2015
I never played the TSI game version of Buck Rodgers, but I used to watch the series in the Eighties, and I read the comics whenever I came across them. It was interesting to see hard science used here in and around Buck Rogers... even if the AI's in the game are very quite nearly fantasy.
This is the first part of a trilogy, but it at least ends in a good place.
This is the first part of a trilogy, but it at least ends in a good place.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews