Eagle Against The Stars

The Stars

by Steve White

After forcing the United States to operate as its puppet government, the alien Lokaron's are about to receive a lesson in humility from the lowly humans. Original.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Military Science Fiction

282 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Born in 1948.
Steve White is an American science fiction author best known as the co-author of the Starfire-series alongside David Weber.

He is married with 3 daughters and currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. He also works for a legal publishing company. He previously served as a United States Navy officer and served during the Vietnam War and in the Mediterranean region.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wh...

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book of "The Stars" duology by Steve White. In this one America has given up it's democratic government in favor of the Earth First Part (EFP). A new doctrine that wants to limit new technologies and most personal freedoms.
Along come the alien Lokaron. They don't really want to take over. They just want us to trade with them. Trade conducted under their terms! They back their demands up with irresistible weapons. They choose the United States and the EFP government as their base of operations to control trade with the entire world. They are successful for many years but they are soon to learn the lessons of Earth's past. Mankind won't be kept down and the Lokaron are going to learn a hard lesson. A lesson they won't like one bit!

[Aria]

Dnf on p. 42. I put it down after the 1st ch., thinking I wouldn't come back to it. I did though, so I gave it a solid try. I quite enjoy the honesty in here re: the realities of governmental operation. It's supposed to be fiction, but the truth is stranger than fiction & feel like this book hits a lot of things about government straight on the head. That said, my interest unfortunately kept drowning in super-flat politico-type characters, & the over-detailed focus on tech. description that sometimes happens in sci-fi. So, while I think some people who enjoy a certain type of sci-fi writing will quite enjoy this, I just couldn't muddle through it. I'm kind of disappointed, b/c I really wanted to see what further points would be made in the story relating to humans & (so-called) governance. I really enjoyed those bits. It was all I enjoyed though, so I'll leave this to someone else. Will put it in the local little free library to find a new home.

Here's my fav. quote from what I did manage to read: " Pointing out that fact was a one-way road to total unpopularity in the U.S., whose national symbol should have been the scapegoat rather than the eagle."

The Barnes & Noble site offers this excerpt: "THE ALIENS PLAYED BY THE RULES. THEIR RULES.

When the Lokaron suddenly appeared in the skies of Earth, America was enjoying victory in the off-and-on war that had occupied most of the 20th century. That's why they chose America to occupy and use as their puppet in dominating the planet. We were already set up to do it; now we would do it for them.

Not that they were evil; they just insisted that we trade with them. By their rules, rules backed up by irresistible weapons. In terms of those rules, they would even play fair—but in the long run, if they didn't own something, it would be because they didn't want it.

At first we tried to fight, but just as the Japanese, the Chinese, the Hindus and all the rest had learned, when the ones with the guns say "Let's trade!" they really mean "Trade or bleed." And so you trade—even if you won't have a country—or a planet—left when the last round is played out."

There's even a nice Orwell quote in the 2nd chapter. This should have been up my alley. It wish it the rest of it had been more palatable to me. Oh, well. My loss, & someone else's gain.

[Kirrus · Rating 1 out of 5]

American right wing, tea-party, military, power fantasy circlejerk. Bonus (negative) points for climate change denial (no, the ice age isn't going to resume any time soon enough to save our hides), small government statism. I barely finished this. Might as well have been a sledgehammer for all the subtlety of it's political stance.

The sci fi setting is clever, and the writing is competent. World building is decent, just, heavily right wing. Loved the media rant at the end, "stand up, be counted, don't be sheeple, don't follow media blindly, led by few men." Would've been nice if the author counted fox media as something not to dive into so blindly..

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining enough, I guess. Not quite what I expected. Good enough that I'll read the other book in the series.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar in style to White's better known "Starfire" series, Eagle against the Stars is an enjoyable read. Having far less emphasis on space conflict that other of his novels,EAtS involves a future Earth in which America has developed into a conservative single-party government that rules over Earth when discovered by an unanticipated alien race.

In this case the aliens in question don't want to conquer Earth (or eradicate all life), but instead want to open trade - an idea which the Earth government (having their own self-interest in mind) hates. Completely unable to dictate commands to the aliens, or even force into negotiations, the Earth government is forced into accepting treaties which compel trade agreements, with all the resulting incoming technology being reserved for the government.

Plot wise, the book is about how Earth, and in particular the main character (former military, who is disillusioned about his government when he sees a romantic companion killed by one of the aliens) tries to adjust to the new reality, all the while in a government system that abhors change (and technological innovation).

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

A multi-ethnic, advanced alien race arrives to trade with Earth. USA is ruled by a progressive (fascist), neo-Luddite secular theocracy and is the point of contact for the aliens. Conspiracies and double-crosses abound as humans and aliens wrestle to control Earth's future.

[Darren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good beginning to what I hope will be a series.