Cluster Command

Crisis of Empire #2

by William C. Dietz, David Drake

Their finest hour, or their final days...
The first Empire has entered what may very well be its last crisis: the Emperor is dead by assassination and has left an infant heir. Worse, the imperial mystique is but a fading memory: nobody believes in empire anymore. Indeed nobody believes in much of anything beyond the boundaries of self. There are exceptions, of course, and to those few falls the self-appointed duty of maintaining a military-civil order that is corrupt, despotic - and infinitely preferable to the barbarous chaos that will accompany its fall.
One such is Command Anson Merikur.
This is his story.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Military Science Fiction

276 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1989

About the author

New York Times bestselling author William C. Dietz has published more than fifty novels, some of which have been translated into German, Russian, and Japanese. He grew up in the Seattle area, served as a medic with the Navy and Marine Corps, graduated from the University of Washington, and has been employed as a surgical technician, college instructor, and television news writer, director and producer. Before becoming a full-time writer Dietz was director of public relations and marketing for an international telephone company. He and his wife live near Gig Harbor, Washington.

Reviews

[Sam]

3.5*. Well paced with lots of action, with interesting characters (both human and alien). Plot wandered a bit near the end, but finished strong, setting up nicely for the next book.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY]

This sequel is better than the first

A good piece of military fiction. The apes are an interesting piece of tech that only exists for one chapter? History does repeat itself. This sort of what to do when the empire is in decline is very popular. I think the series by poul Anderson is better.

[Eric Hersh]

I thought it a good book, quite entertaining.

[JBradford]

I suddenly find myself reading books by amateurs – except that in this particular case both of these authors are 68 years old and each has written more novels than I can read in a year … so why does this one read like the outpourings of a horny 17-year-old? Wikipedia reports that Drake’s method of collaboration is to supply the outline of the story, which his collaborator then fleshes out; I definitely see the outline of the story here, which is a true swashbuckling tale of adventure in the style of Flash Gordon, such as we might have read serialized in Galaxy magazine 50 years ago, but it needs a lot more fleshing. The characters seldom rise above two-dimensional level, the dialog is wooden, and the science (when not simply glossed over) is suspect.
So--why did I stay up all night reading it? I came home from a late meeting, picked up the book from a pile of unread paperbacks, and the next thing I knew the sky was turning light in the east as I closed the book on its last page. How do we measure writing success? I recall that Stephen King indicated one measure was to write something that a reader had to keep reading, even after his wife went upstairs for the night after giving him a come-hither look. I don’t have a wife upstairs, but I have a compulsion to find out what happens to characters in books, even when they are unbelievable characters. I guess I am just not a good judge to judge by.
This is an account of an incident in the First Galactic Empire, when a position-less commander in the service gets called before the Appointment Board and learns that he is being promoted two grades to the rank of General and being sent out to be the military commander of an area known as Harmony Cluster, subject only to the command of a new governor, who is giving up his senatorship to become governor. Then he learns that he also has to marry the Senator’s niece--which means that his live-in girlfriend gets told to take a hike, as does the senator’s niece’s beloved husband. Oh, and by the way--the new governor has this crazy idea that aliens should be treated as equals. You can see where this is going.

[Bob Koester]

Continuing my re-read of the first three books of this series. Liked this one significantly more than the first. A more believable and yet more heroic conflicted hero, and more interesting political questions raised. Early on I missed the first book's alternation of protagonist and non-protagonist chapters, but this one makes up for it with little sketches of minor characters caught in the various battle scenes. These scenes are great, btw. The first book was an adventure set in a militarized society, this one is more of a war book, and takes everything about the war and its assumptions seriously (though briskly).

Very much looking forward to re-reading the third book (by yet a third co-author) and then reading the fourth for the very first time.

[Papal Bull]

The crisis in command series is not one of his better works. It is hard to imagine the dearth of troops under command based upon the size of the cluster and the previous novel.

[Chris]

Excellent sequel. Political intrigue, space battles, adventure in the jungle, and love.

What more could you ask for? this book is a worthy sequel. I look forward to reading book 3 in the series!