Wings of Hell

Starfist #13

by David Sherman, Dan Cragg

No one captures the action and sacrifice of war better than real combat vets David Sherman and Dan Cragg. Now their blazing space epic Starfist continues as Marines of the Confederation’s Thirty-fourth Fleet Initial Strike Team (FIST) go head-to-head against the deadly Skinks. Of course, Company L’s third platoon has fought these aliens before, but never in these numbers…

Planet Haulover has been invaded by Skinks. Until now, the aliens’ existence has been kept confidential. But Force Recon’s shocking report leaves the Confederation no choice but to mount a military campaign and reveal to the public its biggest secret: the threat of fierce alien predators bent on human destruction. What’s no secret is that the four army divisions and two Marine FISTs sent to Haulover aren’t nearly enough to defeat the well-entrenched aliens, who have a tunnel system second to none.

Back home, the Confederation’s president is being denounced as a warmonger bent on exterminating “harmless” aliens. And if she loses the upcoming elections, the Confederation will have a lot more Skinks than those on Haulover to worry about.

Newly promoted Lieutenant Charlie Bass and his third platoon have more pressing concerns, such as staying alive. But what would be a suicide mission for most—whether it’s raiding a hidden Skinks base or destroying the enemy’s most lethal weapons during a desperate firefight—is for them just another job.

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

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

David Sherman was the author or co-author of some three dozen books, most of which are about Marines in combat.
He wrote about US Marines in Vietnam (the Night Fighters series and three other novels), and the DemonTech series about Marines in a fantasy world. The 18th Race trilogy is military science fiction.
Other than military, he wrote a non-conventional vampire novel, The Hunt, and a mystery, Dead Man's Chest. He also released a collection of short fiction and non-fiction from early in his writing career, Sherman's Shorts; the Beginnings.
With Dan Cragg he wrote the popular Starfist series and its spin off series, Starfist: Force Recon—all about Marines in the Twenty-fifth Century.; and a Star Wars novel, Jedi Trial.
His books have been translated into Czech, Polish, German, and Japanese.
David passed away in November 2022.

Reviews

[Jeffrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not so good.

I am hard pressed to understand how this book got the reviews it received. The first 150 pages or so is boring. Yes it contains probably well researched and well conceived narrative about military life, but who cares.

The action sequences against the Skinks (the bad aliens) are very predictable.

Skip it.

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I read something that isn't quite working for me, I always try to figure out what the author(s) found interesting about the story. For this particular book, for the life of me, I couldn't figure it out. It's a military science fiction book that doesn't seem to care about the science, the tactical or strategic combat, or the characters, so what's left?

The pacing was also a touch questionable with some significant story threads introduced late in the book. I assumed these might be hooks for later entries in the series, but no, they're pretty much resolved by the end of things.

Granted, a lot of this might be my fault for popping into the series so late, but there's a fair amount of recapping that would probably feel excessive for the long-time readers, so I never felt confused by what was going on just by why I should be too bothered about it.

[Paschalis]

elibrary

[Mike Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great continuation of a really good story. Characters are believable and you can recognise and sympathise. A good read but it is a continuation.

[Danny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting bit of a twist involving a certain skink

[Per Gunnar · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the 13th novel in the Starfist series. According to the author the series was cancelled by the publisher after the 14th novel. Unfortunately it looks like this series is going to end on a much lesser note than it started. Maybe this downhill tendency was why the publisher cancelled the series in the first place?

This book is slightly better than the previous one in that it does not really contain too many dumbass, incompetent, generals trying to get the marines killed to cover up their own sorry asses. Unfortunately that is not much of a consolation though. The book takes quite a while to get started and those first bits are downright boring mostly devoted to women problems and military wife issues. From there we dive into a bunch of political nonsense with the president having to stave off a crisis in the creation by some of the usual political lowlife scumbags.

When the fighting finally starts it is, luckily, written in the same well done way as in the previous books. However, it is very predictable and there is really no development on the side of the aliens. We have now read about these aliens in a fair amount of the books in the series and they are still just the same nebulous fanatical bad guys which just seems to get a foothold on a planet somehow. Where are they from? Why are they here? What do they want?

Basically, the story is not really going anywhere. It has run out of steam so to speak. The fact that the books are not really that great any more makes it more and more difficult to overlook the totally ridiculous and childish names that the author seems to like giving to everything that is not strictly marine related.

I have already started to read the last and final book in this series but, quite honestly, I jumped straight into it just to be able to get the series finished and be done with it.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know that I have read this book before but I can't remember when or why.

Anyway, this is another account of the Marines engaging the Skinks on a planet called Haulover.

It reads pretty well except for the authors continuing insanity of using stupid names for most everything not directly associated with the Marines. This makes his books seem childish and appear that very little time or effort was spent on anything but the Marine experience.

I'm going to read the final book in this series. Because of the above, I won't be sorry to see this series end. It is getting a little to immature for my taste.

[Doc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aaaaaaahh. These guys continue their saga, building on what has gone before to create another exciting, detailed, action-packed story. And the set-up at the end makes it pretty clear that more is coming.

I've thoroughly enjoyed this entire series to date.

What will I read now, while I wait for the next one?

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skinks have invade the planet Haulover. In the past the existence of this new, hostile alien species had been classified. A Marine Force Recon report blows the lid off. The Confederation president is accused of waging war against a "benign" species. Lieutenant Charlie Bass and his Marines of the 34th FIST must fight for the survival on Haulover.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Sherman and Dan Cragg know what they are doing. The plot, characters and writing of this book are well developed and will hold your attention throughout your literary experience with the book.

Go ahead and pick up the book. You'll enjoy it.

[Keira F. Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

More space marines fighting aliens. Forgettable. Series is getting a bit tired by this point. Still entertaining, but the fact that I can't remember half the book a week later doesn't speak well of its impact.

[Carol A. Whetzel]

I did not read this book.