Luna Marine

Heritage Trilogy #2

by Ian Douglas

The revelations on Mars -- a half-million year-old legacy of the vanished star-traveling Builders -- have fed the flames of catastrophic war. A beleaguered United States and its Russian and Japanese allies struggle to hold their own against the indomitable forces of the enemy United Nations. The bloody conflict that has swept over the home planet now rages across the blackness of space -- with the U.S. Marine Corps in the vanguard, leading the charge as always. But Mars is not the sole repository of alien wonders. The Earth's moon hides unsettling mysteries of its own-and dangerous secrets pointing toward an unstoppable threat advancing from somewhere beyond the solar system. And as scientists on both sides ract to utilize technology they have only barely begun to comprehend, the UN makes the opening move in a gambit that could end the hostilities quickly and decisively by bringing about the death of millions...without the aid of alien-inspired weaponry. A bad situation worsens by the nanosecond. And that means it's time to call in the Marines -- to make a life or death stand on the gray shores of Luna.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Military Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Space Opera, Alternate History, Audiobook

402 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1999

About the author

Ian Douglas is a pseudonym used by William H. Keith Jr..

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very nicely written SiFi book. I have read or listened to about 6 of this authors books and so far they have all been well crafted and written SiFi stories. he does an exceptional job of making the science a real part of the SiFi story. Recommended

[Gary Morgenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific and smart. A must read for fans of military science fiction. I can't wait to read the final novel in the trilogy.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay here we go... Did you read the first book in this series? Did you like the first book in this series?

If so, we're cool. Enjoy.

Now for those of you who haven't read the first in this series let me ask, do you like military science fiction? Do you like military fiction? Do you like military action type brain candy?

Okay you'll probably like this one. I would suggest that you start with the first one.

The archaeologists are still here, uncovering evidence of advanced space faring civilizations which had been here llloooonnngggg ago. We (the humans that is) are still divided into totalitarian believers and those who are desperately trying to hold on to a bit of freedom as the elites and those who "want to be taken care of with thinking about it" march along.

In other words how long can we continue to war with each other once we become a space raring society?

Efer hear of "The Fermi paradox"?

Enjoy.

[Gregoire · Rating 2 out of 5]

à réserver aux amateurs du genre et dans ce cas c'est un bon moment de lecture avec les Marines à la pointe de tous les exploits
Jack continue ses recherches et découvertes sur la ou les civilisations ET
Le conflit entre US et UN m'a paru tiré par les cheveux ou peut-être suis-je un incorrigible optimiste qui préfère croire que face à de telles découvertes les nations s'uniront (un peu comme dans Seul sur Mars) plutôt que de se faire la guerre !!!

[B.K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to review the Heritage Trilogy as one whole as I read the three earlier this year in quick succession and really have the same opinions on all three books.

This trilogy spins a very cohesive story and really should be read straight through. It is an exceptional piece of sci-fi with fleshed out characters and a compelling story. The technology is well described and it is believable that the events in this trilogy could happen within the next 10-20 years. There is also political intrigue and just enough action to keep the pace going and satiate any rabid militaria junkie. All this set against the backdrop of discovering progressively growing evidence proving ancient astronaut theories, and you have a story that makes you really wonder about the possibilities surrounding the origins and development of our species. Along the way, you are bound to at least have a good time!

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

These books are pretty militaristic, and it’s hard to look past their raging boner for the Marine Corps, but it’s not impossible, especially when it gives us fight scenes on the MOON! The science is still pretty cool, but the politics are still dubious. In this book, the United Nations is so evil that they’re willing to drop an entire asteroid on the United States just to win the war. Douglas doesn’t seem to think too much of international cooperation.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good space opera military science fiction! Douglas is not everyone's cup of tea, but the Heritage Trilogy is a good read.

[Gilles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luna marine, le deuxième livre de la série "The Heritage trilogy", une série de science-fiction militaire, par le talentueux Ian Douglas, pseudonyme de William H. Keith.

La série se passe dans un futur proche. On a découvert sur la lune des artefacts, d'une civilisation extraterrestre, qui datent d'environ 6,000 à 10,000 ans. Ces découvertes augmentent la tension entre les deux grands blocs qui craignent les avantages énormes que pourraient apporter des découvertes technologiques extraterrestres, à l'adversaire. Alors que la guerre continue à faire rage sur terre, c'est sur la lune que la bataille décisive va se jouer. Et, les Marines, rompus aux actions de commando, en sont le fer de lance.

Le contexte politique est plus ou moins crédible, mais Douglas a une expérience militaire pendant la guerre du Vietnam et l'action est menée tambour battant. Et avec son écriture serrée, les chapitres s'envolent et on a hâte de voir la suite.
J'ai beaucoup aimé.

[James Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading "Luna Marine," the second book of Ian Douglas' Heritage Trilogy and found it an enjoyable read. The United States, Russia, and Japan are at war with the United Nations. Evidence of alien dabblings in human affairs was discovered on Mars, and now it appears the Earth's moon may also be a repository of alien artifacts. The United Nations has a presence on the Moon, and the United States responds by sending a detachment of Marines to fight the UN troops and protect the alien artifacts. If you like military SF with an old-fashioned pulpy feel to it, I heartily recommend The Heritage Trilogy.

[Mykhailo Gasyuk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Нічого особливого. Інопланетні артефакти знову десь на фоні, більше уваги бойовим діям, які описані не дуже детально. Герої стандартні, якогось персонального зростання не помітно. Хоча ні, він є в одного персонажа, але весь час здається, що найважливіші для сюжету навички в нього були з самого початку. І знову пряме цитування популярної уфологічної маячні, яку втулили в історію людства. Залишки від ксеноархеології: один з головних персонажів прибуває на локацію і дуже швидко отримує всю необхідну інформацію. В першій книзі хоча б інтриги були…

[Rikhard Von Katzen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent sequel, more interesting than the first book, really. I'm looking forward to finishing out the Heritage trilogy soon.

[Lee Belbin · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of the same: Not a bad read, even if it is USA military. The USA vs the rest of the world and guess who wins? The alien-earth history was the interesting SF angle that kept me reading. Onto V3.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read. Several characters from the last book and a good storyline. Honestly, I think this series would make a good TV series.

[Jim Raith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great author. Very thought-provoking and I especially liked his interpretative idea on the Fermi Paradox. Such an underappreciated and unrecognized author!

[Alex Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read with a bit of pacing issues. Overall enjoyable. I really liked the mystery surrounding the aliens.

[Kasey Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ode to the Marines! I read this with enjoyment.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another good military space sci-fi novel from Mr. Douglas. I enjoyed almost every bit of the book. It reads quickly and smoothly. The only thing I would have liked was to hear more about the alien races that were discovered in the “Cave of Wonders”. Other than that, well worth the read.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the first book in the series, this is all-in-all a good, enjoyable read. However it (they) are taken down to 4 stars due to editing issues, the lack of proper radio communications procedures, and some other quirks that would make the book that much better if better research had been done. To the editors, Alpha is spelled "alpha" and not "alfa". With that said, it's still and good book and I recommend reading it/them.

The book definitely stands on it's own, but ties in nicely with the rest of the series.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Heritage trilogy by Ian Douglas. In this one the United States and Russia are still at war with the UN. The UN has found advanced alien technology on the far side and the near side of the moon. The US sends in the Marines who capture the site on the lunar near side. The Army is brought in to occupy the site on the near side but a counter attack by the UN recaptures the site and takes the Army personal prisoner. It is then up to the Marines to retake the near side site as well as capture the far side site before the UN can reverse engineer the alien tech into a weapon the US can't stand against. Meanwhile the UN redirects an asteroid's orbit so it will strike the US. The US partially destroys the asteroid with a missile but a large chunk still strikes and destroys most of Chicago. This is a great example of military science fiction and I recommend tho anyone who like that type of science fiction.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the rare middle book in a trilogy that is better than the first book. Typically the middle book is a fill, bridging the gap between the exciting first book and the climactic finale. I think the reason this one works so well is because while this series is three books each story is independent of the other. The timeline is separated by a few years and many of the characters are the same but plenty of new ones. The underlying theme is the same but the story is quite different.

In this book the war between the US, Russia and the UN force has escalated and now Japan is on the US side. The discovery on Mars has been further explored and yielded much information but nothing useful to the war effort. The hot spot in this book is the Moon hence the Lune Marine title. Here the discoveries are much more recent and have great implications on the war. That's all I'll say about the plot so as not to spoil.

What makes this book better in my opinion is that while the military action is significant - especially the final scene - it is secondary to the story of the discovery made on the Moon and how it relates to more recent human history. The level of detail and the thought that went into this was terrific in my opinion and I really enjoyed Douglas' speculation. Also a lot of science was evident and made for interesting reading as well.

I have been pleasantly surprised by how much I have enjoyed this series and hopefully the third book will not let me down.

[Exanimis · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with the first book, Luna Marine is dated. Some events are said to have happened that we now know never took place.

At one point someone refered to Chinese troops as "Chinks" I personally found this offensive as I would have any other derogatory term.

From the back cover of Semper Mars, the first book of the Heritage trilogy:
"Because great powers are willing to devastate a world in order to keep an ancient secret buried"
"something that calls into question every belief that forms the delicate foundation of civilization..."

That statement made the trilogy somewhat predictable, you know instantly that it is religion that is the "belief" that is called into question. I had hoped as I began to read this trilogy that the author had come up with something new and original, I was dissapointed.

You know that when troops from any other branch of the U.S. militairy attempt something that they will fail because we know that it can't be done by anyone other than the Marines.

With all the world at war with America and her allies, the UN plots an attack that could posssibly bring about the extinction of the Human race. I was pretty sure it would fail from the first mention of the plan.

Regaurdless of it's shortcomings, I have enjoyed the series so far and intend to finish it because it is simply a fun read.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author wrote this in 1999 and obviously missed the whole Ancient Aliens TV show on H2. If you skip past the whole ancient alien theory, this is a great novel for USMC vs the world action novel. The characters are great and the storyline moves along. As the second book in a trilogy, it does not suffer the same lags and flaws as most sequels.

As a side note and not just this author but every author that has the ancient alien or ancient astronaut, all they have done is to move the ball back in an infinite regression. If life did not begin on earth but on another planet and migrated here where as microbial bacteria or another alien civilization, how then did life arise on that planet? Same mechanism? Or a different mechanism? Where is your proof? How is the evolutionary process on that world the same as the Earth? Or is that an unprovable assumption?

Nevertheless, the author did a great job moving the story along instead of fixating on scientific evidence or conjectures. The ET drives the story, not the other way around. The protagonists and secondary protagonists are all believable.

[Andy Arnold · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really didn't think that much of the first book in this series finding the invincible "gung ho" US Marines a little difficult to stomach. I pressed on with this trilogy after reading the Goodreads reviews and I'm glad I did. Although the outcome of this book was somehow never in doubt, the jingoistic sabre rattling was toned down a little this time making this a more palatable read. I also really enjoyed the style of some of the narratives away from the main characters and found them to be very well written, with the chapter set in Chicago being of particular note (not to give too much away). It's refreshing to read near future fiction where every problem hasn't already been solved by science, and the massive problems of space travel even without the fighting elements are still factored into the plot.
All in all an enjoyable slice of military Scifi and I'm uncharacteristically moving straight on to book 3, and maybe beyond!

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Douglas, Ian. Luna Marine. Heritage Trilogy No. 2. Harper Voyager, 1999.
When I first read Luna Marine in 2018, I gave it a dismissive rating and did not bother to write a review. I think I must have been annoyed at the all-too-busy plot and the derivative nature of the boot camp story, not to mention the Face-on-Mars trope it inherited from the first novel in the series. But rereading it in 2021, I think I should have given it more credit for some inventive near-future tech, albeit based on the what if we had some alien future tech to kick start our thinking trope. There is, for example, a cool explanation of why an antimatter drive would be more efficient than a plain old fusion drive. Finally, there is a riveting description of something very bad happening to Chicago. Not all the satire aimed at religious cults and United Nations bureaucracy works. On second thought then, three and a half stars, rounded down.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a long time to read this book, not because I didn't like it--I did! I was reading it before bed every night, which meant I'd usually log about five pages before falling asleep. This is pure military sci-fi; the second in a series of three about the US Marines in the near future. It's a fun story that realistically portrays the nature of infantry combat in outer space, mixed into a story about human beings finding aliens artifacts on the moon and on Mars. The most interesting aspect of the story is the war between the UN and the USA/Russia/Japan, all fighting over control of near space and alien technology. Good science fiction with plasma guns, antimater, and AI, as well as menacing aliens and a whole lot of Semper Fi!

[Ian Tweeddale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review can cover the whole series. It's good 'down-to-earth' (if I could use this phrase for this genre) military sci-fi. The (human) technology comes across as understandable, some interesting developments in society are tracked and for a nice change the political views of the author are not too obvious (talking to you Ringo, Kratman). Douglas has an central idea about alien influences which he has fleshed out over 6 books quite successfully. Most of the ideas are not that original but he combines them well to produce entertaining yarns and occasional food for thought. Bought the series on iBooks and are very good value for money. Highly recommended for fans of the genre as well as any beginners to it. Very enjoyable.

[Zachary Wagoner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great entry in the series. Luna Marine takes the action from Mars to the surface of the Moon. This time the action is much more centered around open conflict, a change from the journey that takes up much of the Mars portion of Semper Mars. There are several battles fought during the book, which adds a sense of following a military campaign as it unfolds.

The US-UN War continues throughout this book. The stakes are raised in a big way. We also get to see a bit more of the action of this war down on the surface of Earth, which helps keep the story fresh.

If you've read Semper Mars and enjoyed it, the decision to continue the story with Luna Marine is an easy one to make.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

First: More great marines-in-space stuff.

Second: While these books are not world-shaking, consciousness raising, pseudo-intellectual claptrap, they do present a vision of a near-future that could arise from the political scene of today.

Third: As with all good sci-fi, these books are about the people more than the tech. And Douglas' characters rock! Anyone who has ever been (or even known) a marine will recognize his characters as more than just simple jarhead stereotypes.

And Last: More great marines-in-space stuff :)

[Andreas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Heritage Trilogy is the first of three connected trilogies about Marines in space, and consists of:

Semper Mars
Luna Marine
Europa Strike

Three very good near future military SciFi stories, loosely connected at the micro level, with a deeper common background. My only small gripe is that Douglas does not concentrate more on the backstory of alien visitors in ancient times. Still and all, a very good read.

Note: Ian Douglas is a pen name for William H. Keith.

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