The Last Legion Book

Bunch was one of the writing pair (with Alan Cole) who wrote the "Sten" series. Reading this book, the first of a series, gives me a good idea of who was responsible for what: Bunch handled the battle scenes, the tech, and the sex; Cole wrote the actual story.

The title refers to a Confederation military unit, posted to a distant world, and having to deal (very rapidly) with both the Confederation collapsing behind it, and threats from local insurrections, alien warriors, and a neighboring warlord. Bunch trots out bits of ancient Rome and recent Guatemala and Columbia, but it's Viet Nam that takes center stage, as the (sometimes inept, but ultimately heroic) Confederation (Americans) helps defend the (corrupt) rulers of the Cumbre System (South Viet Nam) from the local insurgents (the Viet Cong, with a bit of Islamist fanaticism thrown in).

When Bunch is writing military scenes, it works pretty well. But the apparent main protagonists ' some not-so-raw recruits who find themselves on the last ship to Cumbre ' never really stand out, especially amidst a cast of zillions, many of whom tended to blur together before they were wiped out at the climax. And outside of battle, things turn into stereotypes of hard-boozing, sex-starved soldiery all too quickly, and unsatisfyingly.

This book was Sten without the main players on stage, and without much of the fun, or imagination. If you're a fan of the space war genre, it's just tolerable. Otherwise, borrow it or skip it.