Reviews for Combat

The average rating for Combat based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2021-01-06 00:00:00 Bonnie Stimpak So. 2021. First up, one of my very favorite authors, Stephen Coonts (again, not Steven King or Dean Koonz) edits this anthology series unimaginatively named "Combat". He only writes a forward which is bit like a much better comedian *only* hosting a comedy show. The name gets your attention and your money, they introduce their friends, and then they're out. Still, I knew what I was getting into, and I did get to support my local library by buying the first two. Besides, I sort of like anthologies; it's like a combo plate of food: good if you aren't sure what you want, or feel like trying something new, or even just want a little variety. This plate had three items, two from guys I never heard of and one from a name I remember from my Uncle Steve's book closet. (His wife just shoved all of his books in a hall closet. Awful.) Before he passed, he used to read a lot of military fiction, specifically "techno-thrillers" by guys like Stephen Coonts, (yay!) Harold Coyle, Tom Clancy and Dale Brown. I remember Dale Brown writing books about planes like Stephen Coonts did, but I always assume that the things that I like are less popular, so I assumed Brown was a more popular writer, but back when this was published Coontz got the editing slot, and Brown was relegated to second billing among the authors (it may have been just alphabetical order), so maybe my favorite is more popular than I suspected! As for the stories, the first and longest is "Lash Up" by Larry Bond. Bond has written with Tom Clancy; particularly the intense "Red Storm Rising." That's always been one of my favorites because it moves quick and its scale is global. It feels like an exciting movie or tv series. This story was exciting too, using a ticking clock quite well. Set up with a very ambitious (but not wildly unrealistic) plot about scientists and engineers doing science and engineering, the critical importance of GPS, (a military tool that, like the internet, we take for granted, despite how much we rely on it) and an enemy that manages to have such advantage over our heroes that having an unlimited budget and the might of the entire U.S. Armed Forces behind them doesn't mean much if the scientists and engineers don't science and engineer. Teamwork! Good stuff. The second story is by the aforementioned Dale Brown. I quite liked the last story, so I walked into this one with a little more enthusiasm. Unfortunately, it seems that this tale is sort of like a MCU Marvel One-Shot, using characters from and referencing events of the author's other stories. I feel like it was also somewhat meant as a joke. A large part of the events are just this one dude who seemed written as a complete antithesis to the hero, and I guess he's supposed to be like, an uncool, nerdy, stick in the mud, a horrible stuffed shirt of an officer. But having NO IDEA who the main character was, I thought the dweeb was the protagonist and I wondered the entire time why the author seemed to go out of his way to point out how square he was. Once I realized that the other guy was his Jake Grafton/Jack Ryan, the story made a lot more sense. The writing and plot were good, but I know I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I had read his other books, and understood all the references. The last story was by David Hagberg. This time there was no clever misdirection, the protagonist was QUITE obvious. Distractingly so. In fact, this is the worst case of Mary Sue-ism I've ever seen in an actual published novel. Apparently the author has been writing for years and this is their high level DM PC. He was a take-no-bullshit lone wolf tough guy with mysterious multi-colored eyes who everyone, including THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA "revered and admired" while all of his non-specific enemies "feared him". Honestly, I had a REAL tough time taking anything seriously after the author included a random unattributed quote in his character description (just like on a G.I. Joe action figure file card!) that read, and I shit you not, "Don't ever underestimate him or he'll serve you your balls on a platter." What the fuck!? Oh, man. One time, in the Forgotten Age before the internet, I got my hands on a dirty magazine, and in that magazine, between coerced Eastern European teens and tired American strippers pretending to be coerced Eastern European teens, there was inexplicable fiction, (a lie amidst all the other lies) a macho, manly, military action tale about terrorists attacking an aircraft carrier. It wasn't great, but you know what, it wasn't awful. For complimentary porn filler. That's kinda where I'd place this. Ascended porn filler. The plot was competent, with no surprises. It was more or less people telling him how crazy and dangerous he is. I'm making sound like I liked it lot less than I did, but the self-insert fanfic and the "Damn, you're smooth" attitude from ALL the NPCs was just personally irritating. It was FINE. Like a shitty action movie. Macho fiction for boring people. ... and I spent most of this review complaining about it. Ugh. I blame 2020. Three stars. Not bad. Competent and inoffensive if you like this stuff, not really recommended if you don't. The first story was probably a very high three stars, but the last really drug down the average. Still looking forward to reading the rest in the series.

Review # 2 was written on 2010-02-27 00:00:00 Rogier Thierry This book is a compilation of 10 short novels by Coonts, Dale Brown, Larry Bond, James Cobb, Harold Coyle, R.J. Pineiro, David Hagberg, Dean Ing, Barrett Tillman, and Ralph Peters. All having to do with military matters. I liked most of them and will read more books by most of the authors.