The Shiva Option
Author: David Weber and Steve White
Publisher: Baen
Published In: Riverdale, NY
Date: 2002
Pgs: 753

REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
The Bugs were eating their way through the other sentient species of local space. Implacable, unstoppable, they swamed out of warp points and crushed resistance and finding inhabited planets set about devouring the intelligent species on those worlds. They find sentients delicious. Human children are just the right size for… A Grand Alliance between Human, Orion, Gorm, and Ophiuchi, an alliance formed in desperation. The Alliance wins a victory...only to have the seemingly unstoppable force of the Bugs sweep forth again tearing a Task Force apart with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Ivan Antonov and the Sky Marshal Hannah Avram onboard. The Bugs are out there, one transit from Alpha Centauri, two transits from Sol. The Grand Alliance has reactivated General Directive 18 which calls for the racial extermination of all Bugs wherever the Fleet finds them. Millions have died. Millions more will die. The Shiva Option is the sentients of the Grand Alliance’s only hope. “I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Genre:
Aliens
Fiction
Military
Science fiction
Space opera
War

Why this book:
Military sci fi. I’m all in. And a re-read of a favorite book.
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Favorite Character:
I do love the characters herein, but that largely comes from their appearances in other novels in the series and all their legacy, both descendant and antecedent.

Least Favorite Character:
Mukerji, Wister, and Waldeck, the polticos and their pet admiral who sought advantage in the war through political maneuvering in the Terran Federation. And Mukerji’s cowardice before the enemy. Hated all three.

The Feel:
Shiva isn’t structured to stand alone at all. Too much happened in the previous book that has to be harkened back to.

Favorite Scene / Quote:
The scenes comprising Survey Floatilla 19’s run for its life are the cream of the early part of this novel. But once they encounter the Others, they disappear from the early novel as the camera focus shifts squarely onto Zephraim and Home Hive Three.

The scenes where Prescott slaps Mukerji down. And my wanting them to go further.

When Rear Admiral Aileen Sommers signals her return to the Terran Federation with new allies in the ongoing war with the Bugs.

Prescott and Zhaarnak’s chat before the overwhelming Bug fleet bore down on them.

Pacing:
The pacing is slow but inexorable. It pulls me forward through the book.

Plot Holes/Out of Character:
Too much explanation of Orion honor and the intricacies of warp point defense and assault. At times, it shows that this universe is based on a game. The author seems to be reading from or paraphrasing the rules book and using the characters’ inner thoughts to communicate those rules. This happens more with Raymond Prescott and Zhaarnak’telmasa than I’ve noticed with any other characters in the entire series. Although this issue did not present in the previous books...or didn’t become as glaring as it does in the as Prescott and Zhaarnak rudiment on the defense of Zephraim and the incursion into and attack on Home Hive Three.

As much as I love these Starfire Universe books, I’ve never played the game it was originally based on.

Hate that the System Which Must Be Concealed was left on the table at the end of the story. The Bug War already ran two full, long books deep. And I haven’t read the later additions to the Starfire book series...I mean to, but haven’t yet.

Wish ISW-1, 2, and 3 were in novels.

Hmm Moments:
After Andrew Prescott and his crews took the hero’s journey, the story of his brother Raymond improved. The story became more about character, the ships, and the battles than about the mechanics that were, obviously and largely, about the game that the universe is based on itself.

The forced political rehabilitation of Admiral Mukerji is a slap in the face. It is exactly the kind of political interference that you would expect though. Very Royal Navy before and during World War 1 and the interregnum before World War 2. Admiral Raymond Prescott should have had Mukerji shot.

Meh Moments:
The mirroring of the affection in a military relationship between higher ranking female officer and lower ranking male officer with Sommers-Hafezi and Murakuma-LeBlanc is a bit much. The love in wartime/extreme circumstances trope could have been foregone or retuned, maybe not having two instances of it happening like this at the same time. IDK. Maybe it’s just me being a curmudgeon.

Why isn’t there a screenplay?
I don’t know that this series could be done justice on the big or small screen. Probably too military for many viewers. Afraid it would suffer the same fate as Space Above and Beyond, which I loved.
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Last Page Sound:
Damn it. I hate it when a good book ends.

Author Assessment:
Love Weber and White. Will always pick up and give a look at anything written by them.

Editorial Assessment:
Well done.

Knee Jerk Reaction:
real classic

Disposition of Book:
Re-read shelf

Would recommend to:
everyone
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Well written book. Good tactics and believability. ( )

What a wretched way to begin the year! Militaristic, xenophobic, barely tolerable semi-allegorical space trash. Disappointing from beginning to very fact that I finished it.

ZB13

Sample Chapters: http://webscriptions.net/chapters/0671318489/0671318489.htm