Metal Swarm

You might say this series has really grown on me, perhaps like a cheap beer after the 10th or 12th can. The unlikely coincidence of events are leading to more wars -- and it's hard to identify two factions that have not been at war sometime in the course of this series events. Despite its title, Metal Swarm wasn't about the rise of the evil robots -- in fact, they are rather on the decline. The Klickiss, a race of giant insects, has come back from presumed extinction to reclaim all of their former worlds. Worlds that several novels earlier were the targets of a new human colonization initiative. Ooops.

The Earth's Hansa's chairman is getting nuttier by the day, and is now pretty much an incarnate of Stalin. His minions are even becoming show more conflicted with the magnitude of the orders being issued -- and one actually has the wherewithal to do something about it. But if internal strife and giant bugs aren't enough of a threat, the Faeros, a race of fire elementals that live in suns, have gone on the offensive under the direction of a mad, outcast Ildiran usurper who had started a civil war a few books back. show less

This book, part 6 in the series, takes place in the far future, after a brutal galactic war. Klikiss robots pretended to be humanity’s friend, building soldier compies (battle computers) for the Earth Defense Forces in their war against the hydrogues. The compies were all programmed to turn against their human hosts at a particular moment, killing thousands and stealing many Earth battleships. Sirix, the leader of the robots, uses these Earth battleships to attack undefended Earth colonies.

The leader of Earth, Chairman Basil Wenceslas, is forced to abandon all of Earth’s colonies, to concentrate whatever forces he has left on Earth’s defense. The figurehead monarchy, King Peter and Queen Estarra, escape to a forest world called show more Theroc, to set up a rival confederation, which the former Earth colonies gladly join. Now that the war is over, Chairman Wenceslas wants those former colonies back under his leadership. He makes an example of an average, undefended farming colony, by sending a fleet with orders to flatten and destroy everything. The whole event is filmed, and is to be shown to all other former Earth colonies.

Meantime, the original Klikiss are a black, insectoid race that live in colonies (like a bee hive). They have an overwhelming desire to fight and destroy all other colonies, called breedexes. They attack breedexes on other planets through transportals, teleportation portals spread all over the galaxy. When there is only one breedex left, it grows until critical mass is reached, and that breedex spreads to other planets via the transportals, when the fighting resumes. The original Klikiss were thought to have been extinct thousands of years ago, leaving their mark on many, now inhabited, planets. They’re back, and they want their planets back. The Klikiss have no problem at all with annihilating anyone, or anything, that gets in their way.

When reading a series, I am one of those who must do it in order, so the summary in the front of this book is a big help. It also helps because there is a lot going on in this book, perhaps too much. Having said that, if the rest of the series is as good as this volume, it is very much worth checking out. It is a very interesting story that will certainly keep the attention of the reader. show less

I marked read, but trashed is more likely to accurate shortly. I didn't finish it, heck I didn't even get halfway through. I could clearly visualize the characters reading their lines from a TelePrompTer in a monotone on a Monday morning with a bad hangover hoping nobody was watching...

Not as good as the first 5 books. The stereotypical stupid-human political subplot ruins the stories of the truly awesome alien beings and cultures conceived and developed throughout the series.

Not as good as the first 5 books. The stereotypical stupid-human political subplot ruins the stories of the truly awesome alien beings and cultures conceived and developed throughout the series.

Only one more book to go.

Often during the reviews of this series I cite how timeline is a terrible distraction. The Pregnancy that has gone on forever is now finally over. How a second problem that the author thinks is a triumph is the short vignettes of everyone's story. That still plagues us.

How as a political treatise we have a meglomaniac ruling earth without a checks and balance system. Still the Chairman gets away with terrible horrors and no one stops him.

A new item has come to the surface and that is the absence of death. In a story with so many heroes, killing some of them would seem to be natural. Especially with so many chances that they should die. Some of the horrors that our heroes face are such that cheating death should show more not be an option. But here very few have died.

For a successful author who certainly has a great deal of royalties form his other successes, one should believe that Anderson had the time to devote to polishing the story. Sometimes it takes hours to get to a planet, and sometimes weeks. Sometimes days goes by in the threads of one hero and then another is picked up and it is a few moments since last we met.

This is a story that a map of the galaxy could not be given because the author creates devices he needs whenever he needs it. The same with the abilities of his alien adversaries. All that means to me the reader that logic is absent. Further causing the story to be ridiculous.

That it gains higher marks from me then before is that now as some of the storylines are finishing, I am happy for it, and have the tiniest bit of better perception. But I will be glad when it is all done. show less

The Klikkiss have returned. Mr. Anderson just keeps upping the anti.