Passage at Arms

Just read this book completely out of order. I liked it. All the reviews saying it's "Das Boot" in space are accurate. Very well done from the perspective of a "deep dive" into a cramped, dangerous vessel during wartime.

Had some complaints, though. Maybe because I haven't read the other books, but chapter 1 was confusing. It seems chapter 2, and maybe 3, should have come first ... that's where you actually get some introduction to what's going on. Also, with all the stuff happening on and around the story of this vessel, no real questions get answered about the greater conflict. Maybe that's intentional, but it just leaves me wondering what the rest of the story actually is.

War (in space) is Hell. A quick-moving and surprisingly compelling novel about an eventful mission on a cramped human ship trying to damage elements of a much stronger invading alien force.

After conflict breaks up between Earth and Ulant, Earth federation finds itself grossly outnumbered and pushed back all the time. Only people that can stop the Ulant invasion are the men and women crews of new and experimental Climber ships. These ships, capable of blinking out of the existence (by jumping into 'null' space) in order to avoid the enemy detection, stalk him and then suddenly attack him are only edge humans have in order to repel the invaders. Caanan (symbolic ain't it) is the thorn in the back of Ulant advancing force - major strike base from which almost all Climber actions are planned and executed.[return][return]Cook manages to bring that depressing feeling of men under stress, serving under unbearable conditions on show more experimental ships with no means of getting rescued in case of any problems, always working behind enemy lines and living with average '10-patrol' life expectancy odds.[return][return]Great war book, sort of a homage to the submarine crews in WW II.[return][return]Recommended. show less

After conflict breaks up between Earth and Ulant, Earth federation finds itself grossly outnumbered and pushed back all the time. Only people that can stop the Ulant invasion are the men and women crews of new and experimental Climber ships. These ships, capable of blinking out of the existence (by jumping into 'null' space) in order to avoid the enemy detection, stalk him and then suddenly attack him are only edge humans have in order to repel the invaders. Caanan (symbolic ain't it) is the thorn in the back of Ulant advancing force - major strike base from which almost all Climber actions are planned and executed.

Cook manages to bring that depressing feeling of men under stress, serving under unbearable conditions on experimental show more ships with no means of getting rescued in case of any problems, always working behind enemy lines and living with average '10-patrol' life expectancy odds.

Great war book, sort of a homage to the submarine crews in WW II.

Recommended. show less

265 pages. This is an intense character driven novel. The action is seen through the lens of a war correspondent embedded with war weary volunteers. It’s a psychological drama as much as it a war story. Its draws as much from Haldemans Forever War as it does from Das Boot. I found the book hard to put down and regret that there were no follow on novels.

as good as people say it is