The Morcai Battalion

Light years from Palmer's fluffy romances, this is a space opera complete with Amazonian medics, alien lifeforms, clones, politics, intrigue, interstellar battles, torture, comrades in arms, and forbidden love. All in all, a pleasant surprise.

I really wish Ms. Palmer would write more books for this series. This and [b:True Colors|959087|True Colors|Diana Palmer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266682640s/959087.jpg|943997] are the only books she's written that are remotely worth reading. I'm sorry to say I've read all her books and I have to wonder how many long-haired, naive virgins there are left in that stupid little Texas town.
But Morcai Battalion was a pleasant change from her regular formula books. I'm not big on sci-fi, but I like variety now and then and this was a good story.

Picked this one up at random from the library. Forget Ursula le Guin and Doris Lessing: this book is old-fashioned space opera with laser beams and naval camaraderie. I wasn't far in before I realized that it reminded me of the one book I have read from Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan sequence. It even incorporates the same scenario: Terran woman at the mercy of alien bad-ass general finds him not as bad as the propaganda painted him. If I had ever heard of the author I might have been expecting the romance element, which I didn't find a problem. MB 20-iii-2012

I gave up after reading about 20% of this book. I just could not process all the terms and names author keeps throwing at us. We have names of different races, planets, equipment... and most of the things are not explained what are they. I don't like sci-fi novels like that. Because it is happening on another planet, it does not mean that you have to invent new name for everything. Tolkien even did not go that far.

There is an ongoing war between most of the human colonies and the Rojok nation. The Centuarian people are allied with the human race, but they don't really get along. Madeline Ruszel is a doctor called in to triage at a colony that has been slaughtered by the Rojok. However a diplomatic ship carrying some members of the Centuarian royal family is part of the triage zone. This brings the Centuarian ship Morcai to the scene, along with it's complement of elite fighters. Everyone is forced to flee the scene when the Rojok return and Madeline's ship is damaged, forcing them to evacuate to the Morcai. Will their intolerance for each other destory them before the Rojok catch them?

I read this a few years ago and loved it. I just picked it up show more again to refresh before reading the sequel and noticed some major flaws in the writing style this time around that just drove me crazy. There were several points that are mentioned over and over again, just in case we forgot them. That got old fast. Other than that the storyline is still so intriguing that I enjoyed the story anyway. show less

In my humble opinion, her best work! The book was so exciting, I couldn't stop reading until I read it all! Three friends who stick together through everything, and a shipful of people who hate them but learn to respect them. I am one of the few who read her original version of this book, and I didn't think she could improve on it. I was wrong! Expanded and even better. Who says Diana Palmer just writes romances?? This book proves she can also write science fiction, and well. There are more to come in this series, and I am eagerly awaiting Morcai Battalion: The Recruit, which will come out under Susan S Kyle. There will be at least one more in the series, and likely more than that.

Very simplistick storyline, had the style of a book written in the 1930s. Enjoyable read.