Reviews

The Hundred: Savage Wars Book 3 by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole Book Review

And now we return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Gods & Legionnaires was a bit divisive among fans of the series, as it went deep into the rabbit hole that is the mind of a Savage, rather than primarily featuring military sci-fi action. That lack is more than made up for in The Hundred [Amazon link]. But don’t think the weird stuff is gone; it is just hiding, waiting to pop up and get you when you least expect it.

The Hundred is partly done as a flashback narrative, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the great battle by which the Legion threw the Savages off New Vega. This makes some sense because we are going back 1500 years in the Galaxy’s Edge universe from where we started. But this technique also gives us a chance to see how bittersweet a solemn memorial can be, as the emotions of pride and satisfaction war with grief, loss, and incapacity.

And of course, it cannot be any other way, because the whole point of going to war with the Savages was to make it so their children and grandchildren did not have to endure the horrors of a world ruled by horrors from space, if indeed there were to even be any children at all.

There were some great nods in The Hundred to previous works, but my favorite was the use of “Rods from God”, a kinetic orbital strike weapon first proposed by Jerry Pournelle, in his pre-author career in the Deep State.

It was also fascinating to see how Casper and Tyrus practiced asymmetric warfare against the Savages. In principle, it seemed that the human worlds did in fact possess the number and power to push back against the Savage incursions, but lacked the will and political unity to fight them on the beaches. However, Casper and Tyrus both knew that humans love a winner, and a success on New Vega would breed more support. So they carefully selected a battle plan that would allow victory despite far inferior numbers. Savage psychology, having been pushed in unusual, even unnatural, directions in the vast depths of space, offers the inventive commander many opportunities.

I am dying to know more about the intelligence capabilities the fledgling Legion had that enabled that battle plan. Things like drones and satellite observation are straightforward enough; but the Legion also seemed to have human, errr…Savage intelligence as if they had a man on the inside. How exactly does that work? There is a level of technological competition and deception only hinted at here that would make for a fascinating book.

Sprinkled in throughout the book, but particularly concentrated in the epilogues, are hooks into larger adventures waiting for elaboration. I shan’t spoil the fun, but all the weirdness was not left behind with Crometheus and the Uplifted. I am sure that we have lots of fun in store.

My other book reviews | Reading Log

Galaxy’s Edge season 1:
Legionnaire: Galaxy's Edge #1 Book Review
Galactic Outlaws: Galaxy's Edge #2 Book Review
Kill Team: Galaxy's Edge #3 Book Review
Attack of Shadows: Galaxy's Edge #4 Book Review
Sword of the Legion: Galaxy's Edge #5 Book Review
Tin Man: Galaxy's Edge Book Review
Prisoners of Darkness: Galaxy's Edge #6 Book Review
Imperator: Galaxy's Edge Book Review
Turning Point: Galaxy's Edge #7 Book Review
Message for the Dead: Galaxy's Edge #8 Book Review
Retribution: Galaxy’s Edge #9 Book Review