Published by Del Rey, 1997,
paperback, $5.99 ISBN 0-345-40622-2
378 pages

The Marines are looking for a few good men...in the 25th century. So starts StarFist, "Book I" in the First to Fight series that follows a unit called the 34th FIST (Fleet Initial Strike Team) as it descends to the world of Elneal on a humanitarian mission to distribute food to the natives. As you can expect, this Somalia-style mission runs into a carefully hatched plan of revolution by one of the local warlords. A small groups of Marines, cut up and cutoff in the middle of the war, must run the gauntlet of a desolate wasteland and 2,000 fanatical warriors before they can reach home base.

StarFist is a little like Starship Troopers meet the Vietcong--and for good reason. Author Sherman is a former US Marine who served in Vietnam, and is the author of eight other novels about the war. Cragg, a former Sgt. major in the US Army, also served in Vietnam and has written a number of books about the war. Together, the two bring an infantryman's insight into battle, and translate it into the 25th century.

The story follows Joseph Finucane Dean from enlistment, through basic training, posting, first weekend pass, and then to embarking on the mission to Elneal. This portion of the book flows quickly, perhaps a little too quickly, as if Sherman and Cragg were in a hurry to put the green Marine in peril. Still, the attitude seems more or less correct, and the basic training seems as much for your benefit as a reader as it does for Dean as a Marine.

Back on Elneal, lots of high-tech communications equipment goes on the fritz and a green lieutenant bolts for home in the armoured personnel carriers, leaving Staff Sgt. Charlie Bass and his seven-man team with no-tech communications and a long walk. What follows is a combat patrol with the requisite veteran Sergeant, aka Bass, leading a mixed bag of veterans and newcomers across this wasteland.

The writing flows well enough, neither sparkling nor dull, for a quick read. If you substitute jungle terrain for desert and M-16s for oxy-hydrogen plasma shooters, you could be with the authors on a patrol in Vietnam--and that's a pretty good feeling to hit. The enemy natives harbour a mix of cleverness, tenacity, and stupidity, which makes for an eventful, if sometimes incredulous, mission.

More in the First to Fight series

StarFist Book I: First to Fight
StarFist Book II: School of Fire
StarFist Book III: Steel Gauntlet
StarFist Book IV: Blood Contact