Ace, 2000, ISBN 0-441-00782-1, $5.99, 266 pages

It's always sad to see the end of a favorite series, and Colonel marks the end of the DMC Series. For five previous books we've watched Shelley build up Lon Nolan from Officer Cadet to Lt. Colonel. Now, he makes Colonel and leads the 7th mercenary outfit from New Sparta.

With regimental command comes new responsibilities. The days of personal level combat are over in favor of sending battalions here and there across the surface of Elysium. Of course, you can't keep a good officer entirely out of combat...especially when his son is in the battle as well.

You'd think that Shelley would have another book left in the series: General. But alas, a quick one-page epilogue explains that Nolan does make General, and his descendents do even more wonderful things. Maybe Shelley got tired of the character or of the series. Who knows? But the six books of the DMC series should be on every military sci-fi buff's shelves.

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