Shiva Option - Hardcover

Weber, David; White, Steve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671318489 ISBN 13: 9780671318482

Publisher: Baen, 2002

Synopsis

When confronted by the predatory Bugs, who have overrun planet after planet, the warriors of the Grand Alliance determine that The Shiva Option is the only choice between victory and racial extermination.

About this title

About the Author

With more than eight million copies of his books in print and 33 titles on the New York Times bestseller list, David Weber is a science fiction powerhouse. In the vastly popular Honor Harrington series, the spirit of C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander lives on—into the galactic future. Books in the Honor Harrington and Honorverse series have appeared on 21 bestseller lists, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today. Additional Honorverse collaborations include the spin-off miniseries Manticore Ascendant with New York Times best-selling author, Timothy Zahn; and with Eric Flint, Crown of Slaves and Cauldron of Ghosts contribute to his illustrious list of New York Times and international bestseller lists.

Best known for his spirited, modern-minded space operas, Weber is also the creator of the Oath of Swords fantasy series and the Dahak saga, a science fiction and fantasy hybrid. Weber has also engaged in a steady stream of best-selling collaborations: the Starfire Series with Steve White; The Empire of Man Series with John Ringo; the Multiverse Series with Linda Evans and Joelle Presby; and the Ring of Fire Series with Eric Flint.           

David Weber makes his home in South Carolina with his wife and children.

Reviews

Fans of space opera who have been eagerly awaiting this sequel to Weber and White's In Death Ground (1997) won't be disappointed, to put it mildly. Humanity and its various allies find themselves under attack by an enemy with whom no communication, let alone coexistence, is possible, since their foes lack individual sentience and are driven by a Darwinian imperative to regard all other life forms as food sources. Countered against this nightmare are an assortment of diverse species, some unknown to one another, who share the ability to make moral choices, "including the ultimate choice of sacrificing that very individual consciousness in the name of what all of us recognize, in one form or another, for what it is: honor." This capacity is stretched when it is discovered that, in this war, genocide is a tactical weapon. The authors have created a fictional reality with all of the verisimilitude of a technothriller, but this doesn't credit them enough, since unlike, say, Tom Clancy, they have had to create their own weapons, tactics and even societies. Characterizations are strong and vivid, particularly the Human and Orion command team that spearheads the fight and a fighter pilot who's haunted by the ghosts of her dead. Ultimately, Weber and White have written an exposition, in the form of a novel, of Heinlein's axiom that "ethics are a survival mechanism," leaving the reader both exhilarated and enriched. (Feb.)Alternative (Forecasts, Nov. 19).

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

In the 24th century, the Grand Alliance, made up of four sentient, allied races, finds itself on the losing end of the ongoing war against the Bugs, a hostile race of spacefaring, alien carnivores intent on conquest. In desperate straits, the warriors of the Alliance muster a last-ditch effort to destroy their enemy once and for all regardless of the cost. Coauthors Weber ("Honor Harrington" series) and White (Eagle Against the Stars) excel at large-scale military sf, combining intense scenes of interstellar battle with compelling portraits of men and women locked in interminable war. Along with its series predecessors Insurrection, Crusade, and In Death Ground, this title belongs in most collections.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

The fourth, apparently concluding volume of a space-war saga drawn from the Starfire game brings the war of humanity and its allies against the Arachnids, aka Bugs, to a thunderous and bloody climax. The alliance gradually assembles a picture of the configuration of Bug space and therewith the strategy for attacking it. Meanwhile a strayed surveying expedition stumbles on the Solar Union of Crucis, a multispecies addition to the anti-Arachnid coalition. The good guys do not, however, have it all their own way, for the younger of the Prescott brothers dies in action, and the Bugs' technical ingenuity and ruthless use of kamikaze tactics make them very tough opponents. The strategic edge swings back and forth, with intelligence, logistics, and training all factored in, right up to the finale. The story requires high tolerance for sweeping space battles, but quite an audience exhibits such tolerance, even if only a minority may appreciate the many evidences of Weber and White's expertise in naval history to be found in between the fights. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Baen
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671318489
• ISBN 13: 9780671318482
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 688