Publisher: Baen Books

Author: David Weber and Steve White

Format: 4" x 7" Paperback Books, 745 pages.

ISBN: 978-0-7434-7144-2

Price: $8

The third novel based on the science fiction combat and 4X game Starfire. This is a direct continuation of the second novel and they both cover the Arachnid War. In this war all the main races -- the Terran Federation, Ophiuchi (birds), Orion (cats) and their client race Gorm (lizard) -- form a Grand Alliance to battle the Arachnids, a spider-like species intent on subjugating everyone and eating them.

The events here cover several years and it's all downhill for the Bugs. Two new stellar nations are introduced. The Star Union of Crucis is made up of several races with the Crucians (avians) and Telikans (koalas) seeming to dominate. The Zarkolyan Empire is a trading entity that has quickly geared up for war. Zarkolyans are tri-symmetrical.

The book has a couple of star maps so you can follow the various campaigns (unfortunately the online version of the book does not have any maps). As far as I can tell the book remains true to the Starfire game and pretty much all the combats and maneuvers can be done in the game.

Even at 745 pages there are things missing. There are a good number of characters and a fair amount of jumping forward in time since it does take months to rebuild fleets. There are humanizing subplots but for the most part not that many words devoted to them (unfortunately). It only gets worse when the Crucians and Zarkolyans arrive as character coverage gets quite thing (and no Zarkolyan character stands out).

For someone who's read and played Starfire (though not the modules covering the Arachnid War, I think) it's a pretty good read. I think I've said this before in which case it bears repeating. There's a lot of stuff left unsaid and a familiarity with Starfire helps a lot. I think for most people the whole series may not be worth reading.