By Force of Arms - William C. Dietz Book Review

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Review Summary

The Confederation of Worlds is a united state of affairs, complete with several allied civilizations and dozens of colonies on several planets. But a 'new' alien race called the Thrakies pops up and requests to be allowed settling in the Confederation's space. Unknown to the Confederation, the Thrakies have been pursued for centuries by a fleet of machines programmed to destroy them. These machines are known as the Sheen, and threaten Confederation. A Captain Booly is called in to investigate with his Confederate Army comrades the conflict between the Thrakies and Sheen. The Sheen fleet is controlled by a calculating AI that has everything planned and subverts the Confederation's inferior attempts at halting the invasion. The Thrakies are questioned as to why they are pursued and a slight distrust emerges. The Sheen's primary AI is called the Hoon, which uses a disillusioned former preacher to decept the humans. The Hoon and Confederation stand off while the Thrakies conceal a hidden weapon capabale of destroying both fleets. The Hoon actually makes a gamble of its own to achieve victory and makes some very human attempts at conquest. Booly combines forces with the Thrakies and his other allies to outsmart the Hoon. To everyone's surprise, the attempt is inconclusive, but the Hoon is deactivated from inside by one of its hostages (really, REALLY long story).
Chris Walden, Resident Scholar

Detailed literary breakdown of By Force of Arms

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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot

Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 20%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 30%

Tone of book - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION? - science fiction story
Political power play Yes
Political plotlets - preventing/managing clash/war between govts/kingdoms
Robots, Computers, VR Yes
Robot, PC, VR Plotlets: - fighting bad computer AI
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - infantry soldier
Age: - 40's-50's
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters
Physique - bulging muscles

Main Adversary
Identity: - Computer
Profession/status: - mastermind
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - throughout most of the book.
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Genius (really!)

Setting
Terrain - Forests - Domed/Underground City
Spaceship setting: - futuristic human warship - alien spaceship
Takes place in spaceship? Yes

Style
Person? - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
scientific jargon? (SF only) - some scientific explanation
How much dialogue? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog

Most similar books to By Force of Arms
Vulcan's Hammer by Philip K. Dick
The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons
Children of the Mind - Ender 4 by Orson Scott Card
Winds of Time by Bruce Alan Humphrey
Soul of the Algorithm by Norbert Weissinger

Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).

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