By Blood Alone

The novel is not without several strengths. The author's deft use of the conquered Hudathans in an unexpected manner definitely scores points in my book. His utilization of "geekheads" and hackers to get the word out on the true realities of earth's new government also plays well in the context of the story. However, while By Blood Alone actually ended up being a better novel than I expected early on, it is plagued with several problems. The characterization is somewhat weak over all, as these characters never come vividly to life; a number of actions are frankly hard to buy into; and too much happens outside the scope of the pages themselves. The actions of earth's new rulers border on the ludicrous, the reluctance of the Confederacy of Sentient Beings to react in any way to the dire events taking place on the planet of its most erstwhile defenders seems contrived, and - perhaps most of all - the elaborate plot involving several planetary leaders is not easy to embrace or give credence to. Several turning points in the drama come about outside the scope of the pages, and that is truly bothersome. You spend a number of chapters wondering how the author is going to deal with a certain issue, and then you are told the issue has been dealt with and the story quickly moves along to something else.

Then there are the characters; several are strong and heroic, but few stand out. My biggest complaint concerns the women of this futuristic universe. All of Dietz's prominent female characters (and this furthers a trend noted in previous books), no matter how important militarily, politically, or scientifically, seem to be part sex objects and part sexual predators. The entrance of any formidable female into a scene is constantly muddied with descriptions of men's physical reaction to what they are seeing and, as often as not, the female's thoughts on possible relations with the men she meets. There is little romance in the love that sometimes develops between a man and a woman, but Dietz always takes it upon himself to describe a couple of naughty excursions by two relative strangers (usually of mixed ancestry and heritage). Such interludes seem to serve no purpose other than to "sex up" a military science fiction plot quite capable of standing on its own too feet. As each Legion novel comes and goes, a growing sense of character shallowness takes more and more away from the reading experience.

Readers should note that, unlike Legion of the Damned and The Final Battle, the conclusion of this particular novel is rather open-ended, setting the stage for the events chronicled in the next book in the series (By Force of Arms). The introduction of two new civilizations, the Thraki and the Sheen, doesn't fit in well with the story of the mutiny on Earth, but it sets the stage for what is to come later. By Blood Alone is a stimulating read filled with enough action to keep one's attention throughout, but it leaves too much unexplained and thereby fails to impress itself upon the reader's mind. What is categorized as a battle for Earth seems, in the end, more like a squabble. In my opinion, this book represents a slightly disappointing effort by an author capable of taking the genre to vast new heights.


Interesting extension of some older sf ideas   July 26, 1999
This is something of a bridge between the old sf and the new. Many of the concepts have been done before as well as the cast of characters. But this is done well enough that it keeps interest. The end also definitely leaves you ready to buy the next.


Good, but strays too far from it's past   July 12, 1999
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This, the third novel in the "Legion" series of books really trys to be too much. The first two had a solid foundation in military science fiction, and succeeded on that stance. This book seems to much of a setup to future books in the series, with the introduction of many characters whose only purpose is to set things up for later (and, in this book, later never comes). While Dietz is very good (one of the best in his genre, in my opinion) at writing a story, here he trys to take his story and make it an epic, and in that light the book does not succeed. I also would NOT recommend this book for those that have not read the previous two titles in the series. Too much of the backstory is left unsaid in this novel, and without that knowledge the average end reader will be lost.


A fair book which is technically lacking   July 7, 1999
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Dietz writes a fairly interesting story, but his command of scientific and technical issues is sorely lacking. He shows an inability to extrapolate technological advances into improvements in weaponry. If you wish to see well done speculations on future weaponry, read any of David Drake's military sci fi. Also his characters are none too deep, and the villains are simply two dimensional. However the action is good, and the plot is fairly interesting. Not a bad read, but nothing special.


By Blood Alone is a clever metaphor in its own right alone!   June 15, 1999
If you want to know the future of NATO and how the military forces can rot itself into complete inertness and stuporific uselessness in times of peace and plenty then this is the novel for the ages! Mr. Dietz expertly commands his field of fire by easily demonstrating how compromise and political in-fighting among normally venal people can blossom into several nests of fully evil characters along with the resultant emerging popular societal customs that steadily weaken our moral fiber as humans. This novel is right-up-there with Koontz's seminal "Dark Rivers of the Heart." See how an otherwise free and enlightened government/league of nations can quickly curdle into a stinking facist regime in our modern world, and easily within one solar year. Horrid, yet instructively fascinating! Read all about it, indeed, before "they" take it off the shelves!