The verdict
Fleet combat with a real sense of cost. Read it for the tactics and the command politics, and start the series at book one rather than here.
Quick facts
- Author
- D. Rebbitt
- Series
- The Globur Incursion, book 5
- Genre
- Military science fiction
- Best for
- Readers who like fleet combat with a strong command layer
- Skip it if
- You have not read the earlier books in the series
Author D. Rebbitt
Sword is the fifth book of the Globur Incursion, and it is fleet combat done properly: a task force with untested leadership, an enemy that has never lost, and a command structure where the politics are almost as dangerous as the aliens. It is not a book to start a series with, and it is a strong one to be five books into.
The idea behind it
The premise of the Globur Incursion is bleak and it is played straight. Ships appear out of quantum space, worlds on the rim are attacked, and no system has ever been successfully defended. There is no clever counter-weapon and no chosen hero. There is a fleet that is slowly losing, a set of rim worlds that know it, and commanders who have to make decisions with incomplete information and no guarantee that the numbers will add up.
What lifts it above a simple shooting gallery is the command layer. Rear Admiral Jones is new to running a task force, his ships are new, and his authority is not secure. Captain Zenke commands one of his destroyers and carries a crew of survivors from earlier engagements, which means the institutional memory of how badly this can go is on board. Grand Admiral Medici, at the top, is trying to hold a strategy together while the political ground moves under him.
The book’s real subject is the cost of command. Orders arrive from people who are not on the ship, reinforcements are thin, and every tactical choice spends something that cannot be replaced. Sword is at its best when it lets that weigh on the people making the decisions.
The story, spoiler-light
With the Globur expected to strike again and no reliable intelligence on where or how hard, Jones is given something the fleet has not had before: sealed orders authorising him to take the offensive where he sees an advantage. That latitude is the plot. A commander who can choose his own ground has a chance, and a commander who chooses wrong has nobody to blame.
The book follows the task force as it moves to exploit that freedom, and it alternates between ship engagements and the political manoeuvring back at headquarters. The battle sequences are the draw, and they are detailed without becoming procedural. Boarding actions and ground combat also appear, which is rarer in this subgenre than it should be.
Because it is book five, a fair amount of the novel’s weight depends on the reader already caring about the fleet and the people in it. The book does not spend much time reintroducing anyone, and that is a reasonable choice for a series at this stage and a real barrier for a new reader.
What makes it science fiction
This is military science fiction in the classic fleet tradition, with an emphasis on tactics, chain of command and the logistics of a war being lost slowly. Quantum space stands in for the standard faster-than-light mechanism, and the aliens are a genuine existential threat rather than a misunderstood other. There is no attempt to explain the Globur’s biology or motives, and the book is better for treating them as an unknown quantity.
The technological landscape does the work that politics does in other series. The fleet began as a shield and is being forced to become a sword, which is where the title comes from, and that shift in doctrine is the genuinely interesting science fictional idea in the book.
Who should read it, and who should give it a miss
- Read it if you are already several books into the Globur Incursion and want the next one.
- Read it if you like fleet combat with a strong command-and-politics layer.
- Read it if you enjoy the Honour Harrington style of military science fiction and want something in that register.
- Give it a miss if you have not read the earlier books. This is book five and it does not stand alone.
- Give it a miss if you want character development at the centre. The cast is competent and likeable, and the story is about the war.
Where to start, and what to read next
Start at the beginning of the Globur Incursion series and read forwards. Sword is the fifth volume and it assumes a reader who already knows the fleet, the enemy and the people in charge of the response.
If you want more of this kind of thing after the series, the natural comparisons are the long-running naval science fiction of the last few decades, where the tactics and the command politics carry the story. Readers who like that tradition will feel at home here.
The verdict
Sword is a solid entry in a series that has found its feet. The fleet action is well handled, the command politics give the battles consequences, and the book resists the temptation to make its admirals infallible. Its limitation is that it is the middle of a long story: it depends on prior investment and it does not resolve the larger war.
Read it if you are on board with the series. If you are not yet, start at book one, because this is not a door.
Frequently asked questions
Can I start the series with Sword?
No. It is the fifth book of the Globur Incursion and it assumes you know the fleet, the enemy and the command structure. Start at the beginning.
Is it heavy on space battles?
Yes, with boarding actions and ground combat as well. The battles are the centre of the book and they are written with attention to tactics.
Is it part of a finished series?
It is book five of a continuing military science fiction series. The larger war is not resolved here.