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(More customer reviews)Thomas W. Cronin has given readers a satisfying, exciting, nail-biting conclusion to his Mars series. The underlying themes of self-reliance, independence, and self-determination inform a book that is very different from the first two books of the series. Glory Be To Mars is a novel of war and strategy that takes place about 30 years on from Give Us This Mars. The Earth and the U.N. are determined to take Mars from the Martians. Their impetus for war is an alleged weapon of mass destruction that has been developed by the Martians. The Earth has superior numbers and technology - the Martians have their own Martian desert fox. The war plays out on an accurate version of Mars that is informed by data from the latest Mars missions. The children of the characters from the first 2 books are the main players. Once the story gets rolling - an Earth attack on a nonmilitary Martian operation - the action never lets up [leave yourself a big block of time for reading - once you get started, you won't want to quit reading!]. My only concern involves Cronin's use of current biological knowledge [genetics] and that concern didn't take away from my ability to suspend my disbelief - hey it's fiction! - but I would love to have a discussion with Cronin about what traits are heritable in humans. I shall say no more on the subject since I refuse to be a spoiler and I want you to read this book. Besides fans of the first two books in this series and lovers of Mars fiction, Glory Be To Mars should find a whole new audience in lovers of military fiction. I hate to see the series end here, so if Mr. Cronin can find another creative and nonrepetitive way to extend the series, I know I'll be ready for another great Martian read!
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The author's earlier, widely acclaimed Mars stories were about the beginning years of the first human settlement on Mars, but you don't have to read them to enjoy this latest, fast-paced, stand-alone novel. In the first story, As It Is On Mars, three explorers, abandoned in 2038, found a prosperous settlement on Mars. A stand-alone second story, Give Us This Mars, takes place in 2048, as rival European and American "rescue" missions fight to take control of the fledgling settlement. This latest story takes place twenty-six years later. It has new lead characters, and enough of the settlement's early history for new readers to join the tale effortlessly. Two scheming, aristocratic brothers, Harold and Oliver Derk, are the instigators when a United Nations coalition dispatches a massive armada to attack the settlement in 2074. The independent settlement is illegal, but has been growing prodigiously, thanks to a secret machine the Martians have built. It is very well defended too, and getting the better of it is now a serious military matter. The Martians also control a vital copper deposit, the largest ever found, now worth over ten trillion dollars. Gaining control of that copper will make the brothers rich and powerful beyond dreams. Their lust for the copper is matched only by their passion for avenging the public disgrace of their father, years earlier; the Derk brothers are determined to erase the demeaning stain of dishonor that Martians have etched on their ancient family name. One shadowy brother, Harold Derk, is the CEO of the world's largest resource company, Condor Copper Inc., and a master of political intrigue. He paid corrupt, warmongering political leaders to terrify their citizens, and deceive them into believing that the secret Martian machine is a horrible weapon of total annihilation, capable of wiping out all human life on Earth. The fabricated fear worked as intended, and led to popular support for the obscenely expensive armada, to put an end to the dangerous, illegal settlement and its abominable machine. The other brother is the armada commander, four-star General Oliver Derk. He is a rogue general, with genocide in mind. He has all the military strength he needs to defeat the settlement quickly, and kill everybody in it. As this very fast-paced tale opens, we find a ten-man Martian work crew in a desolate place south of Mariner Valley, over a thousand miles from home. One of them is a mysterious young man called Edward Russell. The ten have just finished hiding the secret Martian machine, to keep it out of the hands of the coalition. But that evening, they make a fluke discovery. Coalition forces have made a stealth landing, unexpectedly early, clearly intent on an overwhelming surprise attack on the settlement. The workers now have to get home at once, and sound the alarm. They have no choice but to take an impossible shortcut, up along the treacherous thirty-mile long Hell Ridge. But then, in Chapter Two, with their four rovers perched high on the ridge, over three miles above the floor of Coprates Canyon: Disaster! Shortly after, a deadly enemy of the coalition appears out of the southern waste, at the head of a dusty column of tanks and rovers, intelligent, nuclear-powered predator drones flying overhead. It is Edward Russell, with desert warfare in his genes, and for good reason. Soon he will be known on two planets as the desert fox of Mars, feared for his vicious, lightning attacks on the coalition, but revered for his tactical genius. The elaborate setting for this epic novel takes in a great deal of the Western Hemisphere of Mars, which the war turns into a gigantic military chessboard. The plot is multi-threaded, and tragic too, a subtle blend of politics, war, human relationships, and the relationship of man to his planetary environment. It's even a tale that is not primarily science fiction, that anybody can enjoy at any time of life, and likely find something profound in too. The story unfolds at a rapid pace, as the war intensifies and the suspense builds. The plot also builds to a perplexing tactical puzzle, which armchair generals will no doubt try to solve, as they pit their brains against the desert fox. It is also the story of the daring journey of a courageous Martian company in search of an elusive goal, as the company is sought high and low, and attacked too, by the forces of the coalition. The journey starts south of Mariner Valley in Chapter 1, and weaves its way through the entire novel, and over much of the Western Hemisphere, and does not end until the novel's final Chapter 20. The author deploys military technology in the Martian war consistent with the known Laws of Nature. His intelligent nuclear-powered tanks, predator drones, and laser-gun armed fighter drones are all extrapolations of current capabilities that we can reasonably expect. The book has five separate maps of the spectacular terrain of the Western Hemisphere. They are strictly not necessary, but are included for readers' convenience and enjoyment.EXCERPT From CHAPTER TWO: Hell Ridge [SCENE: A rocky outcrop is blocking the company's upward advance along the treacherous ridge. They are trying to blow up the outcrop, about to detonate a second blast sequence, when a predator drone spots the four rovers.] ...The predator drone was now almost upon them. Two seconds later it shot across the ridge, directly over the lead rover, barely thirty meters above them. This time the booming scream from the jet motors was quite loud. "Stop driving, everybody! Now!" shouted Edward. Astrid obeyed. "It didn't fire. How come?" cried Lucy, looking out the driver side window to her left, as the aircraft shot away to the west. "Our sudden motion confused it, I think," explained Edward, still watching the drone through his field glasses. It was now turning toward the escarpment wall to the north. "It had set things up for a stationary target. Probably didn't have time to reconfigure for a moving target. But you can be sure by now it's figured out the best way to attack us as a moving target-head on, or at our tail." "That means it'll come at us along the line of the ridge," said Astrid. "Right," said Edward, his field glasses focused on the drone, "probably from the north, out of the sun." The predator drone had already turned right, to the north, and climbed, and turned right again. Now it was headed back eastward along the top of the northern escarpment wall. "I think you've won us only a few minutes reprieve, Edward," said Astrid. "Any more good ideas?" "Don't know," said Edward, still tracking the aircraft through his field glasses. "A sudden motion won't help us next time, if it comes at us along the ridge." "What if we try and drive off the crest, down the slope to the right?" suggested Lucy. "Wouldn't help. There's no shelter on the slope either, and anyway we wouldn't get very far. It'll be here in twenty seconds." The machine now began to veer to the south, as it approached the point where the north-south running ridge met the east-west running escarpment wall. The aircraft was just under three miles away. "The explosives!" cried Freda, suddenly. Neither Astrid nor Lucy responded. They were both very frightened. They did not need to be reminded about the explosive charges in the trailer, equivalent to over a quarter ton of TNT. Edward just said: "I know, Freda." His mind was racing, thinking tactics at high speed. But thinking time was short. The predator drone was now coming straight at them again, very fast, this time along the line of the ridge. "ETA fourteen seconds," shouted Edward. "Quick! Switch seats, Freda! Quick!" Freda was agile, and almost jumped over Edward. Edward quickly pulled himself into Freda's seat at the right side of the rover, his eyes never leaving the oncoming aircraft. The deadly predator drone was shooting down along the ridge, slightly to the east side of the crest. Edward now estimated a ten-second time to arrival. "Call out the seconds, somebody! Quick!" shouted Edward. "One...two...three...four...five...six...seven...," came from Astrid, calm despite a feeling of impending disaster. The nuclear-powered aircraft was now within a second of flying past the ridge outcrop that had been blocking their advance. Suddenly, Edward jammed his finger onto the third button on the communications panel on the dash in front of him. Once more they saw the explosion before they heard it, the outside audio sensors picking up the sound, a machine-gun-like rattle of twenty rounds being fired. The explosion was even more spectacular than the first one. A long strip of rock at the outcrop on the ridge once more lifted in small fragments, starting at the south end, producing an even larger cloud of dust, with rocks flying out of the dust cloud and at least thirty or forty meters into the air. For an instant the cloud of dust and hail of flying rocks completely hid the oncoming aircraft from view, and the sun too. But then, less than a second later, the machine appeared again, above the dust cloud, just to the right of the hail of debris. It was still headed straight for them, apparently undamaged. At the same instant they saw it fire the missile. Everything now happened so fast there was no time for anyone in the lead rover to react. Whooosh. The missile streaked past them on their right side, only a few meters from them, so close they actually heard it. A split second later they heard a sharp bang, not very loud. It was followed a fraction of a second later by a booming screech, as the supersonic jet shot above them, also on the right side. "Missed us," said Edward, with a sigh of relief. "The explosion debris must have affected its aim in some-" "But that bang-it's hit something!" cried Astrid. Her hand flew to a button on the dash to open up the voice communications channel. "Paul, Werner, Carol! Report damage!" "No damage," said Paul, at once. "No damage here," said Werner. "Loud bang behind." There was no reply from Carol and Eva's rover. "Carol, Eva! Please report!" Still nothing. Astrid began feeling sick. The tail rover must have been hit. She wanted to believe that there was only damage to the rover's communications equipment, maybe only the antenna, but her gut told her it was not so. The idea of something happening to Eva and Carol was too painful even to think about. "Bastards!" hissed Freda angrily. "And it's still got three more missiles." "That first missile was intended for this rover," said Astrid in a much calmer voice, although she was still feeling sick. "Looks like your explosion saved us, Edward. I just hope Carol and Eva are all right. Can you save us one more time?" Edward shook his head. "That was my best shot. I'd hoped to damage the drone with the explosion. It obviously didn't work...
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