The Amazon Legion

Carrera, Book 4

By: Tom Kratman

Narrated by: Piper Goodeve

On the colony planet of Terra Nova, Carrera has achieved his revenge, destroying those who had destroyed his life by killing his wife and children in a terrorist strike. And, with this help of his second wife, he has thwarted an attempted coup that would have restored the rule of the oligarchy and undone his hard-won victory. But his fight is not over yet....

The problem of the Tauran Union's control of the Transitway between Terra Nova and Earth remains, as does the problem of the nuclear-armed United Earth Peace Fleet, orbiting above the planet. The Taurans will not leave, and the Balboans - a proud people, with much recent success in war - will not tolerate that they should remain.

And yet, with one hundred times the population and three or four hundred times the wealth, the Tauran Union outclasses little Balboa in almost every way, even without the support of Old Earth. Sadly, they have that support. Everything, everyone, will have to be used to finish the job of freeing the country and, if possible, the planet. The children must fight. The old must serve, too. And the women?

This is their story, the story of Balboa's Tercio Amazona, the Amazon Regiment.

©2011 Tom Kratman (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Great opener to the big war

This was a significant improvement from the last book with more action and inter-soldier development. It was a bit of a slow start to the book but the second half was worth the wait. Additionally the author took the idea of female combat soldiers and made it work realistically. Admitting their weaknesses but finding ways that made it work for the characters and need to create female units. Such as the biggest reason for their creation being to shame draft dodgers into fighting. We only get to see portions of the bigger war happening so I’m excited to actually find out about it in the next book. Hope to see the main character again in the next book too.

great side story

a bit hard to follow in the beginning, but what a character investment to make.

Great Fun

If you could sum up The Amazon Legion in three words, what would they be?

The narration is spotty, there is much repetition. Even so, it is an entertaining listen for an old warrior, few jarring errors in small unit tactics are apparent, and a little grisly reality doesn't hurt anything. Like Heinlein, the author makes a lot of political and social commentary along the way.

Who was your favorite character and why?

There are a number of worthy and well developed characters in the series, and they tend to survive from one book and part of the story to another.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

There is an aggravating tendency on the part of the narrator to whisper when he is stating the thoughts of the characters. The net result is that I have no more knowledge of what they were thinking than any non-mindreaders in the listening audience, and if I turn it up, the windows shake when the story continues.

Interesting approach and appraisal of the issues

As a discussion of the issues facing a military force including women and homosexuals, this is an interesting read. However, it is the second book, of three, that retraces the same plot territory. This strikes me as a "side book" rather than a main plotline book, but there's just not enough of the main story to support the side book. Directly following Lotus Eaters, I felt like it was indulgence on the part of the author to wrap his policy proposal in fiction. Since I'm, at least, willing to consider the ideas he puts forth, for me to be bugged by it is probably a bad sign.

Reader is horrible.

Massive distraction from the story. Horrible voice for this story. Makes me want to ask for my credit back and just read this book myself.

Edit:. Forced myself to finish the book. Writing was done well but I did not care for the story.

Boring! More like a case study for 1/2 of book.

Would you try another book from Tom Kratman and/or Piper Goodeve?

Yes, the books up to this point have been very entertaining, hopefully the next book will be better. Piper, probably not.

What do you think your next listen will be?

March to the Stars by Johnn Ringo. I need a pick me up after this book.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I understand why a female narrator was used but Piper never really sold the characters or the battle to me.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

First half of the book read as a case study to me and I felt a little cheated. Honestly it was painful. Second half of the book was OK but didn't make up for the first half in my opinion. I came very close to giving up on this book and that has never happened before.

Any additional comments?

Stick to the evolving series story line and don't go down into the minutiae to try to build the character. I'm sure the author enjoyed the theoretical challenge of how to fit/evolve his female characters into the battlefield given the limitations he defines. I did not enjoy it as that isn't what I bought the book for. I bought the book to continue the series story line from where it had left off in the last book. I would have taken his word that it was hard training these women for battle and that due to the nations size it was needed. Give me a chapter or two of background (not 12) and then get back to the primary story line quickly.