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Title: The Hundred
Series: Galaxy's Edge: Savage Wars #3
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF/Space Opera
Pages: 251
Words: 109.5K

Synopsis:

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com

THE LEGION HAS LANDED.

One hundred men met the brutal standards of General Tyrus Rechs and became legionnaires.

One hundred men embarked on a suicide mission to retake New Vega from the Savages.

One hundred men stood up... for the galaxy.

Galaxy's Edge: The Hundred is the exciting conclusion to the Savage Wars trilogy as the Legion launches a desperate, brutal assault against the overwhelming forces of the Savage Alliance.

My Thoughts:

Out of the 250 pages, the battle was about 200 of them. So if ultra-tough space marines on steriods, ie, the Legionnaires, don't get your motor running, this book definitely isn't for you. In all honesty, this sub-series of the Galaxy's Edge series isn't for you and I'd even question if the entire GE series was for you or not. This is Mil-SF with enough Space Opera to keep it from becoming Tom Clancy Presents: Jack Ryan the 15th, In Space!

Where the previous book, Gods and Legionnaires, was divided into 2 books, one about the Savages and one about the Legionnaires, this was 90% about the 100 Legionnaires taking back the planet New Vega. The book actually starts 50-100 years after the events take place with the few surviving Legionnaires from that battle being honored. Coupled with the vague references from previous GE books, we knew that the 100 were whittled down to almost nothing before kicking the Savages off New Vega.

Even Tyrus Rechs dies. Of course, because of the magic scyenze mojo the Savages did on him when he was their prisoner, he comes back to life, but he takes a new call sign so that as far as the Legion is concerned, Rechs is dead. He set out to do what he needed to and now it is time to recover.

We're also introduced to Aeson Ford, the guy from the first season of Galaxy's Edge. Considering this took place 1500-2000 years before those books, I was wondering if it was the same guy. But right at the end of the book he gets drafted into some sort of Super Magic Scyenze Cryogenics program, so yep, it's him. That was fun to see.

This was the final book in the Savage Wars sub-series and I thought that Anspach and Cole did an admirable job of relating a story that took place 2000 years before. They didn't go overboard and try to describe every nut and bolt or color of every bird's feather but neither were they Idea Only people like some of the old masters like Asimov or even Clarke. The blood, the grit and the determination were here in spades and I loved every second of it.

Next up for me and Galaxy's Edge is the Order of the Centurion series. I'll talk about exactly what they entail when I review the first book, Order of the Centurion, but it will be something a bit different as each of the 5 books in the series is mainly written by some other author while Anspach and Cole stamp their name on the book and keep control of their universe. I hope it turns out ok. Sometimes letting other authors play in your sandbox doesn't turn out well. But for the first time in my entire life, I'm going to think positively and believe that I'm going to love Order of the Centurion as much as all the previous GE series :-D

★★★★☆ ( )

And now we return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Gods & Legionnaires was a bit divisive among fans of the series, as it went deep into the rabbit hole that is the mind of a Savage, rather than primarily featuring military sci-fi action. That lack is more than made up for in The Hundred. But don’t think the weird stuff is gone; it is just hiding, waiting to pop up and get you when you least expect it.

The Hundred is partly done as a flashback narrative, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the great battle by which the Legion threw the Savages off New Vega. This makes some sense because we are going back 1500 years in the Galaxy’s Edge universe from where we started. But this technique also gives us a chance to see how bittersweet a solemn memorial can be, as the emotions of pride and satisfaction war with grief, loss, and incapacity.

And of course, it cannot be any other way, because the whole point of going to war with the Savages was to make it so their children and grandchildren did not have to endure the horrors of a world ruled by horrors from space, if indeed there were to even be any children at all.

There were some great nods in The Hundred to previous works, but my favorite was the use of “Rods from God”, a kinetic orbital strike weapon first proposed by Jerry Pournelle, in his pre-author career in the Deep State.

It was also fascinating to see how Casper and Tyrus practiced asymmetric warfare against the Savages. In principle, it seemed that the human worlds did in fact possess the number and power to push back against the Savage incursions, but lacked the will and political unity to fight them on the beaches. However, Casper and Tyrus both knew that humans love a winner, and a success on New Vega would breed more support. So they carefully selected a battle plan that would allow victory despite far inferior numbers. Savage psychology, having been pushed in unusual, even unnatural, directions in the vast depths of space, offers the inventive commander many opportunities.

I am dying to know more about the intelligence capabilities the fledgling Legion had that enabled that battle plan. Things like drones and satellite observation are straightforward enough; but the Legion also seemed to have human, errr…Savage intelligence as if they had a man on the inside. How exactly does that work? There is a level of technological competition and deception only hinted at here that would make for a fascinating book.

Sprinkled in throughout the book, but particularly concentrated in the epilogues, are hooks into larger adventures waiting for elaboration. I shan’t spoil the fun, but all the weirdness was not left behind with Crometheus and the Uplifted. I am sure that we have lots of fun in store. ( )