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First to Fight (Starfist, Book 1) | 
 enlarge | Authors: David Sherman, Dan Cragg
Publisher: Del Rey
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 90701
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7 x 3.8 x 1.2
ISBN: 0345406222
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780345406224
ASIN: 0345406222
Publication Date: August 30, 1997
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Condition: Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy!
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Product Description
"Marines, we have just become a low-tech deep recon patrol . . ."
Stranded in a hellish alien desert, stripped of their strategic systems, quick reaction force, and supporting arms, and carrying only a day's water ration, Marine Staff Sergeant Charlie Bass and his seven-man team faced a grim future seventy-five light-years from home. The only thing between his Marines and safety was eighty-five miles of uncharted, waterless terrain and two thousand bloodthirsty savages with state-of-the-art weapons in their hands and murder on their minds.
But the enemy didn't reckon on the warrior cunning of Marines' Marine Charlie Bass and the courage of the few good men who would follow him anywhere--even to death. . .
"HARD TO PUT DOWN . . . Any book written by Cragg and Sherman is bound to be addictive, and this is the first in what promises to be a great adventure series. FIRST TO FIGHT is rousing, rugged, and just plain fun."
--Ralph Peters, New York Times bestselling author of Red Army
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| Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...
Potential Classic Flawed by too many Philly Flyer Character Names March 27, 2008
Stewart Teaze (San Diego, CA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
STARFIRST: FIRST TO FIGHT (1997) is a great book, which is fundamentally flawed by naming too many of the Marine characters after Philadelphia Flyers players from the 1970's... I'll get more into this issue later, but first the rest of the book...
The is Military SciFi akin to David Drake's HAMMER'S SLAMMERS series - which focuses on space-going Marines rather than Mercenary Brigades, and provides a more detailed look into the individual soldier's lives, the technology they use(other than the futuristic tanks, which have already been covered in depth in HAMMER'S SLAMMERS), and the subtle inter-actions between the ranks.
I especially liked the coverage of the new UPUD combo radio/motion detector/GPS/air strike computer... I'm sure a lot of ex-soldiers enjoyed the part when Gunnery Sgt. Bass knocks out the "sleazy contractor's teeth", after the UPUD is pushed into service too early, and ends up getting men killed... the UPUD Mk II makes a return later in the book, and Staff Sgt. Bass (busted down for knocking out the contractor's teeth) looks for any reason at all to SLAG THE 'Piece of ****".
I also really enjoyed the boot camp passages, and the soldier's visits to town.
Anyway, as I said, this book would have gotten 5 stars, but for the fact that a whole slew of 70's Philadelphia Flyers player's names are used for the Marines... Clarke, Dornhofer, McLeish, Shultz, it goes on and on... when the platoon's chief UAV man is named "Cowboy" Bill Flett, about 2/3 the way through the book, well that clinched it, I knew something was up ("Cowboy" Bill played for the LA Kings from 67-71, and we used to get the Kings games on Channel 5, even down here in San Diego - probably the last place you would think there would someone who would read this book and recognize the names)... I hate to say it, but it took away from the believability of this otherwise great book... but my gosh, where were Lacroix and Bernier?
I'm looking forward to reading more of these books, but are we going to have The Philadelphia Flyers around throughout the series? Look, I LIKED the 70's Flyers, and always wore a Flyer jersey when I played pickup hockey - but this idiosyncrasy is distracting... and "The Flyers" characters never seem to get killed off, only the "no names".
 Highly Entertaining but Fundamentally Flawed February 23, 2008
Simon P. Shea (New York, NY)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I would like to start this review with a clarification. I am rating this book as well as the next two (which is as far as i have gotten in the series). I would like to give a higher review, really I would! Let me give the good news first:
1.When it comes to writing about tactics, action and the day to day of Marine life, Sherman and Cragg are simply fantastic. I found myself instantly drawn into the world of the 34th FIST. I found myself indentifying with and rooting for the characters much faster than I anticipated, whithout having to wade my way through too much artificial character development. That's part of the genius of their writing, they develope their characters largely through the writing of action, rather than long exposition.
2. Action is not the only strong point in these books however. There are signicant amounts of writings focusing on the general social, economic and political affairs of the universe and for the most part the world that Cragg and Sherman have created is compelling. It is futuristic without being too far removed from the familiar. The world seems quite real in many regards. There are political and social issues from humanity's past that have been overcome (racism, medical advances, social reforms) and yet there are still personal and societal obstacles to be overcome which are reminiscent of many we face today. This is not simply a utopian world with an omnipotent and flawless military that can do no wrong. Cragg's and Sherman's world is populated with real people with real problems and real flaws.
Now here comes my biggest problem. There are almost no (with less than a handful of minor exceptions) female characters of note in any of these books. There is the ocassional ambassador, politician and of course copious amounts of un-named and barely fleshed out prostitutes. But what bothers me the most is, where are the women Marines?
While it has been established that many of humanity's social problems, racism (to use an example), have been largely overcome (either through direct social manipulation by politicians or just the organic evolution of a society tackling with the challenges of expansion into space and a larger universe) sexism seems to have been calmly and quietly written into the history of this world.
I'm not necessarily expecting to see a fully integrated Marine corps. Sherman and Cragg are obviously writing about their own personal experiences in service and at the time they served I would assume there were almost no women in the military, and today even though woman are more common, they serve in un-integrated non-combat units.
There is no mention of the role of women (except for one mention of the mere existence of "female naval personel")in the future millitary, though women seem to play a nominally equal role to men in every other aspect of this universe. This, to me, points out a glaringly obvious and sadly regrettable sexism inherent in the opinions of the authors themselves. Rather than take a stance one way or another on the issue they seem to have simply decided to "pretend it doesn't exist" which I believe is an overall loss for the series. Apart from this one issue, Sherman and Cragg are unflinching in their social commentary on everything from racism, fiscal policy to the future of environmentalism, why so quiet on this one glaringly obvious and extremely relavent issue? It makes me question the seriousness of their other social commentary and relegate it to simple filler to spread out the action which will sell their books and make them money. A disappointing outcome, i must say.
Far Future CORPS! November 23, 2006
Patrick A. Ramson (HiDessert of Ca.)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
a scifi shoot-em up in the far future! good reading! beleiveable backgrounds! Mr Cragg & Mr Sherman makde me feel like I was there al over again! Very much worth the cost. Bought the whole set!
 Cliches -- more than a few, but... February 24, 2006
M. Clark (Washington state, USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
An earlier reviewer talked of military cliches, and how everything seemed the same, that the writers couldn't imagine huge societal changes that will obviously have taken place by the time the 25th century arrives. That there will be changes is true, but it will be more along the lines of changes in the trappings of civilization. Over the millenia, since humankind has learned to fight in groups, very little has changed. Strategy, tactics, and technology has evolved of course, but one thing has remained constant. To succeed in war, a belligerant must take and hold ground. It's sometimes almost as valuable to deny ground to the enemy, but in the end it must be taken and held. Cavalry couldn't do it all, aircraft can't do it, tanks can't do it, and in the future whatever takes the place of these won't be able to do it, either. It has always been up to the ground-pounder, assisted by the other arms, sure, but only the ground-pounders can prevail in the end.
This first book in what has become a highly entertaining series is remarkable in its devotion to the ground-pounder, and especially the ground-pounder who makes it all happen: the guys at the sharp end, both enlisted and non-commissioned officers.
I highly recommend this saga, if you want realism at the small unit level. And if you're interested in what other Starfist fans are saying about the books of Sherman and Cragg, there's now a fan website available at http://www.starfisthq.org. Discussion forums, news of future books, and you can also make contact with the authors who do participate from time to time.
Jarheads Never Change June 5, 2005
John A Lee III (San Antonio, TX)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
As military science fiction goes, this one is very readable. It is not crafted as tightly as some others, Weber's Honorverse comes to mind, but it is a good read that will provide several hours of enjoyable entertainment.
The story concerns a group of marines. These are not US Marines but are their ideological descendants. In the first part of the book, we a treated to the life of a recruit from his initial enlistment through boot camp. He is then assigned to an infantry unit which gets deployed to a backwater planet on a peacekeeping mission. Through the medium of best wishes, the high brass decide that a peacekeeping mission does not rate a full complement of combat equipment so the unit is somewhat at a disadvantage when it hits the fan. Under the tutelage of the more experienced men around him, the young marine gets his first taste of combat.
This is what Melville called a "potboiler". It may not stick in long term memory as a great work of literature but it was well worth the effort. I look forward to reading the next installment in the series to see what happens.
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