This series is great whenever the action and scientific explanations are flowing fast and heavy; it drags when Gerrold is actually trying to make a point. Fortunately, Gerrold strains the reader's brain only occasionally--typically by having various characters go off at length about some personal philosophy or way of living. I can see that Gerrold is attempting to have at least part of his series deal with conflicting ways of living one's life, but those parts were pretty stultifying.

Apart from that, this series kicks ass. Gerrold's writing, though not the stuff of high literature, flows well and rarely has an awkward moment. His dialogue moves steadily along, with each character's voice distinct, and his action sequences are crisp and exciting. As a result, his books are easy to get into and hard to put down.

The premise behind The War Against the Chtorr is also fascinating. After undergoing a terrible plague, Earth is being invaded from the stars. There are, of course, big bug-eyed aliens (in the shape of huge, red-furred, razor-toothed worms--a drawing of one of these on the cover of the first book gave me nightmares), but there is also an ecological invasion that the characters of the book only slowly come to recognize. Gerrold's descriptions and explanations of this invasion are top-rate science-fiction material; it sounds eminently plausible and cool.

Gerrold also doesn't skimp on the characters. Nobody here has any deep worries, but each character remains distinct in my mind, and their beliefs and character traits are pliable without sacrificing continuity. Jim, Liz, Duke, Ted...we hurt when they're down, and we root for them when they fry those alien bastards.

It's hard for me to express how much pleasure I've gotten out of this series. Read it when your mind isn't craving especially deep thoughts; I guarantee you'll enjoy it.

Copyright © 2001 Steven Wu