Subject: Review: Face of the Enemy by Richard Fawkes

From: "Aaron M. Renn" <[email-masked]>
Date: 09 Aug 1999 13:49:04 -0400

Face of the Enemy by Richard Fawkes
	Review Copyright (c) 1999 Aaron M. Renn

Conclusion: Worth Reading

[This review may be considered to contain some spoilers for the overall
plot outcome.  AW]

This is a solid, if not spectacular, military SF story.  A strange alien
race called the Remor have been ravaging human planets.  To counter the
threat the Interstellar Defense League was formed.  Several human worlds
resist joining the IDL however, believing it an expansionist military
power.

One such group of planets is the Panstellar Combine.  They discover a
planet with non-human indigenous intelligent life.  These creatures look
suspiciously like the denizens of the planet of Cassuell's Home, who were
exterminated by the IDL, which insisted that the primitive life forms
there were Remor.  A joint expedition from the various human worlds is
sent to investigate the natives of this new planet Chugen, including one
Kurt Ellicot, a scientist who "went native" while studying the primitives
of Cassuell's Home.  But as the team is about to land on Chugen, the Remor
attack, causing the shuttle to crash land.  That's when things really get
interesting.

To the best of my knowledge, this is Fawkes' first novel and it shows.
The plot has a few holes and rough edges.  For example, there's this
mysterious Professor Alsion charcter, who appears at random moments to
make cryptic remarks.  One of the major IDL characters disappears and we
never find out what happened to him.  The alien Remor remain an enemy we
end up learning little about.  The end of the book also brings no real
resolution to the conflict.  (A sequel is planned?)  A little more editing
and revision was needed I thought.

Nevertheless, there is a lot to recommend.  I loved the way Fawkes kept
from stereotyping people as Good Guys or Bad Guys.  All of the human
characters have both reasons to like them and reasons to hate them.  The
IDL are the jack booted thugs many people suspect them of being, but they
are also the only line of defense against the Remor that they believe
themselves to be.  Nobody in this book escapes without blame.  Almost
everybody also has their redeeming qualities and comes to grow as a person
during the book.  I also like the new world exploration/adventure and
first contact elements of the book.

Whoever this Richard Fawkes guy is, I think he's got potential.  Military
SF fans will definitely want to pick this one up.  Others should find it
at least a decent read.  I'm looking forward to seeing his future works,
which will hopefully show a little more maturity.

%A Fawkes, Richard
%T Face of the Enemy
%I HarperPrism
%D 1999-07
%G ISBN 0-06-105795-9
%P 537 pp.
%0 mass market paperback, US$5.99

Reviewed on 1999-08-06

-- 
Aaron M. Renn ([email-masked]) http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/