Legion of the Damned

Legion of the Damned, Book 1

By: William C. Dietz

Narrated by: Donald Corren

Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

In the future, the terminally ill can prolong life by surrendering their consciousness to a cybernetic life form that is then recruited into the notorious Legion of the Damned, an elite fighting unit charged with protecting humanity.

Listen to more titles in the Legion of the Damned Series.

©1993 William C. Dietz (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Huh. That wasn't that bad. Wonder if there's more.

First off, this book probably won't scratch everyone's itch. If you're looking for a hard-mil-sci-fi procedural, this isn't it. If you're looking for a deep, affecting story, this probably isn't that either. It is squarely in the camp of B-Movie action schlock.

That said, it's darned good B-Movie action schlock.

The story isn't really the thing I found most compelling about this book, which is something I feel rather odd typing. Rather, I found that what I was really enjoying about the book was the setting. You can tell the author was having the time of his life world-building this thing and didn't really give a damn how crazy any of it sounds when you look at it on its own. But he runs away with it, and it all just kinda works.

I do have to ding the writing for two rather glaring faults, one more harmless than the other. First, and more forgivable is the sex scenes. I don't know if it's the writing itself, or if a slightly stronger narration might have helped them, (though my inclination is to blame the writing) but as is they are just unbearably awkward to listen to. Thankfully, there is only a handful of them and they don't last too long.

The second big ding, and this one is something I just can't let off the hook, is that the author has a terrible habit of having leaving critical plot points to occur off-screen and then pay bare lip-service to them later. Major battles, critical plot turns, major character deaths, and my personally most loathed, a major romantic/character trauma/redemption thing (Its weird, but you'll know it when you see it, and it could have been one of the best things in the book, or hell, even a whole book on its own) get great, loving set-ups, then we cut away to something else, and when we come back we're looking at the aftermath. It's like Dietz just forgot he actually had to write the pay-off scene. It's frustrating and unsatisfying, and it leaves you feeling like some of the best scenes in the entire book are just missing, and seriously questioning that "unabridged" label on the store-page.

The narrator delivers a solid, lively performance, and his voice fits the tone of the book overall rather well. I caught him seeming to forget what voice he used for a particular character a few times, but they were mostly minors, and I could forgive a slip-up or two. I also got a kick out of him doing his "Radio Voice" for the cyborgs. It sounds like he's cupping his fist in front of his mouth and holding his jaw sideways like you did when you were a kid. The only thing missing is the "kshhhk" sounds.

Like I said earlier, My experience of the book was positive, dispite the flaws and schlocky feel. That was mostly because I loved the joy and enthusiasm that went into the world-building, and found myself wanting to spend more and more time in this universe. I can only really hope he learns in later entries to the series that he can't get away with leaving the climax out of a major arc and then just telling us it happened somewhere off-screen.

Once of the good Sci Fi books

This is a good Sci Fi book. I originally read it when it was first released to paperback. While others have criticized the writer for too little character development it is hard to devote pages and pages to character development when the character will be killed off. I do with they would have used the narrator from the Lost Fleet series though.

Legion of the Damned

Great Book, I really enjoyed the story and the narration by Donald Corren was excellent.I am presently listening to the 3rd book in the series. Be warned, once you start listening it's hard to stop.

Good stuff!

Good book in joyed It. Probability will be getting the next book in the series

A fun Space Opera

Hmmm, I'm not sure what to say about this one. About half-way through I was convinced the entire book was going to be one long setup for a "To Be Continued" ending. I was wrong about that. The amount of loose-ends that got tidied up in the last few chapters was pretty phenomenal, although there's still plenty of scope for the sequels. Without straying into spoiler territory let's just say I was surprised at who was and wasn't standing at the end.

My main issue with the story is that it's a little trite and reads somewhat like early 50's sci-fi. On the pro side, I enjoyed the general plot, the chapter-starting quotes added nicely to the story. It's a fun, sometimes humorous read with an acceptable pace and the story never gets bogged down, although that is somewhat due to a lack of detail, which segues into the cons. There's obvious care gone into the depiction of some of the characters, but others are all but one-dimensional. Also, the constant stream of people falling in love (that I'm sure are a setup for later stories) was really starting to annoy me.

Overall, I'd say check it out if you're a Space Opera fan.

With regard to the audio, I found it mostly acceptable. It commits the cardinal sin of inserting music between chunks of narration although, thankfully, it only happens once about midway through the story (perhaps there's a Part I/Part II split?). Mr Corren did a great job and my only issues are with editing, as soon as the last word of a chapter is spoken there's almost no gap before "Chapter X" is announced, which can be a little jarring.

Audible needs to read this!!!!!!

Why in the world Audible can not absorb the concept of PAUSES in narration between chapters/and/or scene and time changes is beyond understanding. They ruin many an otherwise good story..............

my favorite series

I have enjoyed this series ever since I read the first book many yrs ago love the storyline and the characters great series

Fair first take on the Legion of the Damned

I came to this series after listening to the first three "Prequels" the Andromeda Saga

They are much better, more nuanced, better villains, more real worlds. The empress is a real bitch, where here her son is simply annoying.

Still I liked the characterisations, the depth on the Hoodatha, and the pace of the story. Worth sticking with the series I reckon

kind of boring..

great reading and kind of entertaining...

Soft Porn Sci Fi

What disappointed you about Legion of the Damned?

After a hour or two I've given up. One soft porn chapter after another. I am very disappointed based on the reviews.. Not my style...

What was most disappointing about William C. Dietz’s story?

Sex, nudity, sexual torture, cyborg sex, clone sex, multipartner sex - and that just the start. No thanks.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointed.