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| Plot Summary of We All Died At Breakaway Station |
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"Humanity is at war with the Jillies, and are losing. The vital communications link with earth is under threat at Breakway Station, and the only people who can defend it are on three crippled starships, cripples themselves, heading to hospital on earth........
A book about sacrifice for the greater good, those who have died giving up thier lives again, as the protagonist Admiral Bridger says repeatedly 'haven't we done enough?"
Andrew Banks, Resident Scholar
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"Before "Babylon 5" and the Borg , and before "Alien" there was Richard C. Merediths' story of interstellar war "We All Died at Breakaway Station".
Our protaganist is a man who has seen it all, including death too many times over. This man is a cyborg, brought back to life out of Earth's sheer desperation for experienced officers to pilot the immense starships created to defend the "Salient", Earth's stellar colonial perimeter, from the cold and ruthless "Jillies", horrific bipedal sentient creatures with detachable stomachs.
He pushes forward out to the expanse with the valuable information that will allow earth to strike back hard at the Jillie homeworld along with a crew that are mostly cyborgs themselves.
The story has a great deal of melodramatic dialogue, a pre nuclear attack sex scene, "mod" progressive commentary on the future reduction of sexual moores, and some interesting battle scenes. It's a good book as far as science fiction/adventure is concerned. It could also be a timely story since a retrospect of the war's starting point begins with a viscious and highly destructive act of terrorism, and describes the resentment and hatred towards these life forms as a result.
Written in 1969 the source of the pessimism can be drawn from the events of the prior year, and Vietnam, the star ships have a vague Star Trek quality too them, and lacks originality.
"We all died at Breakaway Station" occupies the genre of "Starship Troopers" and "Battlefield Earth", if you that kind of stuff, and you can find it, you should be thouroughly entertained.
I don't know if the author ever wrote a sequel, but if he is still alive, he should. "
Chris J. Boucher, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of We All Died At Breakaway Station |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?
- science fiction story
If an invasion, from Earth/human POV:
- fighting overt invasion (attacking aliens)
Inner Struggle
Yes
Plotlet:
- fighting a personal illness/handicap
- search for identity/new understanding
War or Invasion
Yes
Major kinds of combat:
- spaceship battles
Kind of alteration:
- exotic/alien torture for major character
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- navy soldier
Age:
- 40's-50's
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- missing body parts/abilities
Main Adversary
Identity:
- an entire race
Age:
- long-lived adults
Profession/status:
- killer
- navy soldier
Eccentric:
Yes
- eccentric
- obsessed
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
- a substantial amount
Setting
Terrain
- Domed/Underground City
Spaceship setting:
- futuristic human warship
- one or two man fighter/scoutship
Takes place in spaceship?
Yes
Style
Person?
- mostly 1st
- rotating 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to deaths
scientific jargon? (SF only)
- some scientific explanation
- a moderate amount of scientific explanation
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- descript of touching personal anatomy
- actual description of sex
- description of breasts
- descript. of private male anat.
How much dialogue?
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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