Starhawk #2

by Mack Maloney

Book Overview

Rogue Imperial pilot Hawk Hunter goes AWOL, searching for the mythical Home Planets. Battling across the galaxy, Hunter finds his goal-Planet America-possible birthplace of humanity. But his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 044100878X
• ISBN13: 9780441008780
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: Ace Books
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

The new Hunter Adventure continues

The Starhawk series continues with this novel. If you've read my review of the first Starhawk book, you'll know what I'm saying when the evil organization takes clearer form near the end of this book, plus the addition of a new one, The Bad Moon Knights. The same type of plot line that was used in the many of the Wingman books (Free nation/group under the oppression of evil nation/group fights back with the help and inspiration of Hawk Hunter). Now, that's just the basic plotline. It's been said that "God is in the details." and Maloney's details keep you turning page after page.Hawk Hunter is trying to find his home planet, and the place where he belongs as he's just not comfortable in this new universe. He finds a "pocket universe" where someone is keeping the nations of Earth in such a way that no one can know about it. Once again, Hunter must fight against impossible odds.Unlike some of Maloney's other books, you would be well advised to read Starhawk (The First book) first. While it uses few of the characters from the first book, Starhawk will give you a good foundation to truly enjoy the second book.

Another excellent book

Here we are, the second book of Hawk Hunter's--"The Wingman"--trials and adventures in the 7200s and the Fourth Empire, and already this series is showing definate promise. While it seems essentially the same kind of storyline in the "Wingman" series, I've no doubt it'll be enjoyed by both "Wingman" fans, as well as newcomers. The readers of this book will no doubt be amused at a scene that is a take-off of a climactic Star Wars movie scene.In it, Hawk Hunter discovers the mythical, but no less real, Home Planets, only to find civilizations who know nothing solid about their true origins. On Planet America, Hawk will begin to learn the truth of the injustices forced on his fellow Americans...

Exciting, Wonderful ...and Very Strange

This is a very cool sci-fi book. It is filled with the usual non-stop excitement one has come to expect from Mack Maloney. The author paints a sci-fi landscape that manages to combine visions from 1930s-type Flash Gordon sagas right up to Star Wars and beyond. But there is also an X-Files feel to this particular story, especially the middle section, when Hawk and his friends arrive on the long-lost Planet America. Hunter is still a fighter pilot, first and foremost, and his patriotism has not faded one bit. The first part of the book plays like a standard sci-fi story. The second part has the aforementioned X-Files feel, and then, the third part, very strange indeed, is like reading the script to a 1950s sci-fi movie. I'm sure this was the author's intent all along. Three different sci-fi genres rolled into one! I can't wait for the next installment. If there is one thing wrong with Maloney's books it's that the read too fast, and that means we must wait even longer for the next one to come out. If anyone from Hollywood is listening, Starhawk should definitely be made into a movie -- and quick!

WINGMAN #18

In the past I've made cracks about how some political decisions made by the US government were based on the mistaken notion that the nation was on a completely separate planet other than Earth. This book gave some credence to that: while zapping around the Milky Way in his spacefaring F-16 trying to find out who he is with priest Pater Tomm (I wonder if he's related to Circle AA officer Major Tomm from WINGMAN #4: THUNDER IN THE EAST), Hawk eventually finds the good ole USA--and that it and 35 other Earth nations were physically removed from Earth, deported to three dozen separate worlds in another part of the galaxy, and placed inside some sort of time-slowing field to hinder their progress towards developing spaceflight and learning the truth; there's some similar nationalism-suppression tactics similar to Red Star's New Order from the earlier WINGMAN books that reoccurs here, as well. Hawk's mindwiping seems to not only have completely blanked his origins, but reprograms him with the customs and skills needed to function in the era he winds up in: he doesn't remember Twinkies or that cars need to be gassed up from time to time, or that you have to pay for both. Nevertheless, it still has that come-from-behind underdog theme that ran through the original WINGMAN series.And I know I've run into the situation described in Chapter 1 before, but for the life of me I can't remember where...

Buckets of Imagination !

I don't usually seek out science fiction, but I've learned that Mack Maloney brings more to the genre than anyone since Douglas Adams. The first two "Starhawk" books have established all the legs needed for an inspired series...I look forward to many more. Maloney's imagination is stuck on wide open...his story telling concise and so filled with ironic wit that I happily suspend disbelief and hang on for the ride. This newest book, "Planet America" puts me in mind of "the Hitchhikers Guide" with perfectly rational discussions and wry conversations going on in the most irrational circumstances and locations. Sort of like M*A*S*H (the movie), which brings up an idea! Nah...special effects couldn't do this kind of stuff, could they ?