The Vang: The Military Form

by Christopher Rowley

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345331761
• ISBN13: 9780345331762
• Release Date: February 1988
• Publisher: Del Rey Books
• Length: 369 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Once you begin, you cant stop reading!

Rowley is awesome! Horror and good hard si-fi! Don't like horror! Never read or watch! But this story is si-fi based on premise of a life form evolving into ultimate parasite. Beware! It's a page turner that once started can't be put down untill finished! I've read this book over an over, just great read! It would be a terrifying movie!!! No doubt!!

Hauntingly Beautiful

I first read this book many years ago and have read the entire novel 3 times, which is very rare in my reading habits. I am a fan of horror scifi and military scifi, and The Vang delivers on both. It has been at least 10 years since I last read it, but images and ideas from the book still remain, and I often wonder why I can't seem to find more recently published works that measure up to this one.

star hammer trilogy

A gritty hard hitting fantsy novel set in the distant future. It makes no excuses and pulles no punches, a well written book. read the first books, star hammer, and the vang to see how this series progresses.

christopher rowley

I have never yet read any fantasy by christopher rowley as I find his science fiction to compelling to even even risk the disappointment of another genre by this author.This may sound preachy but to any reader of Rowleys sci-fi it would sound accurate. These are books that can be read and read again.

No escape, no hope

Oh boy, this is one scary story. I remember having some fabulous nightmares after reading the first novel in this two part series, (not including Star Hammer). "The Vang: The military form" is fast paced, graphic and horrifically personal. Rowley wrote it nearly ten years after the movie "Alien" was released, so he must have been aware that comparisons would be made. In reality the similarities are more in feel than in format. If Hollywood ever gets around to making a film of the Aliens reaching earth, they could do a lot worse than to use Rowley's book as a template. The Vang is an aggressive militaristic species that was supposed to have been exterminated by a race, now long dead. The evidence of this is found in archaeological records as well as a large number of post nova solar systems. It seems that the only way this ancient race found to eradicate the Vang, once it had a foot hold on a planet, was to destroy the solar system with a special "Star Hammer" weapon. Such a high price was deemed necessary because the Vang's method of expansion was always at the expense of the species around it. In fact this race was quite happy to utilize the bodies of any other life form as a temporary source of mobility and food. Over all, the Vang are not pleasant neighbors. The story starts some thousands of years after the last Vang sighting. They are almost considered a myth by this time and so an illegal prospector is unprepared for what he finds on an old derelict in a remote asteroid belt. Naturally he becomes the Vang's first host and as the story progresses we find that this species has many forms, like bees or ants. The genetic codes for each form are contained in each individual and will only be expressed under certain conditions. For example when a bee hive looses it's queen some of the new hatchlings will automatically become queens. The horror of the story is always generated from a human's point of view as the Vang manage to infest one of the outer worlds, undetected. We are allowed to follow their take-over from multiple view points; the as yet uncaptured humans, the Vang's victims (who are impotent spectators to their body's horrific actions) and the Vang themselves. The Vang are intelligent. They have individual desires and perspectives but are ruled by a hive mentality. It is fascinating and creepy to get into the mind of such a powerfully destructive life form. I could not put this book down. As soon as it was finished I went straight on to read the sequel, "The Vang: The Battlemaster" which shows us a new twist on the Vang and what drives them. If you're not afraid of nightmares and you love a book that will not let you go, then consider this novel a must.

makes "Alien" look like a tea party....

I can't even count how many times I've read this book since it was originally published. They just don't write great creepy hard-science fiction like this anymore. The Vang is an omniparasitical being that considers all other life forms to be host or food. 'nuff said? Well written, fast paced and enough sub plots to keep you quickly turning pages until you run out of them way too soon. Good luck finding a copy. It's a thrilling ride if you do.