Hammer’s Slammers is a compilation of several short stories held together by a futuristic tank war on a distant planet. To be honest, most of the stories are forgettable and not that interesting to me. David Drake, however, created an entire universe of both tabletop gaming and sci-fi stories with this collection, so it is worth reviewing.
The first story stuck with me. It centered around Hammer himself and his bodyguard. The descriptions are great, the political intrigue is interesting, and I loved how Hammer himself was written.
I should mention a few of the other stories I liked, but there weren’t many. “Under the Hammer” I had actually read in a reprint somewhere. I want to say it was a periodical publication by Mike Resnick, but I don’t remember which. I liked it then, and I liked it on a reread. The story follows a new recruit, Rob Jenne. He’s pretty much thrown right into battle on his first outing. It was written really well and felt more real than some of the other battles in the book.
“Cultural Conflict” was pretty good. It involved some aliens that didn’t mean harm and the mercenaries. Obviously, they don’t communicate with one another and it leads to misunderstandings. The story is hard to describe beyond that, but I’d recommend it.
The final story was hard to follow and seemingly had little real stakes. I just couldn’t follow anything that was happening.
Ultimately, Hammer’s Slammers was hit or miss. There’s a lot there to like and a lot to dislike, but the creation of the “Hammerverse” is certainly something to like. If you like space marine type military sci-fi this is probably up your alley, though it’s more vehicular than you may be used to. Don’t dive into this if you prefer space fleet type MSF.
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You may like some of my other reviews:
Story Review: Black Amazon of Mars by Leigh Brackett
Book Review: The Troy Rising Trilogy by John Ringo
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Book Review: The Lost Fleet Series by Jack Campbell
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Frank Ormond 
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