Don D’Ammassa’s Critical Mass, on Mike Resnick’s Starship: Mercenary:
“Wilson Cole and his crew are back for their third outing. …The story is very episodic, chronicling their adventures as they perform a rescue mission, foil an extortion plot, and evacuate hospital, among other things. In each case, Cole is able to prevail through his wits as much as his gunnery, but of course the author has set the situation up that way. Although in a sense this is somewhat contrived, it isn’t obvious and Resnick has come up with some clever ploys for outsmarting the bad guys. The characters are flimsier than in his more serious novels, but the storytelling is as good as ever and we genuinely regret it when he and his former ally, the Valkyrie, find themselves on opposite sides. The ability to write good space opera is increasingly a misplaced, if not entirely lost art, but Resnick knows how to draw on a hidden lode of it. Lightweight but genuine fun.”