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Death's Head: Day of the Damned (Deaths Head 3) |  | Author: David Gunn
Publisher: Bantam Press
Category: Book
List Price: £12.99
Buy New: £7.33
as of 25/11/2009 17:27 GMT details
You Save: £5.66 (44%)
New (5) Used (1) from £7.33
Seller: aphrohead_books
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 19106
Media: Paperback
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.3
ISBN: 0593058739
EAN: 9780593058732
ASIN: 0593058739
Publication Date: June 18, 2009
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Day of the Damned July 3, 2009
Ann Kowles (United Kingdom)
This is the third book in the Death's Head series. On paper, Sven may seem like just another cold bloodied killer merrily racking up the body count; but, with a sentient gun by his side, whose sarcasm is sharper than his owners laser blade, and a political minefield to wade through that would make Machiavelli's head hurt, he, and this series is so much more.
br /This book is fasted paced and complex enough that you will never feel patronised. Jam packed with solid SF elements, from tech to a variety of future societies and ferocious aliens.
br /David Gunn has managed to avoid the trap so many others have fallen into of having a good first book, and disappointing follow ups. There is nothing in this book to disappoint.
Gunn fires on Target July 4, 2009
Gareth Wilson
As a huge fan of David's writing I can pretty much be found ignoring the TBR pile whenever a favoured author lands. Even if I'm part way though a novel some authors just speak to me and taunt me to get on with their book. David is one of those for me so on a warm summers day with a bottle of my favourite beer I settled onto the lawn for a little read. What unfurled was a tale that really did draw your breath away as you never knew what was going to happen as the tale continued in its own way. Think futuristic Sven Hassell and you've pretty much got a good idea of the type of book that you'll be getting and then add a ton of ammo, a huge amount of explosives and you might get a better idea of what there is. Sven is pretty uncomplicated which is more than can be said for the world around him, he's like the proverbial bazooka, point and shoot and keep clear of the danger zone. Great military action in this Hard Boiled futuristic adventure.
Good but not as good as the previous 2 July 9, 2009
Mr. M. A. TODD
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Im a big fan of the deaths head saga, however dotd seemed a bit more of a rant against the upper class. overall i still enjoyed it, but i read somewere that this would only be a trilogy, i just hope it isnt
Good, but not the best Death's Head book August 6, 2009
Mark Chitty (North Wales)
Once again we join Sven Tveskoeg in another Death's Head book, and after thoroughly enjoying the first, Death's Head, and the second, Maximum Offense, I was very eager to see where this one would take the series. After two books that delivered an excellent first person, stripped down prose with more action than you could shake a bazooka at, I was hoping that Day of the Damned would deliver more of the same, but with some new elements to keep it fresh. I was very pleased when it did all, but felt it may have been at a cost.
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br /We start Day of the Damned with a little prologue with General Jaxx while he is waiting to meet OctoV, but he doesn't show. This little scene sets up the story quite nicely, with OctoV apparently missing and General Jaxx the obvious figure at which to direct unrest on the Octovian Empire. We then catch up with Sven, taking leave on Farlight, the capital of the Empire, although the leave he is on comes to an abrupt end when civil unrest threatens the throne that OctoV has held for millenia. Although visiting friends away from the city, a chain of events is put in motion when the life of Vijayy Jaxx is put in danger and Sven must get back to Farlight and join up with the Aux to tackle the ever-growing problems there. Not only this, but the political maneuverings of the U/Free - a galaxy wide civilisation - are starting to bring down the empire that Sven knows and serves.
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br /What I liked about Day of the Damned is that it still keeps the first person view and the focus on the gritty and violent that I enjoyed so much in the first two. Not only that, but the political aspect is coming more into its own this time around and has a bigger role in the story. The only trouble with this is that Sven is our eyes and ears as we progress through the story - he freely admits that the political side of things is of no interest to him. David Gunn uses and excellent analogy for this, that when someone tries to teach Sven to play chess he quite simply puts it that he "doesn't play the long game". While this viewpoint has worked well up to now, I felt that it didn't really help that side of the story this time around, especially with the plot revolving around these aspects, although this is one aspect of Sven that he is consciously aware of and tries to work around this.
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br /One of the other things that caught me out was the lack of the Aux - they don't appear in the first half of the story and the character and team building that was done in Maximum Offense didn't feel like it was paying off as much as I was hoping. That isn't to say it doesn't - when the Aux turn up they fall in very nicely with the story and I felt at home with them almost immediately. Despite this, I felt that Day of the Damned was much more focused on Sven after the detour of the second book that focused on the team more. This is good as Sven is one of those characters that you can't help to like and I wouldn't be reading a third book in a series if the main character didn't work.
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br /One of the other things that Gunn has done so well is convey the bleakness of a civil war. With Farlight plunged into civil unrest we get a street view of events and I can fully believe that this would happen. It feels both depressing and frightening to know that, although this is fiction, this is the sort of thing that would happen given the chance, that people would behave like this. What makes this hit home even harder is the casual way Sven shrugs it off - he's seen worse and has lived through it. This just makes me realise that despite the enjoyment I've had from reading the Death's Head books, both Sven and the stories are dark entities, but Gunn has used them to give us good, entertaining stories.
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br /To be completely honest, this wasn't as good as the previous two, but that's not to say it isn't good - it is. I enjoyed the new political aspects here but felt that, overall, they detracted from the enjoyment of reading from Sven's view. The ending has been left in such a way that it could go many places from here - all of which could deliver more of everything that makes the Death's Head novels so good.
 More incoherent than Sven himself July 29, 2009
G. Coale (Ireland)
As a fan of the first two books, I gleefully picked up this one. Prosewise its much the same as the last 2 books, - brutal just like Sven himself.
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br /One major problem raises its ugly head. The plot - or complete lack of one. As previously Sven flails about whilst the leaders of the various factions machinate, however whilst in the previous novels the Author managed to convey both Svens place in the proceedings and at least a number of hints to what wider events were happening, in this book he fails miserably.
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br /We have a power vacuum left by OctoV's disappearance/death - why or how is never explained, Sven carves his way through the ensuing Civil War with his usual directness. Unfortunately the author fails to tell us why, and just like Sven seems to be making it up as he goes along.
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br /What we are left with is the shell of a novel. Sven doesn't seem to know whats happening to him, neither does the author, neither does the audience.
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br /In short a pretty poor effort enlivened only by Sven and the Aux.
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