Book & Audio Review: Dorsai! by Gordon R. Dickson

Dorsai!
Author: Gordon R. Dickson
Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki
Series: Childe Cycle
Publication: TOR Science Fiction (March 15, 1993); Audible Studios (October 12, 2010)
Length: 288 p.; 6 hours and 40 minutes

Description: Throughout the Fourteen Worlds of humanity, no race is as feared and respected as the Dorsai. The ultimate warriors, they are known for their deadly rages, unbreakable honor, and fierce independence. No man rules the Dorsai, but their mastery of the art of war has made them the most valuable mercenaries in the known universe.

Donal Graeme is Dorsai, taller and harder than any ordinary man. But he is different as well, with talents that amaze even his fellow Dorsai. And once he ventures out into the stars, the future will never be the same....

My Thoughts: This science fiction story was written in 1959 when men were men and women were cardboard cut-outs. It tells about the early career of Donal Greame who is a very unusual Dorsai.

Humanity has spread to fourteen worlds held together by contracts but diverging in many other ways. Donal, as a Dorsai, is a mercenary soldier from a planet that has few other exports. Dorsai are super soldiers known both for their rages and their honor. But Donal is something more; he has a unique intuition that leads him to see the big picture of human life.

His adversary is William of Ceta who has his own plans for humanity which Donal opposes and out maneuvers. The story follows his growing career from his first post as a mercenary to Secretary of Defense for all the human planets. 

The story includes the battles he fought, the strategies he used, and the people he gathered to himself along the way. 

It is the first book in the Child Cycle - Dickson's epic set of connected stories about the future of humanity. The Child Cycle was never completed but did encompass ten books written by Dickson from 1959 until 1994 with an eleventh volume completed in 2007 by Dickson's assistant David W. Wixon.

It was an intriguing story about an imagined future and the people who will live in it. 

Favorite Quote:

Anea, alone, would know without needing to understand, what he was; it is Woman's ancient heritage to appreciate without the need to know. Sayona, William, and a few such would half-recognize, but never understand. The rest of the race would never know. 

I bought this audiobook recently. I've had the paperback for many years. You can buy your copy here.