A review by drtlovesbooks
The Blackcollar by Timothy Zahn

3.0

For some reason, I got it in my head that I wanted to track down a book I'd had when I was a kid. But all I remembered was the cover image - couldn't remember the author, title, character names, nothing. So I went to the Reddit forum What's That Book?, and wrote this:

Hey there, Gang.

I'm trying to track down the title of a book I read as a kid; it would have been published in the 1980's (maybe late '70's, but more likely mid-'80's). I am working off a long-buried memory here, but here's what I've got for details:

The main characters are soldiers who get some sort of serum, plus they have some cool black outfits with headpiece/helmets, goggles, maybe built-in wings (like modern wingsuits).

There are a few scenes where they are jumping out of planes.

The cover art of the paperback I had mostly featured one of these soldiers, with a few others in the background; the dude in front looked a bit like Batman.

That's about all I have to go on, which I realize is not much. Any help would be appreciated!


And within 24 hours, someone came back at me with the title of this series. (!) I looked it up on Amazon, and there's the cover I was thinking of! Amazing!

So of course, I had to read it. But when I get my hands on it, I realize it's the second book in a series. As a kid, I did not know this - I'd just read that second book and walked away. 'Cause I was, y'know, not too bright.

So I track down the other two books in the series, and this one was first.

This is typical '80's sci-fi: Space ninjas versus aliens.

It's not great. But it's, surprisingly, not terrible, either.