History Literature / ToTheStars

* CurbStompBattle: The crucial SpaceBattle in ''Starworld'' involves TheEmpire and LaResistance fleet squaring off. The Earth fleet is better equipped (holo-screens) and armed (having a good number of nukes), while the rebel fleet is made up of a few dedicated warships with crews that have defected and the rest are former transports refitted for war. All space combat is done using missiles, which are used offensively and defensively (as screens and mines). Energy weapons have [[ArbitraryWeaponRange extremely short ranges]] and can only be used planet-side. However, rebel engineers have a [[SuperweaponSurprise trick up their sleeve]] in the form of [[MagneticWeapon mass drivers]]. The main guns are built to run the length of the ship, accelerating plain old cannonballs (without explosives) to extreme speeds. The protagonist (himself an engineer) helps them solve a programming issue with the magnets, which previously prevented them from spamming cannonballs. After some maneuvering and missile launches (which were all intercepted by other missiles), the rebel fleet gets close enough to unleash their SecretWeapon. The opening volley cripples the enemy fleet. The rebels then move in for the kill, opening up with the smaller, turreted mass drivers that fire explosive bullets, tearing the enemy to shreds. Oh, yeah, and there were no casualties on the rebel side. Nobody cheers on the winning side, though, as many of those officers used to be friends, including the two admirals.

* DoppelgangerReplacementLoveInterest: Subverted in ''Starworld''. The protagonist is sent to Israel to meet a contact, and he at first is shocked to see Sarah, his dead love who was killed in the first book. He then starts to see differences and, after talking to her, finds out that she's Sarah's sister. They end up having sex, but it turns out they're both married (he got married in book two, and her husband is a rabbi) and have no intention of leaving their spouses.

* ArbitraryMaximumRange: In ''Starworld'' the rebel admiral points out to the protagonist how energy weapons don't work due to the energy diffusion problem.

* CurbStompBattle: The crucial SpaceBattle in ''Starworld'' involves TheEmpire and LaResistance fleet squaring off. The Earth fleet is better equipped (holo-screens) and armed (having a good number of nukes), while the rebel fleet is made up of a few dedicated warships with crews that have defected and the rest are former transports refitted for war. All space combat is done using missiles, which are used offensively and defensively (as screens and mines). Energy weapons have [[ArbitraryMaximumRange extremely short ranges]] and can only be used planet-side. However, rebel engineers have a [[SuperweaponSurprise trick up their sleeve]] in the form of [[MagneticWeapon mass drivers]]. The main guns are built to run the length of the ship, accelerating plain old cannonballs (without explosives) to extreme speeds. The protagonist (himself an engineer) helps them solve a programming issue with the magnets, which previously prevented them from spamming cannonballs. After some maneuvering and missile launches (which were all intercepted by other missiles), the rebel fleet gets close enough to unleash their SecretWeapon. The opening volley cripples the enemy fleet. The rebels then move in for the kill, opening up with the smaller, turreted mass drivers that fire explosive bullets, tearing the enemy to shreds. Oh, yeah, and there were no casualties on the rebel side. Nobody cheers on the winning side, though, as many of those officers used to be friends, including the two admirals.

* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: ''Starworld'' has the rebel admiral explain to the protagonist why energy weapons don't work in the [[ArbitraryMaximumRange vast distances of space]]. Although missiles are being used by both sides, the rebels use linear accelerators firing unguided cannon balls to gain the decisive edge, then finish them off with a FlechetteStorm of rocket-propelled bullets (fired from the standard infantry weapons of the time) which work well over infinite ranges due to the lack of air resistance.

* TheWarOfEarthlyAggression: The trilogy begins with a Big Brother-like Earth lording it over interstellar colonies set up to be totally dependent upon each other. Since each colony requires numerous goods (which they are never allowed to stockpile) each made [[PlanetOfHats only on one of the other colonies]], it would be impossible for a revolt to succeed unless every colony did so at once. Which they do. (It's not not strictly Earth-vs-everyone-else, though. On Earth itself there are several rogue states that cling to old ideals, such as ''democracy'', the strongest of them being [[BadassIsraeli Israel]]. The last novel makes it clear that a revolution can only succeed with a simultaneous assault on the surface and space.)

* BaitAndSwitchGunshot: [[spoiler:After an apparent HopeSpot where the Earth fleet have been decisively defeated, the Rebel fleet is shocked to find several battleships waiting in Earth's orbit, and their admiral reveals they've been LuredIntoATrap. As there's NoKillLikeOverkill, missiles are also launched from Earth to help finish off the rebel fleet...only for them to strike the battleships, leaving Spaceconcert open to invasion.]]
* {{BFG}}: One of the Israeli commandoes is firing a handheld .50 calibre recoilless machine gun during the attack on Spaceconcert in ''Starworld''.

* DoppelgangerReplacementLoveInterest: Subverted in ''Starworld''. The protagonist is sent to Israel to meet a contact, and he at first is shocked to see Sarah, his dead love who was killed in the first book. He then starts to see differences and, after talking to her, finds out that she's Sarah's sister. They end up having sex, but it turns out they're both married (he got married in book two) and have no intention of leaving their spouses.

* KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand: When it looks like Thurgood-Smyth will become a hero of the revolution, Jan Kulozik picks up a submachine gun. convinced he will create a FullCircleRevolution. Thurgood-Smyth just tells him to go ahead, if he doesn't trust the new democracy will survive someone like him in it.

* KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand

* LaResistance: Many of the colonies decide they've had enough of Earth's tyrannical rule. They band together, along with a number of fleet officers. In fact, the admirals commanding both fleets in the key space battle used to be good friends. It ends up being a CurbStompBattle, in which the rebels obliterate Earth's fleet using a new weapon ([[spoiler:mass drivers]]). Then they attack Earth's orbital defenses, while Israeli forces storm the Mojave spaceport in a well-coordinated attack.
* MagnificentBastard: At the end of ''Starworld'', Jan Kulozik realises that Thurgood-Smyth has manipulated events so he'll come out on top no matter which side wins.
* MercurialBase: Drives the plot in ''Wheelworld''.

* ManipulativeBastard: At the end of ''Starworld'', Jan Kulozik realises that Thurgood-Smyth has manipulated events so he'll come out on top no matter which side wins.

* ManipulativeBastard: At the end of ''Starworld'', the hero realises that the BigBad has manipulated events so he'll come out on top no matter which side wins.

* CoolTrain: ''Wheelworld'' features a planet with very extreme seasons where the entire population of the colony escapes the brutal summers twice each (longer-than-Earth-normal) year by picking up and moving from one of the planet's poles to the other. This is done by jacking up the colony's main buildings on wheels, forming them up behind the colony's nuclear power plants (now transformed into enormous locomotives) and making the 12,000-mile trek to the other side of the planet. No tracks -- the "trains" run on roads -- but the effect is definitely train-like.

* StandardStarshipScuffle: Lampshaded and averted in ''Starworld''.