Originally published on my blog here in February 2004.Though Dickson himself is keen that the three novels generally known as the Dorsai Trilogy should be considered to be part of the far larger framework of his Chantry Guild future history of which they form part, there are few science fiction fans who would not feel that Tactics of Mistake, Soldier, Ask Not and Dorsai! are far more interesting and readable than their fellows. The reason for this is simple: Dickson later on let his writing become weighed down by some of the mystical ideas which form a relatively small part of these three novels; interesting they may be, but they dominate the other books to such an extent that the reader is put off.Tactics of Mistake introduces the Dorsai, a race of mercenary soldiers of the future. The background situation is one which is common in a lot of American science fiction of the period - the Cold War extended over a group of colonised planets. In Dickson's future history, many of these planets are home to groups of specialists - scientists on Newton, the mystical Exotics on Kultis; this, under the name of the Splintering, is one of the ideas central to the Chantry Guild series as a whole: for the human race to mature properly, it needs to split into groups which will each develop a specific kind of human, for later re-integration.The setting is the planet Mara, host to a small war between the Alliance-backed Exotics, the employers of the Dorsai, and the Coalition-backed Neulanders. Cletus Grahame is an Alliance officer recently arrived from Earth, who has come to Kultis to try out some new ideas he as about military strategy, notably the "tactics of mistake", which basically consists of drawing an opponent into a series of errors at the end of which their position becomes untenable.There are obviously shadows of the Vietnam War in the novel, and implied criticism of American policy in the opportunistic imperialism which marks both the Alliance and the Coalition. Grahame's tactics similarly seem to criticise American attempts to win in Vietnam by brute force methods - more men, better weapons, rather than tactics suited to the nature of the conflict (as those adopted by the Viet Cong proved to be).Dickson's writing style is nothing if not mainstream science fiction. The influences of Heinlein and Herbert are clearly to be seen in this novel, for example. Dickson shared with Herbert a desire to make his subject matter more sophisticated than in earlier science fiction; he was here attempting to do for the depiction of military strategy what Herbert had done for politics in Dune. The difference can be seen by citing another example. In E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series, the strategic decisions consist of the deployment of a sequence of ever more spectacular weapons, combined with small group operations to disable the enemy command structure. I find it hard to see, however, how the tactics Grahame devises based on the (notoriously difficult to assess) psychology of powerful members of the enemy hierarchy, could be generally applicable. (Think about how hard it has been for Americans to find Osama bin Laden - and I think that Grahame's analysis of future actions of people like Dow Castries are on the same sort of level of difficulty.) Yet Grahame's plans always seem to work perfectly; no miscalculations, no unforeseen difficulties, no chance event ruining things. The only exception to his psychological understanding is his inability to read the woman he wants to marry.The take on the subject matter may be influenced by Herbert, but the writing style is more firmly in the style of Robert Heinlein's earlier novels (before Stranger in a Strange Landd). This is despite Dickson's clear rejection of the type of militarism which is part of Starship Troopers. The Tactics of Mistake is exciting and easy to read. Most serious science fiction fans will probably already have read the Dorsai Trilogy, but if not - anyone who likes writers like Heinlein and Herbert will enjoy it.
‘Planets were the pawns in their quest for power.The men of the Dorsai were the finest fighting soldiers in the universe, mercenary troops without equal.Their talents were devastatingly employed on Kultis, where a bloody little war raged between the Western Alliance and the Eastern Coalition. But not even the Dorsai could anticipate the dramatic effect of Cletus Grahame’s brilliant mind and the galaxy-shaking theory he called ‘the Tactics of Mistake’.The story of how Cletus Grahame risked his life, the fate of three worlds, and ultimately the whole of the Dorsai to prove that a mistake may remake worlds is a classic of science fiction.’Blurb from the 1976 Sphere paperback editionSlightly Asimovian in its technique of presenting problems to be solved with ingenious tactical solutions, Dickson’s Dorsai novels are set in a galaxy where the burgeoning Earth colonies are being fought over by the Coalition and the Alliance.When tactical expert Cletus Grahame is sent to the planet Kultis to assist the Alliance it sets in motion an inevitable sequence of events, orchestrated by Grahame, designed to break the stranglehold that Earth has on the colony worlds via the Alliance and the Coalition, and also to transform the mercenary Dorsai into an elite fighting force.Grahame’s nemesis is the coldly ambitious Dow De Castries, whom Grahame meets in the first chapter while on his way to Kultis. The entire novel, in fact, is a kind of elaborate game of chess, with Grahame employing his theory of ‘Tactics of Mistake’ to goad De Castries into retaliating against his every calculated move, making bigger and bigger mistakes until he ultimately destroys himself.This novel at least stands the test of time very well and is interesting in that there is (as in ‘Dune’) an oddly mystical slant to proceedings.Kultis is one of the colonies of the Exotics, a quasi-mystical community who are both scientifically and philosophically advanced. They wear blue robes and are dedicated to the ongoing evolution of Humanity. There seems to be a slight Buddhist element to their beliefs and it is suggested that they have powers above and beyond the normal range of human capabilities.Mondar, a high-ranking Exotic who becomes friends with Grahame, recognises something within the mercenary and invites him to join the Exotics. There is an odd yet powerful scene where Grahame, arriving at the Exotic’s private office, appears to go into a trance and sees various possible other universes with alternate versions of himself and Mondar.Later, Grahame employs various hypnotic meditation techniques to train his Dorsais to exploit their bodies to their maximum potential (reminiscent of Paul Atreides and the Fremen of Frank Herbert's 'Dune') and they subsequently become in demand among the indigenous populations of worlds where the Alliance and Coalition are in control. Grahame’s elaborate chess game with De Castries is masterfully plotted and leads logically and inevitably (if not necessarily predictably) to a satisfying endgame.
Do You like book Tactics Of Mistake (1998)?
This book was really well thought out and planned. I thought the story could have ended well around 80% of the way through, but the rest really buttoned up the story from beginning to end.Cletus Grahame is a decorated military tactician with big goals and the vision to make things go his way. I like how the tactics fall into place, and how there is always the larger game being played which is easy to lose track of temporarily until it's pointed out that Cletus really is playing the long game with every move he makes.I would have liked for some of the later military engagements to have had more detail, but I think that may have been done on purpose, as Cletus slowly moves away from direct command to training and advising. It makes sense for the later combat to be described from less of a hands-on view, even though I would have preferred otherwise.
—John Olsen
Weoo plotted and well executed, if following the same pattern as the previous Childe Cycles novels. There is much of interest here: a novel, written during the height of the Vietnam War about how to win a war without losing any troops (either your own or your enemies), the importance of "Eastern philosophies" to becoming a whole person, etc. While Dickson still has yet to reach his greatest peak as a writer this novel gets us closer to that time. The role of women is still practically nonexistent, however (Melissa is a pack of feminine stereotypes, not a character), and Dickson's continual use of one adjective ("cheerful") to describe his main character is a bit wearying at times. Still an engaging novel.
—Christopher Sutch
At the same time as Starship Troopers came out, Gordon R. Dickson’s Dorsai! series was first serialised in Astounding Science Fiction magazine, which told the story of a genetic super soldier whose story is about what it takes to command troops in war. The genetics under pinning the novel are simplistic, which is not Dickson’s fault, as our understanding of how genotypes are the expressed in a person’s phenotype is far greater now than it was then.From a military perspective there are many things that Dickson omits that would be present in his future, and for some reason, Dickson has his troops wearing synthetic leather uniforms, in field grey. I wonder where he got the colour from? If you have ever done any physically grueling exercises you will appreciate how inappropriate leather would be for doing said activity. Unless stinking all the time is good for morale (this is a real problem when wearing NBC uniforms called Noddy suits in the British Army).
—Ashley
