Editing In Death Ground

{{Short description|1997 novel by David Weber and Steve White}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox book | 
| name          = In Death Ground
| image         = In Death Ground cover.jpg
| caption       = First edition
| author        = [[David Weber]], [[Steve White (author)|Steve White]]
| illustrator   = [[David Burroughs Mattingly|David Mattingly]]
| cover_artist  = [[David Burroughs Mattingly|David Mattingly]]
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| series        = [[Starfire (board wargame)#Books|Starfire series]]
| genre         = [[Science fiction]]
| publisher     = [[Baen Books]]
| release_date  = May 1997
| media_type    = Print ([[Paperback]]) & [[E-book]]
| pages         = 629
| isbn          = 0-671-87779-8 
| oclc          = 36781354
| preceded_by   = [[Crusade (Starfire)|Crusade]]
| followed_by   = [[The Shiva Option]]
}}

'''''In Death Ground''''' is a 1997 [[military science fiction]] novel by American writer [[David Weber]] and [[Steve White (author)|Steve White]]. The story is completed in the novel ''[[The Shiva Option]]''.

The title is taken from a passage in Chapter 11 of [[Sun Tzu]]'s ''[[The Art of War]]'': "In difficult ground, press on; On hemmed-in ground, use subterfuge; In death ground, fight." The original text is "圮地則行；圍地則謀；死地則戰"。

== Plot summary ==

The novel is set in a distant future. Following the accidental discovery of interstellar travel via '[[wormholes|warp points]]', humanity has expanded throughout space, evolving into a Terran Federation consisting of Core Worlds like Earth and Alpha Centauri, Corporate Worlds like Galloway's Star, and Fringe Worlds colonized by small groups of like-minded people seeking to preserve ethnic or cultural identities from getting lost in a [[Globalization|cosmopolitan sameness]]. (Tensions exist between the three groups of worlds, and are further explored in ''Insurrection'', another novel also written by Weber and White).

Following a series of three interstellar wars (ISWs 1–3) with different species (warlike [[Felidae|felinoid]] Orions and their [[centaur]]oid Gorm associates, birdlike Ophiuchi, the genocidal Rigelians, and the Thebans (explored in a prequel novel ''Crusade''), humanity has experienced a seventy-year "vacation from history", i.e. seven decades of peace.

A survey squadron travels through a previously uncharted warp point and encounters a hive-like species referred to derisively as the '[[Bug (Starship Troopers)|Bugs]]' (inspired by the Arachnids in [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Starship Troopers]]''). All attempts at communication fail, and the Bugs ambush the survey squadron, with a great loss of material and human life. Pursuing the survivors, the Bugs mount a massive invasion of Terran and Orion space.

[[Satellite]]s left behind monitor the conquered planets and reveal that Bugs regard other sentient life forms as food sources; indeed the Bugs prefer to consume their prey alive. It is later revealed that the Bugs raise ranches of conquered species.

The alternative being "equal opportunity genocide", Terrans, Orions, Gorm, and Ophiuchi form a Grand Alliance, with Terrans and Orions as the senior members. The novel features long and very detailed space and ground battle sequences, detailed discussions of tactical doctrine, the ongoing [[arms race]] between the Alliance and the Bugs, and the development of interpersonal relations between military people of different background and species.

The universe and novels are based on the ''[[Starfire (strategy game)|Starfire]]'' wargame series, which David Weber helped to develop, and which has existed in various editions since 1976.

== External links ==
* {{ISFDB title|id=9063|title=In Death Ground}} 
* {{Isfdb series|id=3809|title=The Starfire Series}}
* An excerpt of ''In Death Ground'' is available for download or reading online at the [[Baen Free Library]] [http://www.baen.com/chapters/indeath1.htm here].

{{Starfire}}
{{David Weber}}

[[Category:1997 American novels]]
[[Category:1997 science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Books with cover art by David Burroughs Mattingly]]
[[Category:Collaborative novels]]
[[Category:Military science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Novels by David Weber]]
[[Category:Starfire (board wargame)]]