Exposure to any stimulation will eventually lead to numbness. Spicey foods may initially burn one’s mouth, but keeping at it will reduce the pain. Elves may feel guilt or despair the first time they kill, but it fades by the third or fourth.

The Crix Offensive is designed to induce that feeling.

The T’Jell ‘Empire’ (we don’t know its real form of government) has organized a major push across Crix. Soldier after soldier, some with decades of experience from other planets, some who were only recently handed a gun, fighting battle after battle as they sweep across the planet.

The novel is an anthology with each story following a T’Jell soldier in this offensive. There are 113 chapters, by my count over 600 named characters, and death comes fast. The T’Jell race, like the D’Sev that inspired them, use foresight and prophecy to win battles, and frequently characters have these grand destinies and plotlines laid out for them. There are mysteries, there’s intrigue, we get a bit of insight into why Crix is such an important world, and then the protagonist is killed with no warning. Then one of the side characters becomes the new protagonist before their sudden death.

The characters are well written and likeable, and each is given a ‘victory condition’. Build the courage to declare his love to a medic, discover the meaning behind their prophetic dreams, drag a friend to safety before they pass out, avoid becoming attached to the new recruits. Some characters achieve their victories, many do not, and new characters were introduced even in the last chapter, telling us Baciski could keep the book going forever if he wished because the war will never end.

I grew numb by the end, but the constant failures made the few victories all the sweeter.