Keith Laumer’s Retief’s War (the third book and the first novel in the Retief series) was serialized in Worlds of If Science Fiction in 1965 with a cool wrap-around cover by Jack Gaughan. Retief’s War has been published in paperback numerous times (I picked the TIMESCAPE cover done by Rowena and the Wayne Barlowe cover on the BAEN Books editions because there’s such a contrast between them).
James Retief seeks to unite the hostile Quoppian tribes for the sake of Earth’s security and diplomacy. But first, Retief must first foil the destructive plans of the evil Groaci. In the process, Retief encounters a beautiful princess whose space yacht has crashed. Pure SF fun! GRADE: B+
RETIEF SERIES:
1. Envoy to New Worlds (1963)
2. Galactic Diplomat (1965)
3. Retief’s War (1965)
4. Retief and the Warlords (1968)
5. Retief: Ambassador to Space (1969)
6. Retief of the CDT (1971)
7. Retief’s Ransom (1971)
aka Retief and the Pangalactic Pageant of Pulchritude
8. Retief: Emissary to the Stars (1975)
9. Retief at Large (1978)
10. Retief Unbound (1979)
11. Diplomat at Arms (1982)
12. Retief to the Rescue (1983)
13. The Return of Retief (1984)
14. Retief in the Ruins (1986)
15. Reward for Retief (1989)
Retief of the Red-Tape Mountain (1962)
The Frozen Planet (1966)
Retief and the Rascals (1993)
Retief! (2001)
Gambler’s World (2009)
The Yillian Way (2009)
The Governor of Glave (2020)
Aide Memoire (2020)
Saline Solution (2020)