Reviews :: Book Genre :: Military SF

I’m always on the lookout for a great, quick read, and when I came across this one, I decided pretty quickly that it fit the bill.
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We’re long-standing proponents of the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (EBR Archive) here at EBR. Even though we haven’t thrown our hat into the reviewer-ring in quite some time, we still believe in both the importance and efficacy of that contest, and have nothing but great things to say about it and those who continue to run it. Thankfully, there are those who believe that Science Fiction authors should also have those same kind of opportunities (Hugh Howey). Enter The Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC).

This book happens to be the winner of the first year of that contest.

And also? It’s awesome.
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So, a few months ago, one of our readers commented on my review for ALTERED CARBON (EBR Review) that I should look into the second and third books in this series. If I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t too high on the idea, as I’ve never really been overly enamored with Richard K. Morgan’s books. Still I thanked the reader for the comment and proceeded on my merry way.

Then, randomly, I found a copy of the second book in the series at one of the second-hand bookstores that I frequent, and the thing was only two bucks. The thickness of the spine made it look like it was going to be relatively short too. So, I picked it up with no real intention to read it any time soon. But the opportunity to dive in was quickly afforded me when I was asked to chaperone for a couple days at a girl’s camp my daughter was attending. All I needed to do was be present. So I figured, why not grab a quick read and see what came of it?

And here we are.

I mention all this mostly because at no point in this whole process did I think there was going to be any chance that I might actually like this book.

Man, do I love being surprised.
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I’ve had something on my mind the last couple of months. It’s easy, as a reviewer, to dole out ratings for books. Saying this one is good, and this one is bad, and this one was just kinda meh. It’s also frequently easy to fall into the trap of thinking that every book that is published should be the “best book that it can be”. I’m also an engineer though, and so the old saying that, “If you want to finish the project, you’re going to have to kill the engineer” (meaning that the engineer will keep working on a project for forever until it’s perfect) floats around in my mess of a brain too. I think this has produced somewhat of a scarcity mentality in my head though. Because, honestly, there is a huge market out there for stories that I’m going to think are perfectly mediocre. That don’t ring any of my bells or wave any flags — even lots that don’t ring bells or wave flags for anybody — because some people just like to read something that makes them forget for a time. They don’t even want to think about it very hard. Just read. Now, I’m not exactly one of those kind of people. I expect goodness when I sit down to read. This likely stems from the fact that I read as much as I do, I’m always wanting to read more, and I never feel like I have enough time for it. Which means I don’t like finding anything mediocre about what I’m ingesting. Still, there’s obviously a market for stories like that, and I think this is one of those.
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Every once in a while I go to the library looking for books. It seems somewhat ludicrous that between all of the books that I really want to read, and all of the others that publishers/agents/etc send to us, that I could ever find time to read something I found at a library. And yet, I do. Because I’ve found that I’ll still occasionally find something that pushes my buttons. In my profile for the site, I mention that I have no patience for “plots that don’t grab by the throat, the heart, or the funny bone”. Yeah. I judge. So anyways, I was walking through the library this one fine day, saw this book, and thought the cover art was pretty intriguing. So I picked it up. Then I opened the cover, flipped through the first couple sheets, and came across a nearly blank page with a single statement printed near the top:

“Don’t just fight the darkness. Bring the light.”

Instantly I found that both my heart and my throat had been grabbed. My decision had been made and another book added to my TBR list.
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Chuck Gannon’s FIRE WITH FIRE (EBR Review) was easily the best science fiction novel I read in 2013. The first book in the Tales of the Terran Republic series would be right at home on a shelf amongst the hallowed Golden Age classics. FIRE WITH FIRE is a cerebral thriller – Caine makes his fair share of thrilling escapes – but the real draw to the story is the depth and intellectual complexity that Gannon brings to a First Contact scenario. As a follow-up, TRIAL BY FIRE (Amazon) is no disappointment.
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I am continually fascinated by novels and short stories being made into movies and TV shows. Half the fun of it is the whole process of comparing the two versions and having that debate about which is “better”. I realize how fruitless such comparisons can be, and I also realize that most people opt for the auto-response of “the book is better”. Thing is, that isn’t always the case. Just look at the Dexter novels vs. the TV show as an easy example.
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I’ve been on the look-out for novels similar to those of Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter series and Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger novels. I love the mix of Military Thriller with SF/Fantasy/Whatever. It didn’t have to be magic, but I needed something that was contemporary, actiony, and with speculative elements in it.
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So pretty much everything I said about AN OFFICER’S DUTY (EBR Review) I should just cut and paste into this review… because its sequel HELLFIRE (Amazon) is almost the exact same book. Save yourself some time, read that review, and come back and I’ll try to be succinct.
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I made the mistake of starting AN OFFICER’S DUTY (Amazon) before reading the book that came before: A SOLDIER’S DUTY (Amazon). I was completely lost and from what I read, the PoV character Ia was an insufferable know-it-all so I stopped. It reminded me too much of the annoying Kris Longknife books, only with more infodumps. As a result I wasn’t interested, but with Steve’s prodding I tried again–from the beginning this time.
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