CLYDE WISHAM
An Army at Dawn is a very good history of the western front in North Africa. It is also the story of the coming of age of the American army and its leaders.
The fighting in North Africa was brutal – I had not realized how much so. In this crucible, the American army in the European theater was born. Perhaps the book itself sums things up best in a passage in the epilogue.
At a price of 70,000 casualties “one continent had been redeemed,” in Churchill's phrase. But more than territory could be claimed. The gains were most profound for the Americans, in their first campaign against the Wehrmacht. Four U.S. divisions now had combat experience in five variants of Euro-Mediterranean warfare: expeditionary, amphibious, mountain, desert, and urban. Troops had learned the importance of terrain, of combined arms, of aggressive patrolling, of stealth, of massed armor. They now knew what it was like to be bombed, shelled, and machine-gunned, and to fight on. They provided Eisenhower with a blooded hundred thousand, “high-grade stock from which we must breed with the utmost rapidity,” as one general urged.
There was one passage in the book that fairly jumped out at me.
With sirens screaming from his motorcycle escort, Patton drove up from Fériana—not before taking time to berate a soldier for being ill-shaven and legging-less, although he had just left the line to fetch more ammunition.
The soldier in question could well have been my father, as I have heard that story from him many times. Though he generally had little to say about the war, my father did frequently mention being “chewed out by Patton” for not being in proper uniform as he was returning to the front with ammo and fuel after a period of hard fighting. (My father died last year a week shy of his 90th birthday.)
This is a very good history of war. The numerous detailed maps helped me understand the many battles. And, the section of photographs at the back of the book is a nice bonus. Highly recommended for those with an interest in World War Two.
I quite enjoyed Emergence. Nowadays it would probably be called a YA book, but at the time of publication (1984) it was probably considered straight SF. The story reminds me somewhat of Heinlein's juveniles. In fact, the main protagonist, Candy, is a very Heinleinesque character.
I wanted more, but unfortunately, it seems that David R. Palmer pretty much stopped writing. Sad.
Good book. But, definately not a stand-alone novel. This is the middle volume of the reedited and reissued omnibus editions of Charlie Stross's Merchant Princes stories. (This one combines The Clan Corporate and The Merchants' War.) The Bloodline Feud should be read before The Traders' War and it will be necessary to read The Revolution Trade to finish the story.
What's it all about? Well, there are alternate Earths with histories that differ from our own. And, there are some people, a small related group, that have a genetic mutation that allows them to “walk” between the worlds. This trilogy is the story of their intrigues, conflicts, power struggles, and romances. The story is fast-paced and very entertaining, and I found some of the characters to be quite likeable.
I quite enjoyed The Bloodline Feud. It is great writing and a very good story, but it doesn't fit easily into a genre – call it a sort of a speculative-fiction, techno-thriller, crime-fiction crossover. It is an exciting romp with alternate-Earths, deadly feuds, and a ton of action and intrigue. It actually reminded me quite a lot of Roger Zelazny's Amber books.
(Fair warning: The Bloodline Feud is a re-edited omnibus edition of a story that was originally published as The Family Trade and The Hidden Family.)
Update: Even better on a re-read. I finished it thinking of snarky alternate titles like Miriam in Wonderland and Looking Glass 2.0.
I recently picked up The Helix and the Sword at a used book store – a happy find as the author's Toolmaker Koan is one of my favorite SF books. I was not disappointed. The story is placed in the far future. Life has scattered throughout the solar system with heavy concentrations in the asteroid belt. The plot of the story involves a semi-religious resource war. Technology is very different from present day; biotechnology and solar energy play an important role. For example, the spaceships are giant living creatures that use photosynthesis for energy and solar sails for propulsion. One interesting twist is that the future humans have abandoned planets, including the Earth, and civilization exists totally in space. (That becomes important late in the book.)
The story-telling is very good. It reminded me somewhat of early Arthur C. Clark books. If you are a fan of science fiction and like Clark's books, you will probably like this one.
The only problem I have is that John C. McLoughlin has apparently only written two fiction books (and those back in the 1980's). Sad.
Wow! I haven't enjoyed a book so much in quite a while. How Dark The World Becomes was not what I was expecting. I thought I was going to read space opera. (It is published by Baen, after all.) What I got was a rip-snorting noir crime story, nicely spiced with spies, and gunfights, and dirty dealing, and desperate situations, and a bit of romance. Oh ... and there are also aliens and spaceships.
Very good book; I'll be looking for more from Frank Chadwick.
I quite enjoyed The January Dancer. Michael Flynn weaves a complex story from multiple viewpoints, most seemingly unrelated at first. However, all the threads connect in some way to a strange and ancient alien artifact that comes to dominate the lives of the protagonists.
Michael Flynn's skill as a writer makes this much more than just good space opera. Recommended for those who like Ian M. Banks's Culture series.
The Red: First Light is a military techno-thriller placed in the near future. The main protagonist, Lt. James Shelley, leads a squad of soldiers tasked with interdicting and killing terrorists in the Sahel. These are enhanced soldiers. They have received implants for communication and sensing and have exoskeletons that give extra strength and mobility. (Think something part way between present-day boots-on-the-ground grunts and Robert Heinlein's mechanized infantry in Starship Troopers.) Lt. Shelley also has something extra. He seems to have a precognitive gift. He sometimes “knows” when something is about to happen. Some of his team whisper that god talks to him. (Call it the King David connection.) But, is it god or something else?
This book is violent and fast moving. It explores technologies that are evolving now and their impact on warfare and politics. It also has some romance and sex (integral to the story), and there some very strange forces at play. (Can't say much more without spoilers.) This is a good and exciting book. Recommended for those who like military SF.
(Side note:
The Red: First Light marks Linda Nagata's return to SF fiction. She is a wonderful writer and I can only say yeah! Over on Charlie Stross's blog, she explained why there was a lengthy hiatus in her writing and why she has returned. If you are interested, please read that for yourself.
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/04/why-i-do-self-publish.html )
The Coldest War is the second of Ian Tregillis's triptych about an alternative history of the Second World War and its aftermath. The first book, Bitter Seeds, mainly covered the period from the Spanish Civil War until the defeat of Nazi Germany. This novel picks up the main characters in the early 1960s, about 20 years after the end of the first book. It is at the height of the cold war.
Of course it is a cold war unlike the one we knew. How could it be otherwise when Soviet supermen contest with British warlocks? This book provides a lot of suspense and action and some really unusual magic. At the end the world literally hangs in the balance. (Avoiding spoilers – there is resolution, but all is not resolved.)
I await the third section of the triptych.
Portal completes Eric Flint's and Ryk E. Spoor's Boundary trilogy. This book starts precisely where Threshold ends, making it a continuation of that story. The crew of the crippled Nebula Storm and the survivors of the Odin find themselves shipwrecked on Europa. They have a lot of adventures, many of the do-or-die sort, as they struggle to survive in a hostile environment and to get back home. The mix of engineering, space flight, paleontology, biology, physics, and a surprising first-contact situation makes for a fun read.
Interesting SF; good book.
A Few Good Men is advertized as the sequel to Sarah A. Hoyt's Darkship Renegades and Darkship Thieves. This isn't strictly true. It is set in the same future and takes place over much the same time period, but is more of a companion story than a sequel. (It does intersect the earlier stories a couple of times, but they need not be read first.)
Basically, this is the story of a revolution told from the inside.
The main protagonist, Luce Keeva, is one super tough hombre. He has to be, because the story gets very violent and bloody. (Starts off with explosions, gunfights, and a jailbreak.) He also happens to be gay. That doesn't have anything much to do with the story, but seems to have been necessary to set up the initial background conditions.
The “Good Men” in the story are anything but good. They are the most powerful men on Earth and basically hold the planet in slavery. Their methods are pure evil. And Luce, well ... But, that would be telling. Read the story. It is good.
In In the Company of Soldiers Rick Atkinson chronicles his experiences as an embedded reporter with the 101st Airborne Division (air assault) during the Iraq war in 2003. His book brings back the concerns and fears of that war that have become somewhat blurred by time. I didn't find this book to be quite as engrossing as Atkinson's earlier The Long Gray Line, perhaps because In the Company of Soldiers is in fact a chronicle – a diary of events as it were – without a strong core theme. Other than the war itself and the accounts of warriors doing their jobs, the most important thing in this book is Atkinson's portrayal of General David H. Petraeus. In fact it was the recent high-profile scandal leading to Petraeus's resignation that prompted me to read this book. The complex man Atkinson shows us is enigmatic – driven and driving, highly intelligent, obsessive over details, hyper competitive, intense, honorable, and at times humorous. Leadership is both a trade and an obsession for him. That portrayal and the tale of day to day life with soldiers make this a good book. I recommend it to those interested in the military, the Iraq war, or General Petraeus.
After a 25-year break, DKM has written another book about Trent the Uncatchable. Bout time I say.
This time Trent has to not only stay ahead of relentless killer cyborgs, he also has to figure out how to stop the launch of a monster warship intended to bring the entire solar system under The Unification of Earth – like it or not. Needless to say, Trent is one of those who would prefer to keep his freedom, and he is not without resources of his own.
I have to say that The Blade Itself is a pretty damned good book, and the bloodiest thing I have read this side of George R.R. Martin. But, I finished the book only to find that the story is far from finished. A quick internet check showed me that The Blade Itself is the first book in a trilogy. I have two more books totaling about 1000 pages to go. Sigh ... Hard work, but someone has to do it.
The Far Arena is a difficult book to classify. It has science fiction elements (man displaced in time), it has historical fiction elements (ancient Rome), it has science, it has corporate wheeling and dealing on an international scale, it has mystery and suspense, and that is all served up with a massive dose of culture shock. All of those elements just incidentally ride on a damn fine story.
Good book. Read it if you can find a copy.
