I didn’t realize that Grunt Traitor, by Weston Ochse, was a follow-up to another novel (or book two in a series), and I expect that there’s a lot of information in the first book that would be good to have, but I don’t think it’s crucial to read and enjoy (‘enjoy’ isn’t maybe the right word) this novel.

Grunt Traitor takes on a popular sci-fi theme – that of humans fighting off aliens who are looking to take over the earth.  But what this book does is pick on the front line guys, the grunts, instead of the Hollywood super-star who manages to save the day in the movies.  And because it focuses on the grunts, we also get a look at an issue that many soldiers face .. PTSD.

The story follows Ben Mason, a front-line grunt who’s had direct access to the aliens, which leaves him emotionally scarred.  He puts on a de-sensitized front to what he’s seen, but the effects on him aren’t gone, only buried.  We see him walking through a field of bodies, some alien, some human.  His girlfriend, Michelle, still alive begs for Ben to kill her.  Some of the humans are infected with spores and become zombie-like.  The grunts referred to these people as ‘fungees.’

The action takes place in California, much of it in the Los Angeles area. Ochse’s writing is so powerful that when Mason gets word of devastation in parts of the Los Angeles basin, I was moved by what was lost.  I could picture the battle lines and the ferociousness of the fights with the aliens.  It was exhausting just reading, and it helped to identify what Mason and other soldiers are going through (PTSD) and yet how they are wired (or trained) to get the job done; to save even just their little portion of ground.

I am reminded a lot of the early (military) works of Joe Haldeman in that this is one of the few books I’ve read that manage to capture the intensity and ‘excitement’ of war without glorifying it.  This is a very difficult thing to do.

I would have liked a little more direction … to get a sense of where this was going, though the lack of such definitely played into the story of what it is like being a military grunt.

Looking for a good book?  Grunt Traitor, by Weston Ochse, is not for the faint of heart.  It is a powerful narration of what it is like to be a frontline soldier in a battle to save the earth from an alien invasion.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Grunt Traitor

author: Weston Ochse

series: Task Force Ombra #2

publisher: Solaris

ISBN: 1781083584

paperback, 432 pages

It’s tough to write a powerful science fiction piece that is politically themed, and keep it interesting (to me, at least), but author Malka Older accomplishes just that in this political sci-fi thriller, Infomocracy.

For political purposes, the world is divided into “centenals” of about 100,000 people.  Each centenal votes for its own government.  There are a number of political parties out there – PhilipMorris is one of the larger parties, but there is also EarthFirst and Heritage parties (among others).  The parties that win the most centenals  become the Supermajority, which gives them more political clout.

A world-wide vote is held only once every ten years and the third such vote is approaching in just over two weeks.  The parties are busy lobbying and doing whatever they can to gain control.

The book follows four characters.  One is an undercover agent for the Policy1st party – hoping to move up the ladder within the party.  One is a spy for Policy1st, using subtle means to draw people into conversation and trying to get the inside dirt on the competition.  Another is an anti-government anarchist hoping to bring down the entire corrupt system.  And the last works for a super powerful on-line service (ala Google) that is used to communicate instant information about the elections.

The first part of this book does a lot of setting up of the background the reader needs to know about this future world.  The political parties, their ambitions, the lengths they’ll go to in order to win on the smaller levels … this is all necessary background.  It gets a little dry at times because it’s such a large info-dump, but Older works hard at keeping the reader interested with what the characters are doing.

I was particularly fascinated by Mishima (the worker for the internet information engine).  The immediacy of information in our world today is taken for granted, and as it becomes speedier and speedier, it will likely cause as many problems as it overcomes.  Just look at how our own media reports results of elections before the results are all in.

Older does a fine job creating very different people but all of whom we want to follow through the story (though we are hoping that there will be a crossing of paths along the way).  She also weaves a tight series of stories under the larger theme of politics and information.  Older manages to make this theme seem nascent , despite the fact that politics is as old as modern man.

Perhaps it is because this seems particularly relevant in light of the United States’ factious, up-coming election as well as England’s recent vote to leave the Euro (the vote which happened the day I finished reading the book).  As I think about it, I’m surprised that there aren’t more sci-fi stories that lean heavily toward politics (without getting preachy to one side or another).

This is a powerful debut novel and I’m sure it will gain some traction as the U.S. elections get messier and more involved.  I look forward to seeing what Malka Older brings next.

Looking for a good book?  Malka Older manages to write a captivating sci-fi thriller about politics and the race for information with Infomocracy.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Infomocracy

author: Malka Older

publisher: Tor.com

ISBN: 0765385155

hardcover, 380 pages

I was not aware that this was book two in a series/trilogy until I sat down to write this review and grabbed an URL for the cover to paste above.

Return of Souls, by Andy Remic, is a novella of war and its atrocities that transcends time and dimensions.

Private Jones is a soldier in the trenches in the War to End All Wars (WWI).  By so many accounts, it was one of the most brutal wars for soldiers and Remic captures this well through the journal writings of Private Jones as he details the horrors that he’s witnessed and the fears that plague him.  But as the story moves on, Jones’ fears begin sounding a little stranger and stranger and we can’t help but wonder if its psychological stress or if something else is actually happening.

But this is an Andy Remic story, and if you are at all familiar with him you probably already guessed that the story would take on a tangent away from a conventional war story.

Private Jones wakes up in a strange land where is found and tended to b a woman named Morena.  She tells him of the atrocities on her world and of the battles that have played out.  Her role as nurse contributes to his falling  in love with her and he promises to help and protect her even in the face of unknown evil.

This is a very powerful piece and I’m really curious to go and read the first part of this story since this feels like a very good beginning to me.  There are a lot of unknowns, but Remic builds the story nicely and I trust that he will answer the unknowns as we go (and he does).

I’m not a fan of stories that don’t have endings but instead rely on trying to secure another sale by not ending the current story, and for that I take away a ‘star,’ but otherwise this was a very compelling read that had me eager to turn the page to see where it was going.

Looking for a good book?  Return of Souls is a novella by Andy Remic that takes on the horrors of war from different times and different realities through the eyes of a front lines private.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Return of Souls

author: Andy Remic

series: A Song for No Man’s Land #2

publisher: Tor.com

ISBN: 0765390248

paperback, 208 pages