Starship Troopers

In my last post, I mentioned that I reread The Ghost Brigades by Jon Scalzi. This in turn prompted me to reread Heinlein's classic, Starship Troopers. Both are great military scifi novels. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to tackle Troopers at the beach (It’s getting a bit cold for that!).  If you haven't gotten around to reading this one, you need to.

Much has been written about Troopers in the decades since it was first published so I'll spare you an in-depth analysis. It touches on a variety of themes such as suffrage, militarism, politics, and more.

Basically, Juan Rico is a member of the Mobile Infantry, fighting an interstellar war between humanity and some arachnid aliens known as the "Bugs", and their allies, the "Skinnies". The novel details Rico's enlistment, training, and rise in rank in the military. The novel features a mix of action sequences, in which Rico's team battle hostile aliens, and Rico's classroom studies in both high school and Officer Candidate School.

While it's not such a light beach read, Starship Troopers is fun and has some meat to it. It's great for a book club or someone looking for a novel with substance.

I recommended Starship Troopers to Paul Aridas, a friend and frequent contributor to this blog. Here's what he had to say:

"Adam recommended I read Starship Troopers, arguing that Heinlein’s piece is essential reading from 1950’s science fiction canon.  I agree with his endorsement. It’s not as sophisticated a work as Catch-22 or as emotionally taut as The Things They Carried but it is enjoyable nonetheless.  Ender’s Game was influenced by this work, and those familiar with any of the aforementioned novels will be able to see the connections of structure and theme.” -Paul Aridas

Stop by the library and pick up a copy.

Thanks for reading.

-Adam Delaura

The Ghost Brigades

On my most recent trip to the beach, I opted to reread The Ghost Brigades by Jon Scalzi, the sequel to Old Man's War. It's a fast-paced military science fiction novel; the perfect accompaniment to a relaxing day in the sun.

The novel tells the story of the life and death of Jared Dirac, a cloned, genetically-engineered super-soldier. Basically, a trio of hostile alien races has united against humanity with the help of a traitorous human scientist named Charles Boutin. The scientist faked his death and defected for reasons unknown. Mr. Boutin’s scientific focus is on consciousness transfers and on computers implanted into soldier’s brains called BrainPals.

In order to better understand the threat facing humanity and find the renegade scientist, the Colonial Defense Forces clone Charles Boutin’s body. They attempt to transfer his consciousness (found saved on a computer drive) into the cloned body. The transfer doesn’t work. The clone of Charles Boutin is then renamed Jared Dirac and it’s given to the Ghost Brigades, an elite force within the Colonial Defense Force. Within a short period of time, Charles Boutin’s memories begin surfacing in Jared Dirac’s mind.

Many questions are raised in the novel such as; will Dirac remain loyal to his Ghost Brigade companions? Will the consciousness of Charles Boutin take over? Can Dirac learn the location of Boutin through the revealed memories? Does Dirac have free will? There’s a good amount of suspense as the story unfolds.  

I found this novel to be quite enjoyable and I would recommend it to any scifi or military action fan.

Stop by the library and pick up a copy.

Also, if you liked The Ghost Brigades then you should read our review of another Scalzi novel, The God Engines

Thanks for reading!

-Adam Delaura

Death Star: Beach Ball of Death

Here’s another quick beach read, Star Wars: Death Star, by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry. While this wasn't the best Star Wars novel I had ever read, it did spark a conversation among my friends about the engineering and technological challenges to building a Death Star in real life.

Star Wars: Death Star tells the story of the original Death Star, mostly from the perspective of the soldiers and employees aboard the massive space station. (I can't help but wonder if the authors were influenced by that scene in Clerks) There are a whole bunch of characters such as, a Tie fighter pilot, a storm trooper, a gunner in command of the Death Star's super laser, some cantina workers, and a station design engineer. Unfortunately there were too many for me to keep track of and most of them I just didn't care about. (Nova, a storm trooper with a conscience, was the only exception.)

This book was pretty average to me. Nothing special,but not complete garbage either. While reading it, I felt like I was reading the script for some deleted scenes in A New Hope. However, it did serve its purpose for me as a beach read. It fit in well between swimming and arguing over which Jedi is the "best".

If you're a diehard Star Wars fan then you should read Death Star. Others should skip it. I'm just glad to know how that thermal exhaust port was left unshielded!

Stop by the library and pick up a copy.

Thanks for reading. Leave questions and comments below.

-Adam Delaura

Deceived

For me, the summer is all about sitting on the beach and reading a book. In my next few posts I'm going to highlight a handful of books I tackled while soaking up some sun.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived, by Paul S. Kemp, takes place at a dark time. The Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic have been engaged in a long, costly war. Neither side is capable of defeating the other. It seems like a stalemate, until a daring surprise attack on the Republic capital of Coruscant, led by the cunning Sith lord, Darth Malgus.

The attack takes even the Jedi by surprise. As a reult, many Jedi are killed, including Jedi Master Zallow. Coruscant is quickly subdued and the Jedi Temple is destroyed. Darth Malgus hopes that this will hasten end of the Republic and the Jedi.

Malgus is furious when he learns that the Sith Emperor is engaging in peace talks with the Republic. He believes that only through conflict can one achieve a greater understanding of the dark side of the Force. Darth Malgus feels the Sith will weaken themselves if they make peace.

The destruction of the Jedi Temple does more than just give the Sith a bargaining chip at the negotiating table. It ignites a fire of vengeance within the Jedi, Aryn Leneer. She believes the Jedi are failing to respond appropriately to the destruction of the Temple.   She decides to leave the Jedi Order intent on hunting down the Sith lord who killed her master, the fallen Master Zallow. 

The one person Aryn knows who can get her through the Sith blockade of Coruscant is her old friend Zeerid, a smuggler who is in debt to a group of criminals. As fate would have it, Aryn runs into Zeerid shortly after he is forced to accept a job smuggling spice, a highly addictive narcotic, to Coruscant.

This book is full of edge-of-your-seat action and suspense. A rival criminal gang is trying to stop Zeerid's smuggling run, Darth Malgus is unsure of why the Jedi have sent a clandestine operative to Coruscant, and Aryn doesn't know exactly who killed her master. There are shoot-outs, space battles, and epic light saber fights. There's even a shuttle that crashes into the Jedi Temple, filled with dark Jedi, who leap out and start kicking Jedi-butt. What's not to like about that? ... As a bonus, Darth Malgus is an interesting villain, not your average two-dimensional bad guy.

I would recommend Deceived to anyone interested in SciFi, even if you're not a Star Wars fan.

Stop by the library and pick up a copy.

As always, thanks for reading. Leave questions and comments below.

-Adam Delaura

The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught

In The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught, Admiral Geary is back in command of the Alliance fleet, this time on a mission to explore the territory controlled by the mysterious Enigma race. Fans of the previous novels will no doubt enjoy this installment of Black Jack Geary commanding the fleet from the flagship Dauntless. For Geary and his familiar side-kicks, confronting the Enigma race proves difficult. The Enigmas are secretive and go out of their way to prevent the Alliance Fleet from learning anything about them. In addition to the Enigma race, the fleet faces challenges to Geary’s command, and politicians who would rather see them fail.

Like previous novels in the series, this one is full of tense fleet battles, political maneuvering, and close calls. If you like the others in this then you should definitely stop by the library to pick this one up.

Here are some links to other reviews of this book:
cybemage.se
alternative-worlds.com

You can also read our previous review of the Lost Fleet series here.

As Always, thanks for reading. Leave your questions and comments below.

-Adam Delaura

Cryoburn

The Labyrinth Librarians are back from a rather long holiday break. We have a whole bunch of great SciFi and fantasy books to look forward to this year. Feel free to send us your sugestions for books we should purchase.

I had never read anything by Lois McMaster Bujold before picking up Cryoburn. I now feel compelled to read the previous novels in this series. While I’m sure it would have helped me better understand the plot of Cryoburn if I had read the previous books, I had no difficulty following the plot. That being said, Cryoburn turned out to be a well-paced space opera with plenty of corporate and political intrigue. I should also mention that I listened to this book during my commute rather than physically read it in my spare time. Thankfully the narrator’s voice was pleasant.

Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan, the central character of the series, is dispatched to investigate the cryo-corporations on Kibou-Daini. These Cryo-corporations enable the citizens of Kibou to avoid death by freezing them in cryogenic stasis until a cure is found for whatever ails them. These frozen citizens maintain the right to vote which is signed over to the cryo-corporations who vote by proxy and therefore control the government of Kibou. Miles finds himself thrust into the middle of the political, economic, and social turmoil created by Kibou’s unique political system.

Much of the mystery in Cryoburn revolves around the political activist Lisa Sato. She was cryogenically frozen by the authorities under dubious circumstances following a political rally that turned violent. Mile’s attempt at recovering and reviving Madame Sato’s cryo-corpse turns out to be more difficult than anticipated. Added into the mix are corrupt cryo-corp executives who attempt to bribe Miles and cover up their actions, a secret cryo-facility being run by social outcasts, a violent political activist group without any real agenda, the questionable loyalty of the embassy staff, and a boy with a large collection of animals.

Cryoburn begins with a bizarre scene in which I began to doubt whether this was the right book for me. However I was hooked by the end of the first five minutes, even though I didn’t have any idea what was going on. It turns out that Miles had escaped from some disorganized political rebels who had drugged him in order to subdue him. All of the surreal details in the opening scene are Miles’ hallucinations. This wasn’t immediately clear to me and I felt like I was reading a Philip K. Dick novel.  I couldn’t easily go back and re-read the parts because I listened to the entire novel in my car. If I had a print copy of the book I could simply go back and re-read the section for more clarity.

Nevertheless Cryoburn is highly recommended to fans of the space opera genre. It’s a compelling investigative tail with enough twists to keep a reader interested. Check it out in both print and audio format.

As always questions and comments are encouraged below. Thanks for reading.

-Adam Delaura

Gardens of the Sun

Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley

The Quiet War is over; the forces of Earth have defeated the Outers and conquered the colonies around Jupiter and Saturn. Some of the Outers escape to Uranus and Neptune while the Three Powers Alliance of Earth competes to plunder the economic and technological spoils of their newly won territories.

This hard SciFi space opera, and sequel to The Quiet War, traces the paths of various characters during the aftermath of the Quiet War. Many of these characters will be familiar to those who read the previous book, the gene wizard Avernus, the spy Ken Shinto, Sri Hong-Owen, Macy Minnot, and others.

Most of the characters are well developed and the plot lines held my interest. McAuley’s vision of the future is well worth checking out. However the one thing that keeps me from loving this book is all the scientific “explaining” that happens. I found myself skimming sections of genetic techno-babble. There are certainly readers who would enjoy this sort of realism in a SciFi novel. However I am not one of these people. I don’t want to know why or how the technology works; I want to see it in action on the page.

Overall the novel is compelling and worth a read if you don’t mind the techno-babble. Stop by the library and take a look. Thanks for reading.

Leave your comments & questions below.

-Adam