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| Bear, Greg. War Dogs. Orbit, 2014. |
Irrelevant Note: while reading this, I just could not shake
the feeling that the true title is, or should be, "War Bears" by Greg
Dog. I confess to a glimmer of disappointment that this is not the case. But be
that as it may...
Finally, a story about Mars that doesn't demand total
suspension of disbelief! Bear has carefully crafted a tale that is both
consistently entertaining to read, thanks to the snappy dialogue and
descriptions, and yet also serious about exploring the practical difficulties
that would ensue in a near-future interplanetary war. It's a scenario in which
technology is much more advanced than today but not unrecognizably so, and
logistical problems like supplying air, water and weapons to the
"Skyrines" landing on Mars to fight the Bad Aliens on behalf of the
mysterious Good Aliens have been taken seriously. It was a refreshing change to
read a story that doesn't simply skip all that pesky logistics by concocting
some pseudo-scientific, deus ex machina uber-tech solution (FTL drives!
Ansibles!), but instead delves into the nitty-gritty about how in seven hells
one could possibly arrange to fight anywhere but on Earth.
We follow a not-as-dumb-as-he-seems-but-still-kind-of-dumb
protagonist, Michael Venn, through his adventures on Mars, which he narrates
mostly in the historical present, but this chronological retelling is
complicated by periodic cut-scenes, so to speak, to the true present, back on
Earth, where he is trying to make sense of all that happened. I know this is a
common literary device, and I further acknowledge that in the vast majority of
stories the survival of the main character(s) is never seriously in doubt, but
I still have qualms about it, since why remove all hint of suspense about the main
character's ultimate fate? That said, I can't get on Bear's case too much,
since I don't have the faintest idea how to tell the sort of tale he's telling
in any other way but this suspense-less split-time approach or the plodding,
'chronological order' method.
It is hard not to empathize with Venn and the other Skyrines
as they land right in the middle of a planet-sized SNAFU, and as they (and we) spend
the rest of the story trying to figure out what's gone wrong and why, and who
they can trust (pretty much nobody, of course). But while the story requires
considerably less disbelief than most that deal with the Red Planet ("Quaaaaid...start
the reactor—free Maaaars!" and whatnot), certain elements felt like false
notes in an otherwise pleasant melody.
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| Whatever other objections to War Dogs you might muster, at least it had no Weird Stuff As Hard To Believe As It Is Creepy! |
First off, is there any force in the
universe that could convince people to stop saying Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo
(if you know what I mean)? And given all the advanced tech granted us
Earthlings by the Gurus, and the importance of the Skyrines' mission to and on
Mars, it seems unlikely, to say the least, that Venn would have made it back to
Earth yet avoided being mobbed by the rich and powerful, and all by means of
the simplest subterfuge regarding his identity. There were other false notes
here and there, but I dare not say more since I am already teetering on the
edge of blabbing about the Big Reveal.
The ending to the book was surprisingly anticlimactic, even
considering it's obviously intended to be only the first installment in a
larger story arc/series, and I expected rather more from sci fi veteran Bear,
who judging from his other work certainly knows how to close the deal
story-wise. But Bear handled most aspects of this intriguing story very well
indeed, and has, in me, a reader eager to devour subsequent books on Venn and
his decidedly unusual life!
The Math
Objective assessment: 6/10
Bonuses: +1 for witty banter, +1 for taking the practical/logistical
science involved in the story seriously (so no tech-as-magic solutions, except
maybe for the cryogenic goop)
Penalties: -1 for the 'not with a bang but a whimper' ending,
1st book of a trilogy notwithstanding
Nerd coefficient: 7/10 "An enjoyable experience, but
not without its flaws"
[See here for
more info about why a 7/10 is 'a bit of alright,' as my Aussie friends might
say!]
Zhaoyun, longtime connoisseur of the finest SF/F (plus, it
must be admitted, a bunch of not the finest SF/F, e.g., I keep watching The 100 even though I know it's a
steaming pile of crap), has provoked literally dozens of laughs, guffaws or
energetic chuckles worldwide since beginning to write for Nerds of a Feather in
2013.
