War Dogs: a review

[SolarpunkFan]

Wow... wow.

I don't mean "wow" in a bad way, I mean it in a "that was one heck of an experience" kind of way. Let me back up first.

The novel is by Greg Bear. The background is that one species of aliens, called "Gurus" have contacted humanity and have started exchanging knowledge and technology with us. But there's a price: we have to fight another species, "Antagonists", who have set up a beachhead on Mars.

Starts off like a military SF novel, soldier goes to Mars, but quickly changes to a story of survival as most of his comrades are wiped out. Then... shit starts to happen. Sometimes the shit is scary, but it's always weird.

I can't say too much about it as I would give away too much of the story, but I can definitely say how it affected me.

I don't know if it was due to an active imagination or what, but it felt like a fricking drug trip. I actually had to take a break from reading and found myself shaking, I think even my breathing was shaky. And there were so many unanswered questions by the end. Enough intrigue to get me ready to read the second book.

Quite simply, I don't think I've read anything quite like this in the fair chunk of my quarter century I've spent reading science fiction. And I loved it.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Similar to his Forge Of God duology, then. Both of those books were an excellent read. I'll have to add War Dogs to the reading list as well.

[SolarpunkFan]

Similar to his Forge Of God duology, then. Both of those books were an excellent read. I'll have to add War Dogs to the reading list as well.

Like I said, I don't know if it was the book or my imagination, though I suggest anyone who likes hard SF should give it a try,

[SolarpunkFan]

I've finished the second book in the series which is called Killing Titan.

My feelings about this one are mixed. Didn't have as much of an impact on me as War Dogs did, but the reader gets tantalizing hints about what's really going on. Ultimately I think it suffers a bit from the midquel effect, but it's still quite a solid book.

Sadly the third book doesn't come out until November, so I'll have to fill my time with the Galactic Center saga and maybe Heart of the Comet by Brin and Benford.