This is a novella (175 pages) that feels more like an extended prologue rather than a complete first story arc. The storytelling is ok – just felt like it hit far too many Marty Stu cliché branches as it fell down the military sci fi tree.
Story: Keel is a pit fighter – and a very good one. It’s a surprising career for the son of a planetary governor but it suits him just fine. That is, until he doesn’t throw a fight with the god-emperor’s favorite fighter and finds out his luck has run out and he’s annoyed the wrong authority figure. Cue an assignment to guard deadly space-dragons that ends up ultimately killing him. But death is not the final frontier in this empire and he soon finds himself resurrected into a military armored robot as its consciousness. Cue training exercises where he gets to save everyone several times over.
So yes, the clichés are here: top of his game fighter, problem with authority and refusing to listen to ‘the man’, chances to show his superiority by upstaging more authority figures or turning an enemy to respecting him……it was Fight Club without the psychology or depth.
This first book pretty much is a) die and b) go through the typical power ups as he learns his new abilities as a sentient robot. Of course, he is pretty much the Marty Stu unique snowflake that continues to impress everyone with his fighting skills (while also mouthing off all the time). It was hard to take him seriously at times since there wasn’t much in the way of depth, nuance, or really even any world building. Even the marines didn’t come out well here – everyone above his pay grade was pretty useless or authority figures for Keel to upstage.
So, not much happens here except training exercises. We’re given glimpses into what is to come but it is hard to judge the series on this first volume. It was a bit too rah rah gun ho machismo for me – I like my military sci fi to have politics and intricacies rather than one man saving the world with his attitude.
Note: I listened to the audio version of this and the narration is ok – nothing great and I think to make this work a lot more energy and enthusiasm would have helped make the hokey aspects into something a bit more fun. It needed a lot more self aware tongue in cheek, I feel, rather than a straight faced read.
Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.
The Online Eccentric Librarian 