Fields of Fire - A Short Review

I’ve been reading this series of sci-fi novels for a couple years now, getting the newest one soon after it hit Amazon. It’s inexpensive, for a new novel, I supposed because it is only being distributed as an ebook. These books do have some difficult language, but not too much, in my opinion. They deal with sexuality in a very non-explicit way, which I hope is the only way it is ever mentioned in future books. The author is a veteran, and the military culture expressed in the novels feels incredibly authentic.

This book was the story of the various human militaries (North American Commonwealth, Sino-Russian Alliance, and European Union) combining their remaining might to strike back at the Lankies on Mars. The hope was that the humans would be able to completely defeat the aliens and regain control of the Red Planet, but this was not to be. The forces involved in the attack suffered terrible casualties, though our main characters did survive. Many civilians who had been trapped on Mars were saved. The biggest development in the novel was that humanity learned that the Lankies were far smarter and more complex than they had seemed. The aliens laid excellent traps and thought in tactical and strategic concepts. They learned from their past encounters with humans how to counter their technologies. They are also able to reproduce their powerful starships in a sort-of organic manner, which means that defeating them will be like stopping an incoming tide.

This was a fun book. For anyone interested in the sci-fi genre. It is sort of like Starship Troopers, without the comedic element.

Wolf Hall - A Short Review

This is an award-winning book about Thomas Cromwell’s role in the events surrounding Henry VIII’s overthrow of papal power in England. This is the first book in a series of at least three, with the third still being written, I believe. It definitely feels like a part of a series, since its conclusion is hardly satisfying. It points toward the next volume. I prefer that books I read in a series be more able to stand on their own.

The other issue I had with this book was that it was sometimes difficult to determine who was speaking. I guess part of this comes from the simple fact that there weren’t a ton of different surnames used in those days. There are lots of Thomas’s and Henry’s in the book. The other thing is that the book is written from Cromwell’s perspective such that he is rarely identified when he speaks or thinks. The result is that, normally, if you can’t quite tell who is speaking, it is safe to assume that Cromwell is the speaker.

Those gripes aside, I did enjoy the book. That period of English history was a dark one, and reading this book further convinces me of it. As an American, the social difference between the nobility and the peasants on display in the book is fascinating and disgusting. Cromwell, born a commoner and a self-taught, self-raised individual, becomes the most powerful man in England (arguably, beside the king) in spite of his background, and he is hated for it.

I look forward to reading the other volumes of the series in order to see the conclusion of the unfolding tale.