Category Archives: Reviews

The Ghost Brigades (Sci Fi Essential Books)

by John Scalzi

I really liked Old Man’s War, so I was naturally predisposed to like the sequel… except that The Ghost Brigades (or just TGB) isn’t really a sequel. It’s set in the same universe as OMW, but it focuses instead on the Colonial Union’s special forces, a race of human-derived troops who are essentially created to serve as a warrior caste. After Charles Boutin, a prominent scientist, turns traitor and disappears, the Union creates a clone of Boutin and attempts to imprint the traitor’s consciousness on it– but the result isn’t what they expect, and neither are the consequences. The clone, Jared Dirac, has his own consciousness and ends up doing some things which neither Boutin nor Jared’s bosses in Special Forces expect (including a terrific twist of an ending that, in retrospect, might have been predictable but wasn’t.)

Scalzi’s writing is still crisp and tight, which makes this a faster read than I expected. I started regularly reading his blog after reading OMW, and I definitely noticed some of the same stylings in both– not a bad thing at all. If I were going to complain about this book, I’d have to say it was too short (not a criticism I often levy). I’m already looking forward to the third, and probably final, installment in this series. Highly recommended.

Update: If I’d known that Scalzi was going to see my review I would’ve, y’know, fawned a bit more over the book. Really.

XB360 Full Auto

by Sega of America, Inc.

Sega might just as well have called this game “Torque and Recoil”, because that’s what it’s about. You drive a car as fast as you can, shooting up your opponents and all sorts of environmental objects (gas tankers, telephone poles, cafe tables, other cars). We’re not exactly talking great strategy here, but it’s fun enough in small doses. The computer opponents are fairly stupid, at least at lower levels. I’ve only played a couple of matches on Xbox Live; I can’t say it was really compelling. I’m glad I rented this before buying; I’d pay $20 for it, but not $60, so back to Gamefly it goes.

Devin got a Qtek 9100 earlier this year, and he’s been eagerly waiting for the Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP). Now he’s got it, and I think he likes it. (Disclaimer: I lent John my Jasjar after he broke his HP 6315, so until I get it back I’ll be MSFP-less.)

One Bullet Away : The Making of a Marine Officer

by Nathaniel C. Fick

If you’ve read Evan Wright’s Generation Kill, you’ll already have a big part of the backstory of this book, which is mostly about the author‘s career as a Marine officer. Fick begins with a short chronicle of his time at Officer Candidate School and the Basic School, followed by the Marine infantry officers’ course. This to me was the most interesting part of the book, since I served in an air wing unit and don’t know much about the professional education required for infantry officers. Fick served as a platoon leader in Afghanistan after 9/11, followed by a tour as Recon platoon leader in Iraq. This is really where the book hits its stride. Fick writes with power and clarity, and he never descends into obfuscation. When he sees something wrong, he calls it– a traitc common to, and welcome in, Marine officers. It’s refreshing to see in a work that will be in print for a long time to come; in many ways, Fick reminds me of James Webb’s body of work. I hope to see more from him in the future.

Crusader’s Cross : A Dave Robicheaux Novel (Dave Robicheaux Mysteries)

by James Lee Burke

I love Popeye’s. It’s not just that their food is good; I’ve certainly eaten at better Cajun restaurants. No, a big part of Popeye’s charm is that it’s consistently good. I’ve never had a bad meal at a Popeye’s, even in skanky locations like turnpike rest stops.
So it is with James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux books. They pretty much all taste the same: there’s an Evil-with-a-capital-E bad guy, a host of amusingly named minor players, and at least one troubled woman who wants to jump in the sack with Dave. Either Dave or Clete Purcel beats the stuffing out of a few people; some of these beatdowns are deserved and some aren’t. In the end, justice triumphs; the details aren’t necessarily important. Along the way, Burke writes some masterful descriptions of the climate and rhythms of life in south Louisiana, and he usually teaches me a few new phrases of copspeak.
This book contains all those formulaic elements, in spades, and so I’m happy with it– when I opened it, I knew what I was getting, and that’s just what Burke delivered.

Skunk Works : A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed

by Leo Janos, Ben R. Rich

Fun, breezy read covering Ben Rich’s life as an engineer at the legendary Lockheed Skunk Works. Rich (and his ghostwriter, Leo Janos, who also helped out with Yeager) has a breezy, conversational prose style and a ton of great war stories. Kelly Johnson was who I wanted to be when I entered college; as Rich points out in the last two chapters, though, those days are gone– that realization is part of what led me to stop pursuing a career in aerospace. Good thing I did, because the problems for aerospace companies that Rich pegged in the last chapters have all happened in the years since the book’s published. As someone who built model SR-71s and U-2s as a kid, and who eagerly snapped up every tidbit of info on the F-117A as it gradually became public, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but admittedly it’s not for those who aren’t interested in aviation or aircraft design.

Imperial Grunts : The American Military on the Ground

by Robert D. Kaplan

People who know me know that I have a special interest in the US military; in addition to my own service, I have many friends and acquaintances who served, or are serving, and I care deeply about how our military is equipped, trained, organized, and used as an instrument of US policy and power projection.
Kaplan has written a remarkable, and important, book about the US military around the world, but rather than focusing on three- and four-star generals (cf. Atkinson’s biography of David Petraeus, or on the dry details of an individual campaign or battle (cf. The March Up), Kaplan writes about the troops he meets while deployed with the First Marine Division and various Special Forces units. Strictly speaking, this isn’t a war book; it’s a book about the remarkable ways in which individual US military members are forging US policy. My favorite example is probably Tom Wilhelm, one of the US military advisors to Mongolia; Kaplan’s profile of himin the Atlantic was excerpted from the book, but there are many other examples from places like Basilan, Lamu Island (which I’d never heard of), Fallujah, and northern Afghanistan.
Kaplan puts the work done by these “iron grunts” in perspective. The US, he says, has already built an empire; like the last days of the British empire, it’s one focused as much on imperial power projection through the distribution of information, technology, and ideas as on pure military force. Kaplan frequently cites precedent for US engagement in various places from our previous engagement in “small wars” like the US pacification of the Philippines, the settlement of the American West, and the US Marine involvement in Central America at the start of the 20th century. Kaplan puts these in the context of empire building by peoples as disparate as the Ethiopians, the Romans, and the series of Khans.
Kaplan writes with a vigorous style that does an excellent job of conveying the no-baloney straightforwardness of the people he meets and talks to. He is direct and clear, both in his explanations and his opinions. His writing is also suffused with a clear appreciation for the work done, and sacrifices made, by these soldiers and Marines for their country. He does this without shying away from pointing out what America has done wrong in the past, or could improve upon in the future, and that’s part of what makes this such a remarkable book.
If I could give this book six stars, I would; I’m eagerly looking forward to the next volume.

Steve Riley is a security stud. Jesper Johansson is practically a legend. The two of them wrote a book, Protect Your Windows Network. Is it any good? Devin sure thought so; see his review.

Lengthen Your Stride: The Presidency of Spencer W. Kimball

by Edward L. Kimball, Spencer W. Kimball

As an adult convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I don’t know much about church history, or about the men who served as presidents of the church before 1997. I’ve been trying to remedy that by studying the lives of the prophets, so when I was at Deseret Book in Seattle I grabbed this book, which chronicles the latter part of the life of Spencer W. Kimball. It’s a companion volume to an earlier, more comprehensive biography whose title I can’t remember.
Overall, I enjoyed this book more for the picture it gave of Kimball’s tenure as president of the church than for any one insight or vignette. The tone of the book is relentlessly positive, but I think that’s in large measure due to the nature of Kimball’s presidency– he presided during a time when the church was growing and stable, and when the 1978 revelation on granting the priesthood to all worthy men occurred, it represented a magnificent sea change that illuminated the church to a significant degree. If you’re not Mormon, you might not find this book all that interesting because it focuses on a number of “inside baseball” issues that aren’t very interesting to non-members. On the other hand, members– especially those who weren’t members during Kimball’s presidency– will find much to enjoy, even cherish, here.
(Orson Scott Card has a more detailed review of this book, in the guise of a comparison with Prince & Wright’s biography of David O. McKay.)

I got my JasJar last week and was all set to take it on my trip to Redmond tomorrow. Unfortunately, I killed it while upgrading the firmware, so it won’t be going with me. Too bad; it was beginning to grow on me despite its considerable heft. (in the meantime, see this review to tide you over.)

Johnson has written an interesting and engaging memoir that combines trivia and historical facts about Antartica with a series of vignettes of his own experiences as a contract garbageman (yes, a garbageman) for Raytheon Polar Services. Johnson doesn’t have a lot of good things to say about the National Science Foundation or Raytheon, and he makes some fairly outrageous claims about how capricious Raytheon’s management of the polar workers are. He intermingles lyrical descriptions of the natural beauty of the area away from the actual polar stations with vivid commentary on how dirty, ugly, and noisy the stations themselves are. Since I’m not likely to ever go to Antarctica, this book will have to tide me over; at the end, I felt like I’d learned something, but I wouldn’t necessarily want to invite the author over for dinner.

My Detachment : A Memoir

by Tracy Kidder

Yawn. Yet Another Vietnam Memoir, this time by someone who commanded a radio intelligence detachment– and not very well at that. Kidder’s previous work, including the seminal Soul of a New Machine, was so good that I was willing to take a flyer on this book. Unfortunately, it’s a dull book that primarily succeeds in painting a picture of Kidder as a self-involved son of the privileged classes who doesn’t have the faintest clue, or even interest, in leading his men. He’s opposed to the war and brags to his anti-war friends back home about what a tough hombre he is; meanwhile, he’s cowed by the men he’s ostensibly commanding. Kidder writes with humor and a seemingly authentic voice, but he surely doesn’t paint a flattering or engaging picture of himself. Not recommended.

Anywhere But Here

by Jerry Oltion

I remember the first time I started reading a book and then just couldn’t make myself finish it– I was in fourth grade. It seemed sacreligious to start a book but not finish it, but the book in question (whose title I mercifully forget) was just too bad to keep reading. So with Oltion’s Anywhere but Here, a not-very-thinly disguised attack on The Evil American Empire and That Idiot In the White House. Oltion’s characters are amiable enough, but despite the effort he takes to portray them as (somewhat bumptious) ordinary home folks, they come off as sock puppets. The initial third of the book is sloppily paced and just flat not very interesting. Perhaps the rest of the book’s better; I wouldn’t know because that’s the point where I abandoned it. Very disappointing.

Peeps

by Scott Westerfeld

Clever, scary novel with a great premise: what if vampires are really people infected with a parasite? There’s a lot of icky detail about various other kinds of parasites, which makes the book remarkably educational. It was fun to read a spec-fic novel that didn’t have any lasers, robots, or aliens. A fun, quick read.