Good

First time reading this author. Overall I really enjoyed this book and finished it in two days of driving my truck. Story was fresh, narrator was awesome, and you really felt the weariness of the main character as the story progressed. The characters didn’t feel flat or filler but really felt part of the story. I recommend this book.

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Unending war for all the wrong reasons

Kameron Hurley's The Light Brigade is a solid entry on the futility of war in the same vein as Starship Troopers, The Forever War, and Old Man's War. In this dystopic future, Mars has been colonized while Earth governments have slowly given way to a small set of corporations who impose a rigid caste system with the bulk of the population making up the have-nots. Supposedly, Mars has rebelled, attacked Earth, and 'blinked' away 2 million people. A young girl, Dietz, with nothing to lose, joins the military to fight Mars. Soldiers are converted to light which doesn't always work correctly, to traverse the distance to Mars. The title refers to the term for those soldiers who return different. Dietz is one and finds herself being transported out of time such that she experiences futures and pasts different from her comrades. As these jumps progress, she gradually begins to suspect that all is not what it seems and concludes that the 'war' may simply be an excuse for corporate competition as well as population control.

The major sci-fi element is the light conversion, although this is never explained and neither is the weird time displacement. The real appeal is the dystopic future of a world ruled by corporations in a life and death struggle against each other, while the bulk of the population suffers without recourse. The disjointed time segments are at first confusing, but gradually can be pieced together as Dietz slowly appreciates the true state of affairs.

The narration is well done with a decent range of characters. Given the complexity of the plot, close attention is required.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Spoiler free review

Its an interesting journey with lots of twisting turns and drops that end in a cul-de-sac. Not for readers who cant ignore a time paradox. The ending was too disappointing for me to recommend. The production was fantastic along with Cara Gee's performance.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Pseudoscience and a very low faith in the ability of people to know what is good

Dystopia in the future. Capitalism (along with all other forms of social interaction) doesn’t work except for those who it does work for... or... the author doesn’t understand politics, the human psyche, military tactics/strategy, or how to write a satisfying ending (unless you think super simple is a suitable conclusion to dystopian writing).

There are some interesting concepts, but they aren’t explored much. It’s just fighting and a surprising lack of calendars and a big brother that is all powerful, except basically any time it gets in the way of the story.

File it in young adult dystopian section and then don’t recommend it.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Interesting and unique story... right up until th.

This was an interesting concept and good characters development. A little heavy on the anti-capitalist spiel, but it worked fine for the character. The conclusion was a let-down. There was no resolution.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Fascinating and thought-provoking.

Like any good time travel story, this is equal parts exhilarating and confusing. Put your thinking caps on, folks, because you'll need them to keep up with the order of events and the events and faces that flash in out of time. Not to mention that the big resolution happens at breakneck speed. I wish it had slowed just a bit, but it is what it is.

Ultimately the whole book asks you to look at something philosophical and nearly tangible and try to understand. For the most part it succeeds.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Meh......

This book is part Starship Troopers part Edge of Tomorrow without the aliens, with a smattering of Communist Manifesto thrown in. Very slow evolving storyline, the author does a very good job making you connect with her characters, and the time hopping makes for an interesting story, but it never really felt drawn into the book. A 2 1/2 out of 5 star read based solely on the authors character development.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Good stuff! Really enjoyyed it

First of all, I'm a fan of Cara Gee and was super happy to hear and see that she was the narrator of the story ( check her out on The Expanse). Back to the book, this is my first Kameron Hurley book and I'm very happy to say that I will be looking forward to her next one. Very interesting concept to a story and very much enjoyed it. Check It out.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

wow!

just finished listening and find it hard to come up with words to describe the impact. here's some: thought provoking, visceral, funny, enthralling. this is a time travel story that totally hangs together. it's devastating at times in its critique of end-stage capitalism and the politics of fear. a scary story but ultimately an optimistic one.

as an added bonus, the audio performances are top notch, especially the interview interludes.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Interesting story. Poor editing

First - love the story. The Starship Troopers references in other reviews are accurate. Not a bad template to follow.

This novel falls apart though. It has all of the ingredients to be a classic Sci Fi story. Just the lack of follow through on the authors part keeps it from getting there. By 'lack of follow through' I mean 'EDITING'. This story could have used another 2-3 major edits to get everything tied together a bit tighter.

The story jumps in time sequence so quickly from a moment unfolding in real time to something in the past to unfolding in real time again, only not the same time as the first real time. Its really unclear as to what is happening and when after the first jump occurs.

If you want a time traveling book, good ones: Finney - Time and Again, Van Coops - In Times Like These, Anderson - Time Patrol, Willis - Say Nothing of the Dog.

Books this one kind of reminded me of... Forever War - Halderman, Starship Troopers - Heinlein, and Armor by Steakley