To Sleep in a Sea of Stars

Once upon a time, a 16 year old boy penned a fantasy series that went on to be a best seller. Now that boy has matured and taken his work to the stars. Christopher Paolini's latest work is extremely divergent from his best selling Inheritance Cycle. Now, grounded firmly in our world, he sets out to deliver a new science fiction epic which tells the tale of war among the planets near and around Earth.

The story begins on Adrasteia, a small possibly habitable moon orbiting the gas giant Zeus in the Sigma Draconis system. There xenobiologist Kira Navarez is working with a survey team to help catalogue the planets few indigenous lifeforms while the planet itself is prepared for terraforming. However, during her searches, she stumbles across something she doesn't understand.

Finding herself bonded with an alien artifact she is first poked and prodded by the forces of the League of Allied Worlds and the UMC (United Military Command) only to then be attacked by sentient aliens in a first contact scenario gone horribly wrong. With humanity suddenly at war, she may be their only hope at peace, or humanity may ending up sleeping forever in a sea of cold stars.

Image is my own

This work is one which is well grounded in speculative science fiction. From the way humans travel between star systems, the power for ships, the ship design and the various other aspects, I found myself greatly enjoying the near future (2257) that Paolini presented. It was both enjoyably alien and utterly relatable. That made it easy to get lost in the world he crafted, and gave me many hours of pleasurable reading. That there's a handy glossary in the back helped immenseley with keeping the various technologies and ideas straight.

The aliens too were quite intriguing. It made them as alien as possible without being uninterpretable. I won't spoil too much about them, but audiences are bound to be fascinated by the Jelly's as humans come to know them.

We also have a very strong cast. Kira is our only view point character, and we largely interact with the world through her eyes and senses. She goes from being a completely normal human, to something very much beyond, that. She interacts first with her own crewmates on the small survey team, the UMC on the UMCS Extenuating Circumstances, and finally, the very eclectic crew of the SLV Wallfish.

Out of all these groups we get to know the Wallfish crew the best. There's the gruff but surprisingly deep Captain Falconi, First Officer Nielsen, the excitable young Trig, taciturn Sparrow, machine-boss Hwa-Jung, crew's doctor Vishal and finally the possibly insane ship's-mind Gregoravitch. They all mesh very well together and create a cast I was very fond of and wanted to see succeed. I truly felt the peril for them as Paolini does not spare anyone if he can help it. And through the diverse cast he establishes the world quite creatively.

The story goes through various acts, broken up quite cleverly by FTL trips. In these we get more introspective and emotional moments, ones that really help define Kira as a character. From those we get to different star systems different action scenes, and many, many exciting new discoveries. All of which come together in a reasonably satisfying conclusion.

Sea of Stars is a long book, and it covers quite a lot of ground. However, it throws a lot of information at you. I found that there was probably too much crammed into a single volume. Just as we're getting used to the idea that humanity is in a war for its survival from an alien species another curveball is thrown at you. Then another, then another. No spoilers but I went from understanding to what the Jellys are to having to try and understand what nightmares are, what the Heptarchy is, and why I should care. Even at over 800 pages, there's almost far too many balls in the air. After the second and third acts the book manages to calm down and focus, but it still left almost too much to be solved in the final act.

While the story does set itself up nicely for sequels in an expanded universe, it did leave me struggling to piece together more than a few disparate threads.

The story though, does a good job exploring the future. Human and alien relations, and of course, an expanded sense of the self and the impact on a person this would have. Well worth delving in to if you're looking for a great new science fiction read.

The Battle of Ridgeway

In June 1866, the year before Canada would become Canada, a group of Irish patriots under the moniker the Fenians, crossed into Canada with a simple plan. They would invade Canada and hold it hostage in exchange for Ireland's freedom. If this plan sounds insane, it's because it is. However, many were convinced they could make it work, and many would die before the whole fiasco came to an end.

The Fenians were a group of Irish rebels who were determined to free Ireland from British rule. Active for roughly twenty years. Founded in 1858 by American Irishmen and former rebels from the 1848 rising, the Brotherhood would try to recruit men to fight for Irish independence. Their earliest successes came when many men gained experience fighting in the Irish Brigade and other bloody battles in the American Civil War. Indeed, many of the future Fenian leaders such as John O'Mahoney, Thomas Sweeney and John O'Neill would see their first action in the Civil War and gain experience leading men.

In the aftermath of the Civil War, there was a large number of armed men with experience in war, but no one to fight. Why not then, the Fenian leadership asked, lead an invasion of Canada to conquer the, at this point disparate colonies and hold them hostage in exchange for Ireland's freedom? This was not a universally popular idea, and it led to a split in the Fenian leadership. However, plans for an invasion went ahead anyways. It is estimated as many as 50,000 men volunteered to be a part of this invasion. When push came to show however, the Fenians only managed to get a few thousand men organized, and most were dispersed once the American authorities got into action.

On the Canadian side, British spies actually had managed to penetrate the Fenian organization. They had successfully predicted a previous Fenian raid on Campobello Island in April of 1866 which was dispersed without issue. This in turn, lowered the guard of the Canadian authorities in Canada West (Ontario) who felt there was nothing to fear from the Fenian menace. Alarms had been common in 1865 and in 1866 the Canadians felt certain that they could control a Fenian invasion.

When John O'Neill kicked off his invasion in June it was not a secret to either Canadian or American authorities. However, none could pinpoint the exact location the crossings would take place at.

It was actually meant to be part of a broader strategy. One Fenian force would march on Toronto, another on Quebec, and they would overwhelm the Canadians. In actuality, on O'Neill's invasion of the Niagara Peninsula got off the ground, and there were only a few other small skirmishes 

In a well planned action, the Fenians first disabled the only warship on Lake Eerie, the USS Michigan by subterfuge. This allowed O'Neill to begin landing men across the Niagara River. Without USN ships to stop him, he was able to cross nearly 1,400 men to the Canadian side. The quickly seized the town of Fort Eerie, and began trying to bring over Irishmen to their side. They received no local volunteers.

Meanwhile, the Canadians quickly learned of the invasion and ordered out the militia, calling over 14,000 men to arms. In Toronto, the men of the 2nd Battalion of the Queens Own Rifles hastily mustered in Toronto and was quickly delivered to the Niagara frontier by train. They were joined by a similar quick mobilization of the 13th Battalion of Volunteers from Hamilton and two other quickly mobilized companies of militia in an ad hoc brigade. They were placed under the command of militia Col. Alfred Booker who, like the men under his command, had no experience with war, unlike the oncoming Fenians. The Canadian forces numbered about 850 men, while their Fenian counterparts numbered between 700 and 800 men.

Learning of Booker's route of march (possibly by 'tapping' the Canadian telegraph lines) O'Neill swiftly night marched his men from their initial position at Black Creek to the Ridge Road near the village of Ridgeway which would give the battle its name.

Booker's men had bivouacked for the night at Port Colborne. He had originally planned to make straight for Fort Eerie and take the town from a supposed Fenian rearguard. However, early in the morning on the 2nd, he received orders from the superior authority, British Colonel Peacock leading the 47th Foot and a larger relief column with cavalry and artillery, that he was instead to move to Stevensville and meet this column where the joined group, then over 2,000 strong, would attack the Fenian positions.

For reasons never adequately explained, Booker followed the spirit of Peacock's orders, but not the letter. Instead of moving to meet the reinforcement column along Skerk's Crossing to Stevensville, he advanced to Ridgeway and took the Ridge Road. This would lead to the Fenians learning of the change and being ready to meet the Canadians on the afternoon of June 2nd.

The following battle was, for all intents and purposes, little more than a skirmish between infantry battalions. Though each was grandiosely a brigade, none was stronger than a full strength battalion of regular infantry. There was no cavalry or artillery, and so it would come down to the skill of each individual commander. Though the Canadians behaved admirably, advancing into the Fenian fire and driving off their skirmishers and discomforting the Fenian left flank, a series of events that has never been adequately explained soon drove the Canadians from the field.

For some reason, in the midst of the Canadian advance, the order to "form square" was given. Whether it was the sighting of a party of mounted Fenians who acted as scouts, or merely a mistake by a bugler, the Canadians dutifully carried out a formation which had been drilled into them. Booker, immediately realizing his mistake, ordered the men back into line. Other accounts maintain that an attempt to relieve the front line by bringing up a fresh company of men caused confusion. Whatever the case, the Canadian militia was soon milling about in disorder. Seeing this, O'Neill ordered a bayonet charge which promptly routed the Canadian center. In contrast, the Canadian flanks withdrew methodically, skirmishing with their opponents, but the men did not regroup, and individuals and companies disorderly withdrew to Port Colborne. 

Seven Canadians would be killed at Ridgeway, while another two would die of their wounds days later. A further 22 Canadians would die of disease sustained while in camp in the subsequent weeks.

Six Fenians died on the field at Ridgeway, with another three known to have died of wounds after the fighting ended. Fenian casualties are difficult to estimate as many fled to the United States afterwards. However, another four Fenians would die in the lesser known but nearly concurrent Battle of Fort Eerie. 

A small Canadian force on the tugboat W. T. Robb, led by Colonel Stoughton Dennis who in his first action of bravely running in the face of danger, led 50 men to hold the town and hopefully capture any stragglers from an assumed Canadian victory. Instead, they encountered over 800 Fenians retreating from Ridgeway and other positions. In a doomed last stand the Canadians fought, but many were wounded - miraculously none killed - and captured. Other than this brief humiliation though, the Fenians let them go as they had to flee the oncoming British reinforcements.

In the aftermath, much blame was passed for the defeat. Only a victory at Pigeon Hill by the Canadians would salve the bitter wounds of what happened on the Niagara Peninsula. Booker was ultimately found to be moderately to blame for the fiasco, but the Canadian government at the time was quick to try and pass off the blame to the individual soldiers themselves, rather than admit it had not handled the crisis properly. O'Neill meanwhile, would be feted as a hero to the Fenian cause, and it would be celebrated. He would subsequently lead two further failed invasions of in 1870 and 1871. The Fenians themselves would peter out by the 1880s, replaced by later incarnations of the Irish Republican movement.

It was Canada's first real test of battle. The nine men who died in battle or afterwards have never properly been remembered. While most Canadian students have learned the story of the Fenian Raids and their roll in helping shepherd the various colonies towards Confederation, it is a battle itself which is rarely explored. Peter Vronsky has written perhaps the best single volume on the battle, and I myself used it as a guide to this piece. It is a book well worth reading, and may enlighten many people on a sadly unappreciated piece of Canadian military history.

One can only wonder what might have happened had the Canadians not gone the way they had, or what could have happened had Booker gone straight to Fort Eerie instead. That though, is speculation for another time!

Into the Light

In the early 21st century, mankind made unexpected first contact with an alien species, the vulpine Shongairi. They did not come in peace. In mere hours, kinetic strikes wipe out over half of the human population, but the Shongairi are shocked that when they come to Earth's surface, the humans have not surrendered, and they will fight to the death. Deciding that humans are more trouble than they're worth, the alien invaders decide to exterminate the human population with a biological weapon.

However, they did not realize that the Earth was home to two sentient species, and so in their error they find themselves overrun, their technology seized, and their own homeworld open to attack. Having found solace in allies stepping Out of the Dark, humanity itself must now step Into the Light. 

The sequel to the short story turned novel from David Weber, with the help of Chris Kennedy, Into the Light picks up in the horrifically post-apocalyptic world and the devastation left behind by the alien invaders. Political disorder, famine, rampant disease, and destroyed infrastructure takes its toll. Humanity has been reduced to only a few billion souls, and a county level government operating at something like half efficiency is considered a prime achievement worthy of praise. Can humanity build itself back up, all before the alien masters of the ancient Hegemony which dispatched the Shongairi in the first place realize what has happened?

From goodreads

Split into three parts, the novel tells the story of the rebuilding of the human population from scattered enclaves, first in North America where governments with shaky legitimacy are attempting to rebuild, and with some other hope spots from around the world. Then it tells of the startling discoveries humanity has made, and finally, a foray into the stars. 

It's not strictly necessary to have read Out of the Dark to enjoy this story, and you can read either the 2010 novel, or the original short story and not lose too much in translation. That does make it an easily accessible to casual readers, which should always be appreciated.

Part One does a great job exploring the dislocation caused by the Shongairi invasion, and from refugee camps to shattered government offices, we get a good story on how leaders from Canada to Brazil are trying to piece the world back together. I probably enjoyed this section the most as it had a more, human element, and was a really fun romp regarding the fallout from the invasion, and just how badly humanity has been pushed back.

Part Two is interesting, only insomuch as it does some fun exploration with the technology established in this little universe Weber has created. From experimenting with space platforms, warships, the fun use of railgun technology in small arms and tanks, and the intriguing Heinlein Armor, it is really setting us up for the book's climax.

The final section in Part Three is fun as it manages to tell a fairly intricate first contact story in just over one hundred pages. It sets up the good guys, the bad guys, and a great cast of secondary characters you can root for. There's been a lot of work put into the alien species for how much screen time they're given, and it was a nice touch that they were very well developed. It did invest me in the climax more than I anticipated, and the way it was handled made me laugh out loud with how clever it was.

If you enjoy a good military space science fiction story with some clever elements, look no further than Into the Light.  

Babylon's Ashes

After the events of Nemesis Games have, almost literally, broken the world, the Solar System finds itself engaged in the most destructive war in history. Governments have fallen, countless are dead, and the crew of the Rocinante find themselves struggling to keep up in a world choking on Babylon's Ashes.

Going forward, there are major spoilers for the series, so below the cut will include a much richer review.

In broad strokes, Babylon's Ashes more than Nemesis Games is a war story first and foremost. More so than even Caliban's War was. Picking up in the immediate aftermath of the status quo shattering events of the last book, we're thrown right into things as our cast, the crew of the Rocinante and a legion of new and familiar faces, are attempting to adjust to how much the world has changed once again.

We're given a sweeping narrative that runs from Earth to the edge of settled space and in the slow zone we first saw in Abaddon's Gate. Taking many familiar faces, Avasarala, Prax, Bobbie Draper and Anna, there's a wide amount of latitude to explore the tragedies of a solar system at war. Economic dislocation, creeping tyranny, and tragic loss from piracy, starvation and battle. It does an amazing job at humanizing war, especially one on a scale not before seen in human history.

It also does a wonderful job of humanizing people. So many stories about war too easily devolve into "us and them" stories, but this one doesn't. It acknowledges that people, whether from Earth, Mars or the Belt are people - no matter the physiological differences. One of James Holden's best traits shines through as, in response to Free Navy propaganda, he makes videos about the lives of average Belters trying to eke out an existence in the most hostile living arrangements known to man. He tries to show that, regardless of ideology, birthplace, or distance, everyone is human. It's a truly touching moment that tries to dismantle the usual dichotomy of war.

Alongside those moments, it manages to give us a gripping story of ending a solar system wide war. It begins as the forces of Earth and Mars are trying to consolidate and defending themselves from flying rocks thrown by the Free Navy. Holden and his crew go on a daring mission to blind their opponents to finally give the beleaguered Earth some breathing room. From there, it's a series of feints, attacks, and chases to try and gain advantage.

One of the small things I will criticize with this novel is that, while it nails the human element of war very well, the specifics of the war are left very vague. Outside of some moments near the end of the story where I have a definite idea of the numbers, the stakes involved in various battles and chases are extremely vague. I never know who held the balance of power, how many ships were involved, and whether one side really had the upper hand. The book could have been made so much more tense by the breakdown of what was lost, and what assets were where so I could sense out the course of the war. 

However, since the human element is more important, I can forgive it. As one character puts it, "war isn't just torpedoes and battle lines."

Through the character of Michio Pa, a tertiary character from Abaddon's Gate, we get the divided loyalties of someone who believes they're doing the right thing in war. To some, she's a pirate, from her own perspective she's a freedom fighter trying to bring justice to the people of the Belt. The vision put forward by the Free Navy, a Belt no longer under the heel of Mars and Earth, economic justice for Belters, and true void cities, is intoxicating. However, the increasingly brutal means put forward to make that a reality, are at odds with her own morality. 

It also examines the rolls of leaders. Even the flaws with the Great Man Theory of history. It shows us the leaders we have, while great, are not necessarily infallible geniuses. One of the best moments is when Fred Johnson simply says, he's doing what he knows in the best way he can. 

The narrative climaxes in a satisfying way, trying to seek solutions to the problems which led to the war in the first place. I quite enjoyed the effort to look at humanity through a full glass, and with the major players earnestly trying to find methods to solve the problems which caused the war, but with just enough ambiguity for the future to keep you invested in what comes next.

Moreover, it has some amazing moments which will probably not be forgotten in this series, but many spoilers follow.

Game of Thrones: Retrospective

Ten years ago, Game of Thrones burst into the television scene and rammed itself into the collective psyche of millions the world over. It was common for people to talk more about the politics of Westeros than the politics of their respective countries for a while! Almost overnight, the show leapt to meteoric heights, praised as "The Sopranos in Middle Earth" and having a talented cast of dedicated actors who worked their way through some of the most intensive scenes we've seen on television.

For all that though, not many people talk about Game of Thrones today.

Unlike say, The Sopranos or The Wire, or even other big name science fiction and fantasy shows like Merlin or Stargate and Battlestar Galactica; you don't see many people sharing memes about the show, it isn't often referenced in contemporary discourse, and often times people seem to act as though it didn't even exist. Where once you couldn't scroll through reddit, Tumblr, Facebook or Twitter without seeing something related to that series, now you only find it on dedicated fan sites and amongst people who still care about the (as of 2021) unfinished series.

Why that is, is hard to explain. For one thing, the show has possibly the most divisive ending in television history. From some who praised it, to millions of fans who were so pissed off they petitioned to have the ending re-filmed. In fact, the show seems to have ended on such a bad note that people who were fans seem to be almost unwilling to talk about having ever liked it in the first place. Hyperbole sure, but I certainly don't run across many people who I know loved the show who say they're going to re-watch it any time soon.

2034

Just beyond the scope of my recent WWIII reads, we come to the not too distant future with a thriller set in the year 2034. The novel was written by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis, both had military experience and an insight into the world of the military from the top to the bottom. It made me quite curious to see their views on what a future conflict with a peer competitor might look like.

The novel is, unsurprisingly, set in early 2034, taking place in the South China Sea and Iran at first. It looks at one of the areas of heightened tensions in the world and from there tries to trace a series of events where the two global powers end up in a series of increasing miscalculations and escalations which lead to, if not all out war, then a fairly close approximation of it.

From amazon.ca

Told through the eyes of USN Captain Sarah Hunt, Marine pilot Major Chris "Wedge" Mitchell, deputy security advisor Sandeep Chowdhury, Revolutionary Guards Brigadier General Qassim Farshad, and finally Peoples Liberation Navy Commander Lin Bao. Through this cast of characters, from diverse and at odds nations, we see truly horrific events unfold in ways we can only hope will never happen.

In 2034 we see the authors being just ambitious enough with the history leading up to these events to engage the reader but not bog them down with geopolitics. We have references to India fighting a brief proxy war with Pakistan, Israel losing control of the Golan Heights, Russia annexing Belarus and much of Ukraine, and Iran engaging in various client state building wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. The US political system has apparent faced so much gridlock that the president is an independent and an octogenarian Putin still rules Russia, with NATO slowly falling apart in the background. It's enough background to keep an audience engaged, but not so much that you can't hope to understand the world around you.

Looking at these events also helps explain why the United States becomes extremely concerned with face saving measures in the Pacific, rather than potentially concentrating on the broader outcome like further Russian aggression in Europe, Iranian proxy wars and other factors a US which is humiliated by a foreign power might suffer. 

The novel's main premise, and overall cautionary moral, is to chide many American commentators and planners who blithely assume the United States will remain at the top of the technological dog pile. In begins with the Wèn Rui Incident in the South China Sea where unspecified advances in Chinese cyberwarfare capabilities blackout the communications of a small USN flotilla, and swiftly lead to shots fired. Almost concurrently an F-35 is hacked by (supposedly) Iranian forces who force it to land inside Iran and take the pilot hostage. Either incident alone would be enough to trigger a harsh response, both trigger an escalation.

A United States shorn of its usual expectation of technological advantage discovers itself lacking many options it might otherwise employ beyond brute force. Miscalculations in Washington and Beijing each lead to more shots fired in anger, and horrendous consequences ensue. 

Unlike my previous reads, where combat and technological know-how was highlighted, this book was much more interested in things like exploring nightmares from someone who commanded a losing battle, an old warrior seeing too much and desiring peace, and a political man thrust into a situation he was totally unprepared for and his much more powerful boss has to save face against. That doesn't mean we don't get a look at war, but the action scenes are few and far between, with battles largely being described after the fact. It made for an interesting change of pace and an overall shorter book (300 pages vs the 400-900 of previous reads) that flowed very easily.

That's not to say this was necessarily an improvement. The story, after all, is trying to present a cautionary tale that the US may find itself too dependent on overall technological superiority and lacks any strategic deterrent outside its nuclear arsenal. This did, overall, lead to a very limited look at strategy (the US's potential allies in the Pacific are all absent, and only the potential enemies get mentioned, suggesting something has gone horrifically wrong with international alliance systems) and it did leave me with more than a few questions on that front.

While I understood that the premise of the story would be impossible without the Chinese developing an advantage on some front, it did feel a bit odd that so many of the US's other contemporaries, like India, had completely blindsided it on similar fronts. Not necessarily impossible - the year the war is set is nearly fourteen years away, plenty is possible - but just very convenient for the plot. 

It was an interesting story, but the characters did feel a little thin. Sarah Hunt in particular had some of the most moving moments, but I felt I never really got inside her head the way I did for Wedge, Chowdhury or Farshad. Chowdhury was the most globe trotting character, going between the White House and New Delhi, engaging in delicate political maneuvers and probably having the most "American" outlook by being a proud immigrant and dealing with the backlash many immigrants in similar situations would face. The other characters were fine, but Lin Bao fell almost too far in the territory of a mediocre villain at times. In complete fairness to the novel though, no nation really comes off as a "good guy" in this scenario, with everyone being guided by realpolitik rather than rational policy decisions.

2034 is a chilling piece of future history. Whether you find the scenario realistic or not, it does its best to show how a future war might not be one we're overly familiar with, but no less deadly for all that. An intriguing and cautionary tale which may be well worth your time.

Red Metal

In a world not too different from our own, Russia has lost control of a valuable piece of real estate in Kenya. Embarrassed, angry, and it's political apparatus threatening to fall into irrelevance, the Russians aim to reassert themselves in a world where they have been beaten down since the Cold War ended. Their only option is to unleash a tide of Red Metal.

The authors Mark Greaney and Rip Rawlings IV collaborated on this project and brought quite a bit of experience to it. Greaney is perhaps best known as being the last and most connected collaborator with the late Tom Clancy, and having a quite successful career of his own with his Gray Man series. Rawlings is a former Marine Corps infantry and reconnaissance officer who has begun writing his own fiction as well. From their diverse backgrounds, they've come together to do quite a lot of research and put it into one very exciting package!

Another piece of alternate history with the Russians thundering across the European plains! This one just edges in as it was written in 2019 and set in 2020, so something like the War in 2020 but very different! I'll admit I was attracted to this one because it was set in a contemporary setting, and trying to keep up with recent technologies. It made for some intriguing military analysis, and many, many tense action sequences.

Unlike my last two reads, which contained lots of older history with the Cold War in full swing, we find ourselves in the 21st century, the Soviet Union dismantled, NATO hovering over Europe, and the Russians quite upset with how their fortunes have turned out. We're in the internet age, Facebook and satellite communications are more prominent than even in the fantastic works done by Clancy or Peters. Though one might ask themselves, how does war come about in such an age? To their credit, the two authors go to lengths to convince you why the war happens and how these plans are concocted. It's all rather believable and makes for an interesting set up, similar to Red Storm Rising. It was immensely enjoyable, and I found it quite interesting to see a deep effort by the Russians to carry out a maskirovka in line with modern expectations. The pages spent establishing it were vital to seeing how the conflict breaks out.

The Russian plan, codenamed Red Metal, is one of calculation and sweeping depth. It involves a raid into Europe to blind NATO, using armored columns, suped up war trains with artillery and anti-air assets, and the insertion of Spetznaz forces to distract and blind the NATO alliance. Like the Russian generals, I too was shocked by it's depth and audacity. The way it ends up being carried out is quite bombastic, clever, and really worthy of a Bond Villain in its cunning and menace.

The authors have done a very good job in describing modern war. There's hackers knocking out the web, drones scouting artillery positions, and satellites being blinded or destroyed by ASAT missiles. From the internet to special forces teams, they don't overlook anything that might need to go boom to get the ball rolling in the early 21st century. One of the coolest things though are the Red Lighting trains, primed for deception and military support. Being rolling command posts, armored support columns and anti-air batteries all in one, it made for a very exciting aspect no one might have considered before!

Red Metal also includes a large and diverse cast of characters. From the ground, to the skies, to below the seas, it's a diverse group for a large war. I never found myself bored by the characters or their stories, and besides one painfully shoehorned in romance sub plot, the characters were all deeply interesting in their interactions. 

On the American/NATO side we have Lt. Colonel Dan Connelly, a former field commander who is now behind a desk and working with his army counterpart Major Griggs who is intelligent, but a chronic underachiever. Lt. Colonel Tom Grant, a tank logistics and maintenance officer and interim commander of his regiment while his commander goes home on Christmas leave. We also have Captain Raymond "Shank" Vance who pilots at A-10, Lt. Sandra "Glitter" Glisson an Apache pilot, and a Polish militia soldier Paulina Tobiazs. Finally, prominent among others still, is Pascal Arc-Blanchette, an old French spy who willingly stays in Africa and his son Captain Apollo Arc-Blanchette, French special forces operator.

Then on the Russian side we have Yuri Borbikov, the mastermind of Red Metal. Humilated after being forced to withdraw from a rare earth mind in Kenya in 2017, he has masterminded the plot to humiliate NATO in return. The two generals who will carry out the plan are Eduard Sabaneyev and Boris Lazar. Sabaneyev is an up and coming officer in the military while Lazar, the Lion of Dagestan, is one of the finest soldiers in Russia. This trio are our main viewpoint at the Russian side of the war, other than occasional one off characters who flesh out the action. Unfortunately, the Russians generally turn into Bond villains, complete with war crimes and supervillain trains, quite quickly. With one notable exception there's not a lot of humanizing the enemy, and we get into some nationalistic chest beating early on.

The action though, is just spectacular. These authors have clearly spent time in warzones, and the detail they put into the weapons, their uses, and it's effects on humans is intense. Whether being shredded by an A-10's cannons, blown apart by tank main guns, or incinerated by a fuel air bomb, the authors don't spare you the horrors of modern war. It was engrossing reading about everything from an undermanned militia unit fighting a Russian advance column, to a full regiment of US Marines fighting off Russian armor and artillery from a well fortified position. With all that, characters die, and the happy endings are few and far between.

I will confess that the presence of one of my favorite modern war machines, the ugly but beautiful A-10 Warthog did inspire much of my praise for this book. It is used to well and the character who drives his 'hog to the bitter end, was fun to watch. From the awesome of blowing through massed Russian armor to the almost absurd of a trio of Warthogs fighting off a pair of Su-57 fighter jets I was hooked.

If I can make one major criticism, the story by the rough half way point did begin seeing the lucky breaks start falling almost one sided towards the US/NATO. The tone shifts from one of well plotted and established action to one of enormous convenience for NATO forces. Russia still gets its licks in, but by the last two hundred pages I could accurately predict the general outcome, somewhat disappointingly. Too many things swing just the right way for the NATO forces which robbed the final moments of much of their dramatic tension. Even had there been some slight tweaks to this formula it might have raised the bar that much higher for me.

However, as a contemporary war thriller, with espionage and action, I was pleasantly surprised at how detailed and exciting Red Metal turned out to be. I'm sincerely hoping these authors produce another war thriller together because they collaborated extremely well on this one. The ending hints at another potential conflict on the horizon, and - in the world of fiction at least - one can hope! A definite recommend.