Horror Book Reviews
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Title: The Clone Republic |
Review of The Clone Republic (Clone)
- PFC Wayson Harris is just another clone born and bred to fight humanity's battles for them. But when he learns that his fellow Marines are being slaughtered to make room for the newer model of clone soldier, he goes AWOL--and plans revenge.
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Comments for The Clone Republic
- Posted on 2008-07-17
The Clone Republic
When I was in the USMC we were all told about the 'Old Corps', when real men were Marines...not wimps like us in the New Corps. Steven Kent has created a 'New Corps' without men at all, fearless clones. Old Corps or the New Corps Kent gets it right..."Semper Fi' Do and Die!" The good news is that this is a great read, the better news is that there is a sequel, the best news is a series of six.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2008-03-16
Good start to a series
Humans have been able to colonize the vast reaches of the Galaxy by means of transmission stations, a strong central government on Earth, the United Authority, and a military of clones bred to be loyal soldiers, sailors and marines. Fresh out of training, PFC Wayson Harris is posted to a station so far out of the way that it could only be because he's got on someone's blacklist. A chance run-in with a renegade general changes the situation and Harris begins to find out that much of what he was brought up to believe is untrue, and that there are forces in the military out to get him--or protect him, not because of anything he's done, but because of what he is.
Events unfold fairly quickly. There are small and large battles to keep things exciting, while things are gradually revealed to Harris. He's young and all he knows is his generic orphanage upbringing and military training, but he has to learn to not only survive battles, but politics. Not much is revealed about his inner thoughts, even though the book is in his point of view. As a simple soldier with a slight difference, there is not a lot of sophisticated introspection going on. I still found him sympathetic as a character and found the concept of the clone military interesting. Some of the characters Harris comes in contact with are also lightly sketched, but still intriguing. I'm definitely interested in reading more in this series.
Score: 4
- Posted on 2008-03-15
Caveat Emptor
Let's be honest: military sf isn't exactly aiming for Booker prizes in general. Plots are usually linear, men are strong and silent, guns are menacing and the target demographic is tolerant. Yet it can be a guilty pleasure, especially if you are into military history and hardware. Though I don't read that much mil sf, I've enjoyed David Drake, Stirling, Jack Campbell, David Weber, etc... However, the little I read of Clone Republic managed to surprise me by how bad it was. The fun parts of mil sf are strangely missing. No fancy weapons, computers, robots, tactics, aliens, cyborgs, nanotech. Nada.
The writing? The year is 2500, but feels like late 19th century colonial backwaters, minus the mystery and ambiance. The blasters take the place of six shooters. Hey, grit jams them too! The desert setting could the Hindu Kush or Mexico. The locals could be Bedouins. Or they could be green and scaly. You don't know - they aren't described. Luckily, the desert planet, imaginatively called Gobi, is described, as a "dried-up stink hole". Give the man a Pulitzer.
A quote from the introduction might illustrate the writing style...
"""In a couple of days, a patrol would come looking for survivors and find the base abandoned. The Corps would list us as missing in action, some officer would say, "Damn, not another platoon," and send another 40 men to replace us.
Legend had it that space monsters prowled the surface of Ravenwood. Most of my boys believed it was space aliens attacking the fort."""
Does it sound ominous? Well, yes, but I shrugged it off, figuring, because of the reviews, that it would get better. Mistake.
After 50 pages of similar dross there is a thoroughly ho-hum firefight and I decided to cut my losses. Life is too short.
Should I really be writing this review, considering I've decided to give up 50 pages into the book? Heck, 26 people have reviewed so far and most found good things to say about it. So, time for a contrary opinion, or at least a warning for the prospective reader to consider what she is getting into.
Citing Plato in the intro does raise expectations that there might be something there. Maybe the clone angle and politics justify the book and the setting and writing are secondary? Maybe. I guess I'll never know.
Score: 1
- Posted on 2008-03-10
Clone Republic - just an OK read.
I thought this book would be so much better (and the next one) - so I bought the first three books in the series.
It wasn't bad -- I just got tired of every character in the book talking about the "damned Liberator clone" , which were supposed to be super stud clone warriors. Some bad stuff happened in the past with this line, but this guy just doesn't make the grade. I kept hoping he would start demonstrating his superiority, but...he really didn't. So the canned reactions just got to be boring.
Read the other reviews, you may like the book. I for one, really enjoyed John Scalzi soooo much better!Old Man's War
Score: 2
- Posted on 2008-01-30
Absolute great reading!
I loved this book/series. Kent writes characters that reach out to you and are full bodied delicious. The story is told from Wayson Harris' point of view and it is a great tale. I highly recommend this book/series to anyone who likes scifi!
Score: 5
