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Just thought I'd share this with you.
Because, if the people out there like it, then that's what matters, right?!
:-)

Finished War Machine by A. Remic. It's a roller coaster ultra-violent book, but a far future sf thriller not military sf as marketed. The extraordinary inventiveness of the future setting (aliens, all kinds of ai's, pseudohumans, robots, genetically engineered humans, a city-planet of 113 trillion beings give or take a few, cool weapons and devices) is marred by jarring references to Halloween, James Bond, TV stars and similar current stuff. The non-stop action reads once in a while like a cartoon, and some of the characters are really cartoonish (some of the gangsters encountered and Mr. Max for example; Mr. Max reminded me of Mr. Crane of Neal Asher's Polity book but the android was more fun). There are also lots of similarities with several other books I've read recently, Saturn Returns by S. William, Stealing Light by G. Gibson and Hydrogen Steel by KA Bedford are 3 books that I was reminded in very important parts of the book (there are lots of double crosses, and tricks and turns of the plot, so I do not want to say more but if you read any of those and you read this one you will see it too).The main characters, the disgraced Combat K trio, Keenan the super soldier and leader, Pippa the ultra violent pilot and occasional love interest, and Franco the clinically insane demolition expert and jokster, as well as Cam the tennis ball sized AI drone (this one is Banksian through and through) are very well portrayed and the gradual revelations culminating at the end with the complete disclosure of their individual histories is very very well done.Also there are strong fantasy-like elements in this book despite its sf flavor (here another similarity is with Chris Bunch Shadow series).Anyway once you start reading it and get used to its setting it really draws you in and you cannot put it down and then you get to the last page and realize that you have to wait for a while to see what happens next... Despite its occasional cartoonish aspects and the jarring references to current fads, this one is an excellent book, much much better than I expected. Highly recommended especially for people who liked the books mentioned above.

Suciul, White Plains, NY
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