1997;
388 pages. New Author? : No, but this is
the first book of his I’ve read where there isn't a co-author. Genre : Science Fiction; Military;
Action-Thriller. Overall Rating : 5*/10.
The military has a word for them: Redliners.
It
refers to combat troops who have witnessed such horrors, or been subject to such
wartime ordeals, that psychologically they’ve been stretched to the point where
they can snap any second. They aren’t
fit to be returned to combat duties in the future and placing them back in a
civilian environment is just asking for a disaster.
Major Arthur Farrell’s command, the Company of strikers known as C41,
are Redliners. They were sent into a advance-strike commando raid, suffered jaw-dropping casualties, somehow and achieved their tactical goals, only to
have higher-ups abort the overall mission and recall what was left of C41. Their losses were in vain, and things got
worse when they learned the enemy they had slaughtered consisted of civilian
children.
The conventional wisdom about what to do with Redliners is to send them
on some easy and safe missions in the hopes that with time they’ll forget the
horrors that caused them to redline. The
success rate of this isn’t impressive, but hey, what are the alternatives?
Well, there is one other option, much more risky and unpopular than the
conventional wisdom approach.
Send them on a suicide mission and hope that most of them get killed,
but not before they wipe out lots of the enemy.
What’s To Like...
If you like lots of fighting, detailed
tactics, and a gritty “War Is Hell” depiction of military life, then you’ll
love Redliners. The story could easily be set in Afghanistan
or Iraq, but by putting it in a Science-Fiction setting David Drake can create
all sorts of additional perils. Here the
plants and the ground are just as deadly as an enemy alien with a laser gun.
The aliens here are called the Kalendru, and it is said that they ‘understand
the concepts of “master” and “slave” but not of “equals”’. It’s therefore a intergalactic fight to the
death, and sadly, conflicts such as this
are a “kill or be killed” situation. David
Drake doesn’t prettify it in any way.
The good guys aren’t perfect, they can make mistakes. The bad guys have some human qualities, but
no matter what, they have to be killed.
I
liked the concept of forcing hardened soldiers and civilians to merge into a
single unit, and then watching them somehow learn to coexist and cooperate with each other
in order to survive. It’s a slow,
difficult process, but neither group has any choice in the matter. There are a slew of characters from both
groups for the reader to meet and greet.
Don’t get too attached to any of them; quite a few won’t be around by
the end of the tale.
The
book is mostly in the 3rd-person POV, although there’s a Prologue, Epilogue, and Interlude sections, which are in the 1st-person. There’s blood and gore, lots of killing, and
oodles of cussing. The action starts
immediately, and never lets up. It is a
standalone novel, and not connected with any other of David Drake’s books.
I
enjoyed learning what calling a war-buddy “snake” means, and I thought the
“null sacks” were neat. It’s always a
plus when Tchaikovsky’s music gets some ink. Via Google, I learned that “Redlining” has several meanings, depending
on what field it applies to. Here, the dictionary definition that is most apt is “beyond the recommended safety limit”.
Things build to a suitably climactic and exciting ending. I wouldn’t call it “twisty”, but I did find
it to be “bittersweet”, and that’s a plus.
I primarily think of David Drake as a Fantasy writer, but it was a interesting to see what he can do in the Military Science Fiction genre as well.
Kindle Details...
ANAICT,
Redliners is always free at Amazon. David Drake is a prolific Sci-Fi and Fantasy
author, writing both alone and with other authors. He offers a half-dozen or so of his books for
free, which is very generous of him. The
rest of his e-books are in the price range of $5.24 - $9.99, and a couple
‘bundles’ at $8.99. Finally, it should be mentioned that he offers a
2nd Edition of Redliners
for $5.38,
and with a note on the cover that it “includes
all new content”.
Excerpts...
“I didn’t
understand how quick you had to be to survive,” Lock said softly. He turned his face from Meyer. His eyes were on the forest, but she wasn’t
sure they were focusing.
“When the savages
came out of the trees I just looked at them,” Lock said to the forest. “And one of them grabbed Alison. And I said, I said, ‘What are you doing?’ and he cut her head off. Like that.
And he grabbed me and you killed him.” (…)
He began to
cry. “You were trying to keep us alive
and I didn’t understand,” he said through tears. “I’m a lawyer, Ms. Meyer. I don’t belong here and I didn’t understand.”
(loc. 2939)
Abbado got along
better in the forest than Gabrilovitch did.
Both sergeants viewed the vegetation as an enemy, but the fact didn’t
particularly bother Abbado. To him,
enemies were something a striker fought or avoided; it didn’t matter whether
they had bark or pale gray skin.
Gabe found the
forest’s malevolence unnatural, even supernatural. Imagination made Gabrilovitch a good scout,
whereas Abbado’s two-valued logic – kill it or run – had struck Blohm as
simple-minded during the year and a half he’d known the man. (loc. 3480)
Life was a series of
tradeoffs. Until you died. (loc. 2157)
For all its thrills and spills and realism, Redliners lacks one essential component: an overall,
coherent plotline. In theory this is a
story about the colonization of a new planet by us Earthlings; in practice that
never gets started because of the life-threatening dangers as soon as the ship
lands. I thought that the non-stop fighting
would eventually end and the book would get on with setting up the groundwork
of civilization, but that never happened.
The ending at least brings a closure to the book-long fighting, and does
a decent job of that. But it doesn’t
change the fact that there Is. No. Plot.
David
Drake is a Vietnam vet, and I read somewhere that writing Redliners was a catharsis for him in dealing with that
experience. I haven’t verified this, but
it would give cause to the prolonged fighting, and the many casualties. In any case, David Drake is a skilled writer,
and I found myself turning the pages despite wondering where the heck the plotline was.
Hey, if it helped him come to grips with the Vietnam struggle, more power
to him and this book. The fact that this is an always-free book, and that the cover of
the second edition promises that it “includes
all new content” indicates to me
that Mr. Drake is aware that this book might not resonate with everyone.
5 Stars.
Add 3 stars if
you read Military Science-Fiction stories for the Military more than the Science-Fiction. You’ll have a blast reading this book. Literally.
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