Last year was a rough year as far as the total number of books I read. This is a very mood based thing for me – but this year seems to be off to a quick start. I’ve managed to polish off 3 books so far – and I’m digging into the 4th already.
Part of this, I’m certain, is the extended time I’ve spent in medical waiting rooms already. I suppose one can put a silver lining in there if you were really working at it.
The first book I finished this year was Planetside… and I just kept forging ahead with the next 2 in the series. Here’s my review of the first one.
Planetside by Michael Mammay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is going to be a spoilerific review ~ fair warning.
I wasn’t certain what I was getting into when I picked this one up. This was a reading group selection for Watch The Skies. It was touted as something military science fiction fans would like. Having powered through this one very quickly, I agree with that.
Around page 45 (ish?) I figured out what happened to the missing Lieutenant. I made a note in the book specifically because I was hoping I was wrong, but I wanted to place that marker in case I wasn’t. I had figured out what happened right then – just not all the specifics of how or why. The guy isn’t among friendlies on the ground and he never gets back into space on the medical ship… that doesn’t leave a lot of choices.
The main character, Carl, has precisely 0 character growth during this story. He does not learn nor does he change at all. His predictability proves to be a significant factor in duping him into making an extremely harsh choice. Firing the missiles/triggering the bombs is definitely a discussion worthy topic.
The secondary characters were well written and believable, but I struggled with the doctor who went from so very strong willed to shooting herself in what felt like an extremely short number of steps. That felt forced and incongruous with her character as written.
Having said all that, I did still enjoy this book. It’s well written and fast paced. It’s a very solid action/thriller style story in space, complete with aliens. I’d love to see this turned into a film.
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