This book was kind of strange. There seems to be a lot of humor in the story, but it doesn’t come off quite the way it should. Or, maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for much humor while I was reading it. You’ll have to make your own opinion, but I just don’t think the humor was that well done, but I do like to see humor in some of my military science fiction books. There’s nothing wrong with it as long as it’s written well.
Our main character for this story is Captain Jack Zane, Mech Operative. He isn’t a human, but an Archean, though from all outward appearances he is human. Archeans and humans have joined together in a war against the dreaded killbyte cyborgs from Logiciel. These cyborgs are Archeans who have taken it upon themselves to enhance and improve the human condition through man/machine interfacing. They can look extremely unpleasant, but they can also be almost human or Archean in appearance, it just depends on their level of cyborness (if that’s a word!). This war has been going on for some time, but Jack isn’t or wasn’t directly involved until now.
As a Mech Operative, Jack sits inside a gigant mech machine which he control from the interior cockpit. He’s become quite skilled at using his mech to the point some other mech pilots thing Jack is kind of weird. Yet, at the start of this book, Captain Zane is out to teach two privates how to operate their mechs. Now why a Captain would be messing with to recruits is beyond me. Neither one have been in a mech before other than a simulator and apparently in this military, they don’t have any NCOs to take care of the training. So it’s up to Jack to get it done. Except, the killbyte cyborgs decide to attach the space station Jack is assigned to, so he’s off to fight these cyborgs.
And that’s where the whole story starts to fall apart for Jack. These killbyte cyborgs have come to warn Jack of some treachery going on in his own backyard so to speak. Jack finds out that what he thought was the truth, turns out to be something entirely different. And things get so different that Jack soon finds himself almost dead, no he is dead which he happens more than one, on a trash-planet of all places. Jack’s in for the fight of his life and the only thing that might save him are his vambraces. Those sound familiar to you?
This was a good story although it did seem kind of short. I’m not sure I’ll continue with the series. There’s just something I’m not liking about it. Could possibly be the that story just ends, suddenly, like this!