"Astral fall" by Jessica Mae Stover

 In a world of space wars, a young man graduates from military training and joins an elite team of space warriors. The bulk of the book concerns his fitting into the team; the final couple of chapters is almost a trailer for the sequel.

What I like about this book is that the author doesn't waste any time inducting the reader into the fictional world. Straight away, I had to contend with "auttie yanks" and "hardhoods", "fractal trepid suits" and "orgo-panels".  This made it very hard to read but, having persevered, the story started coming through. And all the details made it utterly convincing. It was all a bit too technical for me - it made it hard to glimpse the human dilemmas - but, remarkably, this author made what might have been a simple, futuristic space yarn seem very real. This means that it undermines the trope of militaristic novels that seem to be based on shoot-em-up games in which bad things happen with few consequences. 

Hugely atmospheric. An epic. Ideal for those who like the military equivalent of police procedurals. 

Of course, that means the reading was hard work. But in the end, it made for an extraordinarily realistic and thrilling story.

Selected quotes:

• "A patch of stars shines through a cloudhole"
• "black cloud cover— Hands fly, jerk, dance—we claw at sky and air— FALLING— The battle, the ridges, the bodies, the blood, the limp and the dead—THE RED THEATER RUSHES UP TO MEET US"
• “Don’t clutter chatter during crucials. When not sure about protocol, be polite, even downchain. Maintain secrecy at all times. What happens in the loop stays in the loop. If in doubt, create the situational report, run the diagnostic, supply the information, ask the question. Don’t assume, know."
• "The day you think that shit won’t go down, it does. I promise you that. It’s the way of the universe."
• "the most famous PT genius alive invites you to let her pull your auttie yank in her quarters, see if you pass.”
• “Military. All that mech training, all of it based on science, and yet they’re superstitious."

December 2022

This review was written by the author of Bally and Bro, Motherdarling  and The Kids of God