Armour, by John Steakle
Book Review by Jaqhama
Have you read this book?
For me there's always been two books that stand alone in the field of military
science fiction. Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers and John Steakley's
Armour.
Armour is actually two stories in the one book.
Felix is the supreme armoured warrior of the future. A man who has fought and survived countless battles against an alien, ant-like race. He has lived where everyone else has died. The secret of his survival lies in his past... a past filled with the pain and sadness that fuels his anger and drives him to take suicidal risks with little thought for his own continued existence.
Countless readers have said that the battle scenes in Armour are the best they've ever read.
It was also the first military SF novel that really conjured up the terrible tragedy of post traumatic stress disorder.
The other half of this novel concerns a man named Jack Crow. And an alcoholic millionaire living on a backwater planet on the edge of the colonised worlds. No one takes much notice of him... until a band of vicious space pirates arrive with hostile intentions.
I don't want to spoil the story by saying anymore, and besides, there's hundreds of reviews about this classic SF novel on Amazon. A number of the reviewers state it is the best SF novel they've ever read. I'd have to say it's in my top ten, for sure.
Apart from the fact that this is a bloody good book it's also worth reading because it was one of the books that started the genre of military sci-fi.
The Felix chapters of Armour are written in third person.
The Jack Crow chapters are written in first person.
This does not detract from the overall story in any way.
Armour is actually two stories in the one book.
Felix is the supreme armoured warrior of the future. A man who has fought and survived countless battles against an alien, ant-like race. He has lived where everyone else has died. The secret of his survival lies in his past... a past filled with the pain and sadness that fuels his anger and drives him to take suicidal risks with little thought for his own continued existence.
Countless readers have said that the battle scenes in Armour are the best they've ever read.
It was also the first military SF novel that really conjured up the terrible tragedy of post traumatic stress disorder.
The other half of this novel concerns a man named Jack Crow. And an alcoholic millionaire living on a backwater planet on the edge of the colonised worlds. No one takes much notice of him... until a band of vicious space pirates arrive with hostile intentions.
I don't want to spoil the story by saying anymore, and besides, there's hundreds of reviews about this classic SF novel on Amazon. A number of the reviewers state it is the best SF novel they've ever read. I'd have to say it's in my top ten, for sure.
Apart from the fact that this is a bloody good book it's also worth reading because it was one of the books that started the genre of military sci-fi.
The Felix chapters of Armour are written in third person.
The Jack Crow chapters are written in first person.
This does not detract from the overall story in any way.
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