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aix83's review
2.0
This is a bit of a mess and not a Sanderson story. You can tell from the inner character perception. I'm pretty sure the plot is also developed by the other guy. While the writing is very vivid and visual, the story is a narrative disaster. The setting is interesting, the plot makes nice promises, but the ending doesn't deliver. Moreover, I'm not sure what the main point of the story even is. In fact, this story reads like a literary "character story" accidentally entangled in military scifi trappings like it fell down a well and couldn't free itself. The problem is that the story is about a mech pilot who combat lands into this hot zone and discovers it's actually a lot hotter than estimated because the robot aliens developed much faster than anticipated, so their weapons are more advanced. After much heroic battling, the MC's AI "Harry" (HARRE really) takes over with the guy's body inside to defend some position. So is it the AI's story? It might be but the AI isn't set up as the main character who's supposed to take over. The story ends uncertainly, in a sort of omniscient POV, and the ending doesn't say what happened to who we thought was the MC. So it builds investment into this character only to deliver you a dunno-what-happened open ending specific to literary. Ummm. Great.
Then there's the slathering of Murican hero who fights to save the world. His local allies are weaklings, there's a chick (his wife?) whose role is to cry over his self-sacrificing choices etc. It's a Murican soldier power fantasy, that's what it is. It's tone deaf and has no idea that there are other points of view. It stereotypes women, stereotypes third world people, and even the naming of the local alien allies is a super thinly veiled word play on "Palestinians". Good work, Joe. You're a hero. You Muricans save the world, it's your god given right and obligation to do it.
But the writing is seriously excellent military scifi. If only it had an ending that delivers more than some vague "theme" beyond world-saving power fantasy.
Then there's the slathering of Murican hero who fights to save the world. His local allies are weaklings, there's a chick (his wife?) whose role is to cry over his self-sacrificing choices etc. It's a Murican soldier power fantasy, that's what it is. It's tone deaf and has no idea that there are other points of view. It stereotypes women, stereotypes third world people, and even the naming of the local alien allies is a super thinly veiled word play on "Palestinians". Good work, Joe. You're a hero. You Muricans save the world, it's your god given right and obligation to do it.
But the writing is seriously excellent military scifi. If only it had an ending that delivers more than some vague "theme" beyond world-saving power fantasy.
paperpaladin's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
1.25
In preparation for the year of Sanderson, I am trying to catch up on all the published works of Sanderson that I have not gotten around to. This is a short story of his that shows up in the collection Armored! which is all about mech suits. With how prolific Sanderson is and how fervent his fan base, I was surprised to see this in a list of his published works. I had never heard anything about it. Upon reading it, I quickly discovered why. This is a very stock story. The characters are tropey and feel a bit lifeless. There is mild conflict between the characters as they are surrounded by enemies. This feels like they had a list of ingredients to make a cake but didn't prepare it in anyway before serving it.
My rating system
1 - Did not enjoy
2 - Not irredeemable but has too many flaws to say I enjoyed
3 - Enjoyed it
4 - Great book but didn't love it
5 - Amazing book
My rating system
1 - Did not enjoy
2 - Not irredeemable but has too many flaws to say I enjoyed
3 - Enjoyed it
4 - Great book but didn't love it
5 - Amazing book
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