That’s not to say that the writing is bad (though at times it is) or always out of date, but it’s not always capable of asking its own questions it feels. One, there’s almost zero references to time in this whole novel–no news, no cultural references to speak of mostly–and two, the writing feels out of date and not up to the task of accounting for the 1960s. This novel is from 1967, and more or less takes place at the same time, though at times this is hard to pin down for two reasons. I have previously read that first novel, which is really good, published in 1929, and his collected stories, which are a mixed bag. This is one of the final novels from John O’Hara, most famous for BUtterfield 8, North Frederick 10, and his first novel Appointment at Samarra. This book is almost entirely exposition, which is fine, almost to the point that I can’t actually imagine this will only be a three book series. All of this folds together in those kinds of enfilading chapters. Lastly, we have Solveig, the daughter of an important political figure, shipping off on her own mission. A combat specialist from “the other side” or the war who is leading a squad that is ambushed, and an officer on a naval vessel in a similar vein. He’s also go some money in his pockets from accrued prison wages, and no real past or future. This complicates things for him as he’s not traumatized by warfare, but more so by prison. So while he was in the war effort, he wasn’t specifically involved in the fighting. Anyway, he’s being released and we find out that he’s an intelligence and language specialist, not a combat soldier. There’s bitterness plenty, but there’s also an attempt to move forward from the conflict.
The book doesn’t dwell on this, as this is decidedly not Star Wars or even Serenity, almost more like a look at post-war 20th century societies in Europe and Asia.
It was a bitter and close-fought war, but his side lost, and the losers, as they say, don’t get to write the history books. We meet Aden at the end of a compulsory prison sentence after a multi-planet war in which he was on the losing side. The writing is solid, and the story compelling, and the story and world-building, a least perfunctory. It’s structured similar to the Expanse series or Game of Thrones, in that there are several main characters, from different angles in the novel, all told in close third person. I bought it from Audible one day on sale for like $3, and while I am not entirely sure I am going to seek out further books in the series, I found that to be a pretty good deal. This is a novel that begins a new trilogy by Marko Kloos (author of the Terms of Enlistment series, which I haven’t read).
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