A Chain of Thunder, by Jeff Shaara

This book tells the story of the Campaign for Vicksburg during the Civil War. I've visited the National Military Park there a couple of times and always find it both fascinating and moving. Shaara does a good job of providing varying frames of reference from both sides of the battle, generals and enlisted men alike. There are several maps throughout giving a feel for the movement of troops, which is nicely juxtaposed with the southern civilian viewpoints who were only told their position was impregnable and chose to believe it.

This is clearly a well-researched novel, with detail after detail about the quality of life as well as the military strategies. I was surprised to find that anti-vaxxers were not a recent idiocy but were alive and well in the 19th century. "It amazed Bauer that so many in the town, and in the army, had responded instead with outcries against the vaccinations that seemed born of nothing more than superstition." With all this detail, though, there is a surprising lack of what life was like for the slaves in Vicksburg—none of the narrators were Black. When white civilians during the siege were reduced to eating dogs and rats, what the slaves ate isn't stated. Considering this was a war over slavery, this lack of insight hurts the overall narrative.

It was strange reading a novel about the Civil War during a time where it feels our country is splintering along similar political lines, if not physical ones this time. On the North side Grant and Sherman fought to hold the United States together. On the South, Pemberton fought out of loyalty to his Virginia-born wife rather than dedication to the Confederacy. The Northern soldiers fought for duty, the Southern desperate to maintain their way of life. Both sides are depicted fairly nobly, and the institutional racism at the root of the conflict isn't a part of the story. Makes you wonder how the raging racists running Washington will be depicted in literature a century from now.

First Sentence:

The ball was a glorious affair, the Confederate officers in their finest gray, adorned with plumed hats and sashes at their waists.

Skyward, by Brandon Sanderson

I've liked everything Brandon Sanderson has written, and this book is no exception. Skyward tells the tale of young Spensa that dreams of being a pilot like her father, fighting the aliens that keep them trapped on a desolate world. Unfortunately, her father mysteriously went from hero to traitor during a battle and she has been branded the daughter of a coward, unsuitable for society—much less a candidate for flight school.

Sanderson's world-building and magic systems are legendary, but neither are really present here. This is targeted at young adults, but it felt dumbed-down compared to his other works which was disappointing. YA novels tend to be coming of age stories and shy away from extreme themes, but that isn't any reason to have one dimensional characters or a by-the-numbers plot. Look at The Outsiders or Ender's Game for better examples of the genre. That said, this is still an enjoyable read with a good hook and nice twist at the end setting up the sequel.

First Sentence:

I stalked my enemy carefully through the cavern.

A Civil War: Army vs. Navy, by John Feinstein

I'm an unapologetic Longhorn football fan, but I've always been fascinated by the Army-Navy rivalry. It is the only game attended by the entire student body of both schools, and even when the teams are awful (which sadly is pretty normal these days) the game is exciting and the spectacle captivating. I love watching this game each year, the only non-Texas game that is appointment viewing for me. So when I spotted this book in a discount bin about the 1995 Army and Navy seasons, culminating in their clash at the end, I snatched it up and saved it to read just before this year's bout. Unlike what many of the refs did during their respective seasons, that was a good call.

Feinstein is known more for his books on basketball and golf, and it shows a bit here: his college football knowledge seems a bit lacking in places. For instance, he claims the Army-Navy game is the best rivalry in the country; it is certainly in the top echelon, but what about Harvard-Yale? The World's Largest Cocktail Party? The Battle for the Axe? Michigan-Ohio State? The Iron Bowl? Or the greatest of them all, the Red River Showdown? Similarly with stadiums, he calls Notre Dame Stadium "college football's most famous stadium." Um... how about the Rose Bowl, or Michigan Stadium, or Tiger Stadium? Even the name of the book is a bit odd; the Civil War is what the annual Oregon-Oregon State game is called; nothing to do at all with Army-Navy.

That said, this is a wonderful book and the Army-Navy game is one of the treasures of college football. Feinstein does a great job of ping-ponging between the Army and Navy squads as their year progresses, becoming a biographer of sorts for a handful of players and coaches on each team. Along the way a lot of the traditions and history of the schools and squads are told giving more than a glimpse into what life at a service academy must be like. Even with Feinstein's hyperbole and occasional pretentiousness this was a fantastic book and I look forward to watching the game on Saturday!

First Sentence:

Almost thirty minutes after the last play of his college football career, Jim Cantelupe, still dressed in the black uniform with the gold number 22 on the back and front, walked down a dank, winding hallway in the bowels of Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium.

Four Hours of Fury, by James Fenelon

Operation VARSITY was the largest single-day airborne drop in history, and Four Hours of Fury tells the story. I've read about Pearl Harbor, D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, and the war in the Pacific, but hadn't ever heard of this operation which was the first push into Nazi Germany, signalling the end of WWII. Fenelon does an amazing job; facts and maps abound, but the focus on the combatants (enlisted and officers on both sides of the battle) keeps the story humanized. He has an amazing knack to toss in a sentence that seems amusing or light-hearted at first, but after more thought is covering the horrors of war. "Instructors reminded them that on an actual jump, if they didn't feel the opening shock of their chute by 4,000, they had the rest of their lives to deploy their reserve." The last sentence is flat-out heart-wrenching, capturing what every wife must have felt when getting a death notice: "There would be no fifth wedding anniversary celebration." Well-written, informative, and hard to put down—not a combination of traits I often ascribe to a history book, but they apply to Four Hours of Fury in spades.

First Sentence:

Three months before they dropped into Germany, the troopers of the 17th Airborne entered combat for the first time in a manner entirely different from how they'd been trained.

The Escape Artist, by Brad Meltzer

This book captured my attention from the prologue. Nola Brown is killed in a plane crash, and the mortician that is processing her body discovers something is very wrong by finding a note she swallowed before dying that reads, "Nola, you were right. Keep running." That hook unfolds into a mystery that jumps back in forth in time, delving into the Nola's abusive past and her being hunted in the present by an off-the-books military unit. I thought the identity of the "big bad" was pretty obvious, but Meltzer did a good job with red herrings so there were other plausible candidates. The two main characters are fairly well fleshed out, but the others are a bit one-dimensional. The story moves so quickly though it isn't really a problem—much like a Liam Neeson action movie, it isn't deep but it is enjoyable!

First Sentence:

Jim "Zig" Zigarowski knew the pain was coming.

Hell and Good Company, by Richard Rhodes

Before reading Hell and Good Company pretty much all I could have told you about the Spanish Civil War was that it occurred between World Wars I and II and Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls based on his experiences there. Rhodes only lightly touches the military and political aspects of the war, instead concentrating on the innovations that were made real during this time. I was shocked to discover that frontline blood donations weren't commonplace before Spain, and the practice of sealing open wounds and compound fractures with plaster to keep them clean and immobile finally gained medical acceptance at this time, too. Hard to believe that before the late 1930's a broken leg was usually amputated on the battlefield in order to save the soldier. Military tactics also saw a lot of advancement during this time; air power truly came into its own, resulting sadly in prominent, purposeful civilian targets and the first war with a city bombed into literal rubble.

Rhodes has a sophisticated writing style; readable, but with an impressive (and occasionally off-putting) vocabulary: "In pursuing a latter-day, reverse reconquista he was less a fascist than an aggrandized martinet." One chapter in particular I found difficult to finish; the author discusses the creation of Picasso's Guernica, explaining in excruciating detail how the painting changed with each small step in the artistic process. Oddly, there isn't a rendering of the entire finished work included, so much of the included minutia was severely lacking in context. This literary wandering was an anomaly, though, and the book itself was both engrossing and appealing, and I recommend it to anyone interested in this time in history.

First Sentence:

Barcelona, 25 July 1936: In the glare of Spanish summer, the first witnesses to the igniting civil war are leaving to tell the world.

Kelly, by Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson with Maggie Smith

Clarence "Kelly" Johnson was one of the key aircraft designers at Lockheed, involved with such successes as the P-38 Lightning, the U-2, and my favorite, the SR-71 Blackbird. Kelly is the autobiography of this engineer, and a great deal of history about the Lockheed Corporation, now Lockheed Martin. The look Kelly gives into how aircraft were developed in the early part of the aviation era is fascinating, with wind tunnels and advanced metallurgy in their infancy. The mortality rate for test pilots was high, and at times Kelly came across as quite cold discussing this. "...the plane exploded on impact. The design result was an improved spline and pump and installation of an emergency fuel system."

The famous Skunk Works program was also founded by Kelly. The software industry has co-opted the term: at a good company it is used to describe small teams that foster innovation, and at a bad one it is used to ask people to do extra work under the guise of innovation. (Sadly, the latter is more common.) It was interesting reading about the formation and goals behind the original; one quote that stuck with me is one I'll use in my own career: "it is much better to lead people, not to drive them." That is a very eloquent way of phrasing a difficult concept—which probably is why it still resonates today despite being originally said in the 1930's.

Kelly wrote the book in 1985 and died in 1990. The conclusion was exactly what you'd expect from an engineer that was born when heavier-than-air craft were looked at with skepticism and retired after man walked on the moon. "By the year 2000, the 'death rays' of the comic strips and and science fiction will be a reality." The Star Wars SDI program never did materialize, but the LaWS laser system is about to be put into active service. Still a long way from phasers or blasters, but then we don't have our flying cars yet either. Ending aside, this book is a great look at a glamorous time in aviation history, and a peek into the life of a very interesting man.

First Sentence:

Northern Michigan in mid-winter is harsh, cold country to a young immigrant seeking to carve out a new life.

Tour of the Merrimack, by R. M. Meluch

Straight up military space opera often feels a lot like a B action movie, and the Tour of the Merrimack is no exception. The Volume One omnibus comprises two novels, The Myriad and Wolf Star, and is followed by Volume Two which contains The Sagittarius Command and Strength and Honor. Set over 400 years in the future, the Roman Empire never actually fell but simply went underground as a secret society and survived throughout the ages. When America colonizes a planet named Palantine and the Romans come out of hiding and rebel, a space-borne civil war erupts. That conflict immediately stops and causes enemies to ally when a truly alien race called the Hive appears and threatens humanity itself.

The setup is fairly interesting and Meluch does a good job of depicting uneasy allies, but other than the plot there isn't a lot to recommend here. The novels are riddled with contradictions. Despite being much more advanced technologically than the US, the Romans can't seem to build battleships that can stand up to the Merrimack or her sister ship the Monitor. The Romans claim their society survived hidden for centuries because they passed their secrets down through the years to worthy individuals regardless of race, color, sex, or creed, yet when they arose again they immediately reintroduced slavery to the universe. The Hive are depicted as omnivores that exist only to eat and destroy and are vicious enough to force bitter enemies to come together to survive, but fairly easily dispatched by our heroes who just happen to be armed with swords. In space. Yup.

The plot structure is by far the best part about this series. The entire first novel is basically foreshadowing for the next two and there is a great twist at the end. The action is fantastic as well—hard not to like US marines in space fighting tentacle monsters with blades—and exhaustingly non-stop. There is a smidge of political intrigue as well and some of the most awkward romances I've ever read, but it is the fast moving adventure that makes this worth the time. These four novels make for an entertaining read, but thin enough that I'm not going to seek out the fifth.

First Sentence (from The Myriad):

A nightmare runs over and over again in a loop.

First Sentence (from Wolf Star):

"Occultation, nine by twenty-five by eighty-eight," the tech at the sensor station rang out.

First Sentence (from The Sagittarius Command):

The harsh white sun and the softer yellow day star shone directly overhead.

First Sentence (from Strength and Honor):

Lieutenant Glenn (Hamster) Hamilton was Officer of the Watch when the Emergency Action Message came in.

Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

I loved this book as a kid, and liked several of the sequels as well. With a movie on the way and my sons interested in it, I dug up my old copy from 1986 and we all read it. It holds up surprisingly well, and both boys liked it as much as I did. The plot is in four loose sections: Ender on Earth, Ender at Battle School, Ender on Eros, and after the war. The bulk of the story takes place at the Battle School and is easily the best part of the book. The idea of training child prodigies as military commanders in zero gravity is both farfetched and fascinating at the same time, and the descriptions of the various games are unique and memorable enough that they largely matched what I remembered from nearly 30 years ago. Of course, after seeing previews for the movie I kept picturing Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff and Ben Kingsley as Mazer Rackham—neither of which matched my previous images. Ender's Game is a great sci-fi book, and if my family is any indication it holds up well through the generations, too.

First Sentence:

"I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one."

The Yellow Birds, by Kevin Powers

This is the story of two soldiers, both of whom went to war but neither entirely came back. Powers writes a powerful tale that does a marvelous job of describing both what a soldier's life serving during the war in Iraq is like, and what it is like after returning home. The imagery is powerful and poetic, painting pictures that vividly mirror the bleak outlook of war. "We'd been granted a reprieve from the heat and the dust, both gently smothered by flat sheets of rain fallen from skies the color of unworked iron." Powers also captures the internal melancholy of PTSD, giving a potent glimpse into what some returning soldiers endure. "I was tired of my mind running all night through the things I remembered, then through things I did not remember but for which I blamed myself on account of the sheer vividness of scenes that looped on the red-green linings of my closed eyelids." While beautifully written, the subject matter makes this difficult to finish. A depressing book, but one well worth reading.

First Sentence:

The war tried to kill us in the spring.

The Shadow Patrol, by Alex Berenson

Spies, drugs, and terrorists in a war torn Afghanistan. Not exactly original, and Berenson does nothing to make this his own. A plodding plot and uninspired characters makes this an extremely average book—more of a cartoon than a thriller. I found this book in the pocket of an airliner; it made for a passable read on the plane but I'm very glad I didn't pay for it.

First Sentence:

Growing up in the scrubland of west Texas, Ricky Fowler had done some stupid things.

Devices and Desires, by K. J. Parker

Wow. This first installment of The Engineer Trilogy is a strong start to the series. The lead character is an mechanical engineer; considering the bulk of the story involves a war between neighboring states a politician or warrior would be more usual, but the setting of this fantasy novel is a place with no magic and no gods, so having a logical, methodical lead is quite sensible. In this world engineering is a closely guarded secret possessed by only one country, meaning only one country possesses effective war machines. When a talented engineer is found guilty of a seemingly minor transgression and sentenced to death, events are set into motion that will change the balance of power on an unfathomable scale.

One of the underlying tenets of the novel is that while love is something everyone wants to have, it is also the cause of virtually all sorrow as well because people will do anything to obtain it. "Love ... is the most destructive force in the world, doing more harm than war and famine put together." "All the evil in the world, all the harm and suffering it's possible to come to, are concentrated in one place; in love." Indeed, our hero starts a war that will kill people on an heretofore unprecedented rate simply to overthrow his former country, vacate his conviction and exile, and return to his wife. An engineer seems an odd character to have such a Machiavellian grasp of human nature to orchestrate such a world wide upheaval, but in his own words, "People are easy enough to figure out, if you make an effort."

Even though this is 600+ pages, I largely read this in a single sitting during a recent trip to England. I found this so compelling I didn't sleep for the entire flight, making for my first day on the ground a long one! Though set in a world very different than ours, Parker has a few innocent winks at pop culture scattered throughout; my favorite was a paraphrase of my favorite moment in The Replacements: "You know the old saying: pain's temporary, glory is forever, and the girls dig the scars." Awesome.

Intricate and engrossing, I loved this novel and can't wait to read the next in the series!

First Sentence:

"The quickest way to a man's heart," said the instructor, "is proverbially through his stomach. But if you want to get into his brain, I recommend the eye socket."

The Four Feathers, by A.E.W. Mason

The themes of duty and self-sacrifice are pervasive in The Four Feathers. Set in the Crimean War era, the book tells the story of a man trying to reclaim his honor, his self-respect, and his love. Harry Feversham is a soldier that is terrified of not being able to live up to expectations, and leaves the military right before deploying to avoid combat. Some of mates accuse him of shirking his duty, each giving Harry a white feather representing his cowardice. When explaining to his fiancée, she also accuses him and breaks the engagement. Harry, of course, turns out to be exceptionally brave and goes on a quest for redemption. I found the story entertaining and engaging, although considering the book has been in print for over 100 years this isn’t so surprising!

First Sentence:

Lieutenant Sutch was the first of General Feversham’s guests to reach Broad Place.

Zoe’s Tale, by John Scalzi

The fourth tale in the Old Man’s War series, this one is a little different than the others. Instead of a new story in the same universe, in the fashion of Ender’s Shadow and Wicked this tells a familiar tale from a different viewpoint. Scalzi did a good job of making a story we already know (The Last Colony) interesting and compelling. Told from the point of view of Zoë, the daughter of the protagonists of the previous novel, we visit the same events again but with a fresh outlook. Much like teenagers everywhere, they know much more about what is happening than the adults believe, and they sneak out and get into trouble without their parents ever finding out. Some of the dangling threads of the earlier book are wrapped up (like why the werewolves vanished) which was nice, but some of the characterizations were weak; Zoë’s friend Gretchen has an identical personality and outlook, coming off as a simple copy rather than a separate person. This makes a nice companion to The Last Colony, but it is the weakest in the series.

First Sentence:

The flying saucer landed on our front lawn and a little green man got out of it.

The Last Colony, by John Scalzi

Third in the Old Man’s War series, this installment tells the story of an experimental colony used as bait in a war. John Perry from the original novel takes center stage again, accompanied by Jane Sagan and Zoë from the sequel. Witty and imaginative, this volume is more about interstellar politics than the military action of the others. There was a bit of a deux ex machina near the conclusion and a few plot lines are left unsatisfied but overall Scalzi delivers another enjoyable romp.

First Sentence:

Let me tell you of the worlds I’ve left behind.

The Ghost Brigades, by John Scalzi

The sequel to Old Man’s War, this episode is told from the point of view of a member of Special Forces, a group of soldiers created from the DNA of the dead. I didn’t find this as inventive as Old Man’s War, but the plot was more interesting. One of the newly created Special Forces members has a memory overlay attempted but seems to fail. However, over time more and more of the other personality begins to break through; considering this other set of memories belong to a traitor, the table is set for an interesting action jaunt with some light examination of what it means to be an individual.

As with most of Scalzi’s writing, the sense of humor here is undeniable. In a scene where newly hatched soldiers are exploring pre-Colonial speculative fiction to learn about humanity, Scalzi gets to throw in his snide opinions on Starship Troopers, The Forever War, and the Star Wars series. “Everyone wanted a lightsaber and was irritated the technology for them didn’t really exist. Everyone also agreed the Ewoks should all die.” There is no mention of the chronologically first three Star Wars movies, so my assumption is they didn’t stand the test of time—as it should be!

First Sentence:

No one noticed the rock.

Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi

Set in the near future where Earth is involved in an interstellar war, our hero joins the Colonial Defense Forces when he turns seventy-five. The Fountain of Youth hasn’t been found and neither has technology or medicine extended life-spans to hundreds of years, so what the army wants with the elder generation is the mystery explored in part I. Parts II is more straightforward space military fiction, and part III gives a closer look at the aliens along with a satisfying conclusion.

Scalzi writes in a fashion that is both engaging and smart, something I treasure in pulp fiction. For instance, part I ends with an excellent foreshadowing of what happens at the conclusion of part II, but is subtle enough so that you don’t realize it until it hits you in the face. Humor is prevalent as well, with the main character cracking jokes at which nobody laughs throughout. One of my favorite parts was when we find out the names our band of friends give to their personalized AIs: Asshole, Dipshit, Bitch, Dickwad, Fuckhead, Satan, and Sweetie. Clearly one of the crew wasn’t as disturbed as the rest when the AI was activated! I quite enjoyed this book and look forward to the sequel, The Ghost Brigades.

First Sentence:

I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday.

The Enemy, by Lee Child

New Year's Eve, 1989 going on 1990. The Cold War is over and the U.S. Military is in limbo, not sure of its role in the new world order. Against this backdrop, a general is found dead in a sleazy no-tell motel 300 miles away from where he was supposed to be. From there we discover the general's wife also murdered and hints at a much, much larger conspiracy. My second Jack Reacher novel, this one was even better than the first. In that novel Reacher was a recently discharged MP; this one is set in his past when he was still at the top of his game. With a breakneck pace and a reasonably believable finish, this was a fun read.

First Sentence:

As serious as a heart attack.

Empire, by Orson Scott Card

While entertaining at times, Seven Days In May this is not. Set in our near future, this book tells the tale of a modern American civil war. Parts of the plot are intriguing, such as the idea that extreme political polarization enables the revolt. Other were fairly silly, like the Gundam-style mechanized infantry that took over NYC or the secret base hidden under a mountain lake. I will admit that as one-dimensional as the story is (it was created as a backdrop for a computer game) I was surprised a couple of times by twists. Unfortunately they weren’t of the “I never saw it coming!” style, but more of deus ex machina “You’ve got to be kidding!” sort. I found the political characterizations to be the most interesting aspect; unless we as a country stop electing polarizing politicians that pledge allegiance to their parties instead of the people then parts of this novel could sadly be seen as prophetic rather than a plaything.

First Sentence:

The team of four Americans had been in the village for three months.

A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway

A classic I’d never read, I’d been looking forward to this one. While a compelling read, I was surprised to find this so depressing. Hemingway has a very bleak outlook on life, as captured in this quote: “But those that will not break [the world] kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.” If there is a literary antithesis to Chicken Soup for the Soul, this is it!

I like to believe that life is what you make of it. I believe that hard work will lead to well-deserved rewards. I believe that Superman and Robin Hood are still alive in Hollywood. I believe in true love and karma. This book, however, incessantly espouses the exact opposite ideology, hammering on the inability of positive forces such as love and friendship to counter the grim realities of life. Yes, this is about a soldier during World War I—hardly a situation that simply whistling a happy tune will make pleasant—but the further the hero gets from the front, the more bleak his existence becomes. Even Shakespeare ends Romeo and Juliet, one of the most tragic epics ever written, with the grieving, feuding families realizing the error of their ways. While I don’t need every story to end with the hero and his soul mate riding unicorns into paradise and riches, I do prefer a heavier dose of karma than found here.

First Sentence:

In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village that looked across the river and the plain to the mountains.