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_Boundary_, Eric Flint and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
seawasp / Ryk Spoor.
_Orphan's Destiny_, Robert Buettner.
_Boundary_ is a trick novel, in the sense that the Obvious Plot, given the cover (a bunch of dinosaurs sodomizing a crashed spaceship [in joke, don' ask] [ok, ask, but only if you want to know]) where was I?
The Obvious Plot is not taken. Instead, we get a reasonably hard-SF novel reminiscent of the last couple of John Varley books, or perhaps something like Forward but with real characters who can be told apart without distinguishing punctuation marks as quotes. Feels a little Libertarian, especially in the frequent (but probably deserved) jabs at NASA. Good story-telling, and, as I said, Non-Obvious.
_Orphan's Destiny_ is less successful. The predecessor novel told the tale of Jason Wander, who went through a homage to _Starship Troopers_ to fight the Slugs on Ganymede. After taking 90% casualties, Our Hero has been field promoted to General. He comes back to an Earth whose twin problems are the war-devastated ecology and every politician we meet or hear of. The remaining defense forces are slashed just in time for... the second Slug attack. Guess who will save the planet again?
seawasp / Ryk Spoor._Orphan's Destiny_, Robert Buettner.
_Boundary_ is a trick novel, in the sense that the Obvious Plot, given the cover (a bunch of dinosaurs sodomizing a crashed spaceship [in joke, don' ask] [ok, ask, but only if you want to know]) where was I?
The Obvious Plot is not taken. Instead, we get a reasonably hard-SF novel reminiscent of the last couple of John Varley books, or perhaps something like Forward but with real characters who can be told apart without distinguishing punctuation marks as quotes. Feels a little Libertarian, especially in the frequent (but probably deserved) jabs at NASA. Good story-telling, and, as I said, Non-Obvious.
_Orphan's Destiny_ is less successful. The predecessor novel told the tale of Jason Wander, who went through a homage to _Starship Troopers_ to fight the Slugs on Ganymede. After taking 90% casualties, Our Hero has been field promoted to General. He comes back to an Earth whose twin problems are the war-devastated ecology and every politician we meet or hear of. The remaining defense forces are slashed just in time for... the second Slug attack. Guess who will save the planet again?
