Picture of author.

Kameron Hurley

Teoksen God's War tekijä

73+ teosta 5,319 jäsentä 279 arvostelua 6 Favorited

Tietoja tekijästä

Includes the name: Hurley Kameron

Sarjat

Tekijän teokset

God's War (2011) 986 kappaletta
The Mirror Empire (2014) 799 kappaletta
The Stars Are Legion (2017) 795 kappaletta
The Light Brigade (2019) 658 kappaletta
The Geek Feminist Revolution (2016) 632 kappaletta
Infidel (2011) 340 kappaletta
Empire Ascendant (2015) 256 kappaletta
Rapture (2012) 212 kappaletta
Apocalypse Nyx (2016) 156 kappaletta
Meet Me in the Future: Stories (2019) 148 kappaletta
The Broken Heavens (2017) 108 kappaletta
Elephants and Corpses (2015) 41 kappaletta
Afterbirth (2011) 23 kappaletta
Brutal Women: The Short Stuff (2010) 20 kappaletta
The Seams Between the Stars (2014) 12 kappaletta
Future Artifacts: Stories (2022) 11 kappaletta
The Body Project (2014) 10 kappaletta
The Worldbreaker Saga Omnibus (2021) 8 kappaletta
The Plague Givers 4 kappaletta
Wonder Maul Doll 4 kappaletta
BRIGATA DI LUCE (LA) (2021) 3 kappaletta
Echo Echo Echo Echo 2 kappaletta
The One We Feed 2 kappaletta
Citizens of Elsewhen 2 kappaletta
The War of Heroes 2 kappaletta
Blood Desert 1 kappale
Infidel m4a 1 kappale
The Last 1 kappale
Summer Shorts 1 kappale
Unblooded 1 kappale
Losing Gravity 1 kappale
Overdark 1 kappale
When We Fall 1 kappale
Garda (2017) 1 kappale
Corpse Soldier 1 kappale
Oracle 1 kappale

Associated Works

Year's Best SF 12 (2007) — Avustaja — 185 kappaletta
Nevertheless She Persisted: Flash Fiction Project (2020) — Avustaja — 151 kappaletta
Worlds Seen in Passing: Ten Years of Tor.com Short Fiction (2018) — Avustaja — 124 kappaletta
The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women (2014) — Avustaja — 110 kappaletta
Warrior Women (2015) — Avustaja — 91 kappaletta
Meeting Infinity (2015) — Avustaja — 80 kappaletta
Cosmic Powers: The Saga Anthology of Far-Away Galaxies (2017) — Avustaja — 71 kappaletta
Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Anthology (2020) — Avustaja — 68 kappaletta
The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2017 Edition (2017) — Avustaja — 65 kappaletta
Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2015 Edition (2016) — Avustaja — 60 kappaletta
The Lowest Heaven (2013) — Avustaja — 46 kappaletta
Uncanny Magazine Issue 15: March/April 2017 (2017) — Avustaja — 37 kappaletta
The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2018 Edition (2018) — Avustaja — 35 kappaletta
Swords Against Darkness (2016) — Avustaja — 26 kappaletta
Uncanny Magazine Issue 10: May/June 2016 (2016) — Avustaja — 24 kappaletta
Fantasy-Faction Anthology (2015) — Avustaja — 14 kappaletta
Uncanny Magazine Issue 4: May/June 2015 (2015) — Avustaja — 14 kappaletta
Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 66 • November 2015 (2015) — Avustaja — 11 kappaletta
Pwning Tomorrow (2015) — Avustaja — 11 kappaletta
Grimdark Magazine #2 (2014) — Avustaja — 10 kappaletta
Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue #200 (2016) — Avustaja — 7 kappaletta
Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 76 • September 2016 (2016) — Interviewed — 7 kappaletta
Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 75 • August 2016 (2016) — Avustaja — 7 kappaletta
Uncanny Magazine Issue 28: May/June 2019 (2019) — Avustaja — 6 kappaletta
Current Futures: A Sci-Fi Ocean Anthology — Avustaja — 6 kappaletta
The Way of the Laser: Future Crime Stories (2020) — Avustaja — 6 kappaletta
From the Trenches (2006) — Avustaja — 2 kappaletta

Merkitty avainsanalla

Yleistieto

Jäseniä

Kirja-arvosteluja

In this dystopian SF novel Dietz is freshly recruited infantry soldier joining the fight on side of Earth corporations (Big Six) against aliens from Mars after MArtians manage to disappear entire Earth city.

To be clear aliens are not little grey men nor multi-limb creatures from nightmare. They are basically human colonists who gained independence from Earth Corporations and became the ultimate corpo-horror, socialists! with advanced technology

Due to the distances only way of transporting troops is by beaming them in form of light ray to the battlefield. And as one can imagine deconstructing someone into photons and then constructing them on the other end tends to have its bad-sides, not least of which is failure at re-construction of soldier on the far-away destination (if you remember that scene from Galaxy Quest movie then you know what I mean .... small technical glitch :)).

Very soon Dietz will find herself in very bad situation and if there is something corporate minds dont like is situations that cannot be fed to the masses. After unraveling details about what is going on Dietz will need to make capital decision on how to proceed and this might affect our entire world as we know it.

Story is fast paced and author manages very skillfully to navigate the non-linear story-line. Atmosphere is very palpable and brought to the reader in a very straight-to-the-matter-no-verbose way which is quite an achievement considering that in these situations authors sometimes overdo it and even invent entire new lingo. Corporations monitoring everyone by forcing them to use goggles and/or lenses so privacy is something you cannot have, social classes that are brutally divided in have and have-nots, harsh treating of soldiers and almost laboratory approach to treating their issues after multiple beam-ups, deadly confrontations with artillery and star-ships vaporizing everything in their path, constant lies and propaganda, cyberpunk-like inter-corporation conflicts.... in short this is very strong novel that relates to much of our own world today.

And final twist .... I can only say very sad but also very realistic approach to the problem.

Recommended to all fans of SF in general, military SF in particular.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
Zare | 31 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jan 23, 2024 |
I did not finish this. I won't rate it, because I don't think it is a bad book. It actually has some good points, but it is just not for me. In principle I like the non-western society, plus the turnaround of male-female roles due to the men being at the front. But for some reason, I find it a chore just to pick this up. Maybe it was my mood instead of the book, I don't know.
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
zjakkelien | 56 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Jan 2, 2024 |
I'm not even sure where to start with this honestly. That's a good thing! This book surprised me and terrified me and rewarded me for moving past my initial distaste for a book dedicated to packing as many bugs per a page as GOD'S WAR seemed to be. I have a deep abiding fear of bugs that borders on paranoid delusions that they have a conspiracy to behead me.

I read elsewhere that Hurley describes this as 'bug-punk' which is an accurate description as any. Bugs make this world go round; they power the vehicles, are lanterns, medical helpers, food source and so entrenched in the magic system that the magicians have bugs constantly fluttering around their heads or crawling on their bodies. The descriptions made me itchy at times.

Beyond the bugs is the world mythology rooted in the Muslim religion, which I know practically nothing about (to be fair I know practically nothing about most monotheistic religions). There are two factions fighting a continuous religious War against each other. The Nasheen and the Chenja, both of whom pray the exact same way--in the same language, with similar wording and rituals--but who interpret the religious texts vastly different.

The Nasheen have a more liberal view of the religious texts; women are the driving force, with the men forced to serve on the front lines. The bel dames, sanctioned and funded by the government, are their bounty hunters pretty much. They track down draft dodgers, deserters, or other bel dames who have gone rogue. Nasheen women are much freer, more aggressive.

The Chenja are more like the conservative Muslims you hear about. Their women stay covered and are subservient to the men. Families must send all able-bodied sons to the front lines to fight, except for heirs to the family name. Heirs are only sent to fight if they have magic.

Rhys is a Chenjan male who left his home when it became apparent that he would be sent to fight on the front lines as a mage. Taken in by Yah Reza to be taught in a Nasheen magician's school, Rhys bided his time until he could go. But in a country where 'racist' is not a word, but practically a religious mandate, he finds himself trapped with Yah Reza.

Until Nyx. Nyx who was a bel dame, but who went rogue, came back and got caught for a hefty bounty. Sent to jail she emerges and carves out a life for herself, taking Rhys with her.

And that's about all I'm going to say on the matter.

Hurley doesn't shy away from heavy topics--religious morality, morals in the time of War, sexuality and human decency, these are all put into play along with violence and a dark twist of humor at times. There isn't innocence to be found in this book, just a shade of 'slightly better then you' amongst Nyx and Rhys. The book centers around Rhys and Nyx's hate/love relationship. Despite being in Nasheen for a decade or there abouts, Rhys is determined to live his life as close to the way his people (the Chenjans) worship as possible. He can't leave Nyx though. And Nyx, who alternately wants to punch Rhys and clings to him out of a desperate need for some constant in her life, is never quite certain why she wants him around.

The book is filled with complex plots and schemes. No one, and I do mean no one, is without some sort of endgame idea. They dance around each other, offering only small bits of themselves, because its safer. Whether you die in an explosion or because you piss off the wrong person at the wrong time by living, Nyx's crew is made up of outcasts to their society. They're a loyal group to each other, when it serves their interests at least.

This is closer to a 4.5 and I'll be honest a whole lot of my problems stemmed from the fact Hurley did too good of a job describing all the critters in the world. The world used bugs for everything--food, lighting, magic, transportation--and thus Hurley seemed to take almost gleeful delight in describing all the different beetles and centipedes and such. Which made it difficult for me to read since I constantly felt like they were crawling all over my skin.
… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
lexilewords | 56 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Dec 28, 2023 |
Let me just start by saying: The Light Brigade, the new standalone science fiction time-travel novel by Kameron Hurley, is a resounding triumph and already one of my top reads of 2020. I loved it so much, I can't wait to read it again.

The Light Brigade is in many ways the spiritual heir to Haldeman's The Forever War, Heinlein's Starship Troopers, and Scalzi's The Old Man's War. The Light Brigade has a very modern tone, updated to our very real cultural moment of endless wars (think Iraq and Afghanistan) and corporate/media dominance and influence, xenophobia as well as our obsession with "fake news." It is also the spiritual heir to the works of PKD too, as The Light Brigade is quite the mind fuck as it juggles multiple timelines.

So what is it about?

Hurley’s future is a bleak one: six massive corporations run vast parts of society, controlling the media and privatizing services that their citizens have access to, provided they’ve signed extensive contracts. We’re introduced to Dietz, a young soldier who joins the Tene-Silvia Corporate Corps in the aftermath of “The Blink,” an event that destroyed much of São Paulo (and Dietz's family among them) and has been blamed on colonists from Mars.

That mysterious incident sparks an intense war, and Dietz signs up out of a desire to find some meaning in her life and to avenge the 2 million people who were blinked away, not thinking about what signing up might cost her personally.

Based on a short story Hurley published in 2015, The Light Brigade roughly follows the formula that Heinlein came up with decades ago. We follow Dietz’s progress through basic training where, as in books like Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, and John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, trainees are pushed until they break, and are then rebuilt to obey orders and fight for whatever values they’re told. Hurley’s soldiers have a bit of tech that Heinlein and Haldeman’s didn’t have: teleportation.

When called to active duty, Dietz (gender unspecified for most of the book, but you’ll figure it out fairly soon) experiences missions out of sequence with linear time, losing and regaining comrades, ordered to perform morally dubious actions which don’t seem to lead to victory, and gradually collecting information that strongly suggests that the enemy is not whom Dietz was told it was.

What is powerful about The Light Brigade is that Dietz is caught in a war that she can’t escape, but she has a unique vantage point; one that leads her to question the very nature of not only the war that she’s fighting, but of the entire society of which she’s a part. Dietz, with her unique way of experiencing the world, learns that her situation isn’t beyond her control, and that she has the power to change the state of the world.

Hurley's world is a feudalistic technological nightmare, where all citizens are defined by their host corporations. Freedom is an illusion. I once tried reading Heinlein's Starship Troopers and ended up throwing the book across the room because I couldn't shallow the idea implied that one has to earn their freedom through military service. While the world of The Light Brigade suggests freedom is an illusion (your essentially the property of a host corporation), Hurley does seem to suggest that free will does exist as Dietz learns that the key to her entire predicament comes down to taking control of her situation in order to save everyone.

The Light Brigade contains many homages to other sci-fi classics beyond just the above mentioned names. There is obviously a Star Trek influence. And there is a reference to Dune. With is to say: scifi nerds will love this book.

Read this if you enjoy challenging, thought-provoking and REVELANT military sci-fi that isn't afraid of a little body horror while challenging the status quo.




… (lisätietoja)
 
Merkitty asiattomaksi
ryantlaferney87 | 31 muuta kirja-arvostelua | Dec 8, 2023 |

Listat

Palkinnot

You May Also Like

Associated Authors

Tilastot

Teokset
73
Also by
29
Jäseniä
5,319
Suosituimmuussija
#4,679
Arvio (tähdet)
3.8
Kirja-arvosteluja
279
ISBN:t
94
Kielet
4
Kuinka monen suosikki
6

Taulukot ja kaaviot