The Clone Assassin
A Clone Republic novel, Book 9
Steven L. Kent
Ace
Fiction, Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: The past few centuries have been full of political turmoil across the galaxy, as humanity's spread across the stars creates opportunities and problems - even before hostile encounters with alien life destroy most of the colony worlds. The clones that were created to serve as perfect soldiers rebelled, overthrowing the Unified Authority of natural-born people and ruling Earth as the Enlisted Man's Empire, defending the last stronghold of the species against future threats. But the empire's enemies are about to strike back: three simultaneous strikes signal the start of new hostilities that could end the clones' reign - and possibly spell the end of the clones themselves.
Wayson Harris has seen more than enough action and death to last a lifetime. The last of the elite Liberator class of clones, he was instrumental in numerous campaigns that retook Earth for the empire, making many natural-born enemies in the process. On his way to a summit with refugees from the Mars colonies, a team of assassins strikes: clone assassins. As war and chaos threaten everything the empire has gained, Harris and a handful of close colleagues and friends try to figure out how their natural-born enemies managed to regroup in the shadows, what their ultimate strategy is, and how to survive what's coming next.
REVIEW: In the interest of full disclosure, I was given this book by the author. (In the interest of further disclosure, I'm reasonably certain he does not know I review everything I read on my blog, which isn't exactly a hub of literary activity.) So, while the cover told me that The Clone Assassin was part of a larger series, it wasn't until I looked it up online that I realized just how far into that series this book was... which may well explain some of the trouble I had in reading it. Aside from a brief overall timeline at the start of the book, tracking from roughly the start of the 21st century to the 26th, I had no background in the milieu, let alone the specific characters or their histories. This often left me feeling like I'd tuned in halfway through an episode of a long-running series, knowing I was missing almost all of the nuance and many of the explanations for the questions that arose along the way.
From early on, I realized that this was not the style of science fiction I would've normally picked up. It hearkens back to the old-school genre masters like Niven and Asimov who could posit galaxy-spanning empires and godlike achievements for humanity, but couldn't seem to envision women as having anything to contribute to society other than being wives or girlfriends (or "working girls" or honey pots); I had honestly started to wonder if cloning tech arose because women were either extremely rare or outright extinct until the first females are named about sixty pages in. I also wondered why, given the exacting level of control that could be asserted over all aspects of the cloning process (their brains can be rewired with apparent precision, even after production), the makers would bother giving clones - created as military troops, to follow orders and plot tactics - a sex drive, or a gender at all. I expect this is one of those things that's explained in earlier Clone Republic novels. As it is, being attracted to women turns out to be a liability for Wayson Harris; he's stepping out on his (theoretical) main squeeze with a local girl in Mazatlan when the assassins decide to pick a fight. As Harris's friends (one of whom is named Watson, which scanned irritatingly similarly to "Wayson") search for him, the leaders of the empire scramble to defend themselves against a disturbingly organized rebellion from the natural-born United Authority. Plots and counter-plots unfold, things explode, and a small ocean of blood, clone and natural-born, spills in the ensuing pages, with occasional breaks for banter and dialog and tactics discussions. Mostly, this is a story of war and fighting and unbridled destruction. Hotel rooms get destroyed. Buildings get destroyed. War machines get destroyed. City blocks get destroyed. And, of course, people get destroyed, physically and psychologically (though mostly physically). To be honest, neither the empire nor the authority seem interested in anything like creating or building, just destroying whatever the other one has, cruelty and bloodlust as ways of life, and the future be damned. Which, I suppose, is an entirely too plausible future for humanity at this point, but I digress...
On the character level, as mentioned, I knew I was missing most of the backstory and the previous relationships, so I had trouble feeling connected or caring overmuch about the personal stakes. If I can't connect in some way with the characters going through the story, I often have trouble connecting with the story itself. Of course, this is more a "guys blow things up" book than a "character undergoes transformative arc" book. Harris faces the long shadows of traumas in his past, even as he struggles to think of what a future beyond fighting would look like; he has a girlfriend, but admittedly doesn't feel any particular attachment to any living woman, so even if he weren't a sterile clone, family life is out. The other characters are mostly there to do the aforementioned blowing things up, and not all of them make to the end... which leaves several things unresolved for the next novel.
So, where does that leave me, as the reader? It leaves me feeling, again, like I'd watched part of a late-season episode of a show I wasn't familiar with. There were many exciting parts, some intriguing bits, and lots of big-set action pieces, but it ultimately wasn't my cup of cocoa, and I don't expect that I'll try to track down the pilot episode any time soon.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Terminal List (Jack Carr) - My Review
Starfire: A Red Peace (Spencer Ellsworth) - My Review
Ringworld (Larry Niven) - My Review
No comments:
Post a Comment