David Gunn (1)

I was really looking to read some military sci-fi and this really fits the bill. It reads like a comic book which suits me fine but beware - if you are expecting anything deeper than that - maybe look elsewhere.

The main character(Sven)is basically the hardest man in the universe an really gets thrown around the plot - often for no obviously discernable reason - being incredibly hard and violent.

It's the motivation and direction of the plot and of him that jars a little bit. Sven is painted as a really strong, forceful, independant character but just seem to be moved randomly through the story without really questioining it much. Perhaps this is a valid observation on his military mindset?

There is also quite a lot of world building that isn't really exaplained in any great detail (another victim of the genre I suppose) but enough is revealed through out the story to make is understandable and really all you need to to know is good guys/bad guys/really bad guys.

Sven is likebale in an unlikeable kind of way and the mad running around shooting things distracts from any issues with plot ot characterisation. His sarcastic talkig gun is the star of the show in my opinio and I have it retuns in future instalments of which - according to GR - there are to be several.

Enjoyable Action Packed Violent. I'll definately be picked up the others.

However - he has a sarcastic talking gun so all is forgiven… (mehr)

This was a very interesting book. Lots of people look at it as "barbarian" story set in far future. But it is not the case, at least IMHO.

Main character - Sven - is a troublesome person. Involved in life or death situations from his teens he enlists into Legion, elite formation fighting under command of OctoV, immortal Emperor. Serving constantly on the frontline he is more of an instinctive fighter but he is far from the berserker, he knows very well what he is doing. He does think and he is not stupid - he just does not have any academic training. And when you think about it, considering rather careless approach to his soldiers' lives by mighty OctoV (troops are for all means and purposes treated as cannon fodder), serving soldiers can only do so much in order to survive, concentrate on survival skills.

All of this changes when OctoV's special service force (Death's Head from the title) shows interest in Sven. Changes he goes through will open up new potentials in Sven, physical and mental/machine-interfacing ones, and this will attract attention from the other power players in the galaxy.

While OctoV's Empire is built on what you might call standard humans, rest of universe is made of "evolved" humans - overtly enhanced cyborgs (aka Enlightened) and more subtly advanced Culture like humans (Uplifted). Uplifted play the role of ubermensch (as I said think of them as Culture like organization) monitoring (and scheming with/against) other powers while Enlightened are the main military opposition to OctoV.

I liked one of the reviews about the "Sven's stupidity as barbarian". First, Sven is soldier who does not expect anything from his superiors but is trained to follow their commands no matter what. So when he unknowingly enhances himself of course he needs time and guidance to figure out what is happening. And regarding the smart gun .... this is not Culture/Polity combat drone with almost infinite potential for self improvement and upgrade. This is weapon that assists with aiming and ammunition/fire modes but it is not capable of self-improvement and requires a human to operate it. Sven is aware that, although it has its obvious advantages, smart gun is not better than any other powered infantry gun or missile in the all out warfare that dominates Sven's universe. I think Kovacs and Sven would recognize oneself in another - only difference being that Kovacs did not spend years as a grunt/cannon fodder but was directly recruited into Envoys. Regarding everything else they are pretty much the same.

On the other hand, Sven is maybe more like Sten (very similar character, has its own very good novel series) than Kovacs. In any case it is always a story of the lone wolf who is able to motivate people around him and lead them in dire times.

Story is told through POV of Sven, but in a way that we never have complete picture of events. There is always something missing, something Sven is not telling us. Sven's world is full of technical wonders but author does not go into much details on this front - we can see super computers, drones, bio-mechanical enhancements but they do not dominate the story which I think is good approach. I think that author will develop this part of story in follow up books.

Story is full of no-nonsense (for SF of course) combat and is interspersed with scenes of what I think is considered standard part of soldiers life (if you consider movies and fiction to be any indicator) - lots of drinking and lots of sex.

Interesting story, interesting characters and we also get quite a few plot twists related to the Sven's world and universe.

For action/thriller lovers, in vein of Wild Bunch and Dirty Dozen (guilty :)), look no further.

Highly recommended.… (mehr)