Earth Strike by Ian Douglas

Earth Strike  is the first in  Ian Douglas's latest military science fiction series, Star Carrier.

The setting is the early 25th century and humans have developed an advanced technology base along the lines of the GRIN singularity (Genetics, Robotics, Information, Nanotech.) Humans have also encountered aliens who appear to be part of a galactic hegemony (ruled by the mysterious Sh'daar, but administered through various client races) that prohibits technological development past a certain point, and they have made a demand that humans come under their control. War follows.

The story follows the star carrier America through various view points, including the America battle group's Admiral Koenig, a fighter wing commander, an alien commander and the main protagonist Trevor Gray, who starts off as a fighter pilot in this one. The plot itself is fairly simple, with the first half of the book dealing with a conflict at Eta Boötis where a group of marines have captured specimens of the Turusch va Sh'daar, the Sh'daar client race that is currently prosecuting the war against humanity. The second half of the book deals with the Earth Strike of the title as the Turusch striking at the Sol solar system.

I'm not a huge fan of military science fiction. Some of the most common features of the sub-genre grate, and many of them are on display here, including:

• Politicians are the true enemy

• Civilians are naive, undisciplined and uncaring of the issues faced by the military (a civilian oversight officer in the first part of the book wants to leave the entire population of a colonist world to die, as long as the people the ship has come to rescue are saved)

• The service as the true home and family of the protagonist

• The noble chain of command, with the exemplary "old man" Captain/Admiral at the top, but he's not appreciated by his superiors. The only ones who really understand work under the old man, and they can do no wrong.

• The screw-up low ranked soldier whose personal growth is mirrored by his increasing rank

It terms of a tedious checklist (as well as unbelievable and one-dimensional), this genre can be as bad as paranormal romance. Where this sub-genre does shine is where it's subverted, as in The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. This one is no Forever War.

All that being said, I still really enjoyed this book. It is what it is, and the execution is just brilliant. The science in it is top-notch and mostly believable. The author has thought long and hard about space combat where relativistic effects are involved. (You'll want high school or first year university physics under your belt for this one.) The technology used with nanomaterial reconfiguration, spacetime manipulation, singularity control and gravitic projection, while fantastic, is both internally consistent and consistent with how we think those things would work if we could do them. The alien combatants are interesting too, with an interestingly alien point of view which you get to follow along with a bit and lots to explore in later novels with other Sh'daar client species and the Sh'daar themselves.

Currently Reading: Feed by M. T. Anderson