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60 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Science Fiction's Best, May 15, 2005
This review is from: Armor (Mass Market Paperback)
Of the two dozen or so sci-fi titles I've read over the last two years (while enjoying the longest advanced training the Army offers) John Steakly's Armor has been certainly my favorite. At first I expected the book to be a meld of Starship Troopers and The Forever War, but the introduction of Steakly's second major character, Jack Crow, turned the story completely around -- and into a tale that transcends its dystopian future setting.
As a reader you may be at first a little confused about the change of perspective in Armor. Half of the novel is written in the third person following the story of Felix, our power-armored soldier, and the other half is told by space adventurer/pirate/prisoner Jack Crow in the first person. This element is essential to understanding the story, and is reconciled later on as we learn more about Felix's story. So give it a chance even if you're at first put off by the shift in perspective.
As many other reviewers have mentioned, the combat sequences in Armor are indeed exceptional. As Felix flung himself into combat against his alien foes there was no way for me to remain outside the battle. Steakly believingly portrays brutal hand-to-hand combat through the eyes of a frantic soldier as he loses himself in the struggle to survive a terrible war on a bleak world.
If you're a science fiction fan or military fiction fan, you can't afford to pass up Armor. It's one of those few stories that pick you up and take you along an exciting 400-page ride, but still leaves you with a simple moral at the end.
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106 of 119 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply fantastic..., May 15, 2000
This review is from: Armor (Mass Market Paperback)
Armor is, I believe, my favorite science fiction novel ever. It follows to basic plotlines -- one is the story of a desperate soldier fighting an impossible war, the other from the point of view of an ex-pirate escaped from prison who joined up with the wrong crew. The two plots do intertwine, but the plots aren't the appeal of this novel. The author's writing style is unique. On the battlefield, you get that feeling which is rarely accurately conveyed in words, the feeling of the rush, the confusion, the horror of combat (I've never been in a combat situation, but I like to pretend I can imagine what it is like). But it's more than that. Steakley questions the whole purpose of the war, the necessity and the making of heroes, and the humanity and desperation of the soldiers. When you get to the the pirate's section, it switches over to a first person POV, but instead of using one of the usual first person styles (either normal third person with the word 'I' substited in a lot, or subtance-less with a lot of jokes,) you really get into the head of the character, into what makes him tick, and it's really a fantastic experience. And even with all the fantastic points necessarily made, this book never lets up. There's nary a boring or dull moment, there are the obligatory plot-twists, action sequences, etc.. This is simply a must read novel.
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67 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
people--get over the science of fiction, July 6, 2001
This review is from: Armor (Mass Market Paperback)
after reading many of the reviews it's clear to me that there are two types of people in the world. people who assume their own plot and expect the author to fulfill it and people who assume nothing and are ready to be fulfilled by the author's plot. now i also now that armor is not a book for everybody. i've read it a number of times in my life. for the first time when i was in my early teens and as recently as a few years ago. armor is NOT about the social structures of the ant-like enemy. armor is not about the political or quasi-nationalistic motivations of the ant-like enemy. armor is not about the science of it's fiction. armor does not care how intersteller warfare is possible. it's assumed. armor does not care about the astro-physics of planetary behavior. armor does not concern itself with the mechanical genius of the full body killing machines. it is because armor doesn't concern itself with the typical science of fiction that we are directed to what it is about: the survival of the human survival instinct. Armor is about the intense impact of fear, pain, death, and lonliness on the human psyche. armor is about the humility of realizing the depth of another's suffering. about knowing that you wouldn't have been able to survive. armor is a subtly compassionate novel that explores human suffering like no other piece of fiction i know. it's english is not perfect. but the style is perfect for the story. the battle scence are graphic. the characters are rough. but once again they are true to the story. science fiction provdes only a convienient setting. it could be vietnam or it could WWI. steakley uses sci-fi to focus in on what the story is really about. humans. not ants. humans. steakley uses sci-fi to convieniently provide the detached account of felix's combat experiences to the reader through the horrified eyes of jack crow and company. both parts of the book are neccessary. else, how would we understand the subtle difference between felix and crow.... so if you're only a fan of warp-drive emulators and the mechanical specifics of science fiction don't read armor. read something else. read something truly theoretical and mind-boggling like stephen hawking or something more literary like wells. but if you're interested in the fraility and the strength of human survival read armor. so make up your mind....you obviously know what i think.
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