Customer Reviews

Children No More (Jon & Lobo)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Children No More" brings back characters from earlier books for a new adventure, this time on a planet riven by civil war. Brutal rebels conscript children into their efforts, drugging them with stimulants and turning them into juvenile killing machines. Alissa Lim, Jon's former comrade-in-arms, needs Jon and Lobo to help her liberate these young fanatics and give them a chance at a normal life as children, a chance Jon never had. Maggie Park, the woman Jon desperately wishes he could love, is back as the representative of the Children of Pinkelponker, a mysterious group of people descended from inhabitants of Jon's long-lost home world and Slanted Jack reprises his role as the consummate con-man. Sergeants Gustafson and Schmidt, on leave from the SAW, play significant roles, as well.

The book is actually two stories in one volume, running parallel to the main story is something Van Name fans have wanted: Jon's back story. We discover how Jon went from a gentle giant with the mind of a small child into a more-than-normal teenager with the help of his sister, Jennie. We follow him through his subsequent banishment to the Dump, an island for misfit mutants. We get to know Benny, the boy who sacrificed his own life to save Jon's and learn why Jon was sent to Aggro, the prison satellite. We learn the book's title applies equally well to both stories.

Mark Van Name is delivering a message in this book: it's his comment on the evils of forcing children to become soldiers long before their mind and bodies are prepared for the rigors and stresses of combat. We saw this in the Hitler Youth, barely one-tenth of whom made it to the end of World War II without being killed or wounded, in the children turned into weapons by the Viet Cong, in the lines of the Iran-Iraq war and still today in several strife-ridden nations on the African continent. Again, the book delivers this message on two levels: the children of Tunami, perverted by those who called themselves liberators, and Jon, turned into a young killer by Benny as a way to help the misfits escape their island prison.

The book succeeds at its many tasks, thanks in no small part to Van Name's skill as a storyteller. "Children No More" is a worthy addition to the Jon and Lobo series.

Other reviews will give you a more detailed plot outline, so I will not do much of that here. This book will make a great deal more sense if you have read the previous books. I say that because there is implicit in the actions of several characters the knowledge of their characters which we learned about in the previous books. If you haven't read the earlier books, you will have to trust that Jon knows what he is doing. In any case, it is still a ripping good yarn as they used to say.

In the previous book in the series, "Overthrowing Heaven", Jon helped Lobo to deal with something from Lobo's past. Now it is Jon's turn. Because one child must be saved, hundreds of others must also be helped. I expect that someday we may learn who that special child was, and how it was known he was where he was, but that is because I have read "Slanted Jack". How Jon became a warrior is revealed in great detail in this book. How an innocent (someone who would do not intentional harm) became the complex, conflicted warrior Jon of these novels is a different story from Ender's War, but just as intense. That's one part of the story, and it helps the reader understand why Jon not only comes to help the children, but why he stays when the combat mission is over and the really dangerous part begins. So it's actually two good yarns.

How do you turn child-soldiers back into children? I think Mark Van Name has captured one point very clearly. Tell them, "It's not your fault!" How many times in less harrowing circumstances, do you hear about kids blaming themselves for their parent's divorce, or other traumatic events? It's a brilliant point, but it is not overstated.

(I'm adding this in response to a comment which said that the children were not at the state where they felt that they had done wrong. At the time of this story, that is mostly true. But at some point in their re-education, many if not all of the kids will have to deal (internally) with the consequences of what they did. That's when they need to understand it was not their fault.)

Jon does not reveal how he is using Slanted Jack in his scheme to provide a long term solution to the problem of the children, not until the end. It's a wicked good con! You'll have to trust me on that.
That is what Jon has to keep telling people who are involved, but who cannot be trusted (Jon is notably short on trust when dealing with humans, for a lot of very good reasons.)

Finally, one reviewer thought that the book was preachy (but couldn't put it down!). Maybe, but read the author's description of his introduction to military training as a 10 year old at the end of the book. He understands what he endured was nothing, nothing at all compared to what the child soldiers of the world endure. But he can begin to imagine. The back cover of the book states that the author's proceeds from this book go to an organization called Falling Whistles. (fallingwhistlesdotcom)

This story was so out of charater for Jon, the lead character, at 154 years old he would have fixed his emotional problems and developed more self control, seriously. And I find the whole story hypocritical. From an emotional point of view you can agree with the tragety of forced sevitude and brainwashing, but from a rational point of view going back to the inocense of boyhood after being thrown into a war, is like trying to unburn a fire or put back virginity, better off moving forward, ya can't go back in time. What happens in life is sometimes bad and the one sided view of how to handle those psych problems show no real story here just a liberal slant that THIS is the way we treat children. Our society has created laws that say under 18 and they are a child, we didnt used to be that way, for most of our history you became a man or woman much earlier. I just see the whole story as anti-soldier, when Jon and the rest of them are soldiers, it's hypocritical. I read the Authors post script and see that he had a bad "soldier" experience, but its also something I have a hard time believing cause he said "first of many ear neckless's", truth is Iv'e never seen one and no one I know has actually seen them, so I say the truth is hard to find in the writings of people with political agendas. I have bought several of Mark Van Names books, but this was the last one of his I will ever buy.

The problems with this book:
1. Toni Weisskopf is not Jim Baen.
2. The moral to this story is that lethal violence is almost never the answer even in self defense.
3. Solutions should be as convoluted as possible, simple solutions should be ignored.

This can be explained by saying I don't think Mr. Baen would have published any past the second book without more work on the story.
Jon Moore has a great power which the author doesn't seem to understand...The amount of Science in his Fiction is really limited.
The author seems to ignore simple solutions. Jon Moore could have easily killed the politician early in the story. The reasoning for it was there, he was going to get a bunch of kids killed. The story instead depended upon this convoluted plan to manipulate the politician and get the kids off of the planet.
These books are not very good due to too many problems with the plot and character development. They are not horrible, just bad. I would advise others to look elsewhere for a good book. Good luck finding good literature.

The jump gate series has been enjoyable. This books is different from previous books in that it's somewhat preachy and takes up a cause on child soldiers. The previous books focused on adventures. As all other reviews seem to love the book, I will mention a few things I have problem with.

1. A major theme in the book is the re-integration of child soldiers into society. Based on the book alone, it's highly doubtful the author has any experience in the area. All the techniques seem naive or plain wrong. The sum of the technique seem to involve telling the children that they are wrong but it's not their fault. There is no attempt in making a (emotional)connection with the children, or establishing trust.

2. The book is interspersed with Jon's back stories on Pinkelponker. At the age of 16, Jon had a mind of a 6 year old, until his sister healed him. The problem is that right after he's healed, he not only lose his learning impediment, but seems to have instantly gained the vocabulary and knowledge of a 16 year who's had normal education. Not saying this is impossible, and perhaps his sister's healing can also directly inject knowledge and experience. But it just doesn't seem right.

3. The author seems to be trying to add more personality to Jon, but every emotion he has seems to be anger and rage. It doesn't really endear the character to readers.

Overall, I like the book and I look forward to the next one in the series.

This book does two things: 1) flashback into interesting backstory that was only hinted at in the first three books, and 2) show their latest adventure in which they try to rescue a bunch of kids who have been made into soldiers.

But why those kids on that planet at that time, and not some other kids somewhere else?

The characters struggle with that question and it basically comes down to: they were paid for this one. Okay. But why were they paid? Without giving away what is anyway an almost irrelevant plot point, basically it is because one of the kids is special.

That's the MacGuffin, the thing that drives the story.

You'd think it'd end up being important. That we would learn about the kid. As a reader, you can't help but think about each kid we meet, "Is this the guy? What's so special?"

Nothing.

It's kinda disappointing. There was at least room at the end for a little plot twist to reveal that there was a mistake or it was someone else or... well, something!

Nothing.

And on a possibly related note, the underlying tone of the book is a bit preachy. Okay, we get it, making kids into soldiers is bad. We don't need much convincing on that front. Take it easy! Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game had kid soldiers too, but the story was paramount.

So why I am giving it five stars? Because it was a damn good read. Like the first three books, and like anything by Card, you just can't put it down. I couldn't sleep, couldn't eat. Well, I could eat. Probably gained a couple pounds eating and reading. But it's just a great, well-written book. And anything that makes you keep turning pages till the end is a five-star book, in my book.

This is very bad on several levels. No quick lift. No shooting upward. All a chute does is slow
you down and keep you from going splat! Maybe it's a miracle!

Children No More - Chapter 22 excerpt

I suppressed a giggle and tuned out. The helmet warned me we were about to deploy the chute, so I
braced myself for the quick lift.
As the chute burst free and filled, I shot upward, my stomach feeling for a second as if it had
stayed where I was and was pissed at me for leaving it behind. I clutched the harness handgrips,
and in a few seconds the sensation passed. I was falling much more slowly now, the harness making
minute adjustments to keep me on track for the target. I switched the helmet to clear and my
vision to IR--another ability Jennie gave me, one I took a long time to discover--and scanned the
jungle below me. It generally read cool, with no signs of people, though that didn't mean much
because I couldn't see very far past the canopy. I trusted Lobo's more powerful scan, though, so
I wasn't worried.

I like the John and Lobo series of books. My only complaint about them is waiting for new ones to be written. Children No More explains a bit more about John's childhood than the previous books did and it is an interesting story.

As I read it I often wondered if the author had some of the same experiences in his own childhood. Some of the scenes reminded me very much of when I worked with juveniles many,many years ago. Things like their respect for someone who is physically strong and trying to help them as opposed to somebody they think of as physically weak and disrespect no matter how much that person tries to help.

I enjoyed this book and in my opinion any fan of this series should like it too. This was one of those books that I did not want to put down and when I finished was hoping that Mark Van Name will soon publish another one in this series.

CHILDREN NO MORE tells of Jon, who helps to rescue a group of children who are working as rebels on a forgotten planet. His agreement to aid involves him and his intelligent assault vehicle friend into a world where children face horrors and survive. A powerful survey of the aftermath of warfare and its effect on humanity and morality.

I enjoyed this book. I skipped the one or two after the initial entry into the series. It was good to learn where and how Jon came about.