Customer Reviews

The Clone Alliance (Ace Science Fiction)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Semper Fi, Marines...
Colonel Wayson Harris and his partner Ray Freeman return to Earth as representative from Hinode Fleet to pledge allegiance to the U.A.
Harris (demoted from spite) is one of the kind Liberator clones that have been outlawed because of their aggressive behaviors and bloodlust, found himself enlisted to the U.A Marine as a Master Sergeant that entrusted with a secret mission to infiltrate Morgan Atkins stronghold. Once again Harris and his kind were used as a pawn, dispensable soldiers, of highly political game by high-ranking U.A officers.

Personally, I thought the third book did better than the second one. Harris is becoming more mature, finally holding his personal grudge against the U.A when he and his platoon were betrayed by Admiral Brocious, left to die in the hearth of Mogat territory along with 200 million Mogat followers.

Wayson Harris is a likeable character. The dialogues are well-crafted and flow naturally. The story narrated from his point of view, simple and yet, highly addictive.I usually don't like novel written in first person point of view, but with this one, I found myself immerse deeply into the character.

On the down side, I wonder why Harris is distracted from his personal mission to avenge the death of Admiral Klyber and instead, working with Adam Boyd clones that once were sent to eliminate him? Still, I'm curious to see what Steven L Kent has on his sleeve for the fourth installment of the series. I definitely will buy the next book, which I hope, coming out soon...

This book picks up where the last (ROGUE CLONE) leaves off. War has broken out and the United Authority's broadcast system has been destroyed, stranding all non-broadcasting ships in local space--and stranding Wayson Harris and the mercenary Freeman on a back-water planet they are trying to escape from with absolutely no hope whatsoever. But Harris, the only Liberator Clone left alive, is one lucky devil in some respects. People are watching him and sometimes they want him alive instead of dead. This time out he's in for a lot of action (as usual), but first he's on what could be a hazardous mission to deliver a message to Earth, then off to try to figure out a way to stymie or defeat the enemy Mogats; on a mission with the deadly Adam Boyd clones, going solo and leading UA marines.

Harris can't help but aid the UA against the Mogats. He's a clone and programmed to survive and to follow UA orders. Once again, he's a pawn--whether leading the way and showing initiative, or not. It's frustrating for him, but at least he gets a (programmed) rush from all the action. As a reader, it's a similar situation: there's action and adventure to satisfy and we don't worry too much about Harris ignoring his own agenda of revenge against those who have killed his men and his sponsors and his friends and have tried to kill him.

In some ways, this was the most exciting book yet, with a number of different missions and the fate of a world and the war with the Mogats in the balance. Harris is doing what he's been created for, and he's good at it. And the ending makes sense, given all that's come before in this series.

Harris's world has changed, making things harder and harder for even a simple military clone (something Harris is not). Things look like they will continue to change--and in rather negative ways. Although there are no huge bells and whistles in this fairly standard far-future world, I remain curious about Harris's fate and will continue to look for any future installments in this series.

I like this author and this series. He does a good job in building his characters - he leaves few that are 2 dimensional of worse - and just writes well. His action sequences are well choreographed.

He has maintained the interest and story line through 3 books now and there is a least a fourth in the future from the ending. There are just too many loose edges left for there not to be another in this series.

It will be interesting to see if the author delves into the legal and societal status of clones in future books. Perhaps he will stay with the personal journey of the laster Liberator clone. I am looking forward to the next book.

This book is third in the series telling the story of Wayson Harris. These books are best read in chronological sequence, which as updated to January 2009 is -

1) The Clone Republic
2) Rogue Clone
3) The Clone Alliance.
4) The Clone Elite

The first book was a story of an individual in an army of clones, trying to work out who and what he was, and why he had both friends and enemies in high places.

In the second book he found himself cast out of his place in that army, but that senators and admirals - including some of those who were trying to kill him in the first book - still had jobs for him to do as a mercenary, spy, and bounty hunter.

At the start of this third book, as the galaxy has collapsed in civil war, Harris is stranded with his partner, super-mercenary Ray Freeman, on a frontier planet. Then they are contacted by one of the factions which initially rebelled against the galactic senate but now wish to rejoin it, and Harris is asked to carry their offer of allegiance. Soon he is back in unform - and comes up against an even more extraordinary enemy than he has met before.

The story is set in a Universe which contains just about every "Star Wars" cliche imaginable, but Kent manages to find new things to say about most of them. The "Unified Authority," originally the central government of the galaxy until several spiral arms declared independence in the second book, uses armies of clones to keep everyone in line. All the clones who provide the grunts for the marines and the other armed services are raised in orphanages: each is told that he is the only natural born real orphan in the institution, and programmed to see himself with different hair and eye colour. Each standard military clone is also programmed to die if he finds out that he is really a clone.

Harris really is different from all the regular marine clones, for example he is four inches taller. But to the generals and admirals, both he and the standard clones are just as much expendable assets as the ammmunition for the fleet's guns.


One of the hardest things to write well is one or more sequels to a book in which the central character spent most of his time trying to uncover a secret and ultimately did so. Much of the plot of the first book in this series, "The Clone Republic" revolved around Wayson Harris's origins, e.g. whether he was a clone, what plans certain admirals had for him, why other admirals were trying to kill him. By the end of that book Harris had found out what he is. So in the second and third books, author Steven Kent had to find new mysteries and challenges for him. Consequently the styles of these three books are significantly different: in my opinion they all work well, but not everyone who likes one of them can be guaranteed to enjoy the others.

As mentioned, they are best read in publication order, so start with "The Clone Republic" then follow up with "Rogue Clone" and finally this book, "The Clone Alliance." The second and third books give away the mysteries that Harris is trying to understand during the first book, and this third book would be harder for someone who has not read the first two to follow.

I found all the first three books in the series to be good gripping entertainment, and I think most readers who enjoy military SF will like them. (At the time of writing I am just starting to read "The Clone Elite.")

Military can be bred. Clones can be created to become the best killing machines ever. Harris is a Liberator clone. A line of clones so lethal their production was discontinued.

In a universe torn apart by separatists believing in an 'angel', Harris finds his way to their home planet. Together with fellow clones and the universe's most fearsome mercenary, they set out to bring the galaxy back under Earth's control. Which is a pretty decent ambition, you'd think...

Kent has created a nice military universe: military clones, highly unmoral senior officers, broadcast space travel. This book, the 3rd in the series, is also not executed badly. It's well-paced, easily readable and pretty plausible. As military SF goes, it's pretty decent (like it's main character).

It's just that it's a little unimaginative. The story isn't propelled by any development of the main character or his universe. Would Harris have had it in him to 'spark a Spartacus', uniting the clones and starting his own revolution, it would have been something different. Had the underlying theme been 'is it possible to shoot your way to paradise?', perhaps engaging the reader in an exploration of a clone destined to kill while trying to make everything okay, the books would have read differently. It's a pity they're merely about a clone shooting someone who then dies. And then shooting another one. And then another one. And another one. Exciting it's not.

On the whole I am thoroughly enjoying the series... I do have a very minor nitpick about admittedly a very minor aspect of the books. Still, it does produce a pang of grimace each time I read the author using non-metric units. Modern day US Marines (on which the UA Marines are obviously modeled) use metric units almost universally (esp for distance with the pervasive "klicks"). I find it quite hard to believe that the fictional Unified Authority world government would impose US-customary units on the future world. In fact, I can easier suspend my disbelief as regards the "broadcast" technology and its instantaneous travel across the enter galaxy (apparently somehow based on electricity).

Steven L. Kent's "The Clone Alliance," book three of (so far) four, continues the saga of Liberator Clone Wayson Harris, who was last seen at the end of book two, "Rogue Clone," attempting along with his chum and sometime partner Ray Freeman to return to Earth after the breakdown of the "broadcasting" system after an attack by the enemy Mogats, a group of fanatics who have broken away from Earth's "Unified Authority."

The mission, which seems so doomed, succeeds despite itself, and soon Harris (onstage) and Freeman (offstage for awhile) are off on a quest to figure out how to stop the Mogats from overrunning Earth itself. To do this, Harris, now back in the Marines' good graces, attempts locate the world on which 200 million Mogats are deployed. When Harris figures out how that could be done, the fun starts.

There's plenty of action, believable characters, and no wasted words as Harris manages to keep his head, and his life, despite the ever-changing alliances, and Freeman just wants to get paid. Enough issues that were raised in the first two books are resolved here to satisfy readers, and there are enough loose ends that will make them want to grab the fourth, "The Clone Elite."

Notes and asides: This book has a copyright date of 2007, and in an afterword the author tells us he submitted the finished ms. to the publisher in September 2006. It is therefore of note that there is a ship named the "Obama" herein, and reference is made to "Rumsfeld" tanks which, as Harris slyly tells us in the first-person narration, were obsolete before they were ever rolled out.

The Clone Alliance is book three in the adventures of Wayson Harris. As a Liberator clone, he's not your usual replicate soldier off the show-room floor; He's custom designed with more intelligence and butt-kicking power than any of his cookie-cutter cousins. As you might expect, Wayson has a knack of finding his way to the hottest spots in the Milky Way Galaxy and that makes for some really fun story telling.
As the third installment of four books, Alliance has more and more of all the things you want. There are exotic weapons and plenty of hapless victims to use them on; there are huge fleets of battle ships and enough battles for them to fight. Kent takes you further into the unique UA universe. There's a galactic civil war going on and Wayson is in the center of all the action. You get to tag along as he meets his nemesis (the Adam Boyd clones) and gets to lead them on a secret mission to destroy the rebel stronghold. How cool is that?
Ace Science Fiction has turned the Wayson Harris adventures into a national bestseller... and for good reason. Mr. Kent has created a memorable universe filled with characters to care about. These books are well above the quality of what most people see as pulp fiction. The military Science Fiction category is better for the work that Steven Kent has produced. I hope there are more stories to come after book four...

I found this book to be an excellent continuation of the series and I look forward to the further adventures of our all star clone !

Steven L. Kent writes an excellent adventure and this book is exciting from cover to cover! I couldn't put any of his books down once I started reading them. Mr. Kent gets you to care about the main character, Wayson Harris, and in the process takes you along with Harris on his journey. And, it's a rollar coaster ride of a journey!

I completely, and with confidance, recommend this novel and series to any reader.

I loved it and eagerly await the next novel in the series!