Customer Reviews

The Clone Elite

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"The Clone Elite" is the fourth in the series from Ace scifi author Steven L. Kent. It's more of the same...but that's a good thing. The story of interstellar civil war expands to intergalactic invasion as a mysterious army of aliens takes the Milky Way by storm.

Kent further develops the conflicted cloned character of Wayson Harris in a heroic tale where the fate of humanity is held in balance. There are new enemies (both foreign and domestic) to kill and lots of new hardware to help do the job.

"The Clone Elite" weaves a compelling plot that explores more of clone culture. The introduction of a new extra-galactic alien threat and the inventive path that the characters use to defeat it, provides for a very entertaining read.

If you're a military scifi fan, this series is a must read. I already can't wait for the next three books!

This is a decent, readable book. Average but not up to the standards of the previous three. It strikes me as several good ideas thrown into a book with none of them fully developed as if the author was in a hurry or a bit disinterested.
In this book our hero Harris is leading a civilian life that, I guess, was not fulfilling. The military sent a - for some reason - formidable force to bring him back into the military, something that he accepted without much question. I think the author was trying to develop the 'killer' reputation our character has developed but that effort fell rather short in execution.
It seems the galaxy is being invaded by bad guys and they are invading at warp speed. They are an unstoppable juggernaut. So the authorities are scraping the bottom of every barrel to fight them. Our hero is sent off as part of a force to fight the enemy short of earth itself.
Several questions arise here. First, the transport system that sustained commerce was destroyed several books and quite some time ago. Yet, there seems to be no impact on commerce except for the main concourse of the central transport facility no longer being full. Also, there is a vast scarcity of transport that can function without the transport system, yet there is enough to put millions of men and tons of material on each planet being readied to resist the enemy. And, again, what is sustaining the commerce system needed to back such a military effort? Back to the plot.
Once on the planet our hero is a company XO who acts independently while pursuing the inevitable defeat of the enemy. Why an XO position? Other than being a poor plot set up for a bigoted CO who is inconsistent and artificial till Harris kills him, there seems to be no reason for this. He acts more as a platoon leader than XO. Plus, why not put him on detached duty instead of maintaining a fiction of him working as an XO? This does not make sense other than being a poor path for a sub-plot.
At one time, I thought this was going to be a grand space opera fighting against incredible odds. It may have been meant to be that but it is poorly carried off. I simply did not get that sense of grand peril and adventure that good space opera provides.
Besides, the strength of this author is the characterization of his characters. This drops to the level of stereotyping in this novel. The senior officers are all inept, quarreling, bigoted against clones, children in the main. The 2 scientists are also parodies - one a super pencil necked geek and one a dwarf. Everyone seems to operate on the principle of being the alpha dominant vice professional relationships. Shallow characterization vice the superb development of previous novels.
The military part is also of lower quality than previous books. One item that stands out is the mission prep and briefing that takes place. These actions seem to consist more of testosterone challenges and/or pep rallies than actual mission prep. Soldiers just seem to 'know' what to do without much if any preparation in carrying out complex operations. Not realistic.
Even the culminating - allegedly epic - battle lacks that gripping feel that stems from the previous novels.
It is my hope that the author was merely distracted or in a hurry while putting this together. Given that there are three more novels coming, I hope that this is the case. If not, this series has already peaked and is heading downhill fast.
In summary, this is a readable book. It is not terrible - merely average, pedestrian. It suffers much in comparison with the previous three novels on this character. Not all authors can handle a continuing series. We will see if this is the case for Mr. Kent here. I hope that he rises to the challenge and returns to the excellence of the previous novels.

"The Clone Alliance", the third installment of Steven Kent's chronicles of a cloned space warrior who discovers he is different from all the other clones hit a speed bump for me. I've followed his Wayson Harris character ever since "The Clone Republic', and enjoyed the fresh look at military Science Fiction and the unique perspective that Kent brought to the genre. But "Clone Alliance" felt flat to me. The story was starting to get old, perhaps, and the science didn't make a lot of sense. By the time Harris made his final escape from certain destruction again, I was getting a little bored.

But the good news is that in Kent's "The Clone Elite", Harris is back, and with an attitude. This book has a great unexpected first sentence that grabs your attention, and then the following pages pull you into a contest for nothing less than the survival of all humanity, with Kent making it believable and suspenseful. This time, the science is intriguing, and for the first time, aliens are on the scene, and they are trouble. It isn't that they can't be beaten, but that they are obnoxiously persistent and resourceful.

Wayson Harris also gets himself back into more of the class warfare that was a promise of the first couple of books, with incompetent officers and corrupt politicians who don't give a damn about the armies they deploy, because after all, they're just clones, aren't they? Harris has his hands full, and gets some help from some new characters, along with bounty hunter Ray Freeman and a couple of other characters from the previous books. No one really trusts Harris except his fellow clones, but the officers and politicians can't seem to find anyone else to turn to in solving this seemingly unwinnable battle. I found this volume likable and compelling, with some promise that this series still has some great life left in it. I'm now waiting for volume 5, which I think means Wayson Harris gets some payback time!

This is the fourth book in a series and I eagerly awaited it's arrival. Mr. Kent did NOT disappoint. This was superbly written and a fast paced ride. The author gets you involved and interested in the main character, Wayson Harris, and takes you along for the rollar coaster ride adventure. For Harris, it's a life or death situation for him and the entire human race. I know you may have heard that scenerio before, but this book and series stands out from all the others.

I impatiently await the next novel due out this year!

In "The Clone Elite," Steven L. Kent's fourth entry in the Wayson Harris saga (three more to come, the author says in his afterword), Harris (along with his mercenary pal Ray Freeman, of course) finds himself on a wintry planet, under siege by the aliens met briefly in the previous installment. The aliens' technique is to "sleeve" the planet in an aura of light, so that communications and space ships can't get through.

At first the fight goes well, as more than a million troops defeat 50,000 aliens. Or have they? The situation becomes increasingly desperate as the military has to keep fending off the bad guys (called mudders) while the scientists work under pressure to find a "magic bullet" solution.

And that part of the novel is what elevates it above the previous entries: for the first time we get a look at tech (other than the author's "broadcasting" idea--in which space ships can transport themselves all over the galaxy instantly) that actually does seem futuristic, rather than something just around the corner.

Through it all, the author continues to paint a contrast between the clones and the "natural born" officer class who find the clones useful only as cannon fodder. Toward the end of the tale, it appears that the clones may be . . . well, best not to reveal too much. Let's just say there's way more to be unveiled in the next novel.

Notes and Asides: While, of course, it's best to start with the first novel, "The Clone Republic," the author is quite skillful at bringing those new to the series up to date.

I started reading the Clone series by Steven L. Kent about when the second book came out and I anxiously await each subsequent addition. They are a direct continuation from the previous and "Clone Elite" ties in the past books very well. There is plenty of action and the book is impossible to put down.
If you are a scifi/fantasy fan and have not tried any of these, do yourself a favor and pick one up.

I have been thoroughly entertained by the Clone Series. The Clone Elite, book 3 of the series, takes you to a whole new realm of possibilities. Sorry can't give away any plot twists but I guarantee you will enjoy the read. I Can't wait to see what happens in the next one. If you havn't bought books one and two I highly recommend them all!

Kent's latest offering is enthralling, mysterious, and well-written. Not only is there a lot of action, but there is plenty of introspection as well: just when you thought you knew him, Wayson Harris takes on several new dimensions.

Hands down one of the best sci-fi action books I've read in awhile, although the end leaves you hanging, kind of like Star Wars, Episode 5. I'll have to wait anxiously for the next book!

I would consider it without a doubt the cummulation of Steven Kent's writing abilities so far. I was afraid it would be like he was searching for an enemy, any enemy really, because the first three books previous dealt with one enemy, but this one would have to be a new one. I was afraid it would be a random enemy that made no sense for the series. It was hands down an original idea for an enemy. It was an unexpected turn away from most sci-fi military books. And this enemy gave me creeps just from the ink on the paper.

Wayson Harris became a character you could both love and hate at the same time. It reads like you could be standing next to Harris the entire time.

One problem I found and the only one I could find was that the Marines didn't feel right, like typical jarheads should. I guess that's just a matter of perspective. I don't really know Marines, so I could just be blabbering.

Over all, a book that has earned its place on the top shelf of my bookcase.

In an army of clones, Wayson Harris is unique. He's a Liberator, a clone model that was outlawed because it was too violent. Harris has survived bloody battles and the prejudice of his natural born commanding officers, but now he must go up against strange glowing beings known only as "Space Angels". The aliens, who appear to be unstoppable, have already overrun most of the galaxy. Humanity has decided to make a last stand on the planet of New Copenhagen, but how do you win against an enemy that has superior technology and seems to materialize out of thin air?

The Harris books top my list of favourite sci-fi series. They are consistently well written with plenty of action, the occasional thought-provoking concept and an unforgettable protagonist. The Clone Elite is no exception.

This is an extremely readable book, the kind of story that makes you want to get through just one more chapter before you reluctantly put it down. Even if you haven't read the previous books in the series, you'll have no trouble figuring out what's going on. Kudos to Steven L. Kent--it's quite a feat to get new readers up to speed while not boring fans with a rehash of previous books.

One of the things that I liked about the earlier books what that there were no aliens and I was a bit concerned that The Clone Elite would fall victim to bug-eyed monster silliness. Happily, the author side-stepped the campy alien curse by having them remain an enigma (although I expect we'll learn more about them as the series continues).

I really enjoyed this book. It's the kind of sci-fi I like: no technical jargon, no moralising, no romantic interest. Basically it's just the story of a a guy with a brain, some nice armour and a big gun.

Highly recommended.