Customer Reviews

The Clone Republic

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I am not sure how I came to this book - probably through someone's Amazon List. I am fairly certain I am not in the book's target demographic though. If that describes you too, do not miss the chance to thumb your nose at "target demographics" and give a new genre a try. This book is worth the risk. It has a likeable and able hero who goes on a journey of discovery about the world and his place in it. There are several well-drawn secondary characters who assist him. There is plenty of action, but it's never mindless. The action definitely moves the plot along. There's even a little romance thrown in, which does the same. The story never grows tiresome. I never found myself impatient as I often do with less well written books. This story has depth - it gives you a reason to think, and it's very well constructed. The author deftly assembles all the elements needed for an enjoyable read, good plot, interesting characters, believable settings, etc., whilst also whetting your appetite for more to come. "The Clone Republic" looks like entertainment and reads like literature - what more could you want? One of the best things you can say after finishing a novel, so long as you say it thoughtfully, is "I can't wait to read the next one." Well ... I can't wait to read the next one.

Wayson Harris grew up a natural-born orphan in school of military or clones - or so he believes. In the earth of the future the lower rank military soliders are all clones and seen as expendable, while the officers are all natural-born humans. Earth has an impressive fleet with which it patrols a galaxy whose only enemies are other humans - and this is the story of a foot solider and how the wars he's in change both him and the galaxy he knows.

This story is told in the first person - and because the central character is so likeable and the story flows well this is an easy and enjoyable read. This would have to be one of the better military SciFi novels I have read this year - the other ones that stand out being OLD MANS WAR and THE LOST FLEET. I'm looking forward to the sequel to this book, ROGUE CLONE.

Apart from the Star Wars novels, I'm not much of a science fiction reader. Over the years, I've waded through a few volumes by various authors but never found anything that truly captivated me. "The Clone Republic" however had me hooked from the first page. I finished it in three days--which is quite a feat for a slow reader like me.

This book avoids all of the things I have disliked in other sci-fi works. There are no invading bug-eyed aliens. There are no mutant/advanced humans with strange powers. There is no babbling on about theoretical science and advanced technology. And there is no plodding plot.

Instead, the author gives us likable characters and a storyline that starts strong and keeps building to a climax that is satisfying yet also leaves one wanting more.

I look forward to getting the next book in the series. In the meantime, I may just have to read this book again. It really is one of the best books I've read in a long time.

In A.D. 2510, the Unified Authority is the central government for the entire Milky Way. Their society is based on the United States Constitution and the third book of Plato's Republic, so that there is a three class system of rulers, citizens and warriors. The majority of the warrior class is made up of clones, who are produced in "orphanages" and raised to believe that they are human.

The action of the story follows PFC Harris through several postings, representative of the reefs and shoals of military and civilian politics.

The voice of Harris was consistent throughout the novel. His character was engaging and likeable. The flow of the plot was a little choppy in places, perhaps to reflect the hurry-up-and-wait feeling of life in the military.

My favorite part of the book was the concept of people as replaceable military equipment. The soldiers all are individuals, with individual concerns and lives and personalities, despite their identical DNA and upbringing, and yet they are manufactured, just as tanks or reconnaissance drones are manufactured.

This is an enjoyable book, both for the fast-paced plot, and for the treatment of deeper philosophical issues.

Just when you think it's all been said and done before, just when you think clone wars were nothing but tripe and cliche, Steven L Kent comes along and writes the coolest, freshest rendition of the clone war story yet (and that includes Lucas's clone wars!). As previous reviewers have mentioned, the society in 2508 is based on Plato's "Republic", but even Plato would have to agree that he never anticipated such an oppressive corruption of his utopian dream, nor such a talented literary hand taking license with his ideas.

Kent does everything right, and very little wrong, in his debut military, sci-fi space drama. And perhaps his greatest asset is creating a universe that operates so much like our own that we subconsciously give the story a pass on credibility without realizing it. No easy task to pull off, and one that requires a masterfully subtle hand. But don't get me wrong, the universe of 2508 has a few surprises for the reader. For one, you'd give your eye teeth to have a suit as cool as the marines' climate-controlled body armor, and you'll never think of the Navy Seals the same way again.

The story is told through PFC Wayson Harris's first person point of view. Most authors would have taken the easy way out and stuck to multiple third person point of view to tell this story, but Kent brilliantly handled the challenges of keeping Harris on screen during all of the critical action that takes place--again, no easy task. That said, Harris could have filled his Hero shoes a little more. The plot too often got Harris out of trouble without his own effort. I understand why Kent chose to do so, but I really wanted Harris at least once or twice to just kick some [...] (which he eventually does, much to my satisfaction).

Kent's Clone Republic series is sure to become a genre favorite, so don't be left behind. Book two in the series is already out. This will be one of those series you won't want to come to an end. I know I don't.

This is the first of a series of novels set in a future universe where the central government of the galaxy uses armies of clones to keep everyone else in line.

The four books in the series as it stands in January 2009, which are best read in chronological sequence, are:

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

Steven Kent's series includes a large number of features which have appeared in "Star Wars" and many other science fiction stories, but he usually manages to make them seem original.

There is an army of clones, a particularly huge spaceship, ethnic tensions between humans on distant planets, an oppressive central government which has grown out of modern democratic institutions but is no longer democratic, infighting between the space admirals and senators who rule the galaxy, a ruthless bounty hunter, a hero who has to come to terms with his real identity - you name the Star Wars/SF cliche and it's here, but Kent does manage to find new things to say about almost all of them.

In form the story is a bildungsroman narrated by the central character, Wayson Harris. In the prologue Harris has been promoted to be an officer and been put in command of a platoon of marines holding an outpost on a distant planet, an outpost which is about to be attacked, and he does not expect himself or any of his men to survive. Thinking to himself, he begins the book with the words "You picked a hell of a place to die, Marine."

Then the story goes back to his first posting as a private after leaving marine training school and he starts to narrate his history from there.

Commissioned officers are recruited from volunteers with "normal" family backgrounds, but all of Wayson Harris's fellow enlisted marines and soldiers are clones who grew up in "orphanages." At the start of the book Wayson Harris, believes himself to be a genuine orphan rather than a clone, although he knows that each of the clone soldiers is genetically programmed to see himself as slghtly different from all the identical solders around him. It is rumoured that any clone who finds out that he is a clone is programmed to die.

Wayson Harris really is different from the clones around him, but as the story continues both Harris and the reader begin to wonder exactly who and what he really is.

As the galaxy prepares for civil war. Harris soon discovers that he has both powerful friends and enemies and he is caught up in their plans for that war.

Well worth a read if you're into military SF. I can also recommend the sequels, "Rogue Clone," "The Clone Alliance" and "The Clone Elite." If you are planning to read them all, tackle "The Clone Republic" first, as the subsequent books give away most of the mysteries which Harris is trying to unravel in the first one.

When I was in the USMC we were all told about the 'Old Corps', when real men were Marines...not wimps like us in the New Corps. Steven Kent has created a 'New Corps' without men at all, fearless clones. Old Corps or the New Corps Kent gets it right..."Semper Fi' Do and Die!" The good news is that this is a great read, the better news is that there is a sequel, the best news is a series of six.

This fine novel sucks your imagination into the world of a seemingly common soldier among an army of clones. The most notable aspect of this book is seeing how the political leaders effect Wayson Harris. The political arena is very complicated and sucks you into deep thought, while the battle scenes are very realistic, and show a lot of tactical creativity and originality. While reading the book I had a very clear picture of what was going on, like I actually could see through his eyes, and register his every thought.

This book seemed to have everything a guy could ask for, intellectual politics, realistic battle scenes, and some great humor. What is really nice about this book is that most people want the excitement of the battle, but the brilliance of the top leaders, and also finesse of the fine political streams. Kent brings this all smoothly into one amazing book.

Since this only his debut novel, I can hardly wait to see the next books in this series, and (hopefully) future series by Steven Kent.

This book may take place hundreds of years in the future, but it could just as easily be written about everything that's going on in the world today. In "Clone Republic", Steven Kent's characters live in a galaxy where there is a fine line between the protection of democracy and the destruction of individuality. Kent engages the reader in the life of Wayson Harris as he is forced to discover the truth in a galaxy of half truths and fabricated news. A news that is used to placate and suppress a galaxy of people.

Kent uses vivid imagery to bring foreign landscapes alive as battles rage across the alien landscapes. He also navigates the grand scope of galactic politics and has created a political thriller that would give John Grisham a run for his money.

The Clone Republic centers on Wayson Harris, a republic Marine, who serves the United Authority about 500 years in the future. Wayson finds himself assigned to a lonely far flung planet usually reserved for Marine rejects. He is the exception to the rule however, a very skillful and competent fighter amongst lazy and undisciplined clones. Clones make up the vast majority of the fighting force of the future. They make up a military class that is both malleable and expendible. Harris quickly finds himself in the midst of a conflict with a force of rebel revolutionaries as well as a man with a target on his back from forces within the ranks of the military. There are serious questions that Wayson, an orphan, begins to have about his own background as well as to what is behind this rebellion.

I found the Clone Republic to be a fairly sloppy narrative with little character development. The book is written in third person which can be a good thing if the characters thoughts and personality are well defined, but in this case they are not. Wayson seems to be carried from place to place and event to event. There is a lengthy section in the middle where he goes on a vacation which I found unnecessary as it didn't serve to make me understand or care for the character more and brought very little to the central plot. The battles seem to take place on a very grand scale but they are not described very well, or very believably.

Oftentimes in these books weaknesses can be overcome by one very strong aspect be it character development, battle tactics, or strong antagonists, or even science fiction technology. However, in this case none of those aspects can be considered very strong. It is clear that Kent has done his homework on the military as far as terms and ranks go, but this alone is not enough to overcome the other gaffes. His description of clone technology is interesting however and his vision of future politics and government is compelling.

All in all, I can't recommend this book among the field of other similar books. If you are interested in sci fi battle tactics, I would suggest the far superior Dauntless, by Jack Campbell.

I will most likely read the second book of this series at some point however simply to see what happens to the Waylon Harris character.