Customer Reviews

Orphan's Destiny

5 star:		(16)
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3 star:		(9)
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Back to war. After we left our hero Jason Wander at the end of Orphanage, we believed that we were free from the slugs. Wander was one of the few who doubted it. It took him over two years to return to earth and the earth was in sad shape. The destruction that had been so devastating before he left, was now even worse. After almost 2 years of near nuclear winter, vegetation and animals were struggling to survive the climate change and it would be years before the atmospheric dust cleared itself up.
Wander has a new Military mission to convince the media and the population that the threat is over and that money should be spent on rebuilding the world, not military spending. The problem is, he is not sure he believes it. Like many veterans, he struggles with guilt: why did he survive and so many others did not? Why did he bury his love and his friends so far from home? Then his worst fears are confirmed: there is an attack that takes out earth's only military spaceport. He must once again do the impossible, and lead a small band of determined men and women back to space for a last-ditch effort to save earth from a fleet of 121 ships larger than any we have, and 1 ship the size of a city.
Read it and see if Wander can pull off a miracle a second time, or will humanity lose all hope.

Jason Wander, having survived the Slug War in Orphanage and risen, to a frightening degree (especially to himself) simply by surviving, to the rank of general and commanding officer of the Ganymede Expeditionary Force, is relieved when a new ship arrives to take him and his seven hundred surviving soldiers home to Earth. Although he has spent the months between the defeat of the Slugs and the arrival of the Excalibur taking every relevant correspondence course that he can, including a lot of military history, he knows he's not remotely qualified to be a general, but harbors strong hopes that he's at least worked his way up to lieutenant.

After a journey home that proves he doesn't have the political skills and officer training to be a general in the presence of other senior officers who know what they're doing, he's appalled to discover that he's going to remain a general anyway, because the government needs a war hero as a pr tool. And as the general who defeated the Slugs and saved Earth, he's it. There's no one else who can fill that role. It's especially difficult for Jason because he believes that current US government policy is wrong; the new administration is spending funds on economic and infrastructure reconstruction that Jason, not convinced that the Slugs won't be back, believes need to be spent on building a better defense. His dilemma gets worse once he's made a few tours in his unwanted new capacity: while he's more convinced than ever that every penny needs to be spent on defense, it's also clear to him that, after the years of pounding by the Slugs, every penny also needs to be spent on reconstruction. The government is engaged in the thankless and probably impossible task of trying to divide the available resources to do both at least adequately.

It simplifies things, in a quite unwelcome way, when the Slugs do attack again, this time from a spaceship carrying the bulk of their invasion force. Jason is at least confronted with a problem he understands somewhat better, even if dealing with that problem involves lying, cheating, stealing, and disobeying orders. And of course, persuading some of his surviving friends and subordinates from the Ganymede expedition to do the same.

This book is in many ways in the tradition of Starship Troopers and The Forever War, but Heinlein and Haldeman were each in their different ways angry when they wrote their books celebrating the infantry. I think Buettner is mostly having fun here (and certainly the reader is), while still celebrating the common foot soldier and trying not to oversimplify and cast Jason's human obstacles to defending Earth as villains, or even necessarily completely wrong.

Very enjoyable.

For a while there, I was afraid Buettner was going to throw his protagonist into the guilt-trap of many serial military novels (you know who you are)-- the endless pages of despair and self-recrimination about choices and sacrifices made in previous installments, ever escalating until it seems like I'm reading page after page of nothing but woe-is-me and it's-all-my-fault. Look for phrases like "the price may be more than he can bear" or "no one could have known the price of victory" in marketing blurbs and be warned!

But in this novel Buettner dodges the Sarlacc Pit of Guilt nicely, maintains a sense of humor through the entire novel, even in the direst of circumstances (where it's most needed). The action is a little underdescribed, but the main character is very likable and the technology interesting and believable (to this layman).

There's a real sense of emotion running through the book, very well balanced between tragedy, comedy, and victory, and I found myself engrossed and really pulling for the heroes.

I like both this book and the previous novel ("Orphanage") a lot, and will definitely pick up more of this author's work.

Great book. Really follows nicely with Orphanage. After winning against the aliens Wander is returned to Earth that is trying to recover the economy of pre war times. The story line is pretty predictable but the dialog and situations are simply some of the best. The character development is also good as we see the main characters continue to grow. The last chapter is again set further in the future so thankfully he is planning more books in this storyline.

Really enjoyed this sequel. And am looking forward to reading the next in the series due out in 2008. This is a fun action packed, cowboys in space adventure novel, fleshed out by an entertaining lead, with a distinctive voice. Fans of John Scalzi should try this author. Highly Recommended.

This was outstanding read, I really enjoyed this book and the whole series.

Earth was unaware that Slugs used Jupiter's moon Ganymede as a base of operations to invade. Over sixty million humans died while cities were decimated. The climate as a result of the explosion radically changed for the worse. It was due to the heroism of General Jason Wander and his troops that humanity defeated the Slugs.

Now the seven hundred survivors of the infantry are going home to Earth where Jason is used as a heroic symbol by the politicians who want the budget to be focused more on rebuilding than on defense weapons. The problem is that Jason isn't sure that the Slug problem is over but he is ordered by the president to not raise fear in the citizenry. Unfortunately Jason is proven right when a vast amount of Slug spaceships, some as big as cities head towards an earth that has only one working warship. Jason and three people he trusts try to devise a suicide mission that will destroy the Slug fleet if God is there copilot.

ORPHAN'S DESTINY defines twenty-first military science fiction novels. This is also a coming of age tale of an infantry soldier who earns a field promotion as a general and then becomes the leader such a high ranking officer is supposed to be. There is plenty of action in this entertaining novel set in a near future that is totally believable. Technology hasn't advanced too much since the early twenty-first century but there were enough changes to give the book a futuristic feel. In the next book in this series humanity takes the war to the Slugs.

Harriet Klausner

I had a hard time finishing this novel.

This is not to say "Orphan's Destiny" is a bad book. Far from it. In my review of "Orphanage", I complained about Buettner ripping off his betters by borrowing themes and plot-points from the novels "The Forever War" and "Starship Troopers". I'd hoped that "Destiny" would be a more original tome. Well, wish granted. It suffers by lacking a desperate kineticism, with humaniny on the brink of extinction, but brings to the table something that is sorely lacking in military-sci-fi.

One thing you don't see much of in military sci-fi are extended examinations of fictional post-war Earths. Here, Jason Wander returns to Earth hardly able to believe his eyes. The world's various governments are trying to come to terms with the destruction left behind after the war with the "Slugs". Earth is suffering from a near-nuclear winter and the deaths of 600 million of its inhabitants. The US Government is leading a push to return to a peace-time economy and leaning on General Wander to get on board with its PR blitz. But is it a smart move? Is the Slug threat really over? You can answer that question for yourself just by reading the first chapter.

Thankfully, Buettner's laconic and wiseacre prose is much polished from his previous novel. His tendancy to telegraph future events by ending chapters with "I was wrong" or "I didn't get the rest I was hoping for" remains. After 10 chapters of this, it gets to be an annoying device.

The most enjoyable aspect of the novel (for me) was watching Wander slip from a war-time role into that of peace-time. But, lets face it, not much happens until the middle of the book. Much time is spent with Wander regretting the loss of 9000 of his comrades-in-arms, crying occasionally and wondering "why did I survive"? I felt a huge opportunity was lost with Buettner glossing over Wander's relationship with Munchkin's young son.

But, eh...by and large, its a fun book. I'm glad to see that Buettner is trying on his own themes for a change. They're a good fit.

Those of us who read "genre" fiction choose these books because of the familiar stories, plot devices, people types, and, well, all the ingredients that make it a Romance, a Western, a Mystery and yes, even Science Fiction novel. We love to revisit these familiar stories and search for new authors who can transport us from our reality to their "worlds". Science Fiction has many genres within its broad scope; space opera, hard science, first contact, alien invasions, discovering that big thing in the sky and, of course, military fiction. Why do I bring this up? Because too many reviewers are comparing Mr. Buettner's work to Heinlien, Haldeman, et al or saying he is out right stealing ideas! Yes, if you enjoyed "Starship Troopers" you'll enjoy the "Jason Wander" series. But the main reason I enjoyed these two books ("Orphanage" & "Orphan's Destiny") so much, besides being just a good ol' fun read, is the stories are about imperfect people repeatedly overcoming extraordinary odds (not always with the best "final reel" outcome) and grow with each experience. Being a former Military Intelligence Officer, Mr. Buettner brings to his books a military reality to give the stories some real bite. And, gosh, I like Jason Wander; he makes wrong decisions (for the right reasons), follows his heart a bit too much for a soldier and is constantly putting his booted foot in his mouth. In other words, Jason is a human; just like you and me, and we can relate to his troubles AND triumphs!

Robert Buettner is a wonderful new voice in Science Fiction and I hope to be reading his books far into the future!

Orphanage deserves its best-seller rank. Orphan's Destiny is just as strong.
Jason Wander is both the mythic hero, thrust up through the ranks, who saved mankind from alien "Slugs," and a war orphan blundering under a spotlight he abhors. Washington makes Jason a post-war reconstruction cheerleader, a job that, he tells us, "fits me like bicycle shorts fit hippos." But the Slugs again sucker-punch mankind. We couldn't be that stupid, could we? Jason and his well-drawn cronies are, again, humanity's sole long-shot hope. The backdrop is near-future Earth, achingly bleak after a devastating war. The theme of a surviving soldier's guilt echoes Saving Private Ryan.

Heavy? Nah. Counterbalancing the heft is prose quick, witty and spare. Buettner's war against modifiers would tickle Mark Twain. Jason, wiser than he thinks, engaging, bewildered, and smart-ass, is Holden Caulfield in "battle rattle" body armor. Dialogue pops. Battle scenes snap. Pace and relationships crackle. Orphan's Destiny flies by with up-all-night effortlessness, a satisfying finish, and plenty of sequel room. I hope!