Customer Reviews

Overthrowing Heaven

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

 

 

I think many of the previous reviewers have neglected the ethical dimensions in this story. Yes, the book looks a lot like military SF but the author transcends the sub-genre. How the hero usually avoids "unnecessary" killing (even "bad guys"), while (in his inner dialogue) demonstrating moral outrage at the depravity of his enemies, all add up to the central theme of this novel. The superhero with his super fighting machine has a soul. His ethical qualms are not hindrances but part of his self-identity. Despite that he's still willing to follow the old Texas adage of "Some people just plain need killing" when confronted with an evil SOB.

I'm reminded of the two most morally serious and least appreciated television series in recent memory: Josh Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. If it had not been killed by the soul-less "suits" who run the studios, Whedon's Firefly series would have given us the same challenging exploration of a science fictional (vs. vampire-fantasy) universe as that done by the more commercially successful Buffy.

Mark Van Name has hit his stride as a storyteller and as a writer in his third novel. The characters are engaging and the plotting is sufficiently convoluted. Most importantly the morally serious sensibility of the hero now provides a nucleus for the story that elevates it above its origins as genre fiction. In the first book, One Jump Ahead, Jon Moore obtained title to a jump-gate capable flying battle machine by the name of Lobo, when he took it as payment for a mercenary trouble-shooting job. His customer didn't realize that Lobo was not an imitation Predator Class Assault Vehicle but the real thing with an artificial intelligence with unplumbed capacities and a boundless supply of sarcasm.

The two of them function as a team for "courier missions." Contemplating the antecedents for the convoluted plots, I would hearken back to the old "Paladin" TV western from the 1960's and the Travis McGee detective novels of John P. McDonald. The heroes from two disparate genres are both archetypes of the modern knight errant figure who nominally is in it for the money, but whose quests only incidentally ever end up making any money.

Heaven in this book is a planet with a Disney World sort of amusement park that is filled with genetically engineered creatures. Dragons do fly through the air around the arriving guests. Jon is hired to penetrate the operation because under the cover of its "normal" operation the planetary government is sponsoring a scientist who is conducting human experiments that kill children in failed attempts to create super-humans.

An interplanetary government hires Jon to infiltrate the operation, rescue the mole inside it who's lost contact with her spymasters and then exfiltrate with the captured mad scientist and secret agent onboard Lobo. The woman who is assigned to him as the local talent/liaison has another mission for him: rescue her young son who was kidnapped to be a test subject. The rest of the plot I'll leave to the reader. I don't believe in "spoiler reviews."

Of all people, nanotechnology enhanced soldier Jon Moore should have known first hand by now that good intentions lead to hell especially if a beautiful damsel in distress is involved (see ONE JUMP AHEAD and Slanted Jack). Still, he started off with just trying to get the femme fatale away from her abusive spouse over the objection of his only friend in the universe, Lobo, his artificially intelligent Predator-Class Assault Vehicle.

One thing leads to another manipulation of Jon while Lobo shakes his engine in disgust as his good deed definitely gets him punished. The Central Coalition, whom Jon knows to avoid having a bad history of "cooperation" with them, has him searching for renegade scientist Jorge Wei, who allegedly is conducting banned nano research on children. Jon and Lobo head to Heaven where Wei is allegedly performing his illegal tests cocooned inside a very popular humongous tourist spot, Wonder Island, a place impossible to enter without permission;. Super soldier Jon and super assault vehicle Lobo no such boundaries, but what awaits them is the results of bioengineering.

The third Jon-Lobo outer space odyssey is identical in tone to the previous novels as the story line is faster than the speed of light, the action never stops, and some of the key characters are two dimensional from the same cookie cutter. Anyone who appreciates space opera at an incredible acceleration will enjoy the latest escapades of the universe's greatest soldier and his sidekick.

Harriet Klausner

After three books the main character still lives in angst, fear and confusion all of the time. He has a super power (programmable nanites) but he is too afraid and stupid to make use of it - not even once in this whole book! He is supposedly almost 100 years old but can't figure out how to relate to women as well as a teenage boy would. He can't decide whether to risk his life about what he cares for or to hide in fear somewhere. This book reads like a Hollywood script for a Star Wars movie or something even more shallow.

The final straw is at the end when his best buddy and fighting partner who he trusts his life to daily admits his own nanite enhanced background but Jon is not able to come clean about the exact same thing in his background. This series makes the awful series about Flinx (who has to take a vacation from his angst every other book but never figures out that it travels with him) look almost intelligent.

I won't be following this series any more!

The first book in the Jon and Lobo series--One Jump Ahead--was easily one of the best books I read in 2007. The follow-up--Slanted Jack--was something of a sophomore slump. But this one sets the author Mark L. VanName, and Jon and Lobo solidly as one of the best sci-fi series going now.

Jon spends most of his life trying to be left alone. But he's only human, even if he is enhanced with nano-technology. One way or another, he gets roped into helping people and then the trouble always starts.

While helping a woman escape an abusive husband, he's essentially shanghaied and has his arm twisted to help bring back a scientist. Next thing he knows, he's trying to get into a theme park that doubles as a human and genetic research center. He's got two women helping him and, Lobo even begged him to take the job.

Van Name and Jon and Lobo are fast becoming the sci-fi version of NYC lawyer Andrew Vacchs and his shadowy creation, Burke, the man who lives off the radar and keeps his jaded eyes out for exploited children. Children and their misuse have been the catalysts for all three Jon and Lobo books. (The fourth book is titled Children No More, if that tells you anything.)

The humor and wit lighten what could easily become overbearing and oppresive, and the gee-whiz technology make this a great action novel. But in the end, it is the moral dilemnas Jon wrestles with that make these books so satisfying.

I'm looking forward to the fourth installment.

I'm looking

This series doesn't, quite, require that you read the books in order. In general, the action is pretty interchangeable while the character development has enough exposition around it that you don't absolutely need to know everything that has gone before.

That said, the writing in this volume seems to assume that readers have just put down the previous book, and now are ready for number 3. The book starts with a bit of twisted manipulation, as the others have.
But when we get down to brass tacks, the manipulations don't ring true for the character. In fact, even knowing the back-story I couldn't really believe the set-up.

"Yes, we're the giant evil government you know and hate. And yes, we tricked an manipulated you. And yes, we're threatening you with vaporization if you don't go along with us. BUT THEY'RE KILLING BABIES!"

"And killing babies makes everything okay. I mean, sure! I'm paranoid, and you're a bunch of manipulative scum-bags. But since I trust you sooo much, you just have to tell me the other guys are killing babies and I'm totally on your team."

The problem with the set-up is that it makes suspending disbelief hard. And once that little bit of roughness creeps in, the experience changes from "fast-paced space opera" to "inconsistency hunt".

The rest of the book is pretty standard, as Van Name's books go. The interstellar-PI fumbling and bumbling for 2/3ds the length of the book goes okay. The climactic resolution is okay. The "but Mr. Bond, we've been a step ahead of you the whole time!" thing at the end is getting pretty stale, but hey - there's dragons! And unicorns!

Sadly, this is a gold mine that Van Name wanders past while searching for lead. The setting for much of the book is "Space Disney" - a planetary theme park run by the government featuring all the things you expect from the Disney of the 25th and a half-th century. Genetic manipulation? Check. Cyborgs? Check. Nanotech? Check. Real-time tweaking of each audience member's experience? Check. Sinister network of underground tunnels? Check. Deadly, dangerous animals just barely separated from the crowds? Double check! A sophisticated air defense network? Check.

Jon buys a souvenir. Move along folks, nothing to see here.

Talk about disappointing. I thought for sure there'd be a chase on dragon-back, or unicorn jousting. Maybe some flying monkey races. I mean, doesn't this kind of thing get you an automatic pass to Majipoor? Turns out, it doesn't.

Another problem, much more noticeable in this volume than the others, is the treatment of Jon and Lobo as the "interstellar A-team". Sure, we're going to blow stuff up. But it's all tranquilizer bullets, so nobody gets hurt. And when they do get hurt, it's more a sports injury than the sort of thing you'd expect from space-mercenaries. (If you've read the book, you'll know I'm omitting some stuff here. But who's got bloody fingers?)

I know there is a perception in the SF business that Baen is a bloody house. And frankly I have to wonder if Van Name isn't trying to show some other publishers that he can write at a PG rating. Considering his longstanding association with Dave Drake, sanguinary scribbler supreme, it's a bit of a shock. And since it costs the book a great deal of verisimilitude, it's also a drag.

Finally, it's worth pointing out that the last half of the book provides a great deal of "origins" info on Lobo. If you're following the series, you pretty much have to read this one. Overall, this is a "wait for the paperback" book. It reminds me of talking to a teenager - everything is "okay, I guess."

This book has a great concept and acceptable writing. The lack of verisimilitude is not acceptable. The main character has an interesting power but there is a problem. He refuses to kill, well except when he thinks it might be better to kill. This bounces back and forth with unbelievable choices, poor choices, and mostly bad choices. His virginity at the age of 130+ years is difficult to deal with or at least he is acting like a 6 year old when it comes to dealing with women. Hmm maybe he is just insane? Whatever you wish to argue, the key is this book needed some serious revision and help it didn't get. He doesn't seem to understand the science that well in his science-fiction. Good luck in finding good literature...

"Overthrowing Heaven" is another MOST worthy romp in the universe of Jon and Lobo. It's a thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish, and it's extremely fun! I love these characters, especially Lobo, and it's fun to watch then work together and learn to trust each other. The story is very good and full of action.

I look forward to many more of these books!

This is sci-fi in the old tradition - I checked the date of first publishing on this book when I finished, fully expecting it to be a reprint from a early 1900's book. It just has that feel of H. G. Wells or some other early science fiction writer.

Book is basically about an attempt to combine human elements with computers to make smart machines. It isn't really like McCaffrey's brain ships though since there is an element of kidnapping and abuse of children that doesn't exist in that other one.

I enjoyed the book and will read more by the same author, I am sure. It didn't make me want to buy the whole backlist but it certainly was a good read. I will try to find some a bit earlier since this one is sort of middle of the series and I am sure I would have enjoyed it more if I had had more background for it. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I knew some more of the background situation.

Overthrowing Heaven (2009) is the third SF novel in the Jon & Lobo series, following Slanted Jack. In the previous volume, Jon shot Maggie and made a deal with Chaplet and Dougat to ignore the affair. Shooting started and Jon got out of the building just before the structure collapsed on Jack and Manu.

Then EC troops rushed the hangar and both groups surrendered after a few casualties. The EC took the weapons and Jon left the area in Lobo. Or so everybody else thought.

In this novel, Jon Moore is an independent operator who comes to Arctul for solitude and rest. He makes a deal with the Green Rising activists for permission to stay in a treehouse among the giant trees. He only has to provide occasional secure transit services to the Green Rising leaders.

Lobo is an armed and intelligent Predator Class Attack Vehicle. He gets to hang around the trees and keep watch except while carrying the activist leaders back and forth. Fortunately, Lobo doesn't get bored.

Priyana Suli is a new client that Jon has been persuaded to handle. She has a domestic crisis and wants to get off the planet. Since her partners have serious connections in the Arctul governments, she can't just hop a shuttle without being detained.

Jorge Wei is a scientist experimenting with human interactions with nanomachines. Naturally, such work is prohibited by all civilized governments. Since Jon has been a subject of such experiments, he is especially sensitive to these investigations.

Andrea Matahi is a wellknown courtesan in Entreat on Heaven. Wei is one of her clients.

In this story, Jon meets Priyana and quickly learns that she has little experience in clandestine affairs. Yet he agrees to take her to the jump station. Then a team of professionals appears and try to capture Jon and his client.

Jon exits through a skylight and Lobo leaves the planet. On the way to the jump gate, Lobo is surrounded by eight ships. Then a Central Coalition Councilor requests their presence on the Sunset, one of the largest warships that Jon has ever seen.

In the ensuing conversion, Jon is told about the problem of Heaven, a former CC world. Now that its jump gate has developed connections to the Expansion Coalition, it has broken its ties to the CC and initiated a process of determining which federation to join. Since the EC is hovering on the wings, the CC is avoiding a violent resolution of the problem.

Now the CC has discovered a cause celebre to support their takeover of Heaven. They have reason to believe that the Heaven government is supporting a notorious criminal who is conducting nanomachine research on young children. So far, all the children have died.

The CC wants Jon to bring Jorge Wei to justice. Jon is disconcerted by the similarity to his own case and wants to withdraw back into Lobo to consider the matter. Then Priyana tells him that she is a member of the opposition movement on Heaven and begs him to do the job.

Jon is starting to walk out of the room when Lobo contacts him. Lobo also asks him to take the job. Jon cannot refuse Lobo, but pretends to reluctantly change his mind. The CC sends Suli along with him to Heaven.

This tale has Jon dealing with a totally inexperienced woman who takes everything at face value. In other words, someone just like Maggie. Her fellow opposition workers are not much better. Nothing like working with amateurs!

This work seems to follow the same formula as the previous volumes. One reason is Jon's unwillingness to have a hostage to fate. So he tries to avoid close relationships with women. Yet he doesn't seem to learn anything from these situations. But then Matahi introduces him to another way of using his mental abilities.

The story has a plethora of twists, turns and minor violence. Jon and Lobo complete the assignment, but not the way that the CC preferred. Read and enjoy!

Recommended for Van Name fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of armed conflict, sentient machines, and political intrigue. If anyone is unfamiliar with this series, the initial volume is One Jump Ahead.

-Arthur W. Jordin

A kind favor to a woman trying to escape abuse turns into a nightmare when Jon and his intelligent assault vehicle are drawn into a conflict between private armies, government teams, and international rival superpowers. Science and high drama blend in an outstanding story of confrontation and survival, perfect for any science fiction lending library.