A seasoned military officer uncovers a deadly conspiracy on a distant, war-torn planet…
War heroes aren't usually called out of semi-retirement and sent to the far reaches of the galaxy for a routine investigation. So when Colonel Carl Butler answers the call from an old and powerful friend, he knows it's something big—and he's not being told the whole story.
A high councilor's son has gone MIA out of Cappa Base, the space station orbiting a battle-ravaged planet. The young lieutenant had been wounded and evacuated—but there's no record of him having ever arrived at hospital command.
The colonel quickly finds Cappa Base to be a labyrinth of dead ends and sabotage: the hospital commander stonewalls him, the Special Ops leader won't come off the planet, witnesses go missing, radar data disappears, and that’s before he encounters the alien enemy. Butler has no choice but to drop down onto a hostile planet—because someone is using the war zone as a cover.
The answers are there—Butler just has to make it back alive…
***** *** *******
This is a debut novel and first of series from a writer who I sure hope we see a whole lot more from, if this engaging military sci-fi beauty is anything to go by. Michael Mammay is a former military man himself and this shines through glaringly in his storytelling, the character profiles and dialogue being some of the most plausible that I've read, like you're reading a first-person account of actual events that occurred. This is a superbly written and strikingly entertaining novel, being a reasonably quick read yet containing enough story meat that people like me (who just said "nerd"..?) can get stuck into.
Set in a future where humanity and its massive military machine has spread to other star systems, discovering various life-forms and planets which are rich in much-needed resources. The planet Cappa 3 is the main setting for this story, both in an awesome space station orbiting above as well as on the surface of the planet itself where huge deposits of silver, which is now one of the most valuable metals to mankind, have been discovered and are being mined. Cappa 3 is also home to a sentient species of its own (the Cappans) who have not all chosen the same side, some ally with the human invaders while others are holding out against them. The human military and their Cappan allies are fighting a constant insurgency war to protect the mining companies, and feeding arms and technology to those Cappan factions who give their support. The main character, and the point-of-view for this first person narrative, is the tad grumpy yet very amiable Colonel Carl Butler who is also a borderline alcoholic. Butler is called in from a relaxed semi-retirement at Training Command by a General, who is a friend and also his former commanding officer, to lead the investigation into the disappearance of a young infantry officer. This young chap also happens to be the son of a high-ranking politician, a fact which lends an extra push to the investigation. What Colonel Butler discovers on Cappa 3 is unexpected and raises the stakes way above just a simple missing-in-action case. As Butler discovers the details of exactly what is going on here the chunkier the plot gets and the more of a situation he realizes he is in. It's left to him to find a final solution and this he does, for better or worse, he's not sure which.
The other characters in the book, also mostly military personnel, are also very believable and fit the story very nicely. Mammay's character development is adequate yet lacking a lot of depth, the main character excluded. The dialogue is spot-on and is an obvious carry over from the author's own conversational experiences while serving himself. If there was any constructive suggestion which I'd give the author, it would be to build the players up another layer or so, but I don't mean to suggest that the lack of character development in this book detracts from the enjoyment in any way. My honest opinion is that this area is this book's only weakness. I haven't yet read any other reviews of Planetside, but I'd wager that others will have noted something similar. I especially would've liked to meet and explore some of the Cappan aliens and explored their motivations, but I'm making the hopeful assumption that the Mammay will explore this and other areas in the forthcoming books of the series.
The story drives long very well, a very easy book to read and this is really what makes it so gratifying. Its action scenes are excellent, told with sufficient accuracy to keep the techno-heads happy enough and the explosion fans equally so. Again, Mammay's military knowledge shines through in these areas. While perfect for the sort of yarn that it is, the story idea itself isn't anything particularly new or outstanding but the the delivery is top-notch and it's this fact that makes me excited to think of what other work Mammay could produce. The next book of this series Spaceside (due in August 2019) should be another good one if the same formula and general story are followed. The synopsis of Spaceside suggests that it picks up pretty quickly where this one concludes.
It's not often that a book grabs my attention so well within the first few dozen words but this is one such example. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I knew by the end of that first paragraph (about eighty words) that I was going to finish this book and enjoy doing so. I wasn't wrong. I give this one a huge thumbs-up as a quick and entertaining action read.
4/5 for conceptSet in a future where humanity and its massive military machine has spread to other star systems, discovering various life-forms and planets which are rich in much-needed resources. The planet Cappa 3 is the main setting for this story, both in an awesome space station orbiting above as well as on the surface of the planet itself where huge deposits of silver, which is now one of the most valuable metals to mankind, have been discovered and are being mined. Cappa 3 is also home to a sentient species of its own (the Cappans) who have not all chosen the same side, some ally with the human invaders while others are holding out against them. The human military and their Cappan allies are fighting a constant insurgency war to protect the mining companies, and feeding arms and technology to those Cappan factions who give their support. The main character, and the point-of-view for this first person narrative, is the tad grumpy yet very amiable Colonel Carl Butler who is also a borderline alcoholic. Butler is called in from a relaxed semi-retirement at Training Command by a General, who is a friend and also his former commanding officer, to lead the investigation into the disappearance of a young infantry officer. This young chap also happens to be the son of a high-ranking politician, a fact which lends an extra push to the investigation. What Colonel Butler discovers on Cappa 3 is unexpected and raises the stakes way above just a simple missing-in-action case. As Butler discovers the details of exactly what is going on here the chunkier the plot gets and the more of a situation he realizes he is in. It's left to him to find a final solution and this he does, for better or worse, he's not sure which.
The other characters in the book, also mostly military personnel, are also very believable and fit the story very nicely. Mammay's character development is adequate yet lacking a lot of depth, the main character excluded. The dialogue is spot-on and is an obvious carry over from the author's own conversational experiences while serving himself. If there was any constructive suggestion which I'd give the author, it would be to build the players up another layer or so, but I don't mean to suggest that the lack of character development in this book detracts from the enjoyment in any way. My honest opinion is that this area is this book's only weakness. I haven't yet read any other reviews of Planetside, but I'd wager that others will have noted something similar. I especially would've liked to meet and explore some of the Cappan aliens and explored their motivations, but I'm making the hopeful assumption that the Mammay will explore this and other areas in the forthcoming books of the series.
The story drives long very well, a very easy book to read and this is really what makes it so gratifying. Its action scenes are excellent, told with sufficient accuracy to keep the techno-heads happy enough and the explosion fans equally so. Again, Mammay's military knowledge shines through in these areas. While perfect for the sort of yarn that it is, the story idea itself isn't anything particularly new or outstanding but the the delivery is top-notch and it's this fact that makes me excited to think of what other work Mammay could produce. The next book of this series Spaceside (due in August 2019) should be another good one if the same formula and general story are followed. The synopsis of Spaceside suggests that it picks up pretty quickly where this one concludes.
It's not often that a book grabs my attention so well within the first few dozen words but this is one such example. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I knew by the end of that first paragraph (about eighty words) that I was going to finish this book and enjoy doing so. I wasn't wrong. I give this one a huge thumbs-up as a quick and entertaining action read.
5/5 for delivery
5/5 for entertainment
= 4.7 out of 5
Buy the paper book HERE (Book Depository)
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