Undercurrents
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781439134498 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Baen |
| Publication date: | 07/05/2011 |
| Edition description: | Original |
| Pages: | 304 |
| Sales rank: | 1,018,243 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.96(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.84(d) |
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Undercurrents
3.7 out of 5
based on
0 ratings.
3 reviews.
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Robert Buettner's UNDERCURRENTS is a fast-moving sci-fi spy (say that fast three times) adventure set in the way distant future.
Lt Jazen Parker is called back to his past life as a behind-the-lines operative for the Earth military. He is sent to a planet where technology is only slightly better than the 1920's on earth, in order to find his old partner slash love interest Colonel Kit Born. And it's a good thing for Colonel Born, because she has been captured by the ruling population on the planet and they have every intent of torturing her until she does.
Parker is inserted along with a new partner (Earth operatives always work in pairs) but the newbie gets killed on the way in, and Parker is badly injured on the landing. He soldiers on, makes some unlikely allies, meets a princess, and almost gets killed (seemingly on every third page). The story marches towards an exciting but unexpected climax.
Some of the chapters are maddeningly short (two paragraphs) but overall the story moves quickly, has plenty of action, and is fairly easy to follow. The style switches between third person and first person, which is confusing at first until you figure out the pattern. There's a bit of gore and profanity, but nothing more than PG-13, so don't worry if your teenager wants to read it.
Fans of Heinlein or Asimov may find this lacking or a bit shallow, but if you like military science fiction this won't be a waste of your time.
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Orphan¿s Legacy 02 ¿ UndercurrentsRobert BuettnerBaen BooksPublication Date: July 1st, 2011Trade Paperback (Uncorrected Page Proof)291 pages ISBN13: 978-1439134498 As stated in my review of the original Orphanage books last year, and by Buettner¿s own admission*, the Orphanage and Orphan¿s Legacy series are a deliberate homage to Robert A. Heinlein and two of his classic works of military Science Fiction, Starship Troopers and Have Space Suit - Will Travel. Thank you, Mr. Buettner, for acknowledging the deserving roots of your work and for continuing the tradition of brilliant, character-driven, combat-centric Science Fiction. Make no mistake; Robert Buettner¿s Orphan books are by no means simple imitations or variations but significant and important additions to the genre in their own right. Without Starship Troopers there could be no Jason Wander or Jazen Parker and without the Orphans the next generation of military Science Fiction would be considerably weaker. The Orphan¿s Legacy series is, therefore, a logical and necessary extension of those earlier works.With that in mind I ask you to set aside the plot and events of Undercurrents for a moment (we¿ll get back to them shortly, I promise) and concentrate on the author in general and the tone of his style and his storytelling in particular. Perhaps it¿s because I grew up reading military Science Fiction novels and comics in the late-60¿s and 70¿s that I now find myself gravitating toward books written with that respectful and patriotic military approach. You know the type of story I mean ¿ character-driven war stories filled with rough, weather-beaten, steely-eyed soldiers with chiseled-jaws and battle-scars who won¿t take flack from anyone and who know how to survive in the harshest of environments. Undercurrents not only fits that mold but surpasses it. To call Robert Buettner a Master of Military Science Fiction is, in my opinion, an understatement. Not only are his books well-written, the characters are impossible to forget and their attitudes are flashback reminiscent of memorable characters like Captain America, G. I. Joe, and Sergeant Fury. What this does to - and for - me is difficult to express but there¿s a certain feeling of nostalgia that I welcome every time I pick up one of his books. Doing so takes me back to a hot summer day in the seventies when I entered the local library and saw Robert Heinlein¿s Starship Troopers on the shelf for the first time. I could tell by the tattered cover that it involved soldiers in space suits and I was hooked instantly (the only thing that might have made it better was if a dinosaur was on the cover as well, but that¿s a different trope for a different time.) I must admit that reading Buettner¿s stories takes me back to the days when I was just beginning to explore the various realms of Science Fiction and, in the process, stretching my then small but elastic mind. But I digress¿I promised to get back to reviewing the book and so, now, I will.What happens when your covert operation turns to disaster and you¿re forced to switch from battle-ready to survival-mode in less than thirty seconds? If you¿re Lt. Jazen Parker you improvise. While free-falling from space Parker sees his jump-partner¿s severed head and spinal column dangling from a crumpled helmet as it whizzes past. With that image burned into his memory he knows he¿s been dealt a dead man¿s hand. His mission? To destroy the tyrannical local government on a planet steeped in fascist politics. But all is jeopardized by two facts ¿ his partner is now shark food and one of his ex-team members has been taken prisoner by the same government he¿s been sent to destroy. And their prisoner is not just any ex-team member but one he harbors deep feelings for. Jazen must complete his mission and save his comrade before she is tortured and killed but as the details of the mission unfolds he discovers a sinister plot that might send five-hundred planetary governments into total ch
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