The Light Brigade

I still can't believe she gave this a happy ending. Or at least, a hopeful one. Kameron Hurley, you have a tender heart after all.

I struggled with this. Not because it isn't good. It's very good. But because while some part of me thought that military sci-fi would be a reasonable escape from our current realities, The Light Brigade is not that kind of book. It is set in the future, and is about time travel, but it is very much about our present. Dietz is a new recruit, motivated by the Martian attack that wiped out Sao Paolo, and looking to fight some Martians. (Dietz's gender is left ambiguous through the majority of the book. The purpose of this is open to interpretation, but clearly intentional on Hurley's part, so I'm just going to refer to Dietz as they/them so you get to have the intended experience if you choose to read this). The war is fought by sending soldiers out on beams of light, breaking down their atoms and reassembling them thousands of miles - and sometimes worlds - away. But after Dietz's first drop, they realize that something is very wrong. The place they went was not where they were supposed to go. There were new faces, new teams, and Dietz can only do what they can to keep up. Dietz begins to experience the war entirely out of order, not knowing if those in charge know and are allowing it to happen, or if they are a second away from being disappeared. Whether everything that is happening is a preordained loop, or if they can possibly change it.

This book is brutal. Somehow I forgot that Kameron Hurley is big on that. It's gross, there's a ton of body horror, a lot of gore and misery. It's war, baby. The prose is very action oriented, and Dietz is not presented as a particularly deep thinker, but still a complicated person. The world of The Light Brigade is one controlled entirely by corporations. You have to earn citizenship to even remotely be allowed basic freedoms and privileges. It is a bleak portrait of what's to come, and it's tough to read right now. I had to push myself through it, when all I wanted to do was reread Harry Potter and scroll through TikTok to get me that sweet serotonin. So why didn't I put it aside and save it for a happier time? Well, for one, there's little guarantee that time will be anytime soon. And two, this book has something to say.

In fact, I think in many ways this is why Hurley puts you through those 300 pages of misery - so she can tell you it doesn't have to be this way. There's always a choice, there's always something to fight for, and there will always be moments where you have to take a step back and wonder why someone wants you to believe them so badly. Who profits from your oppression? Also, aside from the content, this book is pretty easy to read. It moves quickly and impressively the time travel is only a little bit confusing. The characters, while not very richly drawn, are still distinct and paint Dietz's world in interesting and ever-shifting patterns. It's fun to watch this angry grunt start to care about the people around them.

I think, maybe, one of the reasons why Dietz's gender is mostly left up the reader, and why they are drawn so sparsely, is because Hurley wants you to put yourself in Dietz shoes. The world painted in this book could very easily happen, and if it does, what would you do? Despite the deeply grounded nature of the rest of the book, the ending is very open. It's as though she's asking you - how would you end this story? What future would you choose?

I initially gave this 4 stars but I've bumped it to 5 because I keep thinking about how good it was.

When I finished it I wanted to immediately reread it to pick up on everything I missed, and see it again with the knowledge of what's going on, because I definitely lost the thread a bit in the middle, this spoiler-stuffed comment on Reddit really helped me https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/bx6lug/comment/eq4w4n2/

Having read that, I saw the brilliance of the novel, it's really expertly put together. I just missed a lot through inattentive reading. Even with that though, the character of Dietz is engaging and human, and Hurley has obviously gone to some effort to flip gender norms in some places, and play down the importance of gender in others which is really refreshing. A little hard to visualise some characters, and sometimes you have to retroactively change the gender you imagined someone to be, but that's quite fun actually.

What's less fun is losing track of who is who and what's happened already, but the writing is so good that even if you don't know what's going on you still enjoy it. Again, I lay the blame for losing track at my own feet, I should have read it in bigger chunks and without taking days off.

Glad I read it, would read more from Hurley.

Oh man, this book came really close to perfection, it's as if Hurley added [b:Starship Troopers 17214 Starship Troopers Robert A. Heinlein https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1614054412l/17214.SY75.jpg 2534973], [b:1984 61439040 1984 George Orwell https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1657781256l/61439040.SX50.jpg 153313], [b:All You Need Is Kill 6255949 All You Need Is Kill Hiroshi Sakurazaka https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1568911292l/6255949.SY75.jpg 6439033], 3oz of grain alcohol, and [b:Slaughterhouse-Five 4981 Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut Jr. https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440319389l/4981.SY75.jpg 1683562] into a Nutribullet. Delicious, but you know, for a book not a smoothie. Before I outline the story, I have to shout out some really ambitious and successful world building. This book is set on a far future Earth that we (as in modern day people) have predictably devastated. The states of the modern day have collapsed, and in their place rise the corporations. Much of corporate controlled earth was left an infertile irradiated mess and the people of earth were slowly starving their way to extinction. In come the Martians. I'll try not to elaborate here lest I spoil anything, but the Martians offer to fix the ruined Earth in return for the right to settle. The corporations are in disbelief and agree to those terms; a conflict quickly arises as avarice for the reclaimed territories sparks a war between the Corporations and Mars. At least that's what the war appears to be on the surface.The story follows Dietz, a new recruit to the Corporate forces. Dietz is inspired to join the war after a catastrophe called the Blink hits their birthplace of São Paulo, evaporating millions of people. The Corporations blame the Martians, and unveil a new light based technology that will allow them to prosecute the war in every corner of the solar system. Dietz trains as one of these light soldiers, genetically modified to be able to disassemble their atomic structure and travel along beams of light to “drop” into combat. But the tech isn't all that safe, some soldiers jump and come back with their heads literally up their asses, and others return whole but forever changed. In Dietz' case, their jumps don't just carry them across space but across time.Yep, you guessed it, we've got another non-linear narrative here! The plot is non-linear, and Dietz experiences time in a fragmented and disorienting way, and it works exceptionally well here as that experience is mapped onto the experience of a soldier. I know that I'm a sucker for non-linear anything, but this mechanic adds a level of much-needed complexity to the story in this case. I was really engaged with trying to piece together the puzzle of Dietz's experiences, so hey yet another win for non-linear stories.There is so much more about this book that I want to gush about, but I don't think I can without spoiling it. Hurley skillfully explores profound themes such as the dehumanizing effects of war, the manipulation of truth, and the consequences of conflict. There is an entire psychological aspect to this book that addresses war's toll on individuals, it's a raw and honest portrayal of the harsh realities of war. It's extremely compelling and offers a lot of the same style of commentary as is present in 1984 and Slaughterhouse V. What kept this from perfection for me was just how broad the commentary is. This might be a non-issue for other readers, but I get really put off when authors offer up passage after passage of social commentary on issues that are at best in the periphery of the story. This book takes a really loud and wide stance when it comes to its political philosophy, there's a line for everything. Yes, this book is clear about what it wants to say, but my issue is that it says too much and doesn't let the reader mull the thing over. As a direct comparison to Starship Troopers, this is the one aspect in which this book falls a little flat for me; I felt like this was holding my hand, whereas Starship Troopers just trusted me to get the message and to make up my own mind.This was up for the Hugo in 2020, I think it totally deserves the nod. This was fun and engaging, and you know what? It might be saying a lot, but it's saying some good stuff.

If there are two subgenres I usually avoid, they are military sci-fi and time travel. There are exceptions here (mostly John Scalzi and Connie Willis), but as a whole, I find the former boring and the latter frustrating and convoluted. Hurley has really done something here. I think I enjoyed it because it's a solidly anti-war story that is all too timely and the time travel elements fit neatly into the theme, the disjointedness serving as much to compare to the trauma of war and violence as to the progression of the plot. I enjoy Dietz as a protagonist, especially towards the end. It's complex, gripping story. Probably avoid if you have any triggers around war or graphic violence (there are no punches pulled here), but otherwise try it out even if you don't usually bend towards these subgenera.

Strange to find this book so readily available, as new the book seems to be, where others have a6 month waitlist.

The action keeps moving and I agree with others you have to stay on your toes to follow the story as well as the characters. Also agree with the skill of the narrator, and editors.

Since I've not known war up close, the detail through out was uncomfortable.

I don't abandon many books, and certainly not after only two days, but this one must go. It's military sci-fi of the Starship Troopers kind, but devoid of any humor. Every trope of the genre is employed: A fascist corporate dystopia, citizenship through service, an alien menace, and endless descriptions of how grueling and cruel boot camp is. Apparently, there is some technology for turning people into light, and a war on Mars, but they haven't appeared yet, and I cannot bring myself to wait for that.

Pros: brilliant world-building, interesting characters, challenging plot, thought provoking

Cons:

Dietz joins the Tene-Silvia Corporate Corps after the Blink wanting to be a hero, wanting to make the Martians pay. But military life is hard and the combat drops that break soldiers down into light molecules to transport them to mission locations... change some of them. Dietz doesn't always land at the right location, or with the right people. Dietz's jumps also reveal that the war isn't what they've been told. Can one be a hero if no one knows what's right anymore?

This is an absolutely brilliant novel and I can understand why Hurley had such trouble writing it. There were times as a reader that I got confused as to when Dietz was in the timeline, I can only imagine how difficult it was as the author keeping who knew what, when, straight.

The world-building it top notch. This is a future where mega corporations rule and there are layers of citizenship. Dietz began life as a ghoul, living outside the corporation, living off of refuse, and gained residency status through their parents. But full citizenship requires service. Throughout the book you see how ingrained the idea of earning citizenship is held by full citizens, even those born into it who did nothing to earn their place. There's a lot of thought provoking commentary here.

The characters are great. I loved that the first person perspective cloaked Dietz's gender (until the end, when you learn their first name), and that the protagonists all seem to be fairly fluid in their sexualities (or at least, fairly open about their partners). Dietz starts off as hot-headed, stubborn, and not the smartest in the group, but is forced to learn - and learn fast - when things get tough.

It's a brilliant fast paced novel that will keep you on your toes.

Quite an enjoyable book although not always the easiest to read. It can be violent, bleak, and quite dark at times although not without purpose. I wanted to point out something I appreciated from the start though, so on a bit of a tangent!

I was hooked to this book almost immediately and the reason for this is how it displays mandatory training. It reminds me a lot of basic training. Exaggerated and embellished of course, but if someone had told me Hurley had been in the military I wouldn't have batted an eye. What do I mean? Small things, for example, the mantra's about killing they yell out during bayonet training are very similar to some of the same things you will say in boot camp. The Drill Sergeant will yell things like “What makes the grass grow green” the response of course “blood, blood, bright red blood”. “Who are we?” “The Quick.” “Who are they?” “The dead”. The dead being figurative here as this was actually before Iraq or Afghanistan, but I digress. 

She even writes about that burning desire to be praised and recognized by the very people yelling at you and making you do push up's. There's enough element of truth to what Dietz is saying and experiencing during said training, that I instantly understand and have an immediate connection with the character.

Moving on though, overall I quite enjoyed the journey. I like the theme's it brings up about war, power, governance, and the power of the people. None of this is new and you can find many stories like this out there, but not every book needs to re-invent the wheel. Sometimes it's enough to add something to existing theme's and execute on it well and that's what we have here.

My biggest complaints I suppose is outside Dietz I don't have any attachments to any characters. Some people die...it's war obviously...but I don't really feel much outside of how it effects Dietz, because I don't ever feel like they're really that important. The other complaint and the main one is that the ending is kind of...well for lack of the better word lame. I would certainly have liked something a bit different in that regard, but while cliche, sometimes it is true that it's the journey and not the destination. Last bit will be in a spoiler even though not integral to the story it's something I certainly missed.

When I was reading this book I thought Dietz was male. It's never stated that they were male, they have relationships with both sexes through the story, so it begs the question why I thought that. Could write a paper on that likely, but I appreciate that the book caused that kind of reflection without it feeling unnatural or shoehorned in.

A military scifi where earth is ruled by corporations, and soldiers are de-materialized and re-materialized on Mars, the battlefront. The heroine of this story sometimes gets lost in time, during these jumps. Reminiscent of Memento, she tries to piece together the time-puzzle, that seems to hold the truth about a mysterious illness in the future, and why the enemy sometimes doesn't look all that unfamiliar.

The psychology of war is always fascinating, and this is another great sci-fi take on it. A soldier that goes to war lives in a different reality, they don't run on normal time, they run on mission time, and are only fed need-to-know information. Propaganda nourishes the battle spirit and is mostly welcome. A total control of the media might even gaslight a whole population as to who is the true enemy in one's war.

Great pace, great engaging mystery and especially effective in how it weaves many familiar sociopolitical aspects into the plot.

I really dug the war-of-the-worlds meta twist and maybe could have done without the timetravel. Obviously the timetravel was the energetic plot device, but in my opinion it wasn't properly explained how it would be possible.