Steel World: Undying Mercenaries, Book 1

Recruit McGill.joins the Bat is Legion, when he.can't pay his college tuition and there are no jobs. Trained endings to their next contract on Steel World he discovers how when you did the Legion has the tech to revive you. That good because Steel World.is in a tied by dinosaurs intent on killing every last Legionaire. McGill is smart, too smart for his own good and makes enemies among the brass. Enemies who want him dead, permed. Can he outright the dinosaurs and dodge his brass long enough to survive Steel World of will be get permed and lose his life forever?

TL;DR version: Better than average world-building concepts, reads like well-written Mass Effect fanfiction, Dinosaurs In Space! (+1.5 stars just for this), MC is not a convincing soldier, MURIKA!Longer version:Of many, there are three things that, I believe, characterize good science fiction stories:1. The Concept(s): good concepts are about technology, about looking at the Universe a different way, about something new born out of the minds of men (or aliens). And ultimately, the concept must be expressed in human terms, must shape and warp and define the narrative in a deeply meaningful way. This book delivers on the concepts it promised. +1.5 stars.2. The Character(s): 3D. Familiar-and-yet-unfamiliar. Heroic, whatever the author defines that word to be. Convictions, moral or immoral, chaotic or otherwise, but *convincing* convictions.3. The Arc(s): Growth or decay. Change. Not just in the story, but in the *reader*.I have never encountered a truly *good* science fiction story from which I didn't walk away a changed person, in a small or a large way. Because we - our hopes, our fears, our technologies, our worlds - are mirrored in the story and the character.Conversely, of the many things that characterize first-person-shooter/shooter-rpg games, there are two that are pertinent to this book:1. Playability and repeatability: To be able to mow down enemies in a satisfying way, in a way that is just familiar enough to feel comfortable, and in a way that's changed just enough that we keep coming back to mow down said enemies on new terrain.2. The ability to disengage from the character - play in their bodies, but not their heads. Kill 10,000, turn off computer, kill more tomorrow. Headshot! Awesome! Laggy. Damn. I mean, if you grant violent FPS games the ability to truly *change* or *affect* the player, you have to grant that kids are being brainwashed into mass-school-shooting perpetrators because of video games, which is hogwash.Both games and novels are awesome things in their own right, but when your gameplay is nothing but cut-scenes with a dude reading to you, it sucks. And when your novel reads like a dramatized version of UT....In this book, there's a few good things. Firstly, it's well written - the author had a clear, consistent and strong voice. Secondly, the plot moves along at a fair enough clip (despite there being, in parts, too much shot-for-shot narration, enough that Clancy would get bored). Thirdly, two of the concepts developed - Earth's only export being Mercs, and the endless death-revival of said soldiers - are refreshingly original.Caveat: they're refreshingly original *if* you look at the book as a book, and not video-game fanfiction. The author gives it away a bit too, at the beginning.This book is a gamer's fantasy. The plot can be boiled down to this: entitled gamer-kid realizes family doesn't have money to send him to school, enrolls in a mercenary outfit, battles ensue, he finishes all his missions, dies and gets revived a couple of times, a couple of cut-scenes explain the larger universe. At the end, we find out there's Politics. And Bureaucracy. The Earth is at risk, and low-level grunt will somehow save the day, eventually, buy the expansion pack and find out how.My biggest gripe isn't even the lack of *other* world-building concepts, I mean, FTL is somehow there and isn't even hand-waved, it's unlikely you're going to get lizards with blood similar to humans on a silica-poor world, blah blah blah. Whatever, I've read and admired worse world-building in books.My biggest gripe is the Main Character - already forgotten his name, Jarvis McCain?Firstly, he's a dick. A caricature of what people think teenage gamer guys are - unsympathetic to their families' plights, unmotivated about carriers and schools, arrogant and self-entitled. Okay sure, let's wait and see how this guy grows and changes...and wait...and wait...The End.He's not a convincing solider, or a convincing Merc. After much training and supposedly life-and-death bonding experiences, his concept of camaraderie begins and ends with off-hand insults traded with a lacky. His unit-cohesion with his squad is nonexistent. He obeys orders when he feels like it, rebels when it suits his surly, arrogant self. He's *exactly* what an entitled-dick-gamer-caricature-19-year-old *thinks* a soldier is.A real marine would pop this kid one in the teeth.And he's the hero.This could have played very well - real opportunity for meaningful character growth right there. I suspect, however, that the author is *not* aware of how very un-soldier like his "solider" is.At least there's women fighting alongside men, equality in the forces and all that jazz, right? Well, there's 4 major female side characters. Kiwi, squadmate (sexed by MC). Natasha, squadmate (clumsily romanced, rescued and then sexed by MC). Anne, biomedical officer (shown to be incompetent under fire, unfairly blaming MC, then rescued by MC, now friendly. To be leered at in 3 separate scenes out of a total of 7 encounters). Thompson, another biomed. CRAZY BITCH out to kill MC. The 2nd in Command of the entire mercanary fleet. CRAZY BITCH - Hillary Clinton in Space, out to KILL MC but leered at by MC the moment he sees her. Petty jealousies, because they're all fighting, one way or another, over MC's ass.Oh, and he's the most popular guy around, got a mouthy sidekick that's more comic relief than friend.If this was a real person - or even if the author was doing a character interview, I'd like to ask him a couple of questions:1. Solider, did you ever miss your mother, she of the shaking-hands who tried to keep you in elite-gaming-rigs and university with the last of her money? Did you ever write home? Send back some of your pay? MENTION family even once? What about all the guys you played basketball with (we're led to assume he has excellent physique because he plays tons of basketball)...your gaming clan (he's clan/guild leader. Because of course)...anybody at all? Do you realize mercenaries are people too?2. Soldier, why didn't you react AT ALL when you killed someone for the first time? Yeah, they're aliens. But they bleed like humans, they are an intelligent starfaring species. The most stoic hunter *reacts* when he shoots even a dumb animal for the first time. I'll buy adrenelin and heat-of-combat as an excuse. What about after? And what about your mouthy sidekick? His first time out, he's convinced he's getting kill-shots, and he's bragging, calmly. You're too manly to react, what about him?The characters didn't think about this because the author didn't. This is a video game.And my biggest issue? It's the MC bitching about the raw deal he's getting, rebelling against the "system" - his superior, the galactic laws, what-have you - then going back to eating chow and extolling some virtue of the same game that keeps getting him killed. Like the rifles - that struck me - they're mass-produced for an "average" humanoid, don't have friend-or-foe ID. Weaponeer mentions that if Earth made it, friendlies *would* be identified, dammit, so they don't keep killing their own guys. MC agrees, has a 2 paragraph internal monologue about the system that keeps earth from manufacturing their own, superior, weapons that wouldn't kill his troop-mates. Then he says (paraphrased) "but these guns are a damn fine weapon". WTF?All this *could* have worked, you know, if we'd been shown MC as an unreliable narrator. But he's in deadly earnest. We're *supposed* to accept his reality as the Right One.This is the first book I'd read by this author. Tempted by the concepts offered in the blurb (and, to be fair, the conceptual promise was delivered as advertised), but I won't be reading any more.A counter-recommendation: if you're looking for something that tastes like this - space-marine flick - read Elliot Kay's "Poor Man's Fight"

This is a great start to a series and makes you want to see what’s going to happen next. I have loved the book and cannot wait to read the next one. So far this has made me lose sleep and can’t wait to see where it ends.

This was a very engaging action story. Larson offers a host of novel concepts and makes the characters believable. Some of the battles go on a bit too long, but I wasn't even tempted to put the reader aside. Looking forward to the next one.

I bought this book more than a year ago then completely forgot I had it as I dived into other series. Now, needing a break from historical fictions, I found this series again. Sucks you in right away. Interesting characters and plenty of action. The only negative I ran into were some grammatical errors that ruined the immersion but I found myself wanting more.

From My Goodreads Review Number 54:This review is on Steel World by B.V. Larson. This is the first book I have read by this writer. It won’t be the last.To say the least, I was not expecting this type of Military Science Fiction. For starters, who would think that human mercenary soldiers fighting saurian reptiles, which included raptor-looking dinosaurs called “Dinos” for short and huge T-Rex looking theropods called “Juggers” on a hot, dry planet called Cancri-9, would be so entertaining and memorable. Cancri-9 is called a “steel world” because it is a mineral rich carbide planet made of iron and carbon and other rare metals in high demand by the alien rulers.In the story, James McGill is an underachieving, online video gaming, third year college student who is forced to drop out of college when his family runs out of money. He decides it is time to leave home and get a job. In his case, James thought it would be a snap to join one of the space-going legions and become a mercenary that fights wars on contract for the Hegemony and Galactic Governments. You see, humans are only allowed to exist if Earth sends human legions to fight other aliens on contract as needed. The Galactics run the show and humans provide the muscle under strict conditions. The good news is most soldiers survive to fight another day, even if killed in battle, unless you get “permed” by accident or some other unfortunate circumstance. You will understand the situation a lot better when you read the book.Unfortunately, it is a lot tougher than James thought to join one of the most popular legions. It seems they only want people to do what they are told, follow the rules and not be independent thinkers who can cause trouble. James ends up signing with Legion Varus, a bottom of the barrel, loser outfit many people think. It seems the legion gets “wiped” a lot. So begins James six-year military experience.This book reminds me of several other great stories I read with similar themes such as The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, Old Man’s War by John Scalzi and Armor by John Steakley. All these books are original stories with good plots, entertaining action scenes and memorable characters.What makes this story so entertaining is the style of writing. B.V. Larson writes the story in the first person, which makes James seem so realistic, unpredictable and human. The dialog is humorous, blunt, irreverent, witty, descriptive and fast paced. I laughed out loud several times as James examined his dire situation and cursed the outcome.I give this book five stars because it is original and imaginative, with memorable characters, extremely well written dialog and numerous battle scenes full of surprises. This book will end up as a classic military science fiction story. I hope B.V Larson writes a sequel. Enjoy.

Main character is a bit of a horn dog but I enjoyed the storyline thoroughly. Sometimes these military adventure books read like a bad episode of some action series but this one held my interest and I looked forward to the spare moments in my day when I could read on.

If you like black humour this the one for you James McGill star of this epic,is one of most enjoyable and interesting characters i have read in a long time .When Amazon sent me there recommend list I clicked on book 12 i bought and started to read it and realised I read the previous books,but I read them years ago so back to book one because I enjoyed them so much.Another good thing about Amazon they tell you that you have bought them before with a date

First things first, this is NOT a "new" Starship Troopers". That insults both the original and Larson's novel. It is a rite of passage of a spoiled brat growing up under fire to become on of Humanity's greatest warriors for the Terran Legions.There are similarities to "Starship Troopers", Full Metal Jacket" and any other story which follows the life of a new recruit from training, through baptism of fire to becoming an experienced soldier. Larson has added something special to the mix. Although the legionnaires can die, due to alien technology they can be reborn minutes later ready to go back into the breach. It is the alien races that make this book a cut above many others.The Galactics, races from the core systems, control the newer race. They consider Humans to be barely sentient and ripe for genocide except for the one thing they have which few other races can offer. At their best Humans are fighters, the most vicious and most tenacious soldiers available.Written in the first person "Steel World" is the planet where James McGill finds his role in life as one of the Human Legions under contract to fight the lizard rebels of Cancri-9, also known as the Steel World because of the super abundance of heavy metals and rare earths which make up the crust of this very hot planet. The fighting is brutal, the pace is sometimes breath taking and the characters interesting and varied. Larson is destined to become a "great" in my opinion and I will soon be reading more of his books. I just hope Steel World is not a one-off as I would like to read more about McGill and the mercenary legions. Very highly recommended if you like action novels.

This book is the first in trilogy or rather, to be accurate, three volumes have been published so far about the adventures of James McGill, the narrator of the story enlisted in one of Humanity’s mercenary legions. Depending on what you are looking for and on your personal tastes, you will either very much like this book or find it “content-light” and not exactly original.There are similarities with more than a few military novels, whether of the science variety or not. One well-trodden path is that of the new recruit who discovers what a military life means in one of toughest human military outfits. Of course, our blue-eyed boy will become an outstanding hero: again, no surprise here. Another typical ingredient of this kind of book is that it is “fast-paced” and “action-packed” (it really is, by the way). It is a page turner, to use yet another conventional expression. You also need to note that this book, unlike quite a few others of its kind, is largely free of typos, which is also something that makes it more readable.The context of the story is interesting. By the middle of the 21st century, Humans have been contacted by “the Galactics” and integrated into their Empire as a fringe and vassal race. They have also been largely confined to their planet by this lose federation of alien races from the core of the galaxy, all of which are vastly more advanced than Humans and all of which (or at least the two species we come across in this volume) consider the Humans are barely sentient and half savages whose main talent is to wage war.In an interesting twist which does not exactly present Humans in a flattering light, each species is required to specialise in one area. It uses this one expertise for which it has some kind of monopoly to obtain the “galactic credits” that will allow it to acquire technologies and use the services of other races. The Human speciality is that they make good mercenary soldiers, and our hero becomes one of them. Unfortunately for the Humans, one of the alien races decides it wants to add an extra competence to its portfolio of skills, up to now specialised in mining. This of course leads to a some very brutal contests that take place under the eyes of the Galactics who act as referees to ensure that the pre-determined rules of engagement are respected by both sides.An additional twist is that these alien technologies are integrated in human military outfits. Space ships are built and run by one species, including all Legion troop transports. Rifles and made by another for all other alien species. A third race builds machines that replicate sentient beings and can replace them as soon as they die. The point here is that whole Legions can be “wiped” (meaning be wiped out) and yet survive to fight another day, sometimes the very next day.There are perhaps a few weaknesses. I found that the book lacked a bit of context and depth. I wanted, for instance, to learn quite a bit more about the structure of government of Earth and the contact with the Galactics that lead to it. Another point is that the “resurrection machines” that can replicate both bodies and minds like some kind of tri-dimensional super-photocopier seemed a bit too good to be true. In particular, the side-effects of these “re-growths” – feeling wobbly and a bit of dis-orientation but no other side-effect or major psychological trauma than some nightmares - did not entirely convince and sounded a bit “too easy”. Moreover, the long-term effects of getting oneself killed time and time again must be rather damaging, although this theme might be covered in further episodes since this is our hero’s very first campaign.This is a good title and a good read, despite a few weak points. If you like military science fiction, you will probably enjoy this one (and the following two episodes), even if it is not entirely original. Four stars, after some hesitations and because I liked it, despite everything else.

I really did enjoy this book (Kindle version) after reading it following a recommendation to do so by my friend's 13-year-old son who absolutely loved it. So I gave it a try and was very glad I did. It follows the story of a young man (aged about 22, I believe) who had grown up playing a computer game called "Steel World" which was like a Virtual Reality multi-player shooter, a game based on the real life (in the book anyway) wars being fought by earth mercenaries in another galaxy. Our protagonist decides to join one of the famously glorious legions but fails to get into his first, second or third choice legions. Instead he ends up joining one that takes anybody. The novel is action-packed, graphic but yet easy to read with no complicated plots. The enemy are dinosaur like creatures with almost human characteristics who live on a binary sun planet and the humans are mercenaries hired to defeat them. Some interesting ideas in it like the machine that is able to bring people back from the dead by creating a clone of the certified dead person who comes back with his full memory and self-awareness.A very good book which has made me want to read the sequel  Dust World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 2)  Kia (my friend's son) is already on this sequel and he says it's very good, so I am looking forward to getting and reading this one too.A note on the Kindle version of Steel World: Perfect. No problems at all. Dust World (Undying Mercenaries Series Book 2)

These are not the greatest SF storied ever told, but they are very entertaining. I got these on Kindle library, because the paperback price is quite steep.A little like Starship Troopers the movie, packed full of action and over the top aliens. Just don't take them seriously and you will probably enjoy them. Sometimes it's fun to read something that isn't trying to baffle you with science and techobabble.