A review by mundinova
Armor by John Steakley
3.0
Oh, Felix. You poor soul.
This is an odd book to review since there are two stories, very different in quality. The first, Felix, is the best power-armor sci-fi out there. The second, Jack Sparrow/Crow, is the inspiration for the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise (I don't care if this is false, it's true in my heart). Felix's monotonous fighting - pages and pages of killing Ants - is a five-star book. Jack's conman heist tale on a strange planet with sexy women wanting sex is a two-star book.
Steakley should have created a novella that focused only on Felix. I think if he had done that it would have had more commercial success, more readers. It was trailblazing for its attempt to capture PTSD before PTSD was an acknowledged effect. The Jack story, while entertaining, didn't improve the Felix story. Felix was strong enough to stand on his own.
This is an odd book to review since there are two stories, very different in quality. The first, Felix, is the best power-armor sci-fi out there. The second, Jack Sparrow/Crow, is the inspiration for the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise (I don't care if this is false, it's true in my heart). Felix's monotonous fighting - pages and pages of killing Ants - is a five-star book. Jack's conman heist tale on a strange planet with sexy women wanting sex is a two-star book.
Steakley should have created a novella that focused only on Felix. I think if he had done that it would have had more commercial success, more readers. It was trailblazing for its attempt to capture PTSD before PTSD was an acknowledged effect. The Jack story, while entertaining, didn't improve the Felix story. Felix was strong enough to stand on his own.