Amberly Smith

Supersoldiers scare me more than a little. The idea of a fighter who is capable of operating beyond normal human limits or abilities has fascinated humans for a long time. And while history shows that anything connected to creating “superhumans” of any kind always ends in disaster, I am sure there are scientists working on developing a way to bring about a “superior” combatant. Be it cybernetically, genetically, or chemically enhanced ordinary humans or entirely artificial lifeforms (think robots and AIs), the possibilities and temptations are practically endless.

The author of this book has chosen a combination of somewhat mystical elements from Norse mythology and chemical/medical methods to create a world, eighty-five years from now, in which the military works with pairs of soldiers whose abilities complement each other perfectly. Once “activated”, soldiers fall into one of two camps, that of the physically enhanced Hamask who uses his senses to secure and protect the pair, or the mentally enhanced Vargr who is the strategist and planner. But there are issues with these “activations”, and the emotional and sometimes physical bonding between any two soldiers, and the need to keep those problems top secret doesn’t exactly allow constructive solutions. The author’s focus is on the human implications in this mess, and it made for an intense, suspense-filled ride I won’t soon forget.

Jamal feels he has a debt to repay to a country that fed and housed him after he lost his parents. He is determined to succeed once he is activated, but something goes very wrong with the procedure. He enters what is known as a “berserker fury” – a condition a Hamask is prone to when his senses overload and he can’t (or won’t) listen to one of the Vargr who might balance him. Cases like his usually result in termination because nobody has worked out how to end the “fury” – at least officially.

Rum is a highly accomplished Vargr, able to read people and manipulate them to his satisfaction, but he has two issues. One is his problem with authority – not one conducive to a successful military career, and it has already gotten him demoted. His second problem is that he has not bonded with a Hamask and is slowly going crazy without the balance needed by his enhanced brain. When he hears abut Jamal’s case, he is convinced he can go in and pull Jamal back from the brink but since nobody will let him do it officially, he does it covertly. Of course this leads to a ton of issues once his bosses find out, but this is far from his and Jamal’s only problem.

With a world endangered by international terrorists and faith-based aggression, Jamal and Rum are ideally suited to supporting the fight. But their pasts interfere, shenanigans at the highest level of the military endanger what is best for them, and they may have a leak in the organization that enables the enemy to stay one step ahead of them. The result is a military science fiction thriller that kept me glued to the pages until the very end.

If you like military science fiction that looks at the future of warfare, if you want to know more about the human side of military developments that are not yet possible, and if you’re looking for a futuristic thriller that packs an emotional punch, then you will probably like this novel as much as I did. And since not all loose ends are tied up by the end, I am daring to hope for a sequel.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.… (plus d'informations)