There were things I really liked about this book. The premise of the Red (which I won't go into because spoilers), the bleak idea of defense contractors starting and continuing wars so they can sell weapons, the beginning and the ending.

But the only character with any substance is Shelley, the MC, and he isn't that developed. Everyone else is basically cardboard, especially Shelley's crew of soldiers. Even his girlfriend is pretty flat. And the villain, too, seems very threadbare. So I just didn't connect with any of the people, and I didn't care what happened to them.

In addition, the plot jerks around, not in a thriller-twisty way, but in a kind of wait-what? way. It also dragged in the middle where it wasn't clear what the story was. But despite all that, it was well-written and I was interested enough to finish. Not intending to read the sequels at this time, but you never know. ( )

Excellent thriller placed in not so far future where dominance of big corporations is such that they control the behavior of states and use them as puppets to earn as much money as possible while discarding human lives as collateral damage. In this future everything is linked through the computer network (aka Cloud) and when balance is endangered it endangers the whole structure of society.

In such a world band of soldiers tries to do a right thing and bring criminals to justice - even at the cost of their own freedom and even lives. And in the background lurks an AI whose motives nobody understands but he moves people around like chess pieces. Some try to control it, some try to destroy it and almost everyone is afraid they are already under control of this mysterious entity but not aware of it.

Highly recommended. Cannot wait to move to 2nd and 3rd part of the trilogy. ( )

a pastiche of a lot of other writers and ideas, but still well-written and fairly entertaining ( )

The Red: First Light

Linda Nagata 2013

This was a very good hard sf novel. At first one would be tempted to call it military sf, but that is not accurate in my opinion. What's the difference? Everything that separates good writing from formula and meaningful provocative sf from old tropes rehashed.

Told in the present tense, the narrative is compelling from the beginning. It is filled with action scenes that have meaning rather than existing just for excitement. Part of the way Nagata accomplishes this is through character development. Each actor is unique and the action scenes develop this uniqueness and make us care about the players. We are fascinated by the technology, excited by the action and interested in what motivates each character.

In short order we are introduced to the main themes of the book: the mysterious voice that Lt. Shelley hears and which saves him and his squad numerous times; the cultural crisis of wars fought for economic stimulus and promoted by large defense contractors; the political corruption that this culture creates.

It is these themes and these characters that drive the narrative and that narrative ties unexpected directions. This is the greatest aspect of the novel--we cannot predict the events, but when they occur, we realize their importance to both the characters and the themes. There are big ideas and concepts here, not in the sense of Niven's Ringworld, but in the sense of where is our world headed and do we want to passively go along for the ride.

Lt. Shelley does not, and neither do the members of his squad, Sgt. Vasquez and private Ransom, who refers to Shelley as King David because he thinks Shelley listens to the voice of god. Neither does Lissa, Shelley's girlfriend, although she is a very reluctant participant.

This is an exemplary novel that succeeds on three levels: enough action for anyone; an important sf theme that engages a cautionary sense of wonder; and characters who breathe with emotional life and death. ( )

It was an enjoyable read, but a fairly typical military sci-fi thriller with a slight Asimov twist. Rogue AIs interfering with the military for yet-unknown reasons. I will definitely check out the next two books. ( )