Brothers in Arms Book

This is a book that forces you to suspend your disbelief. The ability of the protagonist, Scott St. Andrew, to become the super-soldier of the future, is dependent upon your belief in the fiction the author creates. I bought into it, and why not? It was an exciting read and a believable world created by Ben Weaver.

The world Weaver creates (weaves?) is a future of corporate exploitation, and a class system for galactic citizens based on place of birth. Those on the lower rungs try to climb society's ladder by joining the military. Scott St. Andrew is a conflicted hero; he has an inferiority complex based on his social status that he is striving to overcome, as well as a conscience that (unsuccessfully) tries to keep his enhanced military abilities in check. He is a young man who is forced face his future sooner than he would like. He ultimately learns to kill, but does so with regret. His friends are just as conflicted and damaged in one way or another, and they make for an interesting and believable group. You can tell that a character is well drawn when you mourn their loss in combat.

The battle scenes are sometimes a bit difficult to follow. There is a lot of action happening all at once, but focus on what is happening to the main character and you'll be fine.

The book is a quick read, and fun. I'm on to the second and third books in the series.

{On a side note, I see that a there are some very negative reviews of the book here. To each his own, of course. But I notice that many of these reviews have no support for their point of view, other than how much they simply hated the book. That's fine, but it calls into question the motivations of some of these reviews and reviewers.
This book is not Shakespeare, nor does it pretend to be. But I've read some bad book in my time that strive to be Shakespeare, and this isn't one of them.}