Armor Book

This is a fascinating novel. It is, for the most part, a military science fiction story. Then again, it's something else entirely. Steakley actually juggles two stories here, both of which read like a novel in their own right. However, it soon becomes apparent that there is only one tale here, even if it takes two to get it told.

The novel opens like a fairly standard MilSF novel, reminiscent of Starship Troopers or The Forever War. This first sequence introduces us to Felix. There is a lot of momentum generated in these first chapters of the book. This is important, because this momentum carries the novel even when the pace slows down. Then we get to the Jack Crow sequence, which starts off fast and frenetic, but evolves and becomes, well, the something else entirely referred to earlier. The narrative of the novel alternates between Felix and Jack Crow. Of the two, the Jack Crow bits are often unevenly paced, varying between surprisingly violent scenes and slow, dream-like scenes of introspection. Yet this didn't seem to bother me. The Felix bits, mostly visceral combat scenes, barely ever let up in intensity, and will likely appeal to testosterone junkies. Like I mentioned, these two tales appear to be unrelated, but there is one thing that connects them: the Armor of the title. The how and why of this is serious spoiler territory so I won't go there.

Honestly though, it's a really interesting story. It's also an interesting way of telling a story. Perhaps because the story was written in the early 80s there is a bit of residual seventies weirdness apparent. At times the characters appear positively stoned and act in inexplicable ways. You'll find yourself asking "why?" on more than one occasion, when Jack Crow does something totally out of character. On the other hand, we could argue that it signifies character development. But it's all good really. No really. In fact, it's really good.
According to sources on the net Steakley was working on a sequel when he passed away. It's a real shame. I would have loved to see where the story could go from here. There are some really cool revelations about the mystery that is Felix, and much of it is left unexplained. For example: what is The Engine that allows him to function under such extreme duress? And all that stuff about the Archon Guardian and the Masao? …and who was Angel?

I hope I've piqued your interest. This novel comes recommended, because it's good, but also for its novelty value.