Steel World: Undying Mercenaries, Book 1

From My Goodreads Review Number 54:This review is on Steel World by B.V. Larson. This is the first book I have read by this writer. It won’t be the last.To say the least, I was not expecting this type of Military Science Fiction. For starters, who would think that human mercenary soldiers fighting saurian reptiles, which included raptor-looking dinosaurs called “Dinos” for short and huge T-Rex looking theropods called “Juggers” on a hot, dry planet called Cancri-9, would be so entertaining and memorable. Cancri-9 is called a “steel world” because it is a mineral rich carbide planet made of iron and carbon and other rare metals in high demand by the alien rulers.In the story, James McGill is an underachieving, online video gaming, third year college student who is forced to drop out of college when his family runs out of money. He decides it is time to leave home and get a job. In his case, James thought it would be a snap to join one of the space-going legions and become a mercenary that fights wars on contract for the Hegemony and Galactic Governments. You see, humans are only allowed to exist if Earth sends human legions to fight other aliens on contract as needed. The Galactics run the show and humans provide the muscle under strict conditions. The good news is most soldiers survive to fight another day, even if killed in battle, unless you get “permed” by accident or some other unfortunate circumstance. You will understand the situation a lot better when you read the book.Unfortunately, it is a lot tougher than James thought to join one of the most popular legions. It seems they only want people to do what they are told, follow the rules and not be independent thinkers who can cause trouble. James ends up signing with Legion Varus, a bottom of the barrel, loser outfit many people think. It seems the legion gets “wiped” a lot. So begins James six-year military experience.This book reminds me of several other great stories I read with similar themes such as The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, Old Man’s War by John Scalzi and Armor by John Steakley. All these books are original stories with good plots, entertaining action scenes and memorable characters.What makes this story so entertaining is the style of writing. B.V. Larson writes the story in the first person, which makes James seem so realistic, unpredictable and human. The dialog is humorous, blunt, irreverent, witty, descriptive and fast paced. I laughed out loud several times as James examined his dire situation and cursed the outcome.I give this book five stars because it is original and imaginative, with memorable characters, extremely well written dialog and numerous battle scenes full of surprises. This book will end up as a classic military science fiction story. I hope B.V Larson writes a sequel. Enjoy.

Good book, a fun read actually, but with some glaring issues that fall under developmental context. For those of us not into writing, I'm specifically talking about plot armor/holes and consistency problems. I believe that many of the issues were purposely left as is to not bog down the book and slow pacing.Largely, this is forgivable as the story is pretty entertaining to read, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the issue exists. I probably would have done the same thing as the alternative was to either change major aspects of the premise or slow the story drastically.Next up, and the reason this has 4 stars. The characters were... Forgettable. Not unique. I felt no connection to any of them, except Carlos and even that was minute. The MC very much has a starship troopers vibe to him which is fun but ultimately he's faceless and vanilla.Lastly, and this is a personal complaint due to tastes and had no impact on the rating: there was too much intrigue and politics happening. This is a story about immortal mercenaries, I don't care about the why and the how of the galaxy at large, and I especially don't want to read about how all these officers want to have the MC killed for BS. The book would have been better if it stuck to its strengths.

Easy reading and good plot development: follows the story line with a few twist and turns to keep it interesting.

This is a good book but not as strong as I would have liked. The second book in the series is stronger and more enjoyable, but without this first book, the second might be a bit obtuse, I think.I felt the author, B.V. Larson wasn't quite as confident in this book as he was in some of his other books. There is a "tentativeness" how the author commits to this universe and how he wants to represent it. At times, the writing felt a bit like a good juvenile book, and at other times it seemed very adult oriented. (see my review of book two).I found the idea of soldiers that could die, but who could be regenerated after a disorienting process intriguing. It brings up all sorts of ethical, spiritual, military, and psychological questions that can fuel a lot of plots and new volumes in a series of books. Larson should explore the possibility of marketing the universe he has created to one of the video gaming companies. I think it could bring a breath of fresh air to the genre.The book was well laid out and well plotted. It was structurally pretty good. Like I said, I did feel that the writing, for this volume only, was a tad weak. I gave the book 4 stars, primarily because I liked how he added an interesting twist to what I consider to be a story arc that we have seen before. He made it interesting. He made me curious enough to buy the second book, I think he did his job!

I finally found a space opera I really liked! Far too many stories contain a slew of sub-plots while I prefer a first person narrative that will stay with the hero/heroine from beginning to end! I already have volume two of the series and am looking very much forward to reading it!

This is my second time reading the book after completing all the books till date(new book releases every year) and i absolutely love this series. U just get lost in the world which is painted in it, it kinda has a Potter head effect on a person. U just can't stop thinking about it

Hacía tiempo que había puesto en mi lista de espera el primer libro de la saga de “Los Mercenarios Inmortales” (si lo se… suena mejor en inglés: Undying Mercenaries Series). A su vez cabe mencionar que ya había oído hablar del Señor Larson, pero no me había dado el tiempo de leer algo del autor. Siendo un fan de años de los géneros de ciencia ficción y fantasía, muy particularmente del subgénero de Ciencia Ficción Militar, me complace encontrar autores como B.V. Larson que saben su oficio y ofrecen un producto entretenido, dinámico y a la vez con una historia bastante sólida. Claro con sus detalles -razón por la que no le doy las cinco estrellas-, va:De entrada el primer tomo de “Undying Mercenaries Series”, nos muestra un futuro donde habiendo sido la humanidad “contactada” por parte de una entidad galáctica conocida simplemente como “el Imperio Galáctico”, se nos presentan dos opciones, o bien aplicamos para ser parte del Imperio, ofreciendo algún bien o servicio que nadie más en nuestro sector pueda proporcionar o simplemente nos negamos y somos entonces programados para ser borrados del planeta dejándolo vacante para una posterior urbanización. Resulta que el único bien o servicio que podemos sin ningún asomo de duda ofrecer a nuestros vecinos son “Legiones” de mercenarios, dado que la humanidad se encuentra mejor equipada que la mayoría de las especies para ayudar en la mediación de los conflictos políticos donde “La guerra es la continuación política por otros medios”, en otras palabras, para esto de la violencia física y los conflictos militares.La historia toma lugar cerca de 50 años después del contacto inicial con los “Galácticos”, en una sociedad donde (retomando ciertos elementos que son considerados “motivos” o “cliché” de este subgénero) si bien no tenemos una distopía total o una sociedad militarizada, lo cierto es que las desigualdades son tales que los jóvenes sin recursos para continuar sus estudios encuentran como una opción el servir durante un periodo de al menos cinco años como legionarios en una compañía de mercenarios, peleando conflictos en otros planetas y aportando con eso muy necesitados “créditos galácticos” que poyen la economía del planeta ahora firmemente vinculada a la del resto de la comunidad galáctica. Uno de los puntos atractivos de dicha ocupación es la posibilidad de ser “revivido” una y otra vez en caso de ser muerto en el cumplimento del deber. Sin embargo siempre se tiene la posibilidad de ser “permed” es decir permitentemente muerto por razones técnicas o incluso -por increíble que parezca- políticas.Mencionaba más arriba que no le doy las cinco estrellas, por algunas razones de aspecto argumental. Esto no es en realidad en cuanto a la narrativa perse, pues esta es bastante ágil y entretenida desde un inicio. Sino en relación a la lógica empleada respecto a la forma en que supuestamente funcionan las maquinas que “reviven” a los soldados muertos en batalla. Voy de acuerdo en que con la posible excepción de “La Guerra Interminable” Joe Haldeman de este subgénero no se presta a trabajar con la “Ciencia ficción dura”, pero lo ideal por parte de cualquier autor de tratar de explicar de forma relativamente lógica la forma en que trabaja aquella pieza de tecnología que es importante para el desarrollo de la historia.De ahí en más, la realidad es que disfruté mucho esta primera novela de la serie y al momento de escribir estas líneas ya me encuentro leyendo la siguiente entrega: “Dust World”.

I bought this book for my kindle on the 7th of december. After volume three I stopped reading my other books and binged the series and am currently reading, sadly and to my utmost regret, volume 8 which is currently the last(thats why, the regret). I will most certainly feel utterly depressed, similar to a bad death followed by a bad grow n' consequently a recycle(the bios in my unit suck) when I have finished. If you like military action with lots of unsuspected twists and turns melding with terrific(especially in later volumes) universe building and a james bond like character getting away with ridiculous antics, please, push through volumes 1 and 2 because you may probably be hooked for the rest of the series afterward. It is worth it in my opinion. Dear author, quickly bring out the next volume. But not too quickly, there are some inconcistencies(two story flaws) I noticed throughout reading though they do not impact the story.[SPOILER ALERT] For example when McGill revives his parents in the battle suit and says "When grown we all have no hair it has to form naturally" although there are multiple instances where people are revived and the author states the state of hair(plastered/wet).[SPOILER END]All in all, I recommend and give the first book a five, since for me this is recommending the series and not a single Volume!

Amazing new concepts brought in a humorous light atmosphere. A touch too much emphasys on heroic american (of course american) miltary culture.