The Red: First Light

The Red: First Light by Linda Nagata

3.5 Stars

Lt. Shelley is a squad leader with a "King David" complex. His soldiers believe that God lets him know when danger is imminent. He gets a feeling when something is about to go wrong and is able to minimize the damage to his squad. When Lt. Shelly is injured, he's given new super cyborg legs and made commander of an elite squad. Sounds like typical military science fiction.

The Red: First Light is military Science Fiction. But, it is very in tune with modern day issues and has taken them to an extreme. War is now a commercial endeavor. Lt. Shelly's exploits are a very popular reality tv show. The Internet is data mining to better serve the consumer and seems to have taken on a life of its own. All that is kind of scary if one contemplates the direction some of the current events may be heading. The book does conclude the immediate storyline, but a lot of questions remain unanswered. Hopefully they will be answered in the sequel.