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''Armor'' is a Military Science Fiction novel by John Steakley . It has some superficial similarities with Robert A. Heinlein 's '' Starship Troopers '' (such as the military use of Exoskeletons and Insect -like Alien enemies) but concentrates more on the psychological effects of violence on human beings rather than on the political aspects of the military, which were the focus of Heinlein's novel. It was first published in December 1984 . ''Armor'' is the story of humanity's war against an alien race whose foot soldiers are roughly man-sized insects. The title refers to the nuclear-powered exoskeletons worn by the soldiers. Like ''Starship Troopers'', the infantry is deployed to alien planets in a war of extermination; the main body of the narrative covers the multiple 'drops' the protagonist makes and ensuing battles. The protagonist is Felix, the former Guardian Archon of Golden, fighting anonymously as a Scout on the alien planet A9. A large part of the narrative involves the military tactics that the author felt went unexplored in ''Starship Troopers''. Armored infantry are positioned above the planet surface in starships, and dropped individually to the planet surface as a swarm of independent fighting units. The war is fought by inexperienced and uninformed troops on the ground, while the higher ranks sit in orbit and make decisions. A macabre dialogue occurs on the mortality rates of soldiers depending upon how many drops they've had, with the protagonist being told that first-droppers have the highest rate, which decreases as each soldier survives successful attacks; however, he's informed, the mortality rate increases around the fifth drop as the soldier becomes over-confident. No one has survived more than ten drops. Felix survives his first drop, and finds, to his horror, that he's very good at fighting. Each battle is a haze of insects, who swarm from the ground in an apparently unending stream. Felix's self-contempt grows as he realizes that he is driven to survive, and after each battle he is the sole survivor, at whatever the cost. In one drop, Felix takes a soldier who's gone into 'traction mode'--his armor has taken too much damage, and has extended his arms and legs to maximum extension in the medically safest position--and wires the nuclear reactor to go critical. Over the cursing of the immobilized soldier, Felix tosses the human nuke down a bughole, incinerating an insect colony. One of the novel's themes is the inept bureaucratic nature of the military, both through the corner-cutting that leads to Felix's high operational tempo, and through the other characters' misplaced faith in the bureaucracy. This manifests itself when Felix tells others he is a victim of a clerical error, as no other character believes such a thing could happen. The story is framed as the playback of an armored suit's battle recorder, brought to a group of researchers on a peaceful planet by a notorious criminal. At the end, they realize that the reclusive owner of the suit is Felix himself, who deserts after his best friend is killed. It is worth mentioning that Felix suffers from psychological burnout. His wife dies in the antecedent action, leading him to join humanity's military in a suicidal gesture. It is also worth mentioning that he was the monarch of his own (and the richest known) planet before joining up. A sequel is currently in the works. An excerpt can be found at the author's web page at http://www.johnsteakley.com/. |
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