Robert Buettner

This is an exciting murder thriller inexplicably marred by the insertion of gratuitous and really dumb flashbacks that instantly give the plot away. Just skip those chapters. You'll still be able to figure it out.

I received a review copy of "The Golden Gate" by Robert Buettner (Baen) through NetGalley.com.

Orphan’s Legacy 02 – Undercurrents
Robert Buettner
Baen Books
Publication Date: July 1st, 2011
Trade Paperback (Uncorrected Page Proof)
291 pages
ISBN13: 978-1439134498

As stated in my review of the original Orphanage books last year, and by Buettner’s own admission*, the Orphanage and Orphan’s Legacy series are a deliberate homage to Robert A. Heinlein and two of his classic works of military Science Fiction, Starship Troopers and Have Space Suit - Will Travel. Thank you, Mr. Buettner, show more for acknowledging the deserving roots of your work and for continuing the tradition of brilliant, character-driven, combat-centric Science Fiction. Make no mistake; Robert Buettner’s Orphan books are by no means simple imitations or variations but significant and important additions to the genre in their own right. Without Starship Troopers there could be no Jason Wander or Jazen Parker and without the Orphans the next generation of military Science Fiction would be considerably weaker. The Orphan’s Legacy series is, therefore, a logical and necessary extension of those earlier works.

With that in mind I ask you to set aside the plot and events of Undercurrents for a moment (we’ll get back to them shortly, I promise) and concentrate on the author in general and the tone of his style and his storytelling in particular. Perhaps it’s because I grew up reading military Science Fiction novels and comics in the late-60’s and 70’s that I now find myself gravitating toward books written with that respectful and patriotic military approach. You know the type of story I mean – character-driven war stories filled with rough, weather-beaten, steely-eyed soldiers with chiseled-jaws and battle-scars who won’t take flack from anyone and who know how to survive in the harshest of environments. Undercurrents not only fits that mold but surpasses it. To call Robert Buettner a Master of Military Science Fiction is, in my opinion, an understatement. Not only are his books well-written, the characters are impossible to forget and their attitudes are flashback reminiscent of memorable characters like Captain America, G. I. Joe, and Sergeant Fury. What this does to - and for - me is difficult to express but there’s a certain feeling of nostalgia that I welcome every time I pick up one of his books. Doing so takes me back to a hot summer day in the seventies when I entered the local library and saw Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers on the shelf for the first time. I could tell by the tattered cover that it involved soldiers in space suits and I was hooked instantly (the only thing that might have made it better was if a dinosaur was on the cover as well, but that’s a different trope for a different time.) I must admit that reading Buettner’s stories takes me back to the days when I was just beginning to explore the various realms of Science Fiction and, in the process, stretching my then small but elastic mind. But I digress…

I promised to get back to reviewing the book and so, now, I will.

What happens when your covert operation turns to disaster and you’re forced to switch from battle-ready to survival-mode in less than thirty seconds? If you’re Lt. Jazen Parker you improvise. While free-falling from space Parker sees his jump-partner’s severed head and spinal column dangling from a crumpled helmet as it whizzes past. With that image burned into his memory he knows he’s been dealt a dead man’s hand. His mission? To destroy the tyrannical local government on a planet steeped in fascist politics. But all is jeopardized by two facts – his partner is now shark food and one of his ex-team members has been taken prisoner by the same government he’s been sent to destroy. And their prisoner is not just any ex-team member but one he harbors deep feelings for. Jazen must complete his mission and save his comrade before she is tortured and killed but as the details of the mission unfolds he discovers a sinister plot that might send five-hundred planetary governments into total chaos. Torn between the mission and the rescue Jazen understands that the local political leaders must be eliminated before they carry out their plan but he finds himself in charge of a broken army of rebels complete with out-dated equipment and jaded, morale-strapped soldiers. What no one realizes is just how committed Jazen is and there is no one better suited to begin or finish a war.

After reading Robert Buettner’s newest book I can only repeat, though in somewhat abbreviated form, what I’ve said before; The Orphan books display everything that’s good about exceptional military Science Fiction. Correction. They contain everything that’s good about brilliant fiction, period. Buettner writes characters that you cannot help but care for, plots that are tightly crafted, real, often gritty, dialogue that flows, and he has a true understanding of how to spin tales that are always entertaining. The guns and explosions and battle-hardened soldiers are simply a bonus for the audience. Spending a few hours with these brilliantly written works of mankind at war is time well-spent.

Orphan’s Legacy 02 - Undercurrents is available today in hardcover. Disclosure: The review copy (uncorrected page proof) used for this review was provided free as part of the Amazon Vine program.

4 ½ stars out of 5

The Alternative
Southeast Wisconsin show less

Jason Wander, having survived the Slug War in Orphanage and risen, to a frightening degree (especially to himself) simply by surviving, to the rank of general and commanding officer of the Ganymede Expeditionary Force, is relieved when a new ship arrives to take him and his seven hundred surviving soldiers home to Earth. Although he has spent the months between the defeat of the Slugs and the arrival of the Excalibur taking every relevant correspondence course that he can, including a lot of show more military history, he knows he's not remotely qualified to be a general, but harbors strong hopes that he's at least worked his way up to lieutenant.

After a journey home that proves he doesn't have the political skills and officer training to be a general in the presence of other senior officers who know what they're doing, he's appalled to discover that he's going to remain a general anyway, because the government needs a war hero as a pr tool. And as the general who defeated the Slugs and saved Earth, he's it. There's no one else who can fill that role. It's especially difficult for Jason because he believes that current US government policy is wrong; the new administration is spending funds on economic and infrastructure reconstruction that Jason, not convinced that the Slugs won't be back, believes need to be spent on building a better defense. His dilemma gets worse once he's made a few tours in his unwanted new capacity: while he's more convinced than ever that every penny needs to be spent on defense, it's also clear to him that, after the years of pounding by the Slugs, every penny also needs to be spent on reconstruction. The government is engaged in the thankless and probably impossible task of trying to divide the available resources to do both at least adequately.

It simplifies things, in a quite unwelcome way, when the Slugs do attack again, this time from a spaceship carrying the bulk of their invasion force. Jason is at least confronted with a problem he understands somewhat better, even if dealing with that problem involves lying, cheating, stealing, and disobeying orders. And of course, persuading some of his surviving friends and subordinates from the Ganymede expedition to do the same.

This book is in many ways in the tradition of Starship Troopers and The Forever War, but Heinlein and Haldeman were each in their different ways angry when they wrote their books celebrating the infantry. I think Buettner is mostly having fun here (and certainly the reader is), while still celebrating the common foot soldier and trying not to oversimplify and cast Jason's human obstacles to defending Earth as villains, or even necessarily completely wrong.

Very enjoyable. show less

By the author’s own admission Orphanage is a conscious homage to Robert A. Heinlein's classic science-fiction shoot-em-up, Starship Troopers, but it is also much more than that. It is a modern telling of a style that I thought almost gone. Thankfully, the Golden Age of Science Fiction is revived in Buettner’s capable hands. Reminiscent of Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War and Mindbridge, Fred Pohl’s Gateway, and Robert H. Heinlein’s Have Spacesuit Will Travel, as well as the show more above-mention Starship Troopers Buettner certainly reveals his mastery of the military aspect of his stories. The action scenes and sequences are choreographed superbly and the battle scenes compelling and poignant. In addition, Orphanage, as well as all the other books in this series, contains everything that is good about excellent military science fiction. No, let me amend that. Orphanage contains everything that is good about excellent fiction, period. Buettner writes characters that you will care about, plots that are tight, dialogue that flows, and he has a grasp for spinning a tale that is always entertaining. Spending time with these brilliantly written works of mankind at war with a devious alien entity will not disappoint.
Buettner should be honored to be mentioned with the likes of Haldeman, Pohl, and Heinlein. I know I’m privileged to add him to my list of favorites.

Jason Wander Series

1. Orphanage (2004)
4 ½ stars out of 5
The Alternative’s Nutshell Recap: Evil aliens throw rocks at the Earth vaporizing many large cities. The world relies on one counterstrike in space led by soldiers left as orphans by the attack. Using outdated space craft and weapons the Orphans are ordered to invade the enemy on Ganymede.

2. Orphan's Destiny (2005)
4 ½ stars out of 5
The Alternative’s Nutshell Recap: Foot-soldier made General by losses in the Slug War Jason Wander returns home only to find that the real war has just begun. A full armada-sized invasion must be stopped by a single, ancient space craft and a suicide squad led by recently promoted General Wander.

3. Orphan's Journey (2008)
4 stars out of 5
The Alternative’s Nutshell Recap: Sent to the resort planet of New Moon Jason and crew are propelled into deep space when the test of a space ship goes wrong. Stranded on an alien planet Jason must save not only his friends but everyone else on the planet.

4. Orphan's Alliance (2008)
4 stars out of 5
The Alternative’s Nutshell Recap: Humans have been found in space. Jason Wander is sent as an emissary but finds that politics can be harder than leading men into battle. When mankind battles the Slugs for a strategic pieces of space Jason discovers that the most dangerous enemy is not always the one you expect.

5. Orphan's Triumph (2009)
4 stars out of 5
The Alternative’s Nutshell Recap: General Wander prepares for the final conflict as Earth and her allied forces organize to employ a doomsday weapon that can end the war. When a strategic reversal threatens mankind Jason Wander must confront the demons that turned him to the military in the first place and stripped away the innocence of his youth. show less