Frank Burns reviewed Renegade by Joel Shepherd
Review of 'Renegade' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
So, military SF. Not a sub-genre I frequent due to the drama that surrounds it and the basic conservatism of the form. This one came up as a Goodreads recommendation and the reviews looked solid so I thought I would give it a shot. I went back and forth on my final score for this but have ended up with 3 stars, which in my categorisation is decent but has flaws.
Let's start with the bad. The alien races are all anthromorphised, earth animal analogues. There is a lizard race, a frog race and dear god help me, a cat race. The world building is weak as well. This sub-genre has a fetish for libertarianism (if not outright fascism) and that is in hilariously hypocritical evidence here (taxation is bad, except for the taxation needed to make my military work). The basic premise is that closed space environments would be …
So, military SF. Not a sub-genre I frequent due to the drama that surrounds it and the basic conservatism of the form. This one came up as a Goodreads recommendation and the reviews looked solid so I thought I would give it a shot. I went back and forth on my final score for this but have ended up with 3 stars, which in my categorisation is decent but has flaws.
Let's start with the bad. The alien races are all anthromorphised, earth animal analogues. There is a lizard race, a frog race and dear god help me, a cat race. The world building is weak as well. This sub-genre has a fetish for libertarianism (if not outright fascism) and that is in hilariously hypocritical evidence here (taxation is bad, except for the taxation needed to make my military work). The basic premise is that closed space environments would be libertarian hotbeds of self sufficiency. An eye-blinkingly wrongheaded approach, thoroughly debunked by other authors and by our own experiences in the ISS. Simply put, space habitats will be socialist by default. Your neighbour's problems will be your problems because there is nowhere to run to.
Finally, the protagonists are colossal Mary Sue's.
That all being said, there is an entertaining read here. A touch of the James Clavell about the world building and execution, within which an exciting plot is kept skipping along with a deft touch. The action sequences are well done and carefully thought out (except for one gaping hole in the denoument but that's probably me being picky). The characters are well drawn and fit the story.
Still, I have ended up with three stars. Meaning I do not recommend. I may pick up the next one in the series if I get any downtime in my reading (unlikely) but it would be more of a guilty pleasure read than anything else.