Rate this book

Embedded (2010)

by Dan Abnett(Favorite Author)

3.66 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0857660918 (ISBN13: 9780857660916)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Angry Robot

review 1: I'm a fan of Abnett's Warhammer 40,000 books and hoped that this one would be as good. Of course, he didn't have the enormous ready-made backdrop to make use of, but still manages to have a decent stab as describing why the journalist Lex Falk has travelled to a new colony world, and how the corporations and international super-power groups are running things. The world of Eighty-Six is interesting and there are a few decently described characters. Setting the scene does take quite a while, but as soon as the proper action starts it gets more exciting.The second part of the book is good quality military sci-fi with a good combination of technology, characters, storyline and action scenes. As described in the blurb on the book's cover, Falk experiences the world through the... more eyes of a soldier, but can also control his actions to some extent (a bit like in the film 'Avatar' except the host body is a living person with their own thoughts and actions). Falk's identity as a journalist interacts with his host body's abilities as a soldier to try to survive a number of threats and figure out exactly what's going on.As other reviewers have noted, the ending is a bit abrupt, but at least there is an ending of sorts. It isn't all left hanging although there are a couple of unanswered questions.
review 2: I've read Abnett's military fiction before, but that was in Games Workshop's worlds, so I was curious as to what he would create when given the ability to come up with his own universe. And I must say, it was both interesting, realistic and enjoyable.Abnett creates a very believable world in this novel, and it comes across as a fairly realistic future for civilization. He places small things in the story that enhance the experience and help to engage the reader. My personal favorite was the registered swear word for the area. Overall the military science fiction is handled well and the weapons were a good combination of futuristic and modern, which helped to make it feel a little more realistic. The opening of the novel was a bit slow, and it takes awhile for the action to get going and for everything to be set up for the remainder of the tale. But once you get past it and into the action, the story flows well and moves quickly from one scene to the next, never letting up on the action. The characters also help as well, as they are well written and in Abnett's tradition, each interesting in their own right and you never want to see anything bad happen to any of them. Lastly, the final 'f*ck you' moment of the book was glorious and actually gave me goosebumps. Until it happens, you don't realize that a lot of what is going on is leading up to that one final moment. Plus, the surprise of it all, the reason for the action, is handled well, with not a lot of detail which helps to lend believability to the situation.In the end, Abnett has written a very enjoyable military fiction piece that I loved reading and will most likely read again in the future. If you have read Abnett's work before, I suggest you pick this up and see what he can do with his own world. And if you enjoy military fiction, and more so, science fiction military fiction, then this book will be for you and I can't suggest it enough. A very fun read and something I will recommend to others. less

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