ATLAS 2 by Isaac Hooke

Published by47North on December 2, 2014

ATLAS 2 is long on action and short on substance. As was true in ATLAS, the novel starts with some excellent scene-setting before devolving into a predictable series of battles. The fighting scenes have a sameness (same weapons, same enemies, same fighting techniques) that eventually makes them wearisome to read. The novel too often has the feel of a point-and-shoot video game.

The aliens who troubled the heroes of ATLAS have found their way to one of the worlds colonized by Earth. They make their presence known by vaporizing humans with raindrops and by turning helpful robot into killer robots. After that promising start, Rade Galaal and his fellow MOTHs are dispatched to fight the aliens. They are tasked with capturing a "high value" target (not easily done since the targeted alien is composed of mist). Some of that was fun but the mission loses its interest as it drags on and on and on.

Galaal spent all of ATLAS trying to prove his manhood. He carries his insecurity into ATLAS 2. He continues to blame himself for everything that goes wrong, an annoying quality that makes him come across as self-pitying. Pages and pages of "I feel so bad about myself" whining could have been edited from the text to make this a tighter, more interesting story. And if I had a nickel for every time Rade refers to his "brothers" in combat, I'd have a whole lot of nickels.

About half the novel -- the better half -- is narrated by Shaw Chopra, the girlfriend Rade left behind in ATLAS. Her narrative voice is identical to Rade's but her story is more interesting. Shaw endures a moderately entertaining survival adventure that gives her some insight into the alien enemy. She is at least capable of insight, as opposed to Rade, who is long on platitudes (particularly "I would die for my brothers" and "I can't let another of my brothers die") but short on insightful thinking. He is apparently incapable of thinking or saying anything that isn't a cliché. Unfortunately, Shaw eventually adopts Rade's annoying tendency to feel guilt whenever the aliens kill someone else.

Well over 300 pages into the novel, the plot finally turns in a new direction. It isn't a particularly credible direction, but at least it is different. Maybe that means book 3 will be better, but I thought book 2 might be better than book 1, only to be disappointed with Rade's inability to grow up.

Isaac Hooke relies too heavily on a writing style that depends on one sentence paragraphs and three-to-five word sentences. That can work well in moderation, but too much of it creates the impression of a book written for a seventh grade reading level. In fact, I would be more inclined to recommend ATLAS 2 as a juvenile novel rather than an adult novel. Its simplistic story and unchallenging style make it a good fit for younger readers. Mature science fiction or action novel fans are likely to want greater depth than they will find here.

NOT RECOMMENDED

ATLAS by Isaac Hooke

Self-published in 2013; published digitally by Amazon Digital Services on May 27, 2014

The opening chapters of ATLAS are promising. The novel is set in the near future. While the future is loaded with standard sf backdrops (robots, flying cars, glasses that function as wireless computers, embedded ID chips), Isaac Hooke sets the scene in meticulous and convincing detail. Unfortunately, all of that ends up being wasted.

Crossing the border to the United Countries (apparently the US and Canada) seems like a ticket to the good life, except for the catch: forced military service for immigrants. Anxious to put a dangerous and wasted life behind him, Rade Galaal enters the UC with his mentor Alejandro Mondego and new friend Taho Eaglehide. Rade wants to prove himself by joining the Navy's special operations division -- MOTH -- which is a space-faring version of the SEALs.

The story is narrated in a relaxed, unpretentious, first person voice. The writing style -- short sentences and a lot of single-sentence paragraphs -- follows a popular formula for fast-paced action novels. It works reasonably well, apart from occasional asides to explain a physics problem. The novel's problems have more to do with content than style.

Some scenes are much too familiar, to the point of being clichéd and trite. Basic training is filled with pushups and abusive drill instructors. MOTH training begins with the classic "Look to your left, look to your right, those people won't be here at the end." The story even has the "Ring the bell when you want to quit" scene from G.I. Jane. In fact, much of the first third of ATLAS seems like a prose version of G.I. Jane without the Demi Moore character (women being conspicuously absent from the MOTH ranks). You'd think an imaginative sf writer would imagine a future military that figured out a better way to train soldiers, but writers seem to enjoy regurgitating the twentieth century "abuse makes men tough" model. Fortunately the scenes move quickly.

Rade joins MOTH to see if he can "become a man." Becoming a man means you learn to endure a lot of abuse, to operate high tech weaponry, to clobber everyone you fight, and to bang a female when you get a chance. That's a fairly superficial mindset (although one that is popular with teenage boys) and I hoped that Rade would grow out of it before the novel ended. He doesn't.

Rade's dedication to the MOTHs also compels him to indulge in page after page of dumbed-down versions of the St. Crispin's Day speech. The "valiant brothers in arms" theme is way too heavy-handed. ATLAS is not a novel of subtle thought.

After we get through the familiar training scenes, the novel advances to familiar "the aliens just wouldn't stop coming" scenes. Many of those scenes reminded me of Armor, substituting crab aliens for ant aliens and skipping the depth of character that makes Armor a better book. Still, the novel improves considerably after the fighting starts. As a fast-moving action story, some aspects of ATLAS are enjoyable, but the novel is so derivative and unimaginative that readers would be better served by investing their time in better examples of military sf.

NOT RECOMMENDED