Book Review: War Dogs by Greg Bear

War Dogs by Greg Bear

Genre: Science Fiction

Series: Book 1

Publisher: Orbit (October 14, 2014)

Author Information: Website

Mogsy’s Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

I’ve never read Greg Bear before, and despite early reservations about his reputation as a hard science fiction author (hard sci-fi can be hit or miss with me) I was pleased that I would be able to get my feet wet with War Dogs, which from the title and cover looked to be a promising action-oriented military sci-fi novel. A futuristic tale about Space Marines on Mars! At first glance, it did sound like something right up my alley.

The book started decently enough. We are introduced to protagonist Sgt. Michael Venn, one of many Skyrine soldiers called upon to fight an ancient galactic war that humanity really should have no business in. But thirteen years ago, Earth was visited by a mysterious extraterrestrial race called the Gurus, who lavished gifts upon us in the form of technological gifts and knowledge. At the time, the visitors demanded nothing in return, and for all intents and purposes their presence seemed benevolent and mostly harmless.

Then the other shoe dropped, one that’s “completely slathered in crap” is how the official synopsis on the book’s description page so eloquently and colorfully put it. And why not? For it seems when humanity happily accepted the Gurus’ gifts so many years ago, it had inadvertently locked itself into an obligation to help them fight a war against their long-time enemies known as the antagonists, “Antags” for short. Grunts like Venn are the first to be sent off to the harsh landscape of Mars in the campaign against the Antags, for the enemy has already made their way to our solar system. When the mission gets shot to hell on his latest tour, Venn and his fellow soldiers are forced to simply try to survive on this dangerous planet where a new threat looms at every corner.

To me War Dogs came across less like an action/military novel and more like a mystery, the reason being most of what happens on Mars is related to us after the fact, when Venn is back on Earth having survived and ensconced in a safehouse. The plot is thus revealed to the reader bit by bit, and what started out sounding like a war involving humans vs. aliens actually ends up being more of a conspiracy story. Which is fine and good, though admittedly the book was perhaps not as dynamic and conflict-driven as I would have liked. The information trickled forth slowly and parts of the narrative flat-out dragged its feet, especially once we hit the halfway point, which is regrettable considering the intriguing premise and Bear’s unique vision of Mars.

And while we’re on the topic of Bear’s vision, I also believe this is a book that could have done with a bit more world-building, though in this area I realize we are limited by what our main characters knows. Which is, as it happens, very little. In many ways, this is your familiar of story about the loyal soldier whose focus is on the mission at hand rather than on questioning orders or the larger picture – it’s what makes the machinations that later emerge that much more impactful and engaging – but I still wish Bear could have somehow given us more on the novel’s premise. The background with the Gurus and their technological gifts was what drew me in in the first place, and it would have been great to know more about the aliens involved. As a reader, I felt uncomfortably distanced from the context of the novel, though a part of me also has to wonder if this was deliberately done for a reason.

It’s not that this book didn’t work for me. In fact, it’s got the type of story I really enjoy, even more so than just your straight-up average military sci-fi, to tell the truth. Ultimately, I just think I expected a plot that more substantial and executed differently. War Dogs has the distinct feel of being the first book of a series, which isn’t always bad – but this one displayed the dreaded pattern of only going so far as to give you a decent premise without exploring much more. The beginning of the novel intrigued me, but the rest of it didn’t do as well as holding my attention until close to the end when some bigger developments finally started rolling in.

A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Orbit Books!