Review: Low tech meets high tech in a visceral adventure story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 10, 2014
From the 'Look Inside' I was initially expecting a military space warfare novel, but Hallman literally grounds the adventure early on and I felt no disappointment in that regard.The premise is an unintended first contact by the apparently under-prepared Lieutenant Kirrah Roehl, a fleet navigator for the Regnum Survey Service. Of course, even her lowest tech is pretty much magic to the natives, so with rescue many months away Roehl settles in, determined to stay alive by whatever means.And those means are the basis for a terrific story as the feudalistic society she lands in finds itself in an unprecedented war and suddenly it appears that her rusty book knowledge from wars past might just be the edge required to secure victory.I really enjoyed Roehl's character. Her personality is lovingly crafted and Hallman deftly avoids giving us the 'limited emotional range female' so common in science fiction. Rather, Roehl is complex by degrees, and often caught out herself by her emotional response to events, as you would expect anyone to be given the circumstances. And having the "rescue clock" ticking in the background was a great touch because it adds both a sense of urgency to the plot and increasingly desperate self interest to Roehl's responses as she struggles to control or respond to each dire situation.The other main characters are drawn equally rich, and the dialogue feels natural, even accounting for differences in language.As with engaging adventure stories, there are plenty of small puzzles to solve, plus a few big ones. In particular, I found the practical application of war continually interesting as Roehl is constantly challenged with incrementally more difficult problems to sort out. Add in her suspicion about the outrageously level-headed community into which she is pitched, and you have a matrix of complexity that few novels of similar plotting manage so well.Also unusual is that Hallman keeps amping up the tension, even after the "rescue clock" ticks down to zero and beyond. There were numerous natural end-points and I kept expecting things to conclude (and I was wondering what the remaining 20% of the download could possibly be about) but Hallman confounded my expectations...in a good way, fortunately.To faire sure, there were some niggles. I found the 'voices in her head' aspect annoying/confusing, especially because it triggered a "This better not be a 'and then she wakes up' novel" where the whole scenario is some kind of VR training simulation. But overall, the niggles were minor and I am definitely looking forward to reading the "IronStar Sovereignty" sequel.So, if you are into any kind of first contact (or perhaps this is better described as 'renewed contact') novel that is set on the alien planet, or you like military sci-fi (albeit low tech, not high tech) then you are likely to enjoy "Iron Star".