Review: Never leave a man behind in battle and trust no one but your crew
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 25, 2013
Author Christopher Nuttall incorporates economic theory and elements of mass-scale social dysfunction in this saga of a future earth weighted down with 80 billion souls and a government rife with favoritism and rotted with corruption. The Empire is ruled by an overwhelmed teenager who was crowned as an infant. The Earth's massive welfare system has created a huge underclass that fuels off-planeTt emigration through either indentured servitude for minor crimes or colonists seeking a better life. The book starts out after the successful battle between a group of marines, Stalker's Stalkers, and a band of nihilists who want nothing more than the end of all their misery, and the Empire. Captain Edward Stalker kills the terrorists, but the conflict kills civilians, several thousand of them. Somebody's got to pay even though the terrorists had planned to kill many more. Stalker and his crew are sent to a planet on the edge of the populated Galactic Empire as punishment. They're given supplies and told that the Empire is tightening its resources due to budget constraints. In fact, the word is the Navy will stop patrolling outer planets and allow them to their own, oftentimes limited, resources. Avalon, Stalker's destination, was settled by an under-capitalized corporation and established with prison laborers and colonists who have so much debt that they end up passing it onto their children and their children. The economy is controlled by those who purchased the corporation's debt. The situation has created a population of mostly have-nots, struggling mightily to maintain a life. Meanwhile, a group of independents has begun waging an increasingly damaging war on the Empire-backed governor. At the same time, a group of highly organized former prisoners who have nothing to lose is preying on the colonists, taking over community after community and demanding fealty. Captain Stalker has only 80 marines and his situation looks grim. Yet, he takes each problem one at a time and tries to figure out how best to save the planet from itself. Nuttall's story is a page-turner and full of detail on how economic policy can tank any government. Plus he's got some pretty cool technology and paints awesome battle scenes.