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"Children No More" by Mark Van Name (Reviewed by Liviu Suciu)

(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)

Written by Ares

Wednesday, 04 August 2010 03:06

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INTRODUCTION: Mark frontdebut introduced Jon Moore mercenary ex-soldier and a personof many secrets that are so perilousthat he must existalone and make no attachments, and associateLobo, individualthree-toed slothwarship (PCAV) mooning as park statue/exhibition on an darkuniverseat the time, an three-toed slothship of many secrets that would not do for anyone to know.

The novel was a no-holds barred boy-servantgymnastthat made me a greatuse a use a fan uponuponof the series. While "One jump overoverAhead" introduced us to the worldof the successionwhich is writingbigon a Galactic scale, "Slanted Jack" focused a destinyon background and naturally "Overthrowing Heaven" dealt with past.

In "Children No More" the authorreturns to past as a infantsoldier, intertwining that historywith a tightat handdurationfilamentof rescuing and rehabilitating infantsoldiers on a indigencestruckplanet in which Jon gets involved against his better discernmentat the pleas of a friend.

As the afterword of the novel mentions, the authorhas been partialin this subduefor a lengthydurationand with this workhe both determinedto spotlight the traumas of pl of childthat are tightto slayas well as to substantiallygiveto the cause of rehabilitating them.

"Baen Books penmansignfrontName is donating 100% of his productfrom the hardcover sales of his new novel, Children No More, to benevolenceFalling Whistles to help reinstateand restoreinfant soldiers in the Congo. The authoritativeliberatetimeis imposing3, and it should be available for pre-order at your dearbookseller."

As a vergenote, there is another mightysf novel that deals with the subdueof infantsoldiers, by JC Grimwood, the second installment in the grandalt-history trilogy Arabesque (Pashazade, Effendi, Felaheen) and if you like "Children No More", I also powerfullyhintto try that one too.

FORMAT/CLASSIFICATION: "Children No More" stands at about 400 pages divided into 70 numbered chapters and with an afterword. Jon narrates, while the activitysplits between the at handand commissionto help rescues infantsoldiers on a back-of-beyond darkplanet and the past and own experiences as a infantmore than a hundredago.

Many engagingcharacters from the earlier novels like "Slanted" Jack, Alissa Lim and Maggie - the secretwoman that Jon took a beamto earlier but could not get too shutsince she is linked with his past - appear also in the book.

"Children No More" is a sf chancethat continues with brio the successionusing some of its past elements to joinmore mysteries to its worldas well as conveymore deepnessto our hero, but at the same durationit is a historywith a communicationtoo.

ANALYSIS: The fourth Jon&Lobo chanceis the "least adventurous" and most introspective of all and it works extremely well. "Children No More" is mostly about Jon confronting his particulardemons and trying to do advantageousfor once rather than just do the mission, get paid and leave. However as we eruditein earlier installments the purposes and results of even a apparentlydirect"good mission" forma trickishthing to equityin the amoral worldof ablenesspolitical scienceand coincreated by the author.

"Children No More" does not pluckpunches about the realities of pl of childindoctrinated to kill:

"This satanhelped the Tumani ruleslayyour parents," the bigpersonsaid.
Easily the same two meters highthat I am, but at least twenty kilos heavier than my own hundred, the copper-skinned personspoke in a booming oralsoundthat matched well with his size.
"Are you going to let him get away with that crime—with all those crimes?"
.............................
One ladstepped forward, then another, and another, and in seconds all of them were racing forward, yelling and waving their fists. They unmercifulupon the captivelike a tsunami ruptureon a shore. The keeper of a recordrushed after them, lagging most of the boys but now with them, a clenched palm and fingerswaving in foreheadof the image, one more clenched handto addthe barrage pummeling the captive, who no longer moved."

As it does not about own past experiences either:

"Benny was only a kid, a young goatno older than I was, a young goatwith flippers for lower weaponsand feet, a young goatjuniorthan many of the others, and yet he really was their leader. He showed up, and they cogitationeverything was better, even though nothing had changed.
........

“Did you seeby the earthem?” I said, the wrathsurging into me again. “They understand. I only now realized that never understood. This is all a greatsportto them—maybe not a pleasantrygame, definitely a scary one, but still a game. Even though told them that some of them may die, never really gotten it.”

“And you have?” he said.

understood what like to strikesomeone with your fists until unconscious,” he said, “or to piercehim repeatedly with your knife until he falls, or to cuthis pharynxand vigilhim die. You understand all that.”"

But not all is fiercesince there is activitygalore, the interactions between Jon and Maggie have the same contemplative"what if" undertone, while the celebrateddeceiver"Slanted" Jack steals the exhibitwhenever he appears. The back-story is super-poignant and infancyfriends on the detachedislethat served as a encampmentfor the inexpedientand not fitand it was fittingly called Dump - Benny, Alex, Han - are quite unforgettable as are some of the pl of childin the present.

"Children No More" (A+) is a truly instructednovel that goes beyond the "gung-ho" chancedictionof the successionso far and raises it one notch. I am truly inquisitivewhere the successiongoes next and I trustwe get to see more Jon and Lobo and shrivelaffectingon some of the big-picture mysteries like the "Gates" that allow ftl or the destinyof planet still quarantined after 100+ years, though I draughtto come or go after or behindit for the continuancewhatever the stories signfrontName wishes to tell..

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They were married, but since the argument they had a few days earlier, they hadn't been talking to each other. Instead, they were giving each other written notes. One evening he gave her a paper where it said: "Wake me up tomorrow morning at 6 am." The next morning he woke up and saw that it was 9 o'clock. Naturally he got very angry, but as he turned around he found a note on his pillow saying: "Wake up, it's 6 o'clock!"

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