They said the war would turn us into light.
I wanted to be counted among the heroes who gave us this better world.
The Light Brigade: it’s what soldiers fighting the war against Mars call the ones who come back…different. Grunts in the corporate corps get busted down into light to travel to and from interplanetary battlefronts. Everyone is changed by what the corps must do in order to break them down into light. Those who survive learn to stick to the mission brief—no matter what actually happens during combat.
Dietz, a fresh recruit in the infantry, begins to experience combat drops that don’t sync up with the platoon’s. And Dietz’s bad drops tell a story of the war that’s not at all what the corporate brass want the soldiers to think is going on.
Is Dietz really experiencing the war differently, or is it combat madness? Trying to untangle memory from mission brief and survive with sanity intact, Dietz is ready to become a hero—or maybe a villain; in war it’s hard to tell the difference.
What makes a hero? Is it their actions? How they comport themselves when surrounded by death and destruction? Or is it the side they choose to fight for? Kameron Hurley’s latest science fiction novel, The Light Brigade, focuses on the cost of war and what it means to the individual caught in the midst of it.
Through the eyes of Private Dietz, we get to view an escalating conflict from the ground up. Earth, now run by a group of corporate entities, are at loggerheads with Mars. Over the decades, both planets have become removed enough from one another that their relationship has collapsed irrevocably. Our home has been ruined by ecological disasters, while Mars has thrived. Earth views its neighbour with envious eyes, and this has led to open hostility.
I always enjoy science fiction where there is plenty to unpack and ponder. Hurley explores the nature of conflict and the effect of prolonged warfare on soldiers. Dietz gets to the point where the difference between right and wrong become so hopelessly blurred, the two are almost indistinguishable. Concepts like patriotism and loyalty are picked apart and viewed from different angles. A cursory glance may make you think The Light Brigade is just a matter of good versus evil, but it is so much more that. Dietz’s mental state is suffering its own internal conflict that is just as enthralling as the action going on elsewhere. There is a war of attrition going on within the character that is fascinating.
Tonally, there are nods to other war stories. The structure of society Dietz has grown up in bears a passing resemblance to Johnny Rico’s formative years in Starship Troopers. At one point, there is a character who feels like they are channelling Vincent D’Onofrio from Full Metal Jacket. I was also reminded of the fantastic All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, which was in turn the basis for Edge of Tomorrow. I think The Light Brigade would most definitely be worthy of its own adaptation to the big screen. Rather than detract from the narrative, these references help reinforce the message at the heart of the text. War is Hell, and The Light Brigade reminds us of that at every turn. Terrible things happen all in the name of a potential victory. There is nothing glamorous about the world Dietz exists in. Countries have been replaced by corporations who use the promise of a better life to ensure cannon fodder remains readily available.
The evolution of Dietz is one of the novel’s greatest strengths. Fresh out of boot camp there are moments that shock the protagonist so much they unable to react. Later in the text however, when Dietz has become far more jaded and world weary, events are met with a grim acceptance. There are a handful of revelatory moments towards the novel’s end where you get a real sense of just how far the character has come. Ideals have crumbled and attitudes change quite dramatically.
If you are going to read The Light Brigade, and I strongly recommend that you do, I advise paying close attention to the time jumps going on. Dietz’s narrative doesn’t exist in a linear format. Time travel, and Dietz mental state, mean that things are somewhat jumbled. Again though, this doesn’t detract from the story; it enhances it. There is a sense of frenetic chaos that leaves our hero often confused but makes for a more enthralling tale.
You probably won’t be surprised when I tell you that at times, The Light Brigade is not what you might call an upbeat experience. I should stress that I don’t think it is supposed to be, and I’m glad of it. War is brutal and pointless. Hurley ensures nothing is sugar coated. Dietz is a small island of stillness is a never-ending parade of death and violence. Good fiction should always retain that ability to shock, to force a reader to explore their own preconceived notions. Hurley’s writing often makes this trickiest of tasks appear blissfully easy. I’ll admit to being just a little bit in awe.
Regular readers of The Eloquent Page will know I like to pair each review with some music. I’m all about setting the mood and find suitably appropriate sounds enhance my enjoyment of any text. This time out, rather than picking a soundtrack myself, I decided to ask the person responsible for the novel what music helped to inspire The Light Brigade.
As I’ve already used Mad Max Fury Road and Arrival for other reviews, and I shudder at the thought of repeating myself, so the Mass Effect 3 soundtrack it was. I have to agree with the author it is a very fine choice indeed. There is a brash militaristic quality to some tracks and a quiet almost alien serenity elsewhere.
The Light Brigade is published by Angry Robot and is available now. Highly recommended.
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