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felinity's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. Upon first glance this, somewhat inevitably, reminded me of [b:Starship Troopers|17214|Starship Troopers|Robert A. Heinlein|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1371782363s/17214.jpg|2534973], mainly because of the enemy and Basic Training, but there the similarity ends.
This is a reality which SF doesn't normally cover, one where humans are weak, and one where we're losing. It opens on a planet called Purgatory, where Harry Barlow, a humble chaplain's assistant, maintains a multidenominational chapel. He doesn't have any faith of his own, never preaches a sermon, just creates a quiet space where people can come to reflect and seek their own answers. His short chaplain training, which involved comforting the wounded and the dying during drills, hasn't prepared him for this, but then nothing could.
A line of communication suddenly opens up, and his life and future change in unfathomable ways as he begins a last ditch effort to save humanity.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a reality which SF doesn't normally cover, one where humans are weak, and one where we're losing. It opens on a planet called Purgatory, where Harry Barlow, a humble chaplain's assistant, maintains a multidenominational chapel. He doesn't have any faith of his own, never preaches a sermon, just creates a quiet space where people can come to reflect and seek their own answers. His short chaplain training, which involved comforting the wounded and the dying during drills, hasn't prepared him for this, but then nothing could.
A line of communication suddenly opens up, and his life and future change in unfathomable ways as he begins a last ditch effort to save humanity.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
thesmudge's review against another edition
5.0
This is a story of mankind's run up against a powerful and overwhelming alien. The story takes place after this conflict has started and details the impact that a couple of individuals can have on such events. Good stuff it is.
As for the religion part, it is there but is nothing overwhelming or even takes up much of the story. Indeed, religion is not a major theme within the story, rather a background concept that has an influence that is not constantly discussed once the story gets going. The refreshing part is that it is not something portrayed as bad or something that had negative influences within the world this story creates. That is much different in that most other stories, when they touch upon religion, make it out as a influence that drives evil or poor behavior and in many cases something that makes those involved backwards. This type of handling of religion is so common that it is a trope in science fiction and easily predictable and thus boring.
While religion as portrayed in the book is pretty much unchanged from today's versions of them I found that this not the point. The book is not a take what the future of religion could be but rather how it can impact individuals, or not impact individuals regardless of the time setting. I have not yet seen a book that attempts that without falling into the predictable trope I previously mentioned.
This is the first book I have read by the author and I am excited to see what things he comes up with next.
As for the religion part, it is there but is nothing overwhelming or even takes up much of the story. Indeed, religion is not a major theme within the story, rather a background concept that has an influence that is not constantly discussed once the story gets going. The refreshing part is that it is not something portrayed as bad or something that had negative influences within the world this story creates. That is much different in that most other stories, when they touch upon religion, make it out as a influence that drives evil or poor behavior and in many cases something that makes those involved backwards. This type of handling of religion is so common that it is a trope in science fiction and easily predictable and thus boring.
While religion as portrayed in the book is pretty much unchanged from today's versions of them I found that this not the point. The book is not a take what the future of religion could be but rather how it can impact individuals, or not impact individuals regardless of the time setting. I have not yet seen a book that attempts that without falling into the predictable trope I previously mentioned.
This is the first book I have read by the author and I am excited to see what things he comes up with next.
nvciel's review against another edition
5.0
This was an unexpected find. I have read numerous science fiction novels about humans encountering aliens and it never ends well for us. Most of these books have been along the lines of Independence Day. The Chaplain’s War reminded me of the scene from the George Pal movie War of the Worlds where the Pastor approaches the Martians with his Bible raised high only to be killed. Harrison Barlow is a good man but perhaps he isn’t cut out to be a soldier. He finds his niche as the assistant to the Chaplain and he becomes the arms and legs to the man of God. He is a servant to both humans and mantis. He is an ordinary man who is suddenly placed in an extraordinary circumstance. Despite his fear, Barlow befriends the Professor and their friendship saves both species. One from annihilation and the other from sin. This is a wonderful book that points out there is room in the universe for everyone.
cwebb's review against another edition
3.0
Hm, das Buch ist nicht schlecht. Aber auch nicht supergut. Ich wollte vor allem mal wieder keinen Krimi lesen, sondern was an Science Fiction, aber auch keine Serie. Und da passt The Chaplain's War sehr gut. Unterhaltsam, ein wenig space, ein wenig krachbumm, und alles ist gut.
publius's review against another edition
4.0
Author Doris Lessing once noted that "That function of a writer is to raise questions not find answers."
A Nobel Prize winner, Lessing famously responded to a critic of her Canopus in Argos series--a work of science fiction, in contrast to what critics considered her more serious literature--by saying: "What they didn't realize was that in science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time."
That was thirty years ago. Today, Brad Torgersen (a Hugo, Nebula, and Campbell award nominee in 2013) carries on that tradition, raising and addressing questions in his science fiction. His first novel, The Chaplain's War, is as much an examination of society, belief, and technology as it is of aliens, spaceships, and interstellar war. Whether you're looking for military scifi or existential introspection, you'll find it here. And, because Torgersen is a military man himself, his description of life in a boot camp in a near future war against alien species feels authentic and accurate.
Torgerson's The Chaplain's War began as the short story "The Chaplain’s Assistant," which he later expanded into the novella "The Chaplain's Legacy" before filling it out into a full novel. I discovered him for the first time at the 2013 Salt Lake Comic Con, where he was sitting on several panels on writing and science fiction.
The Chaplain's War follows Harrison Barlow, a young soldier who is to become the pivotal figure in humanity's war against a fearsome half cyborg, half insect alien race that is bent on humanity's eradication from the universe. Alternating between the present--where Barlow is sequestered with other humans as POWs--and the past, Barlow is a Chaplain's Assistant, becoming so almost by accident. It's a story of the path less traveled making all the difference, and Torgersen executes it with a deft and sensitive touch.
It makes for a tale that is both exciting and thought-provoking, fresh even while harking back to a time when science fiction was less about the political agendas and more about the fantastic possibility and wonder that the future holds. He aims for broad appeal, not the narrow "diversity" crowd of science fiction literati struggling to find readers among the average Joes just looking for a good story.
This isn't to say that Torgersen shies away from the controversial. Indeed, his story--that one man for peace can be as powerful as a whole armada of space going warships--may be controversial in itself. This is especially notable when you consider that movie audiences are flocking to see superhumans and lovable scoundrels (think Man of Steel, Thor, Captain America, or Guardians of the Galaxy) duke it out with the enemies of liberty, justice, and the American way, saving humanity by violence and destruction writ large.
Torgersen's implicit question, never directly addressed, but clearly central to the solution, is whether violence is necessary.
But he doesn't leave it at that. Torgersen weaves in themes on faith and technology, using the cyborg-insect alien menace to raise questions about the existence of deity, providence, and a divine guiding hand, both in the universe and in the individual lives of all sentient beings. At the same time, it's impossible to miss Torgersen's reticence to fully embrace technological innovation without thought for the consequences. Could acceptance and use of technology with humanity come at the cost of our humanity and our ability to connect to the natural and transcendent?
Even though his title character is a chaplain, he is by no means a believer. Belief in God is a bridge too far for him, and yet, it is his role as the Chaplain's assistant that thrusts him into his place as a mediator between two enemy races. There are scenes that seem reminiscent of Enemy Mine (take your pick: the novella by Barry Longyear or the movie starring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett, Jr.), but Torgersen takes a more existential and transcendent approach and walks his readers through the process of how an unbeliever might begin to believe, even while trying to survive to live through another day.
Meanwhile, the bullets are flying and the action is intense. It's cliche to say that there are no atheists in foxholes, and Torgersen seems willing to test that proposition.
And yet, his message--if there is one--is not a heavy handed paean to religion. Rather, his approach seems to be a new spin on an oft addressed question: are we alone in the universe?
Torgersen's perspective may just be that perhaps our existence alone, as that of any sentient race, is evidence that we are not alone, but that there is in nature a force greater than us with an interest in our happiness and progress. But it is a journey that every man, or woman, must walk on their own terms.
As I finished The Chaplain's War, it was clear to me that Torgersen had raised as many questions as he had intimated answers. Rather than sewing confusion with his inquiries, though, his aim is towards hope and possibility, encouraging the reader to look out from himself rather than in.
I've often heard Torgersen note--at cons, on his blog, and in social media--that his aim is to entertain, reach a broad audience, and regain some of the footing that the science fiction genre lost when it became obsessed with pet ideological projects. The Chaplain's War is a step in that direction (and one is tempted to make comparisons to Heinlein), entertaining and thoughtful at the same time, without forgetting what made science fiction great during its golden age. It bodes well for Torgersen's career, and I look forward to what he crafts next.
A Nobel Prize winner, Lessing famously responded to a critic of her Canopus in Argos series--a work of science fiction, in contrast to what critics considered her more serious literature--by saying: "What they didn't realize was that in science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time."
That was thirty years ago. Today, Brad Torgersen (a Hugo, Nebula, and Campbell award nominee in 2013) carries on that tradition, raising and addressing questions in his science fiction. His first novel, The Chaplain's War, is as much an examination of society, belief, and technology as it is of aliens, spaceships, and interstellar war. Whether you're looking for military scifi or existential introspection, you'll find it here. And, because Torgersen is a military man himself, his description of life in a boot camp in a near future war against alien species feels authentic and accurate.
Torgerson's The Chaplain's War began as the short story "The Chaplain’s Assistant," which he later expanded into the novella "The Chaplain's Legacy" before filling it out into a full novel. I discovered him for the first time at the 2013 Salt Lake Comic Con, where he was sitting on several panels on writing and science fiction.
The Chaplain's War follows Harrison Barlow, a young soldier who is to become the pivotal figure in humanity's war against a fearsome half cyborg, half insect alien race that is bent on humanity's eradication from the universe. Alternating between the present--where Barlow is sequestered with other humans as POWs--and the past, Barlow is a Chaplain's Assistant, becoming so almost by accident. It's a story of the path less traveled making all the difference, and Torgersen executes it with a deft and sensitive touch.
It makes for a tale that is both exciting and thought-provoking, fresh even while harking back to a time when science fiction was less about the political agendas and more about the fantastic possibility and wonder that the future holds. He aims for broad appeal, not the narrow "diversity" crowd of science fiction literati struggling to find readers among the average Joes just looking for a good story.
This isn't to say that Torgersen shies away from the controversial. Indeed, his story--that one man for peace can be as powerful as a whole armada of space going warships--may be controversial in itself. This is especially notable when you consider that movie audiences are flocking to see superhumans and lovable scoundrels (think Man of Steel, Thor, Captain America, or Guardians of the Galaxy) duke it out with the enemies of liberty, justice, and the American way, saving humanity by violence and destruction writ large.
Torgersen's implicit question, never directly addressed, but clearly central to the solution, is whether violence is necessary.
But he doesn't leave it at that. Torgersen weaves in themes on faith and technology, using the cyborg-insect alien menace to raise questions about the existence of deity, providence, and a divine guiding hand, both in the universe and in the individual lives of all sentient beings. At the same time, it's impossible to miss Torgersen's reticence to fully embrace technological innovation without thought for the consequences. Could acceptance and use of technology with humanity come at the cost of our humanity and our ability to connect to the natural and transcendent?
Even though his title character is a chaplain, he is by no means a believer. Belief in God is a bridge too far for him, and yet, it is his role as the Chaplain's assistant that thrusts him into his place as a mediator between two enemy races. There are scenes that seem reminiscent of Enemy Mine (take your pick: the novella by Barry Longyear or the movie starring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett, Jr.), but Torgersen takes a more existential and transcendent approach and walks his readers through the process of how an unbeliever might begin to believe, even while trying to survive to live through another day.
Meanwhile, the bullets are flying and the action is intense. It's cliche to say that there are no atheists in foxholes, and Torgersen seems willing to test that proposition.
And yet, his message--if there is one--is not a heavy handed paean to religion. Rather, his approach seems to be a new spin on an oft addressed question: are we alone in the universe?
Torgersen's perspective may just be that perhaps our existence alone, as that of any sentient race, is evidence that we are not alone, but that there is in nature a force greater than us with an interest in our happiness and progress. But it is a journey that every man, or woman, must walk on their own terms.
As I finished The Chaplain's War, it was clear to me that Torgersen had raised as many questions as he had intimated answers. Rather than sewing confusion with his inquiries, though, his aim is towards hope and possibility, encouraging the reader to look out from himself rather than in.
I've often heard Torgersen note--at cons, on his blog, and in social media--that his aim is to entertain, reach a broad audience, and regain some of the footing that the science fiction genre lost when it became obsessed with pet ideological projects. The Chaplain's War is a step in that direction (and one is tempted to make comparisons to Heinlein), entertaining and thoughtful at the same time, without forgetting what made science fiction great during its golden age. It bodes well for Torgersen's career, and I look forward to what he crafts next.
jtone's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book. The main character felt like a slightly better than average everyman. It wasn't preachy and tells an interesting stoy.
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