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A review by ssindc
Empire City by Matt Gallagher
3.0
So many thoughts on this one... I didn't love it, but I enjoyed it ... and it raises a lot of interesting, critically important, potentially thought-provoking social issues.
Service, the military, the draft, citizenship, forever wars, government credibility (and transparency), post-tramautic stress disorder (PTSD) and TBI (traumatic brain injury), public responsibility to our veterans, duty, sacrifice, etc... and that's all before you get to the superhero sub-theme, which, frankly, for this reader, was the least interesting (and least developed) aspect of the book, and I'm a massive superhero, graphic novel, comic novelization consumer....
OK, lemme get my (unique, individual) critiques out of the way. I think my primary criticisms here were that (1) the prose didn't sing. It was sufficiently workmanlike, and no doubt competent, but it didn't sing... Hmm, by analogy, this was more Lee Child (Jack Reacher) and less Tana French (Dublin Murder Squad) or Jamie Lee Burke (Dave Robicheaux) .... (2) none of the characters fully animated for me ... I know, I know, it was a superhero novel, but I've read enough superhero novelizations to want more from character development; and (3) given the (more than adequate) pacing, I could have easily dealt with another 50-100 pages to flesh any number (let's say at least three) of the sub-plots that ultimately became loose ends....
As for the more positive, I love the themes that book introduces ... even if, in the end, they weren't fully fleshed out (at least to my mind).... Then again, I'm a veteran, the son of a veteran, whose professional life intersects with the military, and I read a lot of military-related stuff.
Let's start with the elephant in the room. It's 2020, and it's a crime ... seriously, ... it is just plain wrong ... it's unacceptable that, from 2006-2016, there were more than 6,000 Veteran suicides each year, averaging 17 Veteran suicides every day. If you haven't read David Finkel's powerful Thank You For Your Service, that's a good place to start.... While I have little idea what the author was really after, I applaud any effort to get our government, elected officials, and the public to think more about what our obligations are to our veterans (and those that support them - side note: we take better care of our veterans than we do of the contractors that support them, even if they take similar risks and suffer similar fates, but I digress....)
Also, in a nation where an unrepentant draft dodger is president, and military service is much less common, ... and too many Americans don't even know someone who serves or has served ... what it means to serve ... and who serves (and, frankly, who doesn't or who doesn't have to) is a significant issue. At least the federal government is re-thinking our approach to this issue... See, for example: The National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service, at https://inspire2serve.gov/ .... Along those lines, classic sci-fi aficionados will hear powerful echos from Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Scalzi's Old Man's War - and, if you're unfamiliar with them, one of the themes is that citizenship is tied to service (far more directly than in our current experience).
As alternative histories go, this was interesting but, I have to admit, the alternative history (TV show) within the alternative history (novel) was a bit much for me. But that's a minor point.
Glad I read it.
Service, the military, the draft, citizenship, forever wars, government credibility (and transparency), post-tramautic stress disorder (PTSD) and TBI (traumatic brain injury), public responsibility to our veterans, duty, sacrifice, etc... and that's all before you get to the superhero sub-theme, which, frankly, for this reader, was the least interesting (and least developed) aspect of the book, and I'm a massive superhero, graphic novel, comic novelization consumer....
OK, lemme get my (unique, individual) critiques out of the way. I think my primary criticisms here were that (1) the prose didn't sing. It was sufficiently workmanlike, and no doubt competent, but it didn't sing... Hmm, by analogy, this was more Lee Child (Jack Reacher) and less Tana French (Dublin Murder Squad) or Jamie Lee Burke (Dave Robicheaux) .... (2) none of the characters fully animated for me ... I know, I know, it was a superhero novel, but I've read enough superhero novelizations to want more from character development; and (3) given the (more than adequate) pacing, I could have easily dealt with another 50-100 pages to flesh any number (let's say at least three) of the sub-plots that ultimately became loose ends....
As for the more positive, I love the themes that book introduces ... even if, in the end, they weren't fully fleshed out (at least to my mind).... Then again, I'm a veteran, the son of a veteran, whose professional life intersects with the military, and I read a lot of military-related stuff.
Let's start with the elephant in the room. It's 2020, and it's a crime ... seriously, ... it is just plain wrong ... it's unacceptable that, from 2006-2016, there were more than 6,000 Veteran suicides each year, averaging 17 Veteran suicides every day. If you haven't read David Finkel's powerful Thank You For Your Service, that's a good place to start.... While I have little idea what the author was really after, I applaud any effort to get our government, elected officials, and the public to think more about what our obligations are to our veterans (and those that support them - side note: we take better care of our veterans than we do of the contractors that support them, even if they take similar risks and suffer similar fates, but I digress....)
Also, in a nation where an unrepentant draft dodger is president, and military service is much less common, ... and too many Americans don't even know someone who serves or has served ... what it means to serve ... and who serves (and, frankly, who doesn't or who doesn't have to) is a significant issue. At least the federal government is re-thinking our approach to this issue... See, for example: The National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service, at https://inspire2serve.gov/ .... Along those lines, classic sci-fi aficionados will hear powerful echos from Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Scalzi's Old Man's War - and, if you're unfamiliar with them, one of the themes is that citizenship is tied to service (far more directly than in our current experience).
As alternative histories go, this was interesting but, I have to admit, the alternative history (TV show) within the alternative history (novel) was a bit much for me. But that's a minor point.
Glad I read it.