Dubi reviewed Earth Alone by Daniel Arenson
Review of 'Earth Alone' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Well that was bad.
This is a 300 page description of basic training in the late 20th century, specifically in the Israel Defense Force, with a thin veneer of sci fi back story that makes no sense.
I wasn't sure that it was IDF based, but so many things were a bit too much on the nose - the ranks, the slang (whorehouse), the catch phrases (the harder the training the easier the combat). I ended up googling the author, and sure enough, it's an Israeli who did his military service in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
But the story happens 200 years in the future, so surely things have changed? Nope. The author goes to great lengths to make excuses why 23rd century soldiers will be training like early 21st century ones. And it doesn't make any sense.
Storywise, there is none. It's just basic training start to finish. Nothing …
Well that was bad.
This is a 300 page description of basic training in the late 20th century, specifically in the Israel Defense Force, with a thin veneer of sci fi back story that makes no sense.
I wasn't sure that it was IDF based, but so many things were a bit too much on the nose - the ranks, the slang (whorehouse), the catch phrases (the harder the training the easier the combat). I ended up googling the author, and sure enough, it's an Israeli who did his military service in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
But the story happens 200 years in the future, so surely things have changed? Nope. The author goes to great lengths to make excuses why 23rd century soldiers will be training like early 21st century ones. And it doesn't make any sense.
Storywise, there is none. It's just basic training start to finish. Nothing actually happens, the protagonist is perfect with zero development, and no actual plot unfolds.
The sci fi premise is idiotic, the vision of the future is feeble, with zero innovation. (btw, while armies have advanced enough to allow male and females to serve and shower together, it would seem being gay is still cause for shame in the 23rd century...).
And don't even get me started about the "Israel" backstory.
But speaking of Israel, let's talk a bit politics. The thing about armies is they generally fight other humans. This, of course, leads to all sorts of ethical issues that make it difficult to straight up glorify military life unless you're a verified fascist. The IDF, specifically, mostly fights non-military combatants such as terrorist organizations hamas and hizballah. But the author doesn't want to talk politics, he wants to tell us a story about how amazing the army is, without that pesky ethical bit. So he literally dehumanizes the enemy. Israel's Palestinian enemy literally becomes giant evil insects. These super intelligent beings are nevertheless incapable of developing projectile weapons, and seem to prefer fighting Earth by hurtling its individual soldiers onto Earth armed with nothing but their claws. Earth, meanwhile, has been unable to modify anti aircraft weapons to intercept these helpless falling pods en route. Sure, why not.
So, a pointless story with no plot, uninteresting characters, in an unappealing, stupid setting and an uninspired setting, offering bland insights that avoid all the interesting and problematic aspects of the core subject matter of the novel. And poorly written to boot. Why anyone would enjoy this, let alone continue to read the next books in the series, is beyond me.
