Book Review: The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

Hardcover, 356 pages

Published March 19th 2019 by Saga Press

Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Science Fiction (2019)

Dragon Award Nominee for Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel (2019)

Welcome to the review of my third Kameron Hurley novel. This is my favorite but the last two have convinced me that Hurley is one of the most exciting voices working in modern Science Fiction. As a well known old school reader, it is awesome to have found a bold new voice. I mean not that new my first time reading Hurley was her 2010 series kick-off God's War (Bel Dame Apocrypha, #1). I could tell it was really well written but for some reason, it felt too fantasy for me or something. I knew it was good just didn't push my books. Then a few years back Hurley released The Stars are Legion.

The Stars are Legion is an incredible epic space opera with hints of body horror set in a post-men future matriarchy. The world-building in that novel is some of the best I have read in decades of science fiction reading. The Stars are Legion is a book that you enjoy while reading but it worms around in your brain every time you think of it. It is a book impossible to shake. When I wrote my review of that book three years ago I thought Hurley would have a tough time following that up.

Well, enter the Light Brigade. I read this book for two reasons. Primary was the strength of Hurley's last book, but second, was a five-star review from Science Fiction Book Podcast's Luke Barrage who very rarely gives that high praise. I say this because I went into this book as cold as I could. I knew nothing about the plot, managed to avoid even the notion that it was military sci-fi although the title told me that. I think the best way to enter this book is without any background. So if you are like me (and many of my readers come via the Dickheads podcast) and you like mind-bendy science fiction stop now and come back and read the rest of this review.

Before I get into spoilers let say this. Military Science Fiction has a long history that Hurley tips her hat too. The ultimate classics are Starship Troopers and the Forever War which kinda serve opposite sides of the political divide. Light Brigade does pay homage to those books but importantly Hurley updates the themes with a close look at the one issue that is tops on the minds of our modern solider. PTSD and the fog of war. While Hurley doesn't address as directly as Weston Ochse has in his Grunt series and his Burning and Dead Sky books. It is no small deal that Weston the author of those books and a Vet who has spent several tours in Afghanistan has said the Light Brigade impressed him with its military sci-fi-ness. That is bigger praise than anything I have to say.

The Light Brigade has other very strong influences mostly in classics like Slaughterhouse-Five and 1984 which get subtle well-done nods through-out. It is one of the most quoted statements about war but Senator Hiram Warren Johnson was not wrong in 1918 when he said the first casualty of war is truth. At the heart of this novel is the fog of war but brought to the surface in a way that only sci-fi could. This book is military sci-fi but it also is a dystopia, Cli-Fi, a multi-verse story and involves time travel. It is a rich political tapestry woven perfectly into the world-building that never forgets to give you character and story worth following. Excellent stuff.

OK, I hope I sold you because now I am going to start talking about the story. Go read it and come back.

The Light Brigade on the surface is a story about soldiers who are trained to be transported on a beam of light. Unlike Star Trek Hurley never ignores the insanity of that concept. Our POV is a soldier named Dietz who after the death of her family in a massive attack on Sao Paulo signs up to become a citizen. Yes this sounds like Starship Troopers but under the surface, most of the humans were living in the south because the North Hemisphere had become unlivable in this future controlled by six corporations.

It was not huge bugs or monsters like aliens who attacked it was people who were human before setting up a social system on Mars colonies. The cold war with the Martians gets hot when they returned to earth finding a way to make the former Canada livable. At this point, Dietz and her team are sent by a beam of light to Mars, Canada, Africa where ever there is a front in the war. When they are transported by the light the effect sends them across space but also time. From one timeline to another. Dietz has trouble with who and when she is.

I was OK with feeling like I was a step behind the book, that was fine with me. I felt Hurley wrapped it all up. In the final pages, I realized that we were getting a very neat way to look at how war tears about the individual. At the same time, the book takes subtle knocks at how society is affected. I don't think that was the point though. One of the final twists is preserved also by the fact that the majority of readers will assume Dietz is a man. Written from a first-person POV Dietz is also never described by any gender pronouns. I think I assumed Dietz was a Woman because I had read The Stars are Legion. I admit through the first act I started to look for clues and decided it didn't matter and I liked that.

The Light Brigade is a masterpiece and should become a classic. This cements my belief that Hurley is a badass and that I will pay attention to anything and everything she does at this point. As for my Dickheads...as a co-host of the PKD themed podcast we always make Dick-like suggestions to our listeners and yes this is one. Big time PKD vibes all over the place. So When we cover Now Wait for Last Year I will talk about this book on the show.