Book Review: Mech War 2, Dynamo by Scott Bartlett

Hey Space Cadets, here is the next installment in my series of book reviews. It was written by an author whose work I love, none other than Scott Bartlett. This is one of my favorite mech series, so I wanted to share it with you. This is the second book in the series and I reviewed the first book here. This book was written in the Ixan Prophecies universe, but it can be read as a standalone series. I know, because that is how I read it. In fact, this series is how I discovered Scott’s works! This world is the tale of a galactic corporate empire with a sweeping space opera storyline. Even cooler, it has all of the kick-butt military science fiction that I love. Throw in the mechs and I was sold!

Before we go any further, let me show my bias. I’m such of Scott’s works that I volunteered to run his Facebook fan group, Scott Bartlett’s Spacers. It’s a motley collection of super nerds who also geek out over the books this author creates.

When I picked up this book, I wasn’t a fan of his work yet, this is the series that sold me. It didn’t hurt that it had mechs, because I’m a sucker for the mechs! After liking the first novel in this series, I went in expecting to like this new book. It’s written like most of Bartlett’s books, with an emphasis on the sensory details and a focus on the emotional resonance between us and the characters. If you don’t love that, if you’re not a fan of rip-roaring action scenes, then this novel isn’t the book for you. However, this is my jam, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Okay, about this cool series. There are four books released in this completed collection, but I’ve been trying to peer pressure the author into writing more for us! I truly believe that after reading this book, you’re going to join me in begging for more of these awesome machines!

I’ve met Bartlett in person at one of the 20 Books to 50K author conventions a few years back. I was pleasantly surprised to find that he’s as nice there as he is online. He truly engages with his audience and values them, which I’ve learned to appreciate even more after I started managing his fan club. He’s thankful that they let him get paid to share these romps through the voids of space. I’m thankful too, since it lets me read these fun books!

Now, more about the author, Scott Bartlett. He’s a Canadian science fiction author specializing in military space opera and action-packed narratives. His tales all focus on the futuristic awesomeness that makes science fiction fun, maybe the maple syrup or poutine help him write better? Anyway, he was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, which Google and his Amazon bio tell me is the easternmost province of Canada. On the map, it’ll just say “here be moose.” Or is it “meese?” What is the plural of moose? Anyway, he lives in the frozen norther waste lands and fights frost giants before breakfast, writes a novel before lunch and wrassles dragons to cool down before bed. True story, honest.

He loves to tell you that while he pursued writing as a career, it wasn’t an easy journey. It took over a decade, where he supported himself through various jobs while honing his craft. In some of his rare interviews, he’s talked about how he had to overcome challenges like the “inner critic,” the Canadian need to apologize and maintaining consistent output. Way back when dinosaurs roamed the land, in the late cretaceous era of 2014, he achieved his goal of becoming a full-time novelist and has since produced science fiction prolifically. He must be part machine, because when does he have time to sleep?

As for a focus, Scott mainly sticks to the military science fiction that I love, though he has explored other areas of fiction in the past. A staple of his works is how his immersive worldbuilding brings the stories to live, making the high-stakes battles feel more real. Throw in the advanced technology that he creates, and you’ve got a gripping plot that pays homage to the classics of the genre like Ender’s Game. He’s been known to remind us that he’s reread the book multiple times, but I think he’s just showing off!

Now, about the series that brought us here today! The basic premise of this series centers around the main character’s quest to merely survive in a hostile galaxy where even your allies might be your enemies. In the pursuit of that drive to survive, we get to see Jake Price, the main character, adapt and evolve from the raw recruit of the last book to a more seasoned warrior in this one. He’s still boot, just not AS boot as he was in the last installment. He’s a young mech pilot who’d always dreamed of joining the military. In the context of this book, which means that he wanted to join Darkstream’s forces, a private corporate military outfit. He wanted to protect humanity and follow in his father’s footsteps, despite his family’s reticence for him to do so.

The main character isn’t static; he’s evolving from page to page and book to book. In this novel, Jake’s still adjusting to his new job of piloting one of humanity’s most advanced war machines, the armored mech giant. He’s grappling with doubts about whether he has what it takes for this career field, especially as the threats escalate with the Quatro aliens. Further, things get more complicated when they gain powerful new quadruped mechs from a mysterious third species. But I won’t say more, you need to read the book already!

(July 10^th, 2017)

If this cover looks like it’s up your alley, click the link here and give it a read! Seriously, this book will have you hooked on page one! Keep reading my review to see why you should be reading it!

The Story

Now, let’s talk about the story that brought us here! Just so we’re clear, I’m going to prove a spoiler free review for you today… here goes nothing!

The human body is no longer enough, not against rampaging alien hordes. Nope, the wars of the future will be fought with mechs. One of those mech warriors, Chief Roach, won a hard-fought victory over the ferocious Quatro. It won’t last for long unless something changes. Against that backdrop, strange meteorites fell to the surface of Eresos, containing mechs… quadruped mechs that were clearly designed for the enemy. Now, Roach and the surviving members of Oneiri Team must escort these fearsome new weapons through a harsh alien wilderness, while defending against constant attack. If the quad mechs fall into the enemy’s possession before Roach can get them to the space elevator, it’ll get ugly. Humanity will lose the advantage granted by their own MIMAS mechs, and they’ll be right back to where they were: outmatched and overpowered by the savage alien beasts.

If you like mechs, explosions and plenty of gritty combat, then you’ve come to the right place! This follow-on novel is a brilliant sequel to the Ixan Prophecies Trilogy, an epic military science fiction series.

Now that we’ve sold you on the novel’s premise let’s dive in deeper into Dynamo, book two in the Mech Wars Universe. Like most of the military fiction that I love to read, this was an action-packed novel. The story is set in a world where humanity is post-Sol System. The premise of this series has humanity having used worm holes to permanently colonize the Steel System. They operate under a purely capitalistic society that’s run by the Darkstream Corporation. It was a good set-up and well-executed premise that held my interest from the first minute of audio. The plot grew and expanded, and never once did you ever feel cheated for not having read Scotts’ earlier books in this larger world. There were more characters than I normally like, but it was so seamless that I didn’t even notice until I sat down to write this review. The author balanced action with exposition and world building, ensuring that the story never felt flat. Everything that was good about book one remained, but Bartlett kicked the espionage and intrigue up a notch! I really got into this book and couldn’t put it down because the plot was that compelling. Even in the audiobook format, the novel was easy to follow. I really loved the premise of this plot, and more importantly, I enjoyed how the author executed it.

But a solid premise alone doesn’t make a good book, the execution of the storytelling does. So, let’s look at how Scott moved the story along. The pacing of this tale was excellent; there was never a slow moment. The action was balanced by the introspection of the main characters. The moments of excitement were balanced by the lulls in the action for us to emotionally recover before the rollercoaster ride continued. I couldn’t ask for anything more, a unique premise, perfect execution, and incredible pacing!

Another thing that I loved was how skillfully Scott wrote this prose. I really have to give it to him, this novel was chalk full of visualization, and you could definitely imagine yourself in this world. The only scenes that were confusing and difficult to envision were the alien species known as the Quatro. This is a bit more problematic, as we’re two books into this series. Still, once they got their super-secret outfits, I had no problem visualizing them! I wouldn’t mind it one bit if the author shared artist’s rendering of these creatures! Seriously, it would’ve made reading this book a lot easier. This issue wasn’t so glaring that I couldn’t enjoy the hell out of the book. And for those of you who love books light on description, you’re going to be in heaven with this book. Another place where Scott went lite on the details was on how everyone looked. I know this is the current trend, so I reluctantly accept it. I don’t personally like it. I’ll reign in my rant and move on to the next point of this section.

A huge plus for me was Scott’s descriptive use of language, he balanced the explanation of this new world with the need to move a story along. This book didn’t have a single place where I couldn’t picture the scenery and the equipment, which added to the world that felt tangible and I enjoyed it. The author’s description of his universe was so evocative that I began imagining myself in the mech suit fighting with Gabe and Jake. It only got better in this book, when compared to the last one. This is partly because one book in the series builds on the next, but even as a standalone it was good. My mother listened to part of this audiobook with me as I took her to some doctor’s appointments. She hadn’t read the first novel or all of this one, but she commented specifically about how descriptive this book was. File that under the “for what it’s worth” folder, and let’s move on.

The only slight drawback of how descriptive Scott was that it could be a little bit distracting. Seriously, it made you wanna take a moment and explore every nook and cranny, but that’s a sign of an amazingly built universe. To clarify, I didn’t find any issues with the descriptions, except for the previously mentioned alien species. Like many authors these days, Scott Bartlett was lite on the details of what the various characters looked like. I don’t really like this trend, but the action was so gripping that I just didn’t care. I wanted the action, the adventure, and the PEW PEW! Scott brought it, this was definitely his A game.

I really loved this book, and it made my morning walks and gym times extremely enjoyable. I even found myself pausing so that I could listen to this novel while I was supposed to be writing my own book! Shh, don’t tell Boss Lady! Like all of my other reading experiences, I “read” this novel entirely via the audiobook. I didn’t even buy the eBook, just loaded the audiobook into my Audible account and went to town. The production quality of the audio narration was top notch, and the story was compelling. I think these mechs were so much fun that I’ve encouraged Scott to write more mech stories, even if they’re not in this Ixan Prophecies universe.

Seriously, this book totally gave me a case of the feels. I found myself getting angry at the injustices perpetrated by the Darkstream Company. I wanted to strap into a mech and storm the company headquarters with the foot soldiers! I even mourned the loss of the brave warriors killed in battle and drank a few shots in their honor! This was my second novel by author Scott Bartlett, and I’m sold on his writing style. When the bank unfreezes my credit card, I’ll probably binge read his entire back catalog! What first caught my eye was the fantastic cover, it was amazingly compelling. If I weren’t colorblind and art dumb, I’d add a section to the book review template about the covers, because so many of them are kicking butt these days! I especially liked how Scott made this cover fit with the other novels in this series, they all work well together.

Another aspect where Scott excelled was how he wrote the military culture. What he showed in this book was spot on, and unlike the last book in this series, I had no issues with rank confusion or the military culture unique to this universe. In this book, Scott even stopped to mention the combat reloading of weapons which is often missing in the Mil SciFi genre. However, I couldn’t find any place where it talks about the mechs themselves reloading. They DO run out of ammo, which is a plus, but I was curious about their weapons and didn’t get answers. A minor issue, all things being equal, so I call it a win!

Moving right along, the ground combat Scott described was visceral and immersive, just what you want from the military science fiction genre. I said in my review for Powered that “I’ve never considered mech combat in my worlds, so I’ve not had reason to think about what their tactics might be.” Well, after reading these books, I’ve begun to consider this concept, and I’m even more impressed with Scott’s work. It’s even more clear that the author has spent A LOT of time reasoning this out. The battle scenes were believable, gripping and the machines weren’t portrayed as godlike. I never felt like the author missed a chance to get creative with the tactics. Such a detailed portrayal of the tactics is rare, especially when coming from a civilian. The author weaponized the awesome power of the PEW PEW and is now a certified Grand Master in the Church of the PEW! I was hooked from the first page! He wove the action in such a compelling way that you wanted to jump into a mech as well. Basically, Scott had me hooked from the beginning and kept it going throughout the whole novel. This is a book I would happily recommend, and an author I will definitely read again. Buy the book! But hey, it’s easy to spend someone else’s money! Still… buy this book!

The Characters

In this novel, we get to interact with a smaller cast of characters than the previous novel. It was still a larger cast than many authors can manage, but to be honest, I think it was necessary to cover the scope of the author’s expansive universe. All of the characters were fleshed out, and three-dimensional. I found them to be a lot of fun to get to know and they left me wanting more. Seriously, I was left feeling like these were real people. Even cooler, I loved that it felt like the characters continued to grow in this sequel novel. They didn’t stagnate after they were first introduced. They were all so fleshed out at this point that maybe we should advance them to the four-dimensional category! I felt like I could relate to them as people, and I would love to hang out and drink a beer with them. Here’s a summary of the main characters.

Jake Price: He’s the son of a former Darkstream soldier, who follows in his father’s footsteps, despite his father’s reluctance to support the decision. He consistently scored at the top of the leader board for the lucid dreaming simulations, which brought him to the attention of the Darkstream Corporation. Once he’s recruited, he’s quickly assigned to the mech pilot unit. After the training montage and real-world experience from book one, he begins to shine as a rising star. We learn of his deep love for his ailing sister, who motivates him to fight so he can pay for her medical care. Through this family trauma, we learn that he’s a man of strong moral fiber and the kind of person you’d want on your side in a pinch. Overall, I really loved Jake’s character development throughout the story. I can’t tell you more about this character without spoilers, so I’ll leave it right here!

Gabe Roach: He’s a grizzled veteran of the UAF and a Chief in the Darkstream military forces. He is the stereotypical military badass, with a duffel bag full of regrets. In this book, we learn more about those regrets, but again, no spoilers! He’s the kind of guy you’d want on your side in a firefight, though he’s a bit of an ass to his own subordinates. After losing someone very close to him, he takes the fight to the enemy and begins helping slow the gradual combat losses the company is having against the aliens and the new merc company that appeared out of nowhere. You get to see a lot of character growth from him in this book, and you begin to see where his age and experience becomes a slight draw back. Every war leaves scars, and his run deep. He was a deeply complex man, without sliding into the soldier stereotype realm. Overall, I really liked him.

Lisa Sato: She is a junior enlisted soldier for the Darkstream military and is a true believer. This religious fervor is shaken by the events of this book, and oh what a ride you have with her. I’d love to hash that out, but I promised a spoiler free review. She’s trained all of her life on the lucid dreaming, which they just call lucid, simulations and has reached the pinnacle of combat training. Unfortunately, she learns the hard way that training on dream simulations does little to prepare her for real life combat. Luckily for her, Tess DID prepare her, and she takes the Darkstream soldiers and mobsters by surprise. In this novel, Dynamo, we see her grow as a soldier and as a person. More importantly, we see her evolution from soldier to combat leader, and it was a fun evolution. I’d give an example, but I promised a spoiler free review!

Tess Notaras: She is a gray-haired, retired Darkstream soldier, who is disillusioned and jaded. She’s got nothing nice to say about the company and thinks they train soft soldiers, unlike her training in the UAF military. She righteously takes full advantage of this weakness when she joins forces to combat the corruption within Darkstream. She deepens her friendship with Lisa and seeks to shepherd her into the promised land of competency. Soon, they’re interacting more as equals, and it helps flush her out. I definitely want to know her backstory. She doesn’t have any real growth and serves more like the mentor character archetype. This doesn’t feel like a cheap trick though, as you never feel like she’s a superfluous addition to the universe. If you want to include a mentor, follow Scott Bartlett’s example because he got it right with Tess.

Quatro: This is the alien species that inhabits the Steel System, and I envision as a cross between a horse and a bear. Humanity still thinks they’re not fully sentient, merely apex predators and that’s all I can say without spoiling bits of the plot. If you didn’t read book one, skip this next line! Okay, so we now know these aliens are sentient, and we find out a lot more about them in this book. Let’s leave it at saying that in combat with them, you’d feed them your Granny to get away from these hulking monstrosities!

Meddlers: This was the alien species that was never present but lurked in the backdrop. We still don’t know a lot about them, but you get the idea that they’re not the kind of alien you bring home to mommy. They created the Amblers and the Gathers, robots that seemed to collect resources for some unknown reason. The humans in the system took advantage of this, never wondering about who or what built these machines and whether or not they would come back.

Overall, I can’t wait to see where the author takes these characters throughout this new series!

The World

This is the second book in the Mech Wars Series, and I absolutely loved it. I liked it even better than the last book, it just kept getting better. This is the series that’ll make you want to buy Scott Bartlett’s entire back catalog! This novel had a very fleshed out world that was consistent within itself and didn’t contradict the last book in this series. Everything made sense and sucked you in, which is high praise indeed in a world desperately trying to distract you with shiny things. I loved the way he handled inserting new tidbits about the larger universe and history. He did it in such a delicate way that it almost snuck up on you, you didn’t even notice the scaffolding behind the awesome story. How well did he weave this world into being? Well, I was able to start with this series, even though it’s an offshoot of his earlier Ixan Prophecies Trilogy. You never felt like you were missing anything that you needed to understand the world. That culminated in making me want to become part of the larger world. I was hooked, and now I want to know it all!

Maybe it’s time to start considering a support group for Bartlett Book Addicts? Nah, who am I kidding… Momma didn’t raise no quitter! How did he create this level of reaction to his skillful prose? He described the world with just enough details to let me picture it in the movie theater in my head. However, I still struggled to visualize the Quatro aliens. Since they were so vital to the world that Scott created, it was a bit irksome. Again, maybe it was the audio? On the plus side, you can visualize these aliens when they’re in their space suits or other external garments. Since I didn’t read it in conjunction with the audiobook, I’ll again give him the benefit of the doubt that this is a me problem.

Another part of the world Scott Bartlett built that I really loved was the concept of the lucid dreaming. You get to see more of it in this book, and it becomes an even bigger plot device. It’s shown to have consequences, and no longer feels like some sort of handwavium magical trick. It becomes real, and one of those “use at your own risk” type of tools. Basically, lucid was set up like a dream based virtual reality simulator. I think the idea has a lot of merits, and I don’t think I’ve ever read this idea anywhere. As I said above, this amazing concept only gets better as Scott explores it more. Give the man points for creativity!

Moving right along, I’ve gotten used to Scott’s decision to use naval ranks for the Darkstream military. They’re ground based forces, so it feels odd, but maybe I’m becoming nose blind to it? These troops are serving a dirt-side garrison and policing role, which made that choice stand out. It didn’t distract from the plot, so I merely note it here for those who care about such things. Maybe my own Army bias? If you’ve read this series, let me know what you think!

Overall, the world building was well done, and I was sold on the way it happened. It felt believable, and the characters fit within the universe Scott created. It was a fun ride that made me wanna suit up…which is the goal of any action/adventure author! This novel, like many of the stories I read, didn’t take itself too seriously. That choice allowed me to focus on the fun and escapism, which is why I read in the first place. It was a step up from the last book, and if I could’ve pictured the Quatro better, it would’ve been absolutely perfect.

Politics

This was an apolitical novel, in that none of our current zeitgeists made it into this book. However, the political and military struggle between the two opposing polities, the Darkstream Corporation and the Quatro aliens were covered. This book would appeal broadly to people on all sides of the political spectrum; the book was pure escapism in the best possible ways.

Content Warning

If this book were a movie, it would be rated as PG-13. There was space and ground combat, and a few characters died, but nothing gratuitous and nothing on screen. The blood didn’t run red on the page, much to my dismay. What can I say, Scott Bartlett is classy like that. Alas, as my dear ole mom is wont to remind me, I am not. The good news, however, is that Scott’s discretion means that I can confidently show this book to my kids and not worry about emotionally traumatizing them.

Narration

The audiobook for Dynamo was well done, and the accents were consistent. That’s the bare minimum, for me, but the narrator nailed it! This story was performed by the legendary narrator Mark Boyett, who did an amazing job reading this book to me. You can’t walk away from this performance and not want to buy more of his book performances. He read the phone book? Here, take my Audible credit already! Seriously, I’ll definitely listen to more books by him. With Amazon’s audiobook price points, which is saying something! These aren’t what I’d consider impulse buys, but I happily forked over the money, and I don’t regret it! Take that, IRS man! Jokes aside, I’d listen to more novels performed by this narrator! Mark didn’t bore me or make you zone out because of his robotic monotone voice. Listening to this rendition of Dynamo felt like a friend was sitting with me reading an amazing story that he couldn’t put down. Only he made kind of cool voices, with believable accents that didn’t yank you out of the story.

Who is it for?

If you loved The Four Horseman Universe and Richard Fox’s The Terran Armor Corps spoke to you… then you’re going to love this book. If you love the visceral mech-on-mech feel of games like Armored Core and Battletech, then this book was written directly for you. You’ll love Scott Bartlett’s balanced prose and enjoy the Mech Wars Series.

Why buy it?

This book is for anyone who is a fan of fast-paced, action-heavy military science fiction. Especially for those amongst us who love mech-focused stories! A childhood spent watching Transformers gifted those amongst us with a soft spot for giant stompy robots and a desire to recapture that sense of awe at their metallic grandeur! This book is for people who enjoy reading gritty, high stakes mech battles that leave you three heart beats shy of a stroke.

If I sold this book to you, then I highly recommend that you click here and buy Dynamo, the second book in the Mech Wars Series by Scott Bartlett! Or click here and start with book one like a civilized human being!