The Bastard Legion is the first in a military sci-fi
series from Gavin Smith. Why is it awesome? Well, it’s about a penal legion.
Our protagonist has hijacked a prison ship, attached explosive collars to all
of the prisoners in stasis, and now plans to use them as her own private
mercenary force. That, that is why it’s awesome.
This is a universe where humanity has had a diaspora. We’ve
reached out to the stars at last, and found them welcoming. On the downside,
we’re still people, still as messed up as we’ve always been. National
governments began the space-race, but now they’re in it alongside
mega-corporations and colony worlds that have their own agenda – and their own
private armies. Space is seething with opportunity for those with the right
skillset, and enough of a ruthless bent. This is a universe which seems
familiar; its struggles between semi-accountable governments and corporations
that are the size of governments is likely to resonate. It’s a time when
humanity is reaching out to the stars, with, one hopes, It’s also a universe
where labour problems (or unionisation) can be met with deadly force. The blend
of these strands of hope and despair gives us a context we can recognise, a
well realised projection into our own futures. It helps, of course, that the
projection includes power armoured mechs and space travel alongside its
convincing corporate dystopia.
Into this space steps Miska. She’s smart, ruthless, and
willing to kill. Which is just as well really, because she’s stolen a maximum
security prison ship. We spend the book following Miska, and it can get rather…explosive.
She’s in mourning for her recently deceased father, and that grief bubbles away
silently between the lines, occasionally arcing out of the page. Miska usually
feels calm, in control, but the raw nature of her grief has an honesty to it which
helps make her feel more human. Miska also has something of a troubled
relationship with the rest of her family – including a particularly nasty case
of sibling rivalry, whose visceral emotions are entirely on display, and have a
genuine fire to them.
If Miska’s grief is part of what makes us able to sympathise
or empathise with her, part of that is that it feeds her rage. Goal oriented,
she’s got no qualms about kicking the living crap out of someone if they’re in
the way, or pushing the button on the explosives strapped to all of her
putative recruits. She’s harsh, hard, and willing to be lethal – which makes a
great contrast to the other emotions she’s experiencing. She’s also a badass,
and her kicking butt and taking names is great fun to read, both for the
emotional catharsis and because the fight scenes are fast paced, kinetic, and
bloody.
She’s joined by a cast of…well, mostly prisoners. A few of
them get enough time on the page to suggest that we’ll be seeing more of them
later, though they mostly seem to serve as a combination of sounding board and
meat shield for Miska. Still, those we see the most of are distinctive and in
some cases sympathetic; our emotional attachment to them grows alongside Miska’s.
If they’re merely tools and ciphers at the start, by the close of the text,
some of them have become people. Though in some cases, terrible, terrible
people.
The story…well, it’s a fast-paced hard hitter, and no mistake.
Smith shines writing his battle scenes; I can’t speak for their accuracy, but
the rest kept me turning pages – small arms fire, giant stompy robots, hard
choices, tension, blood. The characterisation wrapped around the battles is
enjoyable, convincing, and puts emotional stakes into the fights. At the end of
the day, this is a well crafted piece of military sci-fi, with enough genuine
characters to make it feel real, and enough convincing battles to keep the pages
turning.
If you’re on the look out for something like that, then this may be
for you.
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