A Landscape of Darkness

"Landscape" is a reasonably well-written and fast-moving SF adventure, and although it veers a bit too much in fantasy territory at the end, I recommend it to those readers looking for an alternative to the more lengthy, series-driven genre novels from John Ringo and David Weber. John Clay is a mercenary recruited by the United Democracies (U.D.) to investigate reports of widespread destruction on the backwater planet Ithavoll. Despite its poverty and squalor (think of the Philippines spread over an entire world) a despot has gotten hold of a superweapon capable of turning square miles of villages and towns into ashes. Clay is a member of a commando team inserted into Ithavoll to figure out the location of the mystery weapon, and covertly destroy it. Once on-planet in one of Ithavoll's major cities, the team discovers that a significant portion of the native population is in thrall to the psychic domination of some alien force, and young men regularly lapse into homicidal frenzies earmarked by the excessive use of edged weapons. Once they discern the probable location of the weapon, the team heads into remote terrain. It turns out that their interloping has been noticed and Tind the native, an accomplished tracker and hunter, is dispatched to eliminate the meddling UD commandos. Although lacking in both personal hygiene and modern weaponry, Tind is nonetheless a formidable enemy. Can Clay and his team survive their encounter with Ithavoll's master guerilla fighter ? Is the superweapon somehow linked to alien technology ? Are the residents of Ithavoll hiding a secret of galactic importance ? Author John Blair is a college writing teacher and he can write a capable and engaging narrative. The novel does have some weaknesses- the real action doesn't start until more than 100 pages into the story, and the ending makes a somewhat awkward transition from the gritty realism of jungle combat, to a psychic encounter more characteristic of a fantasy adventure novel. But there is little of the over-writing and excessive detail, so common to too many contemporary SF novels, in "Landscape". The battle with the native hunter provides some genuine page-turning moments, without venturing into eye-rolling `superhero' territory. The underlying plot thread about alien artifacts and their malign influence, while not necessarily the most original of topics, is effectively presented and serves to keep the story from becoming what could have been a `Predator' knockoff. It's worth picking up a copy if you find it on the used bookshelves.

"A soldier is trained to fight the good fight...but it helps if he knows who the enemy is."Blair writes science fiction and about the military as though he'd visited the planets he's writing about while a member of some mobile infantry. In short, though the premise may seem a little far fetched (it is sci-fi, after all), it is told with the exuberance and detail that makes you wonder if it's made up at all. The lead character, Clay, is a good example of the hero, or even anti-hero, in modern literature. If you are into sci-fi, if you liked Starship Troopers, Predator, or Alien, this book is for you. Enjoy.