KCR: The Weapon (war, terrorism, scifi)

The Weapon by Michael Z. Williamson is a companion book to Freehold. In Freehold, the Graine Colony is getting invaded. In The Weapon, a special operations team had been spread around the cities of Earth. At one command, they will cause so much havoc (and civilian casualties) on Earth cities that will make people cringe...

The book raises a very interesting question: in what circumstances is terrorism a valid tactic? This book postulates a situation that such tactics may be justifiable if there is no other hope. And this is not a few incidents of terrorism... This is coordinated full-scale layered attack aimed at causing MILLIONS of casualties, and full breakdown of a city's support structure (which will cause even MORE casualties in the rioting, and other aftermath). UN security forces aren't going to take this lying down, of course, so the members are hunted, and safehouses destroyed one by one, and only this one member manage to make it off Earth...

The action is interesting, as the attack are intricately planned. Electricity grid is buzzed with an EMP bomb, then thermobaric explosives were detonated in glass buildings to spread tons of shrapnel all around, THEN the explosives in basement collapse the foundation... then random fire trucks and ambulances blow up... then add poison gas in subways, hallucinogen in water, and multiple teams in multiple cities, cities are not ready for huge number of casualties. It's scary. And it forces you to ask the question: does the ends justify the means?

Rating: get it

KCR: Freehold (scifi, war)

Image via WikipediaFreehold is the first book of Michael Z. Williamson's Freehold universe, and it is a blast. Freehold of Graine is the only independent colony that does not belong to the UNES, nor the Colonial Alliance. It is where people go... when they have nowhere left to run, and where people go to disappear.

Sergeant Kendra Pacelli is about to get hit with trumped up charges of corruption because she discovered it. Her only chance is to run to Freehold. Once there she had clawed her way out of debt, started a new life... then her world turned upside down AGAIN, when UNES decided that Freehold is too much of a problem to be left alone... and staged an "intervention".  Now, Pacelli must fight using all of her training... both UN and freehold, and protect her new home... or die trying.

The book is an interesting mix of "fish out of water" where the main character, Pacelli, was forced to abandone all she knew and move to Freehold, where NOTHING is the same. The economic system and ethics seem to be completely different, yet seem to make sense. Through odd circumstances she ended up back in military, got trained (her UN training was more of a hindrance), and actually rose in rank... When UN forces came calling, she had to deal with collaborators, glory hounds, and more in order to fight an effective guerilla campaign, and later, join the campaign to liberate Freehold.

The book is brutally honest about the clash of world views. Freehold must look absolutely bizarre to people used to big governments. It's hard to describe, but basically government is so minimal, it's only there to do true public service. There is no welfare, and public safety is NOT police (but more rescue). Good samaritan-ism is rewarded, not punished, as the victim (or his/her insurance) pay the rescuer. So on and so forth. The new social norm is described in detail and in general seem to make sense. It made so much sense, the UN invasion later is even MORE of an contrast.

All in all, the book is worth reading, with the training and military sections at the end quite interesting.

Rating: Get it!

You may also want to read the other book in the series: "The Weapon", which describes undercover agents of Freehold on Earth, ready to cause HUGE amount of havoc (and civilian casualties) to force UN to turn its attention inward and withdraw from Freehold... should UN ever invade Freehold.

KCR: Better to Beg Forgiveness (book, scifi, bodyguard)

Michael Z. Williamson writes two kinds of fiction: sniper, and scifi. This is a part of his scifi stuff, but not a part of his "Freehold" universe, but sort of a prequel, when Freehold is still known as Graine Colony.

The plot itself is kinda interesting... The planet Celadon had a civil war and some of the big corps and gang bosses like the way it is... more profit for them. They had previously came up with a compromise candidate as president that they want as a puppet, except President Biswanath is actually competent and NOT corrupt. The government contracted a security team mainly as a token gesture, but this team is extremely competent and thwarted several attempts on Biswanath's life. When a full scale 'revolution' forced the president to run for his life, the team, no longer under contract, is under no rules... and that left them PLENTY of room to do something about the situation.

The scenes about run and gun, executive protection, reaction force, bodyguard-ing, and so on are quite well written. The problem is at the end the novel turned into sort of an adventure / escape / quest which doesn't make THAT much sense. Also, the weapons aren't that special. The one interesting thing, the Hydra, only made its appearance ONCE, in one battle (albeit it's a long run-and-gun).

Not quite as interesting as his "Freehold" series, but not bad either.