The Bookwyrm's Review of Blood Red Steel by Damien Larkin
Blood alone decides the fate of Mars
For two years, the Mars Expeditionary Force has held the line against the last remnants of the Third Reich. McCabe, Jenkins, and the Second Battalion long for home. Reinforcements have arrived, but the veterans of the MEF have one final mission. Defend Forward Base Zulu at all costs.
While Generalfeldmarschall Brandt plans a decisive showdown at Forward Base Zulu, Reichsführer Wagner celebrates the activation of the first generation of the Hollow Programme. Surrounded and cut off, McCabe and Jenkins once again find themselves in league with the MAJESTIC-12 operatives known as the Black Visors. Now the future hinges on the sacrifices of a few determined soldiers.
Review
Blood Red Steel is one of those books that I was really anticipating. After reading the previous book, Blood Red Sand, I was curious where the author would take the story, since he had introduced so many new elements and characters into the series, which was already loaded with great elements from the first book, and had crossovers between the two. I was wondering how the book would carry on the intersections between what amounts to two timelines, and how he could take the story forward. He accomplished this by adding in some new elements to merge the two timelines to work around, and you get to meet new/old characters as a much earlier intersection in their lives, and get an idea of how they got to where you first encounter them.
The world building is a thing of beauty. Mars is a fully realized setting, with colonies set up in various locations, from large cities such as New Berlin to military bases like Forward Base Zulu. The escaped Nazi's founded these colonies, but the has defeated them for the most part, and has been chasing down insurgent werewolf units afterword. There is also a native civilization of Martian humans, who end up playing a much larger part in the story that I would have expected. The Martian native's tech is more advanced in some ways, more primitive in others, and it makes for some really excellent culture clashes as things go sideways in the story. The revelations of a level of tech that is beyond anything currently seen, and a threat of an even older race is hinted at, and helps explain how the Germans ended up on Mars. It's very well done, and still leaves mysteries to explore later.
The characters are fantastic, as they were in the first two books. Characters from both timelines are present, although this story centers mostly on Lieutenant McCabe and Corporal Jenkins. Veterans of the first wave of soldiers on Mars, they and their fellow members of the Mars Expeditionary Force have held the line against the Nazi's they defeated, dealing with insurgents and saboteurs who keep chipping away at the MEF. McCabe and Jenkins are both worn down from the constant pressure, the constant danger they face. It's obviously PTSD, but it's the 50's, and like so many soldiers in so many era's, they bury it inside, because they are expected to perform, no matter what. They are the first one on the line though, willing to do what it takes to defeat the enemy and keep their brothers in arms safe.
The secondary characters are well done as well. The Black Visors, who are spec ops soldiers who appear at the most desperate times, seem to know way more than anyone else, but are willing to be right in the thick of the action trying to accomplish their mission at any cost. Anna Bailey also makes a return, looking for revenge for what the SS did to her, wreaking havok like a spirit of vengeance on the Nazis in her way, in the most gory ways possible. The various other characters all get some character building as well, and we even see an early appearance of a character from the original book in the series, who plays an important part in the events in that book. These characters really add the spice to this story, and you will find easter eggs throughout if you look.
The villains are mostly the Nazi's. The same Nazi's that escaped from Earth as the Third Reich fell, and who started right back up with their evil ways on Mars. Two years on, the Nazi's are somewhat pacified, but there are elements led by the last Wehrmacht and SS holdouts who have allied with the native Martians, who seemed to think National Socialism is just swell. It's this mentality that causes a battle of the bulge type attack, with the natives and Wehrmacht troops far outnumbering the beleaguered MOF troops. It's a war with no quarter, and it's viciously brutal to the bitter end, an end that is in doubt throughout the battle.
This book, and series in general, have all the elements I love in science fiction. It's set on another planet, it has elements including consciousness transfer, time travel, ray guns, an alien menace, undiscovered history, genetic engineering and so much more. In the hands of a lesser author these elements might not work together, but Damien Larkin has a deft touch mixing the fantastical elements with the grounded ones. It mixes high concepts with vicious ground combat that show the range of the author's imagination, and you are just drawn into the story, which never lets you go. I give this book my highest recommendation.
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