This is another story for which I am not the target audience. I needed to know a lot more about the military to understand much of what was going on. I do know who Chesty Puller was, and that tells me a lot about this story's intended audience and confirms it isn't me. I did like the robots-in-space idea, where instead of sending people we send suits that are guided by people, and how that's part of the new space race. Also the space battles were totally cool. Slightly to my surprise, it turns out Vox Day's novelette is not the worst Hugo nominee this year. So far at least, this is. (Torgersen has been nominated before, of course, so we can also say this is the worst Torgersen nominee ever: he can write better than this.)It's turgid, dull stuff, broken up by periodic sideswipes (at Europe, the female President (wonder who that could be?), communism, and other equally obvious targets for a right-wing author), and generously larded with admiration for the military. The plot, such as it is, is simple: evil Chinese astronauts attack US space platform and are defeated by two plucky US military types, operating robots remotely from earth. There could have been some interesting exploration of the issues this raises: the Chinese attackers are actually present in the battle while our heroes are not, and our heroes do momentarily seem embarrassed about the fact that they're not actually at personal risk. But that's quickly brushed aside, and the deaths of the Chinese attackers are treated with much the same degree of solemnity as the destruction of a solar panel that opens the story. They're objects in this story, that's all. I'd love to point out some redeeming quality in this story but there isn't one. Lucky to get one star.
What do You think about The Exchange Officers (2013)?
Overly political, not in the content but in the asides and subtext. Did not enjoy it.
—Leo0101
Below average military space romp. Better than "The Chaplain's Legacy" crap, though.
—fluffy
