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Hybrid Universe #1
War Games
THE STRANGEST SOLDIERS AND REBELS CLASH ON THE MOST INCREDIBLE BATTLEFIELD. A Combat Hybrid ... They were no longer human--they were hybrids, genetic/cyborg soldiers. They fought each other in savage battles through the ice forests of Saturn's moon. They held the constant terror of death and destruction at bay only by indulging in fantastic cybernetic dreams and games, genetically engineered drugs, and the disturbing pleasures of their altered flesh. Joints reinforced with polymer mesh. Nictating occular membranes. Sphincters where there were none before. Regenerated limbs. Subcutaneous vitalium wires instead of hair. They were no longer human. They were combat hybrids-genetically-modified cyborgs bioformed for fhe express purpose of waging war in hostile environments.
Marc Detrs hadn’t wanted to become a hybrid. But it was that or jail. That or have his true past discovered. That or be forced to reveal his knowledge of the all-seeing timestone. He became a hybrid, fighting for the chance to die in a guerrilla war that is waged in the frozen methane forests of Saturn’s moon. And then Grychn reappeared-a ghost from his past, the lover who knew all his secrets. They would either kill each other or help each other to find the timestone, the most valuable object in the Universe.
Don't miss Dream Games, the second novel of the Hybrid Universe.
“A rousing and evocative future war novel in the tradition of STARSHIP TROOPERS and THE FOREVER WAR. Readers will remember it long after they put the book down.”–George R. R. Martin, Winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards
“Makes Heinlein’s Starship Troopers look like a pack of cub scouts.” — Edward Bryant, twice winner of the Nebula Award
“More real than life, more painful, and, in the end, more beautiful. Hansen really goes for the jugular!” — Orson Scott Card, author of A Planet Called Treason
Marc Detrs hadn’t wanted to become a hybrid. But it was that or jail. That or have his true past discovered. That or be forced to reveal his knowledge of the all-seeing timestone. He became a hybrid, fighting for the chance to die in a guerrilla war that is waged in the frozen methane forests of Saturn’s moon. And then Grychn reappeared-a ghost from his past, the lover who knew all his secrets. They would either kill each other or help each other to find the timestone, the most valuable object in the Universe.
Don't miss Dream Games, the second novel of the Hybrid Universe.
“A rousing and evocative future war novel in the tradition of STARSHIP TROOPERS and THE FOREVER WAR. Readers will remember it long after they put the book down.”–George R. R. Martin, Winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards
“Makes Heinlein’s Starship Troopers look like a pack of cub scouts.” — Edward Bryant, twice winner of the Nebula Award
“More real than life, more painful, and, in the end, more beautiful. Hansen really goes for the jugular!” — Orson Scott Card, author of A Planet Called Treason
- GenresScience Fiction
288 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1981
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79 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 14, 2022
Hansen's War Games, published by Playboy books back in 1981, is an early cyberpunk, military science fiction novel with some unique and odd twists that really has held up well over time. Set in a relatively near future, humanity has colonized the solar system, and biosciences has now evolved to the point where people can be transformed/mutated to live in very hostile climes, such as on Titan. Our main protagonist, Marc Detrs (for some reason, names have lost lots of vowels), is the scion of a Lord and Lady, the new aristocracy on Earth, but his parents are 'pepheads' (a serious addiction) and he repeatedly runs away from home.
This starts when Marc is being transformed in a tank into a combrid-- a solider developed for harsh environments. Combrids can, for a while, exist even in vacuum! Why did Marc join the 'ghost brigades'? We get his backstory in flashbacks during his 6 week transformation. Essentially, as a teen he became a 'player' after running from home for the last time, surviving on the streets, until one day, at a casino, he witnessed a sailor (e.g., of the space variety, transformed for it) winning almost 100 games in a row at the craps table. When the management shuts the table down, Marc follows the guy and helps him when some muggers attack him. The muggers are actually 'spooks', or agents of military intelligence, who possess chameleon abilities. Why are the spooks after the sailor? Turns out he has a ring with a 'timestone' set in it...
The timestone is the central motif of the novel. It allows one to see the future and in a way, change it. After his own is destroyed, he wants to find the only other one in existence, but unfortunately, that is on one of Saturn's moons. When Marc was caught basically ripping off a bank using the timestone, he is tried and convicted, but opts instead to join the 'ghost brigades'; always an option for a convict. He knows he will be sent to Titan to deal with the rebel insurgency there, and plans on escaping to find the last timestone...
This definitely has shades of Vietnam here, as Marc and company are, once arriving on Titan, repeatedly set out on 'search and destroy' missions against the rebels, deemed 'elves'; these are people transformed to live on Titan, who were/are miners of the crystal trees that constitute the backbone of the Earth economy (long story). Hansen brings the military side to life in a convincing way, even though people have been so transformed, they are still humans. Expect lots of sex, and some very strange sex. Expect lots of strange new tech and new drugs to interact with that tech. I would almost call this surreal, but not quite. Hansen builds a fascinating world here, an almost post human world, where 'base' humans only really exist on Earth; the colonies are the realm of the transformed, and Earth is losing the battle to maintain its 'colonies'. Outside of the timestone, this would be fairly stock military science fiction, but with it? Something new and novel. 4 sexy stars!!
This starts when Marc is being transformed in a tank into a combrid-- a solider developed for harsh environments. Combrids can, for a while, exist even in vacuum! Why did Marc join the 'ghost brigades'? We get his backstory in flashbacks during his 6 week transformation. Essentially, as a teen he became a 'player' after running from home for the last time, surviving on the streets, until one day, at a casino, he witnessed a sailor (e.g., of the space variety, transformed for it) winning almost 100 games in a row at the craps table. When the management shuts the table down, Marc follows the guy and helps him when some muggers attack him. The muggers are actually 'spooks', or agents of military intelligence, who possess chameleon abilities. Why are the spooks after the sailor? Turns out he has a ring with a 'timestone' set in it...
The timestone is the central motif of the novel. It allows one to see the future and in a way, change it. After his own is destroyed, he wants to find the only other one in existence, but unfortunately, that is on one of Saturn's moons. When Marc was caught basically ripping off a bank using the timestone, he is tried and convicted, but opts instead to join the 'ghost brigades'; always an option for a convict. He knows he will be sent to Titan to deal with the rebel insurgency there, and plans on escaping to find the last timestone...
This definitely has shades of Vietnam here, as Marc and company are, once arriving on Titan, repeatedly set out on 'search and destroy' missions against the rebels, deemed 'elves'; these are people transformed to live on Titan, who were/are miners of the crystal trees that constitute the backbone of the Earth economy (long story). Hansen brings the military side to life in a convincing way, even though people have been so transformed, they are still humans. Expect lots of sex, and some very strange sex. Expect lots of strange new tech and new drugs to interact with that tech. I would almost call this surreal, but not quite. Hansen builds a fascinating world here, an almost post human world, where 'base' humans only really exist on Earth; the colonies are the realm of the transformed, and Earth is losing the battle to maintain its 'colonies'. Outside of the timestone, this would be fairly stock military science fiction, but with it? Something new and novel. 4 sexy stars!!
March 1, 2024
Full disclosure: I DNF’d at the 62% mark.
Sex, violence, and gray morals coalesce into a SF action book with equal measure cliche and cringe.
War Games is a military science fiction dick flick. What do I mean? I mean that it’s the most over-the-top, in-your-face, overly-masculine science fiction book I’ve ever read. Or at least, attempted to read. It’s as if the narrator was trying to create the most generic antihero male main character in existence. Every page screams in your face how cool he is, and how he’s a strong and powerful dude, and he gets all the girls. Very self-insert cringeworthy, honestly.
I will give Hensen some credit for his interesting worldbuilding. Hansen creates a fleshed-out universe where our solar system is an empire full of genetic engineering and cybernetic manipulation. We’ve colonized the uninhabitable by modifying colonies. However, this early cyberpunk novel uses these technologies as a backdrop. The plot centers on a simple McGuffin-style plot—the main character has to find the Thing before he runs out of time!
Any and all of my criticism may be faulted because I don’t like unlikable sex, drugs, and rock and roll with a sociopath (literally) narrator. But, man! So much more could’ve been done with the universe. Heck! More could’ve been done with any of the ideas. Instead, the novel feels squandered by the Neanderthal-like main character pushing this story along in the most aggravating way possible.
Sex, violence, and gray morals coalesce into a SF action book with equal measure cliche and cringe.
War Games is a military science fiction dick flick. What do I mean? I mean that it’s the most over-the-top, in-your-face, overly-masculine science fiction book I’ve ever read. Or at least, attempted to read. It’s as if the narrator was trying to create the most generic antihero male main character in existence. Every page screams in your face how cool he is, and how he’s a strong and powerful dude, and he gets all the girls. Very self-insert cringeworthy, honestly.
I will give Hensen some credit for his interesting worldbuilding. Hansen creates a fleshed-out universe where our solar system is an empire full of genetic engineering and cybernetic manipulation. We’ve colonized the uninhabitable by modifying colonies. However, this early cyberpunk novel uses these technologies as a backdrop. The plot centers on a simple McGuffin-style plot—the main character has to find the Thing before he runs out of time!
Any and all of my criticism may be faulted because I don’t like unlikable sex, drugs, and rock and roll with a sociopath (literally) narrator. But, man! So much more could’ve been done with the universe. Heck! More could’ve been done with any of the ideas. Instead, the novel feels squandered by the Neanderthal-like main character pushing this story along in the most aggravating way possible.
May 17, 2011
I loved this book because in many ways I would call it cyber punk or at least futuristic dystopian long before there really was a huge amount of popular interest in such things. And though it may be a bit short for all the area it covers and it may leave many parts of the world as a question mark, I just found the imagery and the way all these high tech transformations were described in such a personal and intimate way. -- I am not going to give a full review of it now because I think i need to re read it again to see what I think of it now. But I can say that this is part of a legendary cannon of copious-fi and fantasy books that tried to keep the hard core and intimate nature of of the science fiction speculative fiction alive. It does not shy away from sex, or truly dark people who do things for twisted senses of amusement. It also does not wallow in them as if it is trying to provide some sick form of ant-social sci-fi. in fact it is kind of a shame that this book was not written and edited and developed more now as I can see it becoming another HBO series, One no different from True Blood or The Game of thrones. In short it is a very raw form or sci-fi but it is not light on the science or speculation either as the guy who wrote it was an actual working physicist and very up on bleeding edge science in other areas as he talks about things in 1981 that are really sort of shocking to here him talking about because there were no hints on how big those things would be like their are now. But then anyone who was smart and knew about DNA knew that there was a whole world of mad science fiction to - but I should re read this short book to give it a proper review as it has been a long time. I know it is not a perfect work of science fiction according to others though it has many fans. But for me this book is one I think about when I wan to be really inspired to think way out there. We shall see if I feel the same way after reading it again. -- so conceder this writing an unedited pre-review set of notes that i am gong to come back and replace with a full polished review some time this summer. I can say this much though, that while not perfect two of the more hard core and fearless books on how science may affect the personal choices of sex, identity, pleasure and pain, and even personal purpose get this out of print book along with dream games.
October 23, 2012
WOW! Out of nowhere, this book is THE BOOK, hidden away, that all adult science fiction fans have been wanting to find. I was blown away. It is literally one of the most vivid, heart-pounding, powerful works of science fiction I have ever read in my entire life. If I was dying, and had just enough time to recommend one, this is it. It's an amazing story you literally can't put down, with subplots, twists, turns, from childhood games, to warfare and military strategy, sexual triangles, foreshadowing with unpredictable shifts, reconnections with earlier characters through time. It's so far ahead of it's time in society and storyline that many of the fictional accounts and descriptions are eerily predictions of the future and technology around us today, and even the inventions on our horizon. IE Data through fiber optics in detail, identity theft, genetic mapping and modification in detail, technological warfare, newer drugs, open sexuality forums. There are so many works of science fiction that have parallels, but at the same time no other works that combine these elements in the way this book does. A MUST READ for science fiction fan who are also GAMERS everywhere. I'm not exaggerating in the least, I have nothing to gain from this review. I've read it five plus times and after the second(back-to-back)read-through I immediately scoured the internet to find the author's other works, and instantly bought the sequel, Dream Games, the night I found it. Since reading War Games and Dream Games, I have continued to search for other works by Karl Hansen, but from what I can tell he only wrote those two. It was probably the content and speed of this work of art, which reads more like a 2010 novel than a 1981 novel, that got him pressured out of writing, but who knows. Such a shame there aren't more works by him and his co-writer, Kenneth Paul Rogers.
Disclaimer: It's not for the faint of heart, or anyone who doesn't care to read about anything gory, involving heavy addiction, or overtly sexual.
Disclaimer: It's not for the faint of heart, or anyone who doesn't care to read about anything gory, involving heavy addiction, or overtly sexual.
August 22, 2024
this was a book. technically well written and i liked the prose but the plot was flimsy and characters very much devices for it and he almost managed to have good takes on war/colonialism/sex/childhood trauma but failed to commit to any of it. copout ending too. was deeply enthralling in a perverse way: would never recommend. a better writer should steal the timestone idea though because that ruled.
also i read it in the break room during my lunch hour and you should never be reading funky genital porn in your work breakroom
also i read it in the break room during my lunch hour and you should never be reading funky genital porn in your work breakroom
March 8, 2023
I should preface this review by stating I paid £1 in charity shop, and I’m not sure I’d have paid much more. There were some interesting themes within the book, although these were sometimes lost due to fairly repetitive erotic scenes. I won’t go too much into that though, if you want to not know about all that then it might be the book for you. The cover quote compared the book to Starship Troopers, whereas more often than not it was a bit Fifty Shades of Space.
February 22, 2017
This book is seriously debauched.
January 4, 2014
So it seems that glancing at the few other reviews of this book that I will be the downer of the bunch. The writing isn't bad, but it isn't quite polished, either. Weirdly enough, I could almost call him the Tom Clancy of science fiction, but that is stretch based on reading just this one book. He spends a lot of time on military tactics, drugs and sex. Character development is minimal at best, and the story is entirely driven by the plot, hackneyed as it is.
The story is told in the first person by the main character, whose personality is hardly winning, which may be appropriate as he escapes a horrible childhood and spends his life mercilessly pursuing his mission at the cost of forming attachments to anything else. The secondary characters, including the love interest have no depth to speak of and are truly treated as pawns by the author (and his main character), making appearances only as needed to move the plot along or make sense of it.
Nevertheless, it is not horrible, and met my need of passing the time on a 6 hour cross country flight. There is much better military themed science fiction out there, and I would recommend exploring that first, such as Heinlein (his better work, that is) and Joe Haldeman.
The story is told in the first person by the main character, whose personality is hardly winning, which may be appropriate as he escapes a horrible childhood and spends his life mercilessly pursuing his mission at the cost of forming attachments to anything else. The secondary characters, including the love interest have no depth to speak of and are truly treated as pawns by the author (and his main character), making appearances only as needed to move the plot along or make sense of it.
Nevertheless, it is not horrible, and met my need of passing the time on a 6 hour cross country flight. There is much better military themed science fiction out there, and I would recommend exploring that first, such as Heinlein (his better work, that is) and Joe Haldeman.
January 21, 2016
This is a military science fiction novel set in the far future. Colonists have been genetically altered to live and work in the hostile conditions on the planets and moons of our solar system. When the "Elves" of Titan rebel against the government of Earth, special genetically altered solders, called the Combrid Corps, are created to fight them. A Lord of Earth society joins the Combrid Corps in order to get to Titan to look for the mysterious timestone with which he can see and even control future events. Needless to say things don't go quite as he plans. This novel has plenty of military action and as a warning I must say it has quite explicit sex scenes also. I recommend this book to fans of military science fiction.
November 12, 2012
I am a big fan of Military Sci-Fi. This book has to rank up there as one of the best. It's odd that Karl Hansen only put out these two books, War Games and the sequel "Dream Games" Both were well thought out and and proved that the author had quite a knowledge of military tactics and the use of drugs. Both were fascinating and provided a great story that went by all to quick.
July 14, 2009
One of my all time favorite books. Beautifully written and just a great, great story. I put this one on my "favorite" shelf, those books that I reread pieces of now and then to inspire my own writing.
November 17, 2010
Definitely lurid, but I think Karl really did well capturing the feeling of addiction. The military setting was brilliant. definitely not a book for kids, you'd give them nightmares. Very vivid, kind of a bad boys Hammers Slammers. (by David Drake)
April 16, 2013
This is a new release from Event Horizon EBooks, an e-book reprint of the original 1981 Playboy Paperbacks edition. Note that the rating is posted by the publisher.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews