A Boy And His Tank

New Kashubia #1

by Leo Frankowski

The poorest people in the universe, the inhabitants of New Kashubia live underground in tunnels drilled through a thousand feet of solid gold, but things change when the New Kashubians combine virtual reality with tank warfare to give their warriors a symbiotic relationship with their intelligent tanks. Reprint.

Genres: Science Fiction, Military Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Military Science Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've enjoyed other Frankowski - the Crosstime series was not high literature by any means, but it was fun and enjoyable (for the most part).

This was terrible. Horrendous. Painfully bad. This takes the record for the worst book I've finished, and I've read some pretty bad ones before. I was thinking about throwing this book in the recycling bin, but I didn't want anyone else to be tempted to pick it up and waste their time and memory reading it. I'm not sure what I'll do with it. Burn it? I'm afraid the bad is so concentrated the smoke will be poisonous and will contaminate all the surrounding area.

[Wilson E. Stevens Sr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good read, and was written from a Polish point of view like all of his books. An archaeologist has the opportunity to recover a ancient war tank, and the memory unit from the tank. It was very well preserved due to the extreme cold it was found in, and suffered little if any battle damage. While waiting for repair parts for his space ship, he puts the memory module in a modern format that can be viewed by the public at the museum where he works. On his return he displays the tape to his supervisor, and this shows us the story of a young man condemned to become one with a tank with a mind, or be destroyed and recycled for food to support his people. Of course he chooses the tank, and has some wonderful adventures. If you like unusual war stories you will love this one. Very little blood and guts, mostly just the thinking and attempting to deal with a intelligent machine that has a will of it's own, and follows orders unless you can convince it other wise. A very worth while book to read.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has a lot of cool ideas (and a few truly bizarre ones), but cool ideas alone can't sustain a book-length narrative. You know the old fiction workshop rule about telling versus showing? Literally everything in this book is told, not shown. By the time I finished it I felt as if I'd read a 266-page plot synopsis of a longer, better book.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good SiFi story of a future war's army. A quick but good read. Recommended for beginning SiFii readers

[Irving Drinkwine · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the other reviews I've read here, this book is not for everyone. And that is cool because it would be boring if we all like the same exact thing..
So a brief review of the book:
The main character in this book is sent to a metal planet, commits a crime and is able to serve out his sentence inside a sentient tank (like an Abrams tank but one made far in the future.) The character is educated by his tank who is a hot female in the VR world where a lot takes place. Then he has to defend his planet.

The story is simple, straight forward, not a lot of twists and turns in it. Not a lot of symbolism - or else I missed it. But this is a book you could read while talking to someone or watching tv. A very light read. Personally, I loved this book. I have read it several times. More then that in fact. The books has the following: a hero, a woman (real), A hot VR woman, high tech.....everything!, action, violence, sneaky plans, dancing robots, mice....everything you need for a great store. And let us be honest. The book was written by Frankowski. If this is your first book, ok. But if you have read his stories before, then you know what you are getting into; A grand hero doing great deeds, saving everyone and becoming, The Man.

Pros: Lite, easy read. Cool tech. Simple story
Cons: Lite read, simple story.

Still, when all is said and done, I really enjoy Leo Frankowski's stories. And this is a book that entertains me. Not for everyone I guess. I mean that are many people that do not like cool tech. But I do! And while a simple store I wonder about the things talked about in the book. Maybe unrealistic but come on, people love watching movies about a guy in tights that flys, or a guy in a metal suit that flys or a humongus ape. If you want to critic the story line by line then you are not looking for entertainment, you are looking to vent your frustration.
So read the book. If you don't like it, I'd love to hear why. I think if you enjoyed the Cross Time Engineer Series (The Radiant Knight) then you will like this series.

[Serge Fjetland · Rating 2 out of 5]

A poorly written, if moderately enjoyable Bolo style tank romp, with a Mary Sue protagonist who does everything right, has the girls served to him by the platter, and has sex with his tank a LOT. Like a lot a lot.

also, oddly a lot of face pimples.

In the end, the author even says "i was to write 90,000 words, and i didnt quite know what i could get away with. Finishing the story but finding myself a few pages short, rather than going back and padding in something i hadn't planned to pad in, i simply continued the story a bit..."

[Charlie Pasta · Rating 2 out of 5]

It deserves some points for being so readable. I liked his writing style though he is definitely guilty of just info-dumping when it isnt necessary to fill out a few chapters. The author is definitely a horny moron but that isnt unique amongst sci fi writers. I find it funny how gay people just dont exist in his world.

[Jeff Kuchak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written enjoyable read.

[x x x · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

Loved the paperback and had 2 have the kindle version. So funny & basic but better than The "Hammers" series for cute dialogue.

[Johnathan Barazzuol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this back in 2007 in Afghanistan. Loved it but left it on that book sharing shelf in FOB Belandy. This was the first Sci-fi author I had read since Larry Niven who isn't afraid to sex up his books. I do appreciate a sci-fi writer who hasn't forgotten that sex is a motivator in people. So many sci-fi authors just totally avoid relationships and sex. This was eye opening and refreshing what with the typical prudishness of most sci fi authors. So I eventually found another copy nearly 20 years later and read the next two books in the series. Only to discover the author died without finishing his "future history". It is a shame. This book is almost a guilty pleasure. I must re-read again soon.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was kind of disappointed. The blurb suggested a mix of Laumer's Bolos and Drake's Hammers Slammers, but it was a long way from that. It did involve a futuristic tank and that's about it. For one thing, there was none of the grittiness or passion one sees with Laumer and Drake. There was also very little actual action, although quite a bit of talking about action. Much of the book was also rather tongue in cheek, and there were a lot of sexual situations that didn't really do much for me. Not badly written at all, but just not terribly interesting to me.

[Candied Kiseru · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a nice quick read. not an amazing story but if you enjoy ideas this has them; a lot of them. and the thoughts don't just hold to fictional science. it takes into consideration some of the darker sides of seeing the insides of people's imaginations.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story, and most of the writing style. Except when the writing style was too old school, men are from Mars women are from Venus. Those parts were irritating, and definitely got in the way of my enjoyment of the book.

[Jim Nowlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

You have gotta read this one. A well done story about War, how a group of people can make a buck from it and sentient tanks! If you like Bolo, you will love this yarn.

[Fatbaldguy60]

Good read, comparable to the Conrad stories in some of the over-the-top elements though. You can definitely tell Frnkowski is proud of being Polish.

[Avi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun action in an interesting universe, but too much exposition and no real characters to speak of.

[Bryan457 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, love the world building. I like his AI battletank partner.