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The Quick
Medicine man of war…
To Shaman, the ultimate warrior, the world is a gameboard for his own personal chess game—where living pawns slaughter one another for tactical advantage.
But whose tactical advantage?
Operation Kalitan is the name of the game, a game of point/counterpoint between two sides of a United States opposed once more in the second Civil War. This time around, the Counter Insurgency Command is fighting to control a guerrilla citizenry fed up with economic breakdown and political incompetence.
As Shaman successfully infiltrates and intimidates his way into the war councils of first one and then the other side, we gradually become aware that this is a war not between two armies, but between one superb warrior and the rest of the human race. Shaman believes that he is supernatural, super-human—unbeatable.
And perhaps he is.
Is Shaman mortal or immortal? Is he the destroyer of the world…or its creator? Through military snafus, through incendiary skirmishes and bloody betrayal, Shaman wins and wins and wins—and wonders if winning will be proof against apocalypse, when agony eats its way down to…the Quick.
To Shaman, the ultimate warrior, the world is a gameboard for his own personal chess game—where living pawns slaughter one another for tactical advantage.
But whose tactical advantage?
Operation Kalitan is the name of the game, a game of point/counterpoint between two sides of a United States opposed once more in the second Civil War. This time around, the Counter Insurgency Command is fighting to control a guerrilla citizenry fed up with economic breakdown and political incompetence.
As Shaman successfully infiltrates and intimidates his way into the war councils of first one and then the other side, we gradually become aware that this is a war not between two armies, but between one superb warrior and the rest of the human race. Shaman believes that he is supernatural, super-human—unbeatable.
And perhaps he is.
Is Shaman mortal or immortal? Is he the destroyer of the world…or its creator? Through military snafus, through incendiary skirmishes and bloody betrayal, Shaman wins and wins and wins—and wonders if winning will be proof against apocalypse, when agony eats its way down to…the Quick.
307 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 21, 2025
I read this book while I was serving in the US Army Infantry in 1993, and it stuck with me, considering the premise, which is that America is going through a civil war between fascists on one side and communists on the other. By this point, I hadn't read 1984, or really, any dystopian future book, so it struck me as grim, and disheartening. Later, I realized that it was good example of the genre (after reading 1984, The Road, The Electric Church, Brave New World, Crake and Oryx, and The Passage), and looked for it to read again. It took me months to track it down, and now that I have, I'm getting it again! Yay! I recommend it if you like dystopian novels.
Update: I finished rereading this after over two decades, and I have to say it holds up well, I think. It was a lot more bleak than I remember, since it really seems like the end of times for America. Also, the proposed last battle and the plans surrounding it seem a little more simplistic than I remember. However, Shaman's journey from SE Asia, to DC, to an insane asylum, to New York, and infiltrating the "enemy," that was a joy to read. And the end, that gave me shivers. I heartily recommend it to fans of the dystopian genre.
Update: I finished rereading this after over two decades, and I have to say it holds up well, I think. It was a lot more bleak than I remember, since it really seems like the end of times for America. Also, the proposed last battle and the plans surrounding it seem a little more simplistic than I remember. However, Shaman's journey from SE Asia, to DC, to an insane asylum, to New York, and infiltrating the "enemy," that was a joy to read. And the end, that gave me shivers. I heartily recommend it to fans of the dystopian genre.
July 10, 2011
I think I was expecting more of an action-centric book. There were a lot of internal monologues and stream-of-consciousness ramblings on the part of the main character which interrupted the flow of the story. Frankly, I didn't think much of the ending either. Not a bad read, but not particularly good.
July 9, 2015
Back in 1992, I was more interested in the story philosophy then I am now. If I was rereading it today, it would probably rate 2 stars.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews