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Cassandra Kresnov #5
Operation Shield
Part military SF, part cyberpunk, part grand-scale space opera, and part techno-psychological thriller, the Cassandra Kresnov novels transcend the recently narrow segmentation of the science fiction genre.
In 23 Years on Fire, Cassandra discovered that the technology that created her has been misused in her former home and now threatens all humanity with catastrophe. Returning home to Callay, she finds that Federation member worlds, exhausted by the previous thirty-year-war against the League, are unwilling to risk the confrontation that a solution may require. Some of these forces will go to any lengths to avoid a new conflict, including taking a sledgehammer to the Federation Constitution and threatening the removal by force of Cassandra's own branch of the Federal Security Agency.
More frighteningly for Sandy, she has brought back to Callay three young children, whom she met on the mean streets of Droze, discovering maternal feelings she had not known she possessed. Can she reconcile her duty as a soldier, including what she must do as a tactician, with the dangers that those decisions will place upon her family—the one thing that has come to mean more to her than any cause she now believes in?
In 23 Years on Fire, Cassandra discovered that the technology that created her has been misused in her former home and now threatens all humanity with catastrophe. Returning home to Callay, she finds that Federation member worlds, exhausted by the previous thirty-year-war against the League, are unwilling to risk the confrontation that a solution may require. Some of these forces will go to any lengths to avoid a new conflict, including taking a sledgehammer to the Federation Constitution and threatening the removal by force of Cassandra's own branch of the Federal Security Agency.
More frighteningly for Sandy, she has brought back to Callay three young children, whom she met on the mean streets of Droze, discovering maternal feelings she had not known she possessed. Can she reconcile her duty as a soldier, including what she must do as a tactician, with the dangers that those decisions will place upon her family—the one thing that has come to mean more to her than any cause she now believes in?
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First published January 1, 2014
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About the author
Joel Shepherd
27 books765 followersJoel Shepherd is an Australian science fiction author. He moved to Perth, Western Australia with his family when he was seven, where he later studied film and television arts at Curtin University. He now lives in Adelaide.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
September 3, 2015
Review written for and published by Portland Book Review on September 8th:
The fifth book in the Cassandra Kresnov series, Operation Shield, starts off quickly and rarely slows down long enough for readers to catch a breath. After discovering the true origin of the technology used to create the GIs, Sandy returns to Tanusha to find that politics are about to turn deadly. The Grand Council has split in two, half of the members demanding peace with the League no matter what the long-term costs may be. In the name of peace, a civil war begins between the various branches of the Tanushan government. When the bullets start to fly, Sandy must try to take down the usurpers and protect her people at the same time, including the three children she has so recently adopted.
The fifth book in the Cassandra Kresnov series, Operation Shield, starts off quickly and rarely slows down long enough for readers to catch a breath. After discovering the true origin of the technology used to create the GIs, Sandy returns to Tanusha to find that politics are about to turn deadly. The Grand Council has split in two, half of the members demanding peace with the League no matter what the long-term costs may be. In the name of peace, a civil war begins between the various branches of the Tanushan government. When the bullets start to fly, Sandy must try to take down the usurpers and protect her people at the same time, including the three children she has so recently adopted.
“She stood now before the nine photographs of the CSA’s fallen, and knew that this was what the League has stolen from her and her kind. Dignity. Meaning. Choice. These men and women had made a choice to be here, and in dying here, gained dignity. Their deaths had meaning, because they’d known for what they risked and fought. If she stood for anything, and fought for anything, it was this, signified by these slowly growing shrines against the morgue wall, and the two SWAT troopers at hard attention, weapons angled sharply at the ceiling.”Joel Shepherd has once again managed to create a fast-paced page-turner of a novel. As usual, things are more complicated than they first seem, and Sandy fluctuates between high-octane combat mode and eloquent diplomat. This book is definitely not the place to start for readers new to the Cassandra Kresnov series, as so much is tied into knowledge of the previous titles. A fantastic continuation of technology-heavy science fiction with a touch of cyberpunk, fans of Shepherd’s previous work will love the new installment of this amazing series.
April 13, 2014
A mix of kick-ass military SF, epic space opera and an intelligent political techno-thriller with a bit of cyberpunk woven through. It has a fully realized universe, incredible fast paced action sequences, slower well thought through socio-political passages and a lot of grin inducing futuristic tech blowing stuff up. But the best part is our synthetic protagonist Commander Cassandra 'Sandy' Kresnov who kicks ass in more ways than one.
I love this series.
I love this series.
June 30, 2023
Yeah, I'm just going to DNF this at the ca. 50% mark. There are multiple things that don't work for me, and trying to read this is making me miserable. One, I don't go into military science fiction to read about kids bonding with their adoptive mommy. I don't like kids. I don't want to read about kids. A large chunk of the book relies on the reader caring about the three wee orphans, and I simply don't. This is a series that started with Sandy being vivisected and dismembered whilst conscious. What the hell gave Shepherd the idea that I've stuck around to read about her adopting three kids? Two, I can see a mile away where Vanessa's storyline is going and I hate it. And three, all the psychological techno babble is making my eyes glaze over.
Such a shame. I really wanted to finish the series, but I'm tapping out.
Such a shame. I really wanted to finish the series, but I'm tapping out.
February 22, 2020
Definitely not the highlight of the series! We are back to the federation for this one, and Sandy has now adopted the three street kids from the League world; much, perhaps too much, was centered upon the new family. Largely a political novel, the pacing is much slower than the rest of the series, although there are some good action sequences. Cyberpunk quickly turning into opera. I think I will finish the last in the series as I am invested, but I hope it is better. 2.5 stars rounding to 3 for GR.
June 18, 2019
Cannot get enough of this series (or this author). I wasn't paying attention to publishing dates and usually don't read the reviews on GR until after I've finished the book. Was very happy that I came to this late (currently 6 books in the series). Really, really glad I didn't start the first trilogy and have to wait almost ten years for the subsequent books!
The latest three stories seem to have the politics more fine-tuned or at least I'm not getting lost in the details so much. Is it me or the author? But that only means that I'll read that much faster and have to find something else just as good to fill the void. I see some cold turkey (and a lot of laundry) in my future.
The latest three stories seem to have the politics more fine-tuned or at least I'm not getting lost in the details so much. Is it me or the author? But that only means that I'll read that much faster and have to find something else just as good to fill the void. I see some cold turkey (and a lot of laundry) in my future.
February 13, 2017
I enjoyed it enormously - as I have all the Cassandra Kresnov books.
June 17, 2014
Only downer is I have to wait for the next release..
October 7, 2019
There are some minor glitches with this book, but a significant factor in giving this installment such a high rating is how timely it is. It is possible that in a few years some people will look back on this book in the same vein as 1984 and Brave New World.
Wait, am I saying this is a classic? Not quite, I've always figured something is a little off with me because many of the classics that I've read I've felt are a little overrated. I Liked Huxley more than Orwell, and I don't think 1984 has aged particularly well.
Here Shepherd is putting his education, and arguably a sense of history, to work. The back cover states he is working on a master's in International Relations (in 2014). The Callay and Federation he portrays here eerily resembles the United States in 2019, and it can be argued the far reaching aspects of Federation politics and Constitutional Law are thoughts he may have formed while completing his studies.
Cassandra and her friends in the intelligence and security communities are facing a huge question. Is their loyalty to the elected officials or to the Constitution? Do not think this is not a question being asked in the U.S. today, or that Turkey itself had not faced this question multiple times in the mid to late 20th Century (if I recall my reading correctly the Turkish military removed elected governments which they believed had gone too far to one extreme or another).
As a reader this forced me to really ponder these questions. Could I support an armed uprising if the goals were to return Constitutional rule (because believe me Trump should have been impeached for Constitutional and law violations long before the current proceedings began). Cassandra definitely believes that she is doing the right thing, but unless you're reading to get caught up in the action scenes, then you shouldn't miss the larger question being presented here (which is the same fault many readers make with Heinlein's Starship Troopers).
This book also make the argument, convincingly so, about the importance of free and vigorous internet (which I agree with despite the faults of Twitter, Facebook etc.). The net plays a role is getting the dissent out there while the major media outlets are putting forth the government line (or if you prefer think of it as Fox News survives into the future).
The glitches, the main ones for me, come early in the book where there are chapters that seem like they should have been at the end of the previous volume.
Wait, am I saying this is a classic? Not quite, I've always figured something is a little off with me because many of the classics that I've read I've felt are a little overrated. I Liked Huxley more than Orwell, and I don't think 1984 has aged particularly well.
Here Shepherd is putting his education, and arguably a sense of history, to work. The back cover states he is working on a master's in International Relations (in 2014). The Callay and Federation he portrays here eerily resembles the United States in 2019, and it can be argued the far reaching aspects of Federation politics and Constitutional Law are thoughts he may have formed while completing his studies.
Cassandra and her friends in the intelligence and security communities are facing a huge question. Is their loyalty to the elected officials or to the Constitution? Do not think this is not a question being asked in the U.S. today, or that Turkey itself had not faced this question multiple times in the mid to late 20th Century (if I recall my reading correctly the Turkish military removed elected governments which they believed had gone too far to one extreme or another).
As a reader this forced me to really ponder these questions. Could I support an armed uprising if the goals were to return Constitutional rule (because believe me Trump should have been impeached for Constitutional and law violations long before the current proceedings began). Cassandra definitely believes that she is doing the right thing, but unless you're reading to get caught up in the action scenes, then you shouldn't miss the larger question being presented here (which is the same fault many readers make with Heinlein's Starship Troopers).
This book also make the argument, convincingly so, about the importance of free and vigorous internet (which I agree with despite the faults of Twitter, Facebook etc.). The net plays a role is getting the dissent out there while the major media outlets are putting forth the government line (or if you prefer think of it as Fox News survives into the future).
The glitches, the main ones for me, come early in the book where there are chapters that seem like they should have been at the end of the previous volume.
September 25, 2014
“Operation Shield” (Pyr, $16.95 461 pages) is book five in Joel Shepherd’s Cassandra Kresnov series, and as much as I like all of Shepherd’s work, this one is a bit of a letdown.
Maybe it’s just the nature of a series with the same characters running through the same exercises – albeit with somewhat different bad guys and twists in the plot – but even so, “Operation Shield” doesn’t break enough new ground to really catch fire.
First, the setup. Sandy Kresnov is a GI, an android with almost superhuman physical powers (strength, speed, endurance, durability) in the package of a very attractive blonde female. She has all the human attributes, including a sex drive, but her potential wasn’t fully grasped by those who made her (the League). The League used her as a soldier and soldier only, and gave her no freedom, which led her to eventually take her powers to the Federation, the League’s rival in a far future with human civilization spread over many stars.
Since the GIs are clearly superior to standard humans in many aspects, they are usually viewed with fear and suspicion, and Shepherd uses this opportunity to explore a) humanity’s tendency to discriminate against those who are different, and b) what it means to be “human.”
Over the five books, Kresnov has continued to kill and maim with unparalleled efficiency, but she has also steadily added emotional depth, and this time it’s love of children. Shepherd’s penchant for complex political plots is also still in evidence, and though everything, including the inevitable battle scenes, is well-done, there’s a little too much familiarity and not quite enough novelty.
That said, long series often have to take a book (or sometimes two) to gather momentum for a big finish, and that may be the case here. So those who’ve been on board since book one (“Crossover”) shouldn’t despair – after all, everything they enjoyed in the first four books is in this one as well.
Maybe it’s just the nature of a series with the same characters running through the same exercises – albeit with somewhat different bad guys and twists in the plot – but even so, “Operation Shield” doesn’t break enough new ground to really catch fire.
First, the setup. Sandy Kresnov is a GI, an android with almost superhuman physical powers (strength, speed, endurance, durability) in the package of a very attractive blonde female. She has all the human attributes, including a sex drive, but her potential wasn’t fully grasped by those who made her (the League). The League used her as a soldier and soldier only, and gave her no freedom, which led her to eventually take her powers to the Federation, the League’s rival in a far future with human civilization spread over many stars.
Since the GIs are clearly superior to standard humans in many aspects, they are usually viewed with fear and suspicion, and Shepherd uses this opportunity to explore a) humanity’s tendency to discriminate against those who are different, and b) what it means to be “human.”
Over the five books, Kresnov has continued to kill and maim with unparalleled efficiency, but she has also steadily added emotional depth, and this time it’s love of children. Shepherd’s penchant for complex political plots is also still in evidence, and though everything, including the inevitable battle scenes, is well-done, there’s a little too much familiarity and not quite enough novelty.
That said, long series often have to take a book (or sometimes two) to gather momentum for a big finish, and that may be the case here. So those who’ve been on board since book one (“Crossover”) shouldn’t despair – after all, everything they enjoyed in the first four books is in this one as well.
July 23, 2016
Weakest of the series so far for me. I liked the "Sandy discovers motherhood" bit, but the slow opening, a weird non-sequitur in the setup (flashback segue to story-present with no typographic break: misprint?) and, most seriously, the political crisis in the Federation was too pat and contrived to work, for me anyway. Really, it's too much a continuation of the anarchic GI experimental-planet in "23 Years on Fire," to suit me.
But there's still plenty to like here, so I'll be reading #6..... after a break.
But there's still plenty to like here, so I'll be reading #6..... after a break.
July 27, 2016
Another solid Cassandra Kresnov book. Looking forward to how this series winds up. Lots of great action to break up the also fascinating ideas about international and internal politics. One gets the sense he may be a Euro-skeptic...
May 24, 2014
Operation "Mom" is one of the best in the series. Ending with many loose ends, i.e. people for Cassandra to kill.
May 13, 2014
OUTSTANDING!!
September 19, 2014
Loved it!
August 24, 2025
This is the one I've liked least in the series.
Sandy brings the three children, siblings, that she met in the previous book, home to Callay. They've grown up without adults, in wartime, self-sufficient with many complications, so they have a mix of world-weary experience and almost complete naivete about how families live of a peaceful, prosperous planet. I liked the involvement of the kids and the relationship between each of them and Sandy.
What I didn't like as much was the almost constant battles. But that's because military SF is not so much my subgenre, and I suppose it was well written. Still, there's a limit to the number of super-major issues that can be had on a planet with only one government and Callay has had, imo, more than its share, even with taking over the Federation and taking a stand against the League's machinations, and all the infighting of the various government agencies. It looks like the military conflicts in the next (and last) book are not limited to Callay, so I'm good with that.
And here is where I will list my problems with all the books. One, grammar. Someone doesn't believe in semicolons - I've seen zero in all the books - but just loves run-on sentences with commas instead of semicolons, awkward ellipses and em-dashes, and awkward sentence phrasing. (Is this an Australian thing?) I made a point of reading over some confusing sentences to see if they actually made sense: some did, some didn't. Then there's awkward writing; things get choppy and it seems like some actions or events are missing.
I'm willing to overlook all that because I find these books so readable and the characters so appealing. Until this book, I was also willing to overlook a man writing about women's (and artificial women's) sexuality. Mainly because the women were not teenagers (a pet peeve, middle-aged men writing about teenage girls' sexuality, yuk), and I was willing to suspend disbelief about how up-front the integrated male/female military people were about talking about sex. But this book adds an element of speculation about a 10-year-old girl, like how hot she's going to be and how she's already noticing how she can dress for hotness. Ugh.
Anyway, I still liked the book, a lot, and am looking forward to finishing the series.
Sandy brings the three children, siblings, that she met in the previous book, home to Callay. They've grown up without adults, in wartime, self-sufficient with many complications, so they have a mix of world-weary experience and almost complete naivete about how families live of a peaceful, prosperous planet. I liked the involvement of the kids and the relationship between each of them and Sandy.
What I didn't like as much was the almost constant battles. But that's because military SF is not so much my subgenre, and I suppose it was well written. Still, there's a limit to the number of super-major issues that can be had on a planet with only one government and Callay has had, imo, more than its share, even with taking over the Federation and taking a stand against the League's machinations, and all the infighting of the various government agencies. It looks like the military conflicts in the next (and last) book are not limited to Callay, so I'm good with that.
And here is where I will list my problems with all the books. One, grammar. Someone doesn't believe in semicolons - I've seen zero in all the books - but just loves run-on sentences with commas instead of semicolons, awkward ellipses and em-dashes, and awkward sentence phrasing. (Is this an Australian thing?) I made a point of reading over some confusing sentences to see if they actually made sense: some did, some didn't. Then there's awkward writing; things get choppy and it seems like some actions or events are missing.
I'm willing to overlook all that because I find these books so readable and the characters so appealing. Until this book, I was also willing to overlook a man writing about women's (and artificial women's) sexuality. Mainly because the women were not teenagers (a pet peeve, middle-aged men writing about teenage girls' sexuality, yuk), and I was willing to suspend disbelief about how up-front the integrated male/female military people were about talking about sex. But this book adds an element of speculation about a 10-year-old girl, like how hot she's going to be and how she's already noticing how she can dress for hotness. Ugh.
Anyway, I still liked the book, a lot, and am looking forward to finishing the series.
August 13, 2017
This book begins where the previous series book ended (23 Years On Fire). What seemed to be wrapped up in that book comes somewhat unwrapped and concludes inconclusively. Then the plot meanders around a bit while we play with the idea of a synthetic human adopting three war orphans and the attendant adjustments required on all their parts. By the time that was working through, I was getting bored, then all of a sudden we get a political crisis, a well-organized attack on democracy, and a systematic attack on all synthetic humans.
The rest of the book works through all of these, but expands the roles of the children and the synthetic human community. In between there are further explorations of synthetic humanity, origins of intelligence, VR as a tool of war, and political expedience versus principles. So this book once again raises the bar above the military sci-fi genre and does so within the context of a fun read with good characters.
I'd recommend this one only if read in order in the series. But I found it very worth recommending.
The rest of the book works through all of these, but expands the roles of the children and the synthetic human community. In between there are further explorations of synthetic humanity, origins of intelligence, VR as a tool of war, and political expedience versus principles. So this book once again raises the bar above the military sci-fi genre and does so within the context of a fun read with good characters.
I'd recommend this one only if read in order in the series. But I found it very worth recommending.
July 25, 2023
I am so tired of Kresnovs apparently super human abilities and her OP stat's. She never fails, nothing, not even huge fortresses and armies of soldiers can stop her and it becomes boring.... Kresnovs needs to do objective A.... Skip the next ten pages because yep, barely an inconvenience to do the thing ... Boring and she is such an asshole in Operation Shield, an utter arrogant OP asshole. And now there's kids, one of whom is now a ninja apparently... The series started off well enough, fugitive Cassie escaping from a role she doesn't want but by book two she was ridiculously OP and never failed, was never in any real danger as she cut through every obstacle with such ease that it became monotonous and I struggled to stay interested .... I've now reached the point where I just don't care about her any more and don't find any part of her engaging. DNF after I read yet another "But you won't be able to" moment easily resolved two pages later. Started off so well but now just an asshole.
March 6, 2019
I read some reviews that said this book was not as good as the others in the series. I actually enjoyed it more than some of the others and loved the development of the story and the interaction of characters. Great read.
September 15, 2017
Its been a while since I read this series, and I think I forgot what was going on?
I was pretty confused.
I was pretty confused.
November 13, 2017
c'est top
September 29, 2018
2 stars. I seem to have lost interest in this series. I liked it when Cas was an enigmatic killer, not as an enigmatic mother.
April 30, 2020
I really enjoy Sandy's adventures. The only problem with the books is in the formatting. The transitions are not clearly marked. Some asterix would be helpful.
August 11, 2022
Shepherd returns the focus back to the home planet politics and intrigue and, in general, the book benefits from it.
July 23, 2023
About time....
It took 5 books in this series for Shepherd to finally write one worth the time to read. A little wordy in spots, but a pretty good book.
It took 5 books in this series for Shepherd to finally write one worth the time to read. A little wordy in spots, but a pretty good book.
August 29, 2023
Another great book in the series.
Director Ibrahim is such an amazing character.
And Amirah and the detective are great additions to the group.
Sad that I only have one book left in the series.
Director Ibrahim is such an amazing character.
And Amirah and the detective are great additions to the group.
Sad that I only have one book left in the series.
April 30, 2015
Like many, I was taken by surprise when an ARC of 23 Years on Fire showed up in my mailbox last year. And I was quite pleased to discover that the novel was no mere sequel released to please fans of the first trilogy. The book opened up the door for a variety of new possibilities and added more depth to what I consider an already multilayered overall story arc. It was everything the original series was and then some! So when Operation Shield reached me, it immediately went to the top of my pile of books to read.
I'm happy to report that Joel Shepherd raised the bar even higher in this one, setting the stage for a lot more to come!
Here's the blurb:
Part military SF, part cyberpunk, part grand-scale space opera, and part techno-psychological thriller, the Cassandra Kresnov novels transcend the recently narrow segmentation of the science fiction genre.
In 23 Years on Fire, Cassandra discovered that the technology that created her has been misused in her former home and now threatens all humanity with catastrophe. Returning home to Callay, she finds that Federation member worlds, exhausted by the previous thirty-year-war against the League, are unwilling to risk the confrontation that a solution may require. Some of these forces will go to any lengths to avoid a new conflict, including taking a sledgehammer to the Federation Constitution and threatening the removal by force of Cassandra's own branch of the Federal Security Agency.
More frighteningly for Sandy, she has brought back to Callay three young children, whom she met on the mean streets of Droze, discovering maternal feelings she had not known she possessed. Can she reconcile her duty as a soldier, including what she must do as a tactician, with the dangers that those decisions will place upon her family-the one thing that has come to mean more to her than any cause she now believes in?
Worldbuilding played a much bigger role in 23 Years on Fire than in the first three volumes. It is now obvious that Shepherd was laying a lot of the groundwork upon which future installments would be built. I felt that 23 Years on Fire would serve as a bridge between the original trilogy and what came after, and it's evident that it was indeed a transition book. As is his wont, Joel Shepherd serves up another intricate and well-crafted plot that reads like a blend of political thriller and fast-paced science fiction adventure. And yet, political intrigue is definitely at the heart of this one. The coup and its aftermath make up for the better part of the book, and as such I felt that the overall story arc didn't appear to progress as much as I thought it would. Still, the coup and its repercussions will most probably influence how everything that will follow will come together.
Understandably, Cassandra Kresnov takes center stage once more. Ari and Vanessa also number among the POV protagonists. Cassandra's moral awakening continues to be a fascinating facet to follow and I liked how Shepherd raised even more philosophical issues through her character. How she copes with her developing "motherhood," now that she is the legal guardian of Danya, Svetlana, and Kiril, makes for some interesting character growth. The emancipation of sentient androids remains a central theme and those "human rights" issues play a key role throughout Operation Shield.
As was the case with its predecessor, this fifth volume occasionally suffers from uneven pacing. It starts with a bang and goes all out for a while and it ends in the same fashion. Yet the political/military coup means that politicking turns out to be the most important aspect of this novel, which has a tendency to break the faster-paced rhythm Shepherd has accustomed us to in the past, especially in the middle portion of the book. There is indeed a great disparity between the thrilling balls-to-the-wall battle scenes and the sequences focusing more on political intrigue and character development. And although some parts of Operation Shield are plagued by an inconsistent pace, the way the author brings it all together at the end demonstrates that it was a necessary evil for the storylines to have any sort of impact.
Joel Shepherd keeps on pushing the envelope with his smart, entertaining, and action-packed science fiction novels! Operation Shield is a worthy addition to an excellent series that keeps getting better and better with each new volume!
For more reviews: www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com
I'm happy to report that Joel Shepherd raised the bar even higher in this one, setting the stage for a lot more to come!
Here's the blurb:
Part military SF, part cyberpunk, part grand-scale space opera, and part techno-psychological thriller, the Cassandra Kresnov novels transcend the recently narrow segmentation of the science fiction genre.
In 23 Years on Fire, Cassandra discovered that the technology that created her has been misused in her former home and now threatens all humanity with catastrophe. Returning home to Callay, she finds that Federation member worlds, exhausted by the previous thirty-year-war against the League, are unwilling to risk the confrontation that a solution may require. Some of these forces will go to any lengths to avoid a new conflict, including taking a sledgehammer to the Federation Constitution and threatening the removal by force of Cassandra's own branch of the Federal Security Agency.
More frighteningly for Sandy, she has brought back to Callay three young children, whom she met on the mean streets of Droze, discovering maternal feelings she had not known she possessed. Can she reconcile her duty as a soldier, including what she must do as a tactician, with the dangers that those decisions will place upon her family-the one thing that has come to mean more to her than any cause she now believes in?
Worldbuilding played a much bigger role in 23 Years on Fire than in the first three volumes. It is now obvious that Shepherd was laying a lot of the groundwork upon which future installments would be built. I felt that 23 Years on Fire would serve as a bridge between the original trilogy and what came after, and it's evident that it was indeed a transition book. As is his wont, Joel Shepherd serves up another intricate and well-crafted plot that reads like a blend of political thriller and fast-paced science fiction adventure. And yet, political intrigue is definitely at the heart of this one. The coup and its aftermath make up for the better part of the book, and as such I felt that the overall story arc didn't appear to progress as much as I thought it would. Still, the coup and its repercussions will most probably influence how everything that will follow will come together.
Understandably, Cassandra Kresnov takes center stage once more. Ari and Vanessa also number among the POV protagonists. Cassandra's moral awakening continues to be a fascinating facet to follow and I liked how Shepherd raised even more philosophical issues through her character. How she copes with her developing "motherhood," now that she is the legal guardian of Danya, Svetlana, and Kiril, makes for some interesting character growth. The emancipation of sentient androids remains a central theme and those "human rights" issues play a key role throughout Operation Shield.
As was the case with its predecessor, this fifth volume occasionally suffers from uneven pacing. It starts with a bang and goes all out for a while and it ends in the same fashion. Yet the political/military coup means that politicking turns out to be the most important aspect of this novel, which has a tendency to break the faster-paced rhythm Shepherd has accustomed us to in the past, especially in the middle portion of the book. There is indeed a great disparity between the thrilling balls-to-the-wall battle scenes and the sequences focusing more on political intrigue and character development. And although some parts of Operation Shield are plagued by an inconsistent pace, the way the author brings it all together at the end demonstrates that it was a necessary evil for the storylines to have any sort of impact.
Joel Shepherd keeps on pushing the envelope with his smart, entertaining, and action-packed science fiction novels! Operation Shield is a worthy addition to an excellent series that keeps getting better and better with each new volume!
For more reviews: www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com
January 17, 2015
This book was reviewed on Dark Matter Zine; for more reviews, interviews and articles, go to Dark Matter Zine. Alternatively, this link is just to Dark Matter Zine's reviews.
A review by Rebecca Muir
Operation Shield is the fifth book in Joel Shepherd’s Cassandra Kresnov series. You can read my review of the previous book, 23 Years on Fire.
Cassandra, or Sandy, is a fully synthetic human created by the League as a soldier. She and her kind are known as GIs. Sandy is a high designation GI, meaning that she is faster and smarter than other GIs. Sandy has defected from the League and become a citizen of the Federation, where she is a high level security operative.
Operation Shield opens with Sandy on Pantala, a world in the nominally League region known as New Torah. Sandy is trying to help consolidate the rebellion of the experimental GIs against the Corporations who rule on Pantala, and who have been illegally making GIs. However, her fellow GIs are impatient, unwilling to let her experience and superior strategic skills guide them. They embark on a path that leads to disaster. Sandy walks away and returns to the Federation, partly because of their rejection, but also to save the lives of three children she has met on Pantala: Danya, Svetlana and Kiril. These three siblings have won their way into her heart so she takes them back to Callay, the Federation homeworld and becomes their legal guardian.
However, trouble awaits Sandy back home. Elements of the society are increasingly unhappy about recent Federation activity, at home and in New Torah. Scared of a new war with the League, a political faction seeks to have Sandy and her friends removed from power, and the Federation constitution changed to prevent war. Sandy must face and deal with threats to herself and her way of life, her society and home, her fellow GIs and the fate of synthetic humanity, and her new family. With so much at stake, can Sandy keep everything she holds dear safe?
Operation Shield is very much a thriller. There is intrigue and action that kept me turning the pages. There are a lot of battle scenes but there is also thoughtful exploration of issues such as family and what that means, sacrifice — what is worth giving everything for — and identity. In this book Sandy learns a more about herself and where she came from. This raises more questions for her, but she also is more at peace with herself than in the last book.
The place of the GIs in society is considered. Questions are raised about whether synthetic humans are GIs first, or humans first. Should Sandy be the leader of the GIs simply because she has a higher designation than them? Also, how does a GI who is built for combat find their identity in something outside that?
The characters in this book are well written. They have depth and they are fun to get to know. The strong characterisation is what lifts these books and makes them stand out for me.
I enjoyed reading Operation Shield and I recommend it to people who like sci-fi with lots of action. There are some parts of the book which make it unsuitable for young readers. If you have not read any of the other books in the series, I would of course suggest starting with an earlier book, but if you start with this one you should be able to make sense of what is happening. This is a fun read and I look forward to any further instalments.
A review by Rebecca Muir
Operation Shield is the fifth book in Joel Shepherd’s Cassandra Kresnov series. You can read my review of the previous book, 23 Years on Fire.
Cassandra, or Sandy, is a fully synthetic human created by the League as a soldier. She and her kind are known as GIs. Sandy is a high designation GI, meaning that she is faster and smarter than other GIs. Sandy has defected from the League and become a citizen of the Federation, where she is a high level security operative.
Operation Shield opens with Sandy on Pantala, a world in the nominally League region known as New Torah. Sandy is trying to help consolidate the rebellion of the experimental GIs against the Corporations who rule on Pantala, and who have been illegally making GIs. However, her fellow GIs are impatient, unwilling to let her experience and superior strategic skills guide them. They embark on a path that leads to disaster. Sandy walks away and returns to the Federation, partly because of their rejection, but also to save the lives of three children she has met on Pantala: Danya, Svetlana and Kiril. These three siblings have won their way into her heart so she takes them back to Callay, the Federation homeworld and becomes their legal guardian.
However, trouble awaits Sandy back home. Elements of the society are increasingly unhappy about recent Federation activity, at home and in New Torah. Scared of a new war with the League, a political faction seeks to have Sandy and her friends removed from power, and the Federation constitution changed to prevent war. Sandy must face and deal with threats to herself and her way of life, her society and home, her fellow GIs and the fate of synthetic humanity, and her new family. With so much at stake, can Sandy keep everything she holds dear safe?
Operation Shield is very much a thriller. There is intrigue and action that kept me turning the pages. There are a lot of battle scenes but there is also thoughtful exploration of issues such as family and what that means, sacrifice — what is worth giving everything for — and identity. In this book Sandy learns a more about herself and where she came from. This raises more questions for her, but she also is more at peace with herself than in the last book.
The place of the GIs in society is considered. Questions are raised about whether synthetic humans are GIs first, or humans first. Should Sandy be the leader of the GIs simply because she has a higher designation than them? Also, how does a GI who is built for combat find their identity in something outside that?
The characters in this book are well written. They have depth and they are fun to get to know. The strong characterisation is what lifts these books and makes them stand out for me.
I enjoyed reading Operation Shield and I recommend it to people who like sci-fi with lots of action. There are some parts of the book which make it unsuitable for young readers. If you have not read any of the other books in the series, I would of course suggest starting with an earlier book, but if you start with this one you should be able to make sense of what is happening. This is a fun read and I look forward to any further instalments.
October 12, 2016
“Operation Shield” continues straight on from where “23 Years On Fire” finished, which is probably the only problem I have with what was otherwise a very enjoyable read: the first hundred or so pages of “Operation Shield” felt more like the (slightly anti-climatic conclusion to “23 Years On Fire” than the start of a new novel.
The GI rebellion on the former League world, Pantala, has stalled. Surrounded by superior ground forces held at bay only by the threat of bomabardment from orbit, the GIs start to question Sandy’s leadership and she begins to understand how few options they have.
Meanwhile, the brothers and sister that Sandy has been trying to protect, Danya, Svetlana and Kiril, are doing their best to survive and reconnect with her.
This is well written, exciting, stuff that shows Sandy as something more than an indestructible killer android. The difficulty that I had was that Sandy’s withdrawal from this situation was so abrupt that I checked whether I’d missed a few pages.
The main themes of “Operation Shield” really kick in when Sandy returns to Cally with the three kids and finds that the Callian way of life and the life she has built for herself are under threat from off-world Federal forces. We get the opportunity to see Sandy coping with being responsible for children, albeit resourceful and sometimes dangerous children while still being at the centre of political intrigue and military action.
I’m filled with admiration for Joel Shepherd’s ability to make power politics and military action real and compelling without accepting either of them as a goal or a solution. He brings to life the posturing, manipulation and betrayal that accompany political ambition and the destruction and loss of life and possible futures that military action inflicts. Sandy is talented and ruthless enough to deal with politics and war but what motivates her is the desire for a peaceful life where she and those she loves can surf together and have a barbecue at the beach afterwards. It’s an extremely human desire for an android to have.
Over the course of the first five books in the series, Sandy has grown into someone very interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing what she will become in the final book of the series, “Originator”.
The GI rebellion on the former League world, Pantala, has stalled. Surrounded by superior ground forces held at bay only by the threat of bomabardment from orbit, the GIs start to question Sandy’s leadership and she begins to understand how few options they have.
Meanwhile, the brothers and sister that Sandy has been trying to protect, Danya, Svetlana and Kiril, are doing their best to survive and reconnect with her.
This is well written, exciting, stuff that shows Sandy as something more than an indestructible killer android. The difficulty that I had was that Sandy’s withdrawal from this situation was so abrupt that I checked whether I’d missed a few pages.
The main themes of “Operation Shield” really kick in when Sandy returns to Cally with the three kids and finds that the Callian way of life and the life she has built for herself are under threat from off-world Federal forces. We get the opportunity to see Sandy coping with being responsible for children, albeit resourceful and sometimes dangerous children while still being at the centre of political intrigue and military action.
I’m filled with admiration for Joel Shepherd’s ability to make power politics and military action real and compelling without accepting either of them as a goal or a solution. He brings to life the posturing, manipulation and betrayal that accompany political ambition and the destruction and loss of life and possible futures that military action inflicts. Sandy is talented and ruthless enough to deal with politics and war but what motivates her is the desire for a peaceful life where she and those she loves can surf together and have a barbecue at the beach afterwards. It’s an extremely human desire for an android to have.
Over the course of the first five books in the series, Sandy has grown into someone very interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing what she will become in the final book of the series, “Originator”.
December 22, 2016
The action is fantastic as always and I really do enjoy all of the characters. I just can't figure out what Shepherd is trying to accomplish with his discussions of gender and sexuality. Such that have been a part of the Kresnov novels from the start. At points he has his characters voice very enlightened views concerning gender roles and sexual orientations but then, at later points, has those same characters seemingly retract those views. If Shepherd is indeed attempting to engaging his readers in discussion, he needs to ensure that his mouthpieces are depicted as having a clear understanding of the terms being used and the views expressed. Unfortunately, they seemingly do not. What could work as an interesting and poignant addition to his already politically and culturally layered world, is muddled and, at times, annoying. It's confusing, disappointing, and, ultimately, distracts from an engrossing story.
April 10, 2014
Revolution is the problem facing the new federation GI Cassandra Kresnov has returned from Torahn with two hundred GI’s and three children used to surviving on the streets. The capital world of Callay is supposed to be a safe environment for the children, but information leaked from the Guild has the potential of start a new league-federation war, something a group of delegates, who also distrust GI’s don’t want. So they launch Operation Shield(trade from Pyr) to control the Federation Government and kill Cassandra’s friends. As usual Joel Shepherd has an exciting tale that’s hard to put down. Fun.Review printed by the Philadelphia Weekly Press.
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