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Embedded
HE'D DO ANYTHING TO GET A STORY. When journalist Lex Falk gets himself chipped into the brain of a combat soldier, he thinks he has the ultimate scoop - a report from the forbidden front line of a distant planetary war, live to the living rooms of Earth. When the soldier is killed, however, Lex has to take over the body and somehow get himself back to safety once more... broadcasting all the way.
Heart-stopping combat science fiction from the million-selling Warhammer 40,000 author.
File Science Fiction [ Future Warefare | Chipped-In | Anything For a Story | Get Out Alive! ]
Heart-stopping combat science fiction from the million-selling Warhammer 40,000 author.
File Science Fiction [ Future Warefare | Chipped-In | Anything For a Story | Get Out Alive! ]
430 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 2, 2010
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November 7, 2013
Embedded is set in a future where humans have begun to colonize other planets. Eighty-Six is the most recent settlement and it's where universe-weary, award-winning journalist Lex Falk has arrived to investigate rumors of political unrest and a military lockdown on all information leaving the planet. Falk's clout gets him embedded with the military, but it's not until he's approached by a clandestine party that can actually embed him into the body of Nestor Bloom, a combat soldier, that he gets the real story about what's happening on Eighty-Six.
Elmore Leonard famously advised "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip." If Dan Abnett had taken this approach, the novel could have been about 150 pages shorter and far more enjoyable. He has apparently never met a simile that he's not keen on rubbing up against.
The book is far too descriptive and I know many people might argue that such is necessary for believable world-building, a sentiment with which I might normally agree. If you're going to present me with an alien world, I want to see it. The problem here is that Eighty-Six isn't much different from Earth. There are no alien life forms, no exotic landscapes, no cultural clashes. And yet Abnett is always keen to tell us what shade of blue the sky is and what the green trees in the forest look like. Other than the existence of "blurds" (some form of insect/bird hybrid), there's really nothing unusual about the setting. And there's nothing particularly futuristic other than the ubiquitous presence of a poison called Insect-Aside and apparently inorganic foodstuffs that always end with the suffix "-effect" (such as chicken parmigiana-effect, which can be washed down with a can of tasty NoCal cola-effect). Even the tech through which Falk is embedded into Bloom is clichéd--Falk is suspended in a Jung tank, which is just a clever name for the science fiction trope of a womb-like tank in which Falk is suspended in a viscous, amniotic-like liquid. None of this is particularly bad, but none of it is particularly good--and it's been done much better before.
The book takes forever to get going, developing characters and relationships that are promptly jettisoned as soon as Falk is embedded within Bloom. The actual embedding--the part of the story with the most promise--missed out on so many opportunities to explore the psychological issues of dwelling within another's mind. If Bloom and Falk had been inhabiting the same consciousness throughout most of the narrative, there could have been some really standout scenes. However, Falk is simply a repressed observer, a passenger, within Bloom until Bloom is shot in the head. At this point, Bloom becomes an unconscious passenger in his own body and Falk has to take over, a plot that still has some possibility as Falk is not a trained soldier. However, every time Falk gets into a jam, Bloom's muscle memory arrives to save the day, allowing Falk to blast his way out of every inconvenience with which he comes into contact. When Bloom is shot and his persona disappears, the book basically becomes a stripped down version of Avatar, only without the aliens.
Other issues include:
1. From what I can tell, the U.S. is now the United Status (no explanation is given for this) and the army with which Falk is embedded seems to be U.S. As a result, all of the British spellings for words seem incongruous and often jarring. A minor pet peeve, I understand, but there it is.
2. So we're apparently centuries into the future, colonizing planets, and the two dominant powers are the U.S. and the Bloc, who speak Russian and whose military vehicles are all adorned with red stars. That's right--we're fighting a Cold War with the Communist Bloc in outerspace. I might forgive this in a piece of 1950's science fiction, but in 2013? We can't come up with a fresh new narrative for who the bad guys are?
3. It is never made clear as to how Bloom's body is still functioning after he's been shot in the head, right below the eye. The mental image I kept getting as Falk tried to will Bloom's body to do his bidding was Weekend at Bernie's in military garb.
4. The ending. What. The. Freek®. So, in the last 10 pages, Falk actually, against all plot odds, discovers something half ass interesting. But that's the thing--only half ass. We don't get the whole ass. What he finds is only hinted at and the repercussions are ambiguous. Basically, it took 400 pages to get to the real story and then it just stops. I wanted to hit something and hit something hard when I reached the end.
5. The whole use of Freek® as a linguistic patch that prohibits a person from using any expletive other than "Freek."
In the end, I can only offer this advice: read John Scalzi.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder and at Shelf Inflicted
Elmore Leonard famously advised "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip." If Dan Abnett had taken this approach, the novel could have been about 150 pages shorter and far more enjoyable. He has apparently never met a simile that he's not keen on rubbing up against.
The book is far too descriptive and I know many people might argue that such is necessary for believable world-building, a sentiment with which I might normally agree. If you're going to present me with an alien world, I want to see it. The problem here is that Eighty-Six isn't much different from Earth. There are no alien life forms, no exotic landscapes, no cultural clashes. And yet Abnett is always keen to tell us what shade of blue the sky is and what the green trees in the forest look like. Other than the existence of "blurds" (some form of insect/bird hybrid), there's really nothing unusual about the setting. And there's nothing particularly futuristic other than the ubiquitous presence of a poison called Insect-Aside and apparently inorganic foodstuffs that always end with the suffix "-effect" (such as chicken parmigiana-effect, which can be washed down with a can of tasty NoCal cola-effect). Even the tech through which Falk is embedded into Bloom is clichéd--Falk is suspended in a Jung tank, which is just a clever name for the science fiction trope of a womb-like tank in which Falk is suspended in a viscous, amniotic-like liquid. None of this is particularly bad, but none of it is particularly good--and it's been done much better before.
The book takes forever to get going, developing characters and relationships that are promptly jettisoned as soon as Falk is embedded within Bloom. The actual embedding--the part of the story with the most promise--missed out on so many opportunities to explore the psychological issues of dwelling within another's mind. If Bloom and Falk had been inhabiting the same consciousness throughout most of the narrative, there could have been some really standout scenes. However, Falk is simply a repressed observer, a passenger, within Bloom until Bloom is shot in the head. At this point, Bloom becomes an unconscious passenger in his own body and Falk has to take over, a plot that still has some possibility as Falk is not a trained soldier. However, every time Falk gets into a jam, Bloom's muscle memory arrives to save the day, allowing Falk to blast his way out of every inconvenience with which he comes into contact. When Bloom is shot and his persona disappears, the book basically becomes a stripped down version of Avatar, only without the aliens.
Other issues include:
1. From what I can tell, the U.S. is now the United Status (no explanation is given for this) and the army with which Falk is embedded seems to be U.S. As a result, all of the British spellings for words seem incongruous and often jarring. A minor pet peeve, I understand, but there it is.
2. So we're apparently centuries into the future, colonizing planets, and the two dominant powers are the U.S. and the Bloc, who speak Russian and whose military vehicles are all adorned with red stars. That's right--we're fighting a Cold War with the Communist Bloc in outerspace. I might forgive this in a piece of 1950's science fiction, but in 2013? We can't come up with a fresh new narrative for who the bad guys are?
3. It is never made clear as to how Bloom's body is still functioning after he's been shot in the head, right below the eye. The mental image I kept getting as Falk tried to will Bloom's body to do his bidding was Weekend at Bernie's in military garb.
4. The ending. What. The. Freek®. So, in the last 10 pages, Falk actually, against all plot odds, discovers something half ass interesting. But that's the thing--only half ass. We don't get the whole ass. What he finds is only hinted at and the repercussions are ambiguous. Basically, it took 400 pages to get to the real story and then it just stops. I wanted to hit something and hit something hard when I reached the end.
5. The whole use of Freek® as a linguistic patch that prohibits a person from using any expletive other than "Freek."
In the end, I can only offer this advice: read John Scalzi.
Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder and at Shelf Inflicted
July 29, 2014
Remember back during the Iraq War when all those journalists were embedded with the US troops, and it brought up a lot of ethical questions about the government/military trying to control the news? Couldn’t that make for a pretty good story concept in which sci-fi was once again used to delve into tricky issues our society faces?
On the other hand, they could just blow some shit up real good.
Lex Falk is a respected but weary journalist sent to human colony Eighty-Six to report on a conflict between the government and some locals that the official sources are downplaying as they try to manipulate the media into reporting the story they’re selling. As Falk starts digging for the real story, he gets an offer to participate in a secret project by a group looking for the truth, too.
Through technobabble he’ll be ‘embedded’ into willing soldier Nestor Bloom before he goes out on his next mission. While Falk’s body floats in an isolation tank, his consciousness will be transferred to Bloom’s body where he’ll ride along as a passenger. But when Bloom takes a bullet to the head, Falk finds himself controlling a damaged body trapped in a war zone.
I’d been reading a lot of the cosmic Marvel comic stuff that Dan Abnett was part of the creative team for, and those books had me thinking that this could really be something next level like those so I was disappointed. The world building feels simplistic and surface level which would make sense if Abnett was really trying to say something about controlling the media in reality which would require things seeming familiar, but just when that aspect is getting interesting Falk goes into Bloom’s head. Then the book shifts into a big sci-fi war story. Neither one of these is a bad idea, but it really seems like Abnett couldn’t commit one way or another.
And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I might have liked this book better if it wasn’t for Tom Cruise. I saw Edge of Tomorrow over the summer, and that was an utterly fantastic future war story that balanced great sci-fi ideas and action with very human emotions. This seemed pale in comparison.
On the other hand, they could just blow some shit up real good.
Lex Falk is a respected but weary journalist sent to human colony Eighty-Six to report on a conflict between the government and some locals that the official sources are downplaying as they try to manipulate the media into reporting the story they’re selling. As Falk starts digging for the real story, he gets an offer to participate in a secret project by a group looking for the truth, too.
Through technobabble he’ll be ‘embedded’ into willing soldier Nestor Bloom before he goes out on his next mission. While Falk’s body floats in an isolation tank, his consciousness will be transferred to Bloom’s body where he’ll ride along as a passenger. But when Bloom takes a bullet to the head, Falk finds himself controlling a damaged body trapped in a war zone.
I’d been reading a lot of the cosmic Marvel comic stuff that Dan Abnett was part of the creative team for, and those books had me thinking that this could really be something next level like those so I was disappointed. The world building feels simplistic and surface level which would make sense if Abnett was really trying to say something about controlling the media in reality which would require things seeming familiar, but just when that aspect is getting interesting Falk goes into Bloom’s head. Then the book shifts into a big sci-fi war story. Neither one of these is a bad idea, but it really seems like Abnett couldn’t commit one way or another.
And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I might have liked this book better if it wasn’t for Tom Cruise. I saw Edge of Tomorrow over the summer, and that was an utterly fantastic future war story that balanced great sci-fi ideas and action with very human emotions. This seemed pale in comparison.
March 27, 2011
Something strange is going on on the colony planet Eighty-Six and reporter Lex Falk is determined to figure out what it is. Falk gets his personality embedded in the brain of soldier Nestor Bloom. Falk observes Bloom's activities until Bloom winds up shot in the head and Falk is forced to take over the body. Can Falk get his dying body and Bloom's comrades to safety and uncover what's going on on Eighty-Six before he dies?
One day, I was checking out the Firstreads giveaways when I saw this book. While I've never read any of Dan Abnett's work, I've heard of him. He's written a ton of Warhammer stuff, had a pretty good on Legion of Superheroes, and whatever that space crossover thing Marvel did a few years ago. So I entered the giveaway and won it.
Remember that summer in the late eighties when body swapping movies were all the rage? Vice-versa, Like Father, Like Son, and that one with George Burns in it? Embedded is like that, only with guns. Aside from the aforementioned body swapping, Embedded is a fairly standard military sf adventure. There are some great firefights and quite a bit of humor, including gems like: "What happened to your face? I got shot in it." Falk seemed like an asshole at the beginning but I got behind him once he bonded with the other soldiers. The tech was pretty good too, from the body swapping Jung tank to the soldiers' gear. I think Abnett did a great job portraying how it would be to be trapped inside an unfamiliar body.
Did I have any gripes? Only that it took forever to get moving. The book's 350 pages long and it took over 100 pages for the body swap to finally happen. If Abnett would have shaved off thirty or so pages from the beginning, this would have been an easy four. As is, three is as high as I can go.
For military sf fans, this should be right up your alley. It's not going to make you forget Old Man's War or Armor but it's still pretty good.
One day, I was checking out the Firstreads giveaways when I saw this book. While I've never read any of Dan Abnett's work, I've heard of him. He's written a ton of Warhammer stuff, had a pretty good on Legion of Superheroes, and whatever that space crossover thing Marvel did a few years ago. So I entered the giveaway and won it.
Remember that summer in the late eighties when body swapping movies were all the rage? Vice-versa, Like Father, Like Son, and that one with George Burns in it? Embedded is like that, only with guns. Aside from the aforementioned body swapping, Embedded is a fairly standard military sf adventure. There are some great firefights and quite a bit of humor, including gems like: "What happened to your face? I got shot in it." Falk seemed like an asshole at the beginning but I got behind him once he bonded with the other soldiers. The tech was pretty good too, from the body swapping Jung tank to the soldiers' gear. I think Abnett did a great job portraying how it would be to be trapped inside an unfamiliar body.
Did I have any gripes? Only that it took forever to get moving. The book's 350 pages long and it took over 100 pages for the body swap to finally happen. If Abnett would have shaved off thirty or so pages from the beginning, this would have been an easy four. As is, three is as high as I can go.
For military sf fans, this should be right up your alley. It's not going to make you forget Old Man's War or Armor but it's still pretty good.
November 16, 2025
Slick story by Abnett and a standalone outside of the Warhammer universe. Our lead, a crotchety, aging, investigative reporter named Falk, starts the novel with him just arriving at planet Eight-Six. Falk, holder of several journalism prizes, came to Eight-Six to cover a low-level war between the forces of the US and the Bloc. For the past three centuries, humanity has voyaged into space, lead by the three superpowers on Earth: the US, the Bloc and China. The Bloc, headed by Russia, has claims in the Northern part of Eight-Six and the US in the South.
Now, since heading out to space, humanity has not gone to war with one another; plenty of space and lands for all and all that. So, what is going on in Eight-Six? Falk, a designated journalist, gets the 'set tour' by the US military (called the SO). They take him to a site of a small battle but things are all pretty quite. Falk knows he will get nothing from the military and hooks up with some contacts he finds on the planet. One of them (for complicated reasons) offers him a deal-- to go truly embedded. What does this mean? It seems a SO soldier volunteers to have a chip or something in his brain that Falk can 'ride', seeing and hearing everything the soldier does. Hence, while Falk's body sits in a sensory deprivation tank, he heads out with the soldier...
Abnett does a great, deft job of world building here, really giving the reader a feel for the place and time. Lots of rumors surround the rationale behind the heating up of the ancient cold war, but none seem really convincing to Falk. After a bombing in the US capital, soldiers get mobilized and Falk 'rides' his soldier into the hot zone. I will stop with the plotting here to avoid spoilers, but Abnett does a good job building tension and keeping the reader guessing until the big reveal at the end. 3.5 embedded stars, rounding up!
Now, since heading out to space, humanity has not gone to war with one another; plenty of space and lands for all and all that. So, what is going on in Eight-Six? Falk, a designated journalist, gets the 'set tour' by the US military (called the SO). They take him to a site of a small battle but things are all pretty quite. Falk knows he will get nothing from the military and hooks up with some contacts he finds on the planet. One of them (for complicated reasons) offers him a deal-- to go truly embedded. What does this mean? It seems a SO soldier volunteers to have a chip or something in his brain that Falk can 'ride', seeing and hearing everything the soldier does. Hence, while Falk's body sits in a sensory deprivation tank, he heads out with the soldier...
Abnett does a great, deft job of world building here, really giving the reader a feel for the place and time. Lots of rumors surround the rationale behind the heating up of the ancient cold war, but none seem really convincing to Falk. After a bombing in the US capital, soldiers get mobilized and Falk 'rides' his soldier into the hot zone. I will stop with the plotting here to avoid spoilers, but Abnett does a good job building tension and keeping the reader guessing until the big reveal at the end. 3.5 embedded stars, rounding up!
May 16, 2011
During my most recent Amazon book-buying binge, I decided to check out some straight-up science fiction, not something I normally read. I wasn’t really interested in any space opera type stuff, but rather a little more hardcore military sci-fi. As I looked around to see what the most popular/widely read/commonly talked about books of that sub-genre are, one title continually came up – Old Man’s War by John Scalzi.
So, I got that one, but I also noticed the cover for another book that kept popping up as well. It was a new release by a writer I hadn’t heard of. The cover featured a washed out image of a solider, from behind, looking a little wobbly on his feet and loaded down with some badass hardware. That was, of course, Dan Abnett’s Embedded. Being your somewhat typical male who digs action and won’t turn down a good war flick, this cover had me pretty much sold on buying the book. But the description cinched it for me: a salty journalist on a distant planet gets “chipped” into the mind of a solider so he can get the skinny on some shady military operations? Fuck yeah, I wanna read that!
But then I was faced with a quandary. Which book should I read first, Embeddedor Old Man’s War? Scalzi’s book came universally recommended and, I assumed, would end up being the better of the two, but Embedded just kept calling to me. So I came up with the following rationale: I would read Embedded first, then follow it with what was sure to be the better of the two, Old Man’s War. By reading Embedded first, I can still enjoy it without constantly (and unfairly) comparing it with OMW. Makes perfect sense, right?
So, based on that line of thinking, Old Man’s War is going to have to be some kind of amazing, because I enjoyed the shit out of Embedded.
The book takes about 100 of its 430 pages to set the scene and the main character, journalist Lex Falk. He’s a bit of an asshole who has lived hard and is now beginning to break down, both physically and otherwise. He’s not the same go-getter he once was before countless hours of zero-gravity travel and gallons of scotch-effect (apparently real scotch or sugar or anything else exists anymore) took a big toll on him. But he still wants to break one more story, especially after the military bigwigs (known as the Settlement Office, or SO) on planet Eighty-Six decide to jerk him around and pretend that nothing special is happening there. Falk knows otherwise and jumps at the chance to embed with a unit about to see some action. But the embedding is not the normal kind, it’s a chance to be chipped into the mind of an actual soldier in a mildly explained and Avatar-like process that includes a sloshing tank and wires and so on.
As you might expect, the book really takes off once Falk shows up in the mind of Private Nestor Bloom. Bloom is in charge of a unit, but right from the start, Falk’s presence causes problems, and eventually contributes to Bloom’s death when an insurgent shoots him in the face. The mind-meld and after effects are very well done – at times dizzying, but never difficult to follow and appropriately muddled to give the reader the sense of experiencing things through another person’s body, especially when that other person is still there, providing thoughts and memories and muscle control, etc. Bravo to Mr. Abnett for capturing this so well.
My only real complaints are some of the usual stuff that’s always been a detractor for me with hardcore science fiction. Too many made up words (blurds instead of birds, and United Status instead of United States, for instance) that got more annoying with repetition, not less. Also, an abundance of acronyms (SO, GEO, SOMD) is a bit tough to keep straight at first, but once the embedding goes down, it’s pretty balls-to-the-wall action and excitement from there on. The tech is really cool, though for a novice sci-fi guy like me, it took some time before I realized that a “piper” and a “hardbeam” were shorthand or slang for fancy-schmancy laser rifles. The troopers also carried weapons that fired bullets (hardrounds they’re called) and a thumper was pretty easy to figure out (grenade launcher), so that made me feel oike less of a dumbass. The cover art is also very important as well, and I found myself referring to it continually to understand the device attached to the soldiers that helped them control such high-powered weaponry. Again, well done there, to both Mr. Abnett and the art department at Angry Robot books for creating an image that not only helps sell the book, but also helps tell the story.
Interspersed with the action is some backstory about Bloom, some political intrigue and some investigative journalism as Falk tries to uncover the reasons behind the war. The ending is a bit vague, only hinting very generally at the what and why, but it doesn’t feel like a cheat or a cop-out. If anything, it leaves me wanting to know more. What I was left scratching my head about was the fact that Falk never really feels any remorse toward Bloom for causing him to be shot. Falk’s failing health and military inexperience actually contribute to Bloom’s troubles, but Falk never acknowledges this. I would have thought there would be a little guilt on Falk’s part as he realizes that his presence in Bloom’s head caused a professional badass to suddenly struggle with his ability to fight and do his job.
But those are minor gripes. Embedded far exceeded my expectations, which were little more than a readable piece of sci-fi with some action and excitement. I got that and much more, and I hope Scalzi brings it with Old Man’s War, because Abnett was a hell of a first act.
So, I got that one, but I also noticed the cover for another book that kept popping up as well. It was a new release by a writer I hadn’t heard of. The cover featured a washed out image of a solider, from behind, looking a little wobbly on his feet and loaded down with some badass hardware. That was, of course, Dan Abnett’s Embedded. Being your somewhat typical male who digs action and won’t turn down a good war flick, this cover had me pretty much sold on buying the book. But the description cinched it for me: a salty journalist on a distant planet gets “chipped” into the mind of a solider so he can get the skinny on some shady military operations? Fuck yeah, I wanna read that!
But then I was faced with a quandary. Which book should I read first, Embeddedor Old Man’s War? Scalzi’s book came universally recommended and, I assumed, would end up being the better of the two, but Embedded just kept calling to me. So I came up with the following rationale: I would read Embedded first, then follow it with what was sure to be the better of the two, Old Man’s War. By reading Embedded first, I can still enjoy it without constantly (and unfairly) comparing it with OMW. Makes perfect sense, right?
So, based on that line of thinking, Old Man’s War is going to have to be some kind of amazing, because I enjoyed the shit out of Embedded.
The book takes about 100 of its 430 pages to set the scene and the main character, journalist Lex Falk. He’s a bit of an asshole who has lived hard and is now beginning to break down, both physically and otherwise. He’s not the same go-getter he once was before countless hours of zero-gravity travel and gallons of scotch-effect (apparently real scotch or sugar or anything else exists anymore) took a big toll on him. But he still wants to break one more story, especially after the military bigwigs (known as the Settlement Office, or SO) on planet Eighty-Six decide to jerk him around and pretend that nothing special is happening there. Falk knows otherwise and jumps at the chance to embed with a unit about to see some action. But the embedding is not the normal kind, it’s a chance to be chipped into the mind of an actual soldier in a mildly explained and Avatar-like process that includes a sloshing tank and wires and so on.
As you might expect, the book really takes off once Falk shows up in the mind of Private Nestor Bloom. Bloom is in charge of a unit, but right from the start, Falk’s presence causes problems, and eventually contributes to Bloom’s death when an insurgent shoots him in the face. The mind-meld and after effects are very well done – at times dizzying, but never difficult to follow and appropriately muddled to give the reader the sense of experiencing things through another person’s body, especially when that other person is still there, providing thoughts and memories and muscle control, etc. Bravo to Mr. Abnett for capturing this so well.
My only real complaints are some of the usual stuff that’s always been a detractor for me with hardcore science fiction. Too many made up words (blurds instead of birds, and United Status instead of United States, for instance) that got more annoying with repetition, not less. Also, an abundance of acronyms (SO, GEO, SOMD) is a bit tough to keep straight at first, but once the embedding goes down, it’s pretty balls-to-the-wall action and excitement from there on. The tech is really cool, though for a novice sci-fi guy like me, it took some time before I realized that a “piper” and a “hardbeam” were shorthand or slang for fancy-schmancy laser rifles. The troopers also carried weapons that fired bullets (hardrounds they’re called) and a thumper was pretty easy to figure out (grenade launcher), so that made me feel oike less of a dumbass. The cover art is also very important as well, and I found myself referring to it continually to understand the device attached to the soldiers that helped them control such high-powered weaponry. Again, well done there, to both Mr. Abnett and the art department at Angry Robot books for creating an image that not only helps sell the book, but also helps tell the story.
Interspersed with the action is some backstory about Bloom, some political intrigue and some investigative journalism as Falk tries to uncover the reasons behind the war. The ending is a bit vague, only hinting very generally at the what and why, but it doesn’t feel like a cheat or a cop-out. If anything, it leaves me wanting to know more. What I was left scratching my head about was the fact that Falk never really feels any remorse toward Bloom for causing him to be shot. Falk’s failing health and military inexperience actually contribute to Bloom’s troubles, but Falk never acknowledges this. I would have thought there would be a little guilt on Falk’s part as he realizes that his presence in Bloom’s head caused a professional badass to suddenly struggle with his ability to fight and do his job.
But those are minor gripes. Embedded far exceeded my expectations, which were little more than a readable piece of sci-fi with some action and excitement. I got that and much more, and I hope Scalzi brings it with Old Man’s War, because Abnett was a hell of a first act.
December 27, 2013
-Periodismo, SciFi y guerra.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Lex Falk es un maduro, descreído, experimentado y reconocido corresponsal acreditado que acaba de llegar al recientemente colonizado Planeta 86, un mundo formalmente bajo control del Directorio Militar de la Oficina de Asentamiento aunque dividido en jurisdicciones de los Estatus Unidos, del Bloque Central y de diferentes iniciativas comerciales privadas, que recibe al periodista con buena voluntad y con el deseo de que informe con libertad ya que no hay nada de cierto en los informes sobre algunos incidentes que tal vez están siendo tapados para ocultar un enfrentamiento en escalada con las fuerzas del Bloque. El olfato de Falk supera lo que le enseña el DMOA y terminará siendo testigo, en primera persona y gracias a una tecnología muy avanzada, de lo que realmente está sucediendo.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com....
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Lex Falk es un maduro, descreído, experimentado y reconocido corresponsal acreditado que acaba de llegar al recientemente colonizado Planeta 86, un mundo formalmente bajo control del Directorio Militar de la Oficina de Asentamiento aunque dividido en jurisdicciones de los Estatus Unidos, del Bloque Central y de diferentes iniciativas comerciales privadas, que recibe al periodista con buena voluntad y con el deseo de que informe con libertad ya que no hay nada de cierto en los informes sobre algunos incidentes que tal vez están siendo tapados para ocultar un enfrentamiento en escalada con las fuerzas del Bloque. El olfato de Falk supera lo que le enseña el DMOA y terminará siendo testigo, en primera persona y gracias a una tecnología muy avanzada, de lo que realmente está sucediendo.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com....
October 23, 2014
It was pretty good & I think if I was more of a war book fan, I would have given it another star. As it was, the jargon, both future & military, were a bit much - necessary & well done, but just too much at times. Some of the jargon had me laughing, though. Patches to make cussing turn into trademarked names. A very innovative idea. I don't think it was followed through with as well as it could have been or dropped from the story soon enough, so it turned into a distraction.
That's pretty much how the whole book felt to me - a lot of good ideas & spots of writing that just didn't quite come together as well as I would have liked. I'll have to try another book by this author because this one had a lot of promise. It could be that he's British. That's enough to make or break humor sometimes for me.
That's pretty much how the whole book felt to me - a lot of good ideas & spots of writing that just didn't quite come together as well as I would have liked. I'll have to try another book by this author because this one had a lot of promise. It could be that he's British. That's enough to make or break humor sometimes for me.
September 30, 2013
A well constructed good science fiction war novel set on 86, a colony planet settled by citizens of the United States. There seems to be some fighting going on so the United States has sent in its Settlement Office troops to look into the fighting.
Lex Falk is a journalist, who has seen it all. He travels to Planet 86 in search of a good story, but he is shown the usual set up pieces that all of the young journalists are shown. He meets up with Cleesh, a fellow journalist, who has an interesting proposition for him, a special spying mission at the hands of GEO, a corporation that suspects the fighting is a cover for something. But then there is an explosion in town, and Falk suspects that there is more to the story. Meanwhile Cleesh reveals that if he is interested in the spying mission, he needs to be active right now, and then in a scene right out of Avatar, they insert Falk into a "jung tank" and upload his mind piggyback into combat vet Nestor Bloom, who is about to be deployed in the hot and heavy.
But Bloom takes a bullet in a ambush right from the start and loses his mind and Falk is thrust to the fore. Falk/Bloom must use all of Falk's smarts and Blooms inherent skills to survive a real shooting war and figure out why the two sides are fighting so hard over Planet 86. Is it mineral rights, the Moon, or is there something hidden on Planet 86, thats worth the Eastern Block and the US going to war.
Its fast, its hot, its an excellent science fiction war novel.
Lex Falk is a journalist, who has seen it all. He travels to Planet 86 in search of a good story, but he is shown the usual set up pieces that all of the young journalists are shown. He meets up with Cleesh, a fellow journalist, who has an interesting proposition for him, a special spying mission at the hands of GEO, a corporation that suspects the fighting is a cover for something. But then there is an explosion in town, and Falk suspects that there is more to the story. Meanwhile Cleesh reveals that if he is interested in the spying mission, he needs to be active right now, and then in a scene right out of Avatar, they insert Falk into a "jung tank" and upload his mind piggyback into combat vet Nestor Bloom, who is about to be deployed in the hot and heavy.
But Bloom takes a bullet in a ambush right from the start and loses his mind and Falk is thrust to the fore. Falk/Bloom must use all of Falk's smarts and Blooms inherent skills to survive a real shooting war and figure out why the two sides are fighting so hard over Planet 86. Is it mineral rights, the Moon, or is there something hidden on Planet 86, thats worth the Eastern Block and the US going to war.
Its fast, its hot, its an excellent science fiction war novel.
December 27, 2013
-Periodismo, SciFi y guerra.-
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Lex Falk es un maduro, descreído, experimentado y reconocido corresponsal acreditado que acaba de llegar al recientemente colonizado Planeta 86, un mundo formalmente bajo control del Directorio Militar de la Oficina de Asentamiento aunque dividido en jurisdicciones de los Estatus Unidos, del Bloque Central y de diferentes iniciativas comerciales privadas, que recibe al periodista con buena voluntad y con el deseo de que informe con libertad ya que no hay nada de cierto en los informes sobre algunos incidentes que tal vez están siendo tapados para ocultar un enfrentamiento en escalada con las fuerzas del Bloque. El olfato de Falk supera lo que le enseña el DMOA y terminará siendo testigo, en primera persona y gracias a una tecnología muy avanzada, de lo que realmente está sucediendo.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com....
Género. Ciencia-Ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. Lex Falk es un maduro, descreído, experimentado y reconocido corresponsal acreditado que acaba de llegar al recientemente colonizado Planeta 86, un mundo formalmente bajo control del Directorio Militar de la Oficina de Asentamiento aunque dividido en jurisdicciones de los Estatus Unidos, del Bloque Central y de diferentes iniciativas comerciales privadas, que recibe al periodista con buena voluntad y con el deseo de que informe con libertad ya que no hay nada de cierto en los informes sobre algunos incidentes que tal vez están siendo tapados para ocultar un enfrentamiento en escalada con las fuerzas del Bloque. El olfato de Falk supera lo que le enseña el DMOA y terminará siendo testigo, en primera persona y gracias a una tecnología muy avanzada, de lo que realmente está sucediendo.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com....
August 30, 2012
Thanks to the Internet, it’s very easy to transmit information around the world much faster than it used to be. It’s also easy to spread misinformation. “Democratization” of the Web and media aside, we still rely on authorities and experts for our news—and often their job, even if they are doing it properly, is made much more difficult by secretive and uncooperative governments and organizations trying to obscure what’s really happening on the ground. It’s the age old story, whether perpetrated by an autocratic regime in the Middle East or a corrupt official in North America or colony and resource extraction planet out in the middle of nowhere.
In Embedded, Dan Abnett comes up with a novel way to circumvent such circumspection: journalist Leo Falk goes along for the ride by piggybacking the mind of a soldier. His body suspended in a sensory deprivation tank, Falk’s consciousness takes up residence in the back of Nestor Bloom’s brain. After a sneak attack by terrorists devastates the teams travelling with Bloom, Falk finds himself in control of Bloom’s body, facing the daunting task of regrouping the few survivors and figuring out what’s happening fast enough to stay a survivor. It’s a gritty, fast-paced, high stakes thrill ride as Falk races to discover who was behind the attack and why—wondering, all the while, whether he or Bloom or both of them will ever make it out alive.
Mental eavesdropping. It has so much potential as a plot device. In this case, Bloom was aware of and consented to the eavesdropping. The tech people who make this possible for Falk never really explain how it works, so I don’t know if it requires the host mind to be equipped and prepared for such a connection—if it didn’t, that would be on hell of a way to spy. Similarly, there are all sorts of psychological issues when it comes to inhabiting—or cohabiting in—someone else’s body. So it is frustrating that Abnett spends very little time investigating any of this, choosing instead to focus on a straight shoot-em-up style action novel with very little in the way of subtext.
Look, we get it: war is hell. Corporations do evil things because they need to keep their discoveries secret so they can make a profit. Everyone lies. Let’s move on, shall we? Let’s do something.
Embedded sure takes its time getting started. Falk begins leisurely meandering about Eighty-Six, sticking his nose into places that don’t want him around, before falling in with the right group of people to send him on this little assignment. Their motivations aren’t all that complex—essentially they want the truth out there, and they also want to be the first ones to break the story. Yet, as with the other things I noted above, Abnett spends precious little time delving deeper into the ethics and ideas behind this type of journalism. It’s more like, “Falk is a journalist. People don’t tell him the truth. Oooh, look, a gun.”
Abnett seems more interested in the military part of military science fiction than the science fiction part. And that’s fine to a certain extent—I’m aware he’s a Warhammer 40K author, and his style is definitely reminiscient of a shared universe franchise author. But it’s not just style. Embedded lets me down because it never really accomplishes anything.
Let’s consider Leo Falk for a moment. Yes, analyzing the protagonist—scary stuff. Let’s look at his relationships. He’s reunited with Cleesh, someone he has worked with before but has never met in person, since she spent all her time working remotely from a space station. They talk, she gets him this gig, and then he doesn’t see her again. He develops a rivalry that evolves into some kind of tenuous mutual respect with another reporter, Noma, also known as “green hiker girl”. He is a jerk to just about everyone else he can possibly manage to offend.
And then there’s Nestor Bloom.
Bloom talks to Falk for about a minute, enough to tell him that Bloom is not interested in talking—because talking to yourself is not advisable when you, and everyone else around you, are heavily armed. So it would be inaccurate to say that Bloom and Falk have any kind of relationship, but at one point Falk is the only thing keeping Bloom’s body alive. Despite all that rich potential for serious explorations of philosophy of mind and the sense of self, all we get a few wry moments of introspection at the end of the book, as Falk wonders at not having any scars on his own body. It’s better than nothing, I suppose, but it’s still not much.
The actual plot is little better. The attack that wipes out Bloom’s squad and nearly kills Bloom and Falk is over something “big”, as in significant. This is obvious, because nothing else would motivate the Central Bloc (ooh, such an original name for an antagonist!) to turn the cold war on Eighty-Six into a legitimately lukewarm one. Instead of dropping tantalizing hints and making it more central to the plot, though, Abnett prefers to have Falk stumble through a few hundred pages of live fire before getting a glimpse of the thing. It’s alien tech, obviously (what else would it be), but if you’re hoping for so much as a bare description of what it is (or might be), you will be out of luck. Even the fact that it’s alien tech is never so much as whispered, but Abnett is at least competent enough to telegraph it in some fairly heavy dialogue.
I miss the good old days when the alien tech was actually a part of the story, the bad guys weren’t faceless factions sending soldiers after the good guys, and there protagonist’s relationships were more than a set of names and some vague feelings associated with each of them. But I guess that’s too much to ask for in this case. Embedded has some nifty action sequences and definitely comes up with an interesting premise. Its execution, in plot and character, comes up way too short.
In Embedded, Dan Abnett comes up with a novel way to circumvent such circumspection: journalist Leo Falk goes along for the ride by piggybacking the mind of a soldier. His body suspended in a sensory deprivation tank, Falk’s consciousness takes up residence in the back of Nestor Bloom’s brain. After a sneak attack by terrorists devastates the teams travelling with Bloom, Falk finds himself in control of Bloom’s body, facing the daunting task of regrouping the few survivors and figuring out what’s happening fast enough to stay a survivor. It’s a gritty, fast-paced, high stakes thrill ride as Falk races to discover who was behind the attack and why—wondering, all the while, whether he or Bloom or both of them will ever make it out alive.
Mental eavesdropping. It has so much potential as a plot device. In this case, Bloom was aware of and consented to the eavesdropping. The tech people who make this possible for Falk never really explain how it works, so I don’t know if it requires the host mind to be equipped and prepared for such a connection—if it didn’t, that would be on hell of a way to spy. Similarly, there are all sorts of psychological issues when it comes to inhabiting—or cohabiting in—someone else’s body. So it is frustrating that Abnett spends very little time investigating any of this, choosing instead to focus on a straight shoot-em-up style action novel with very little in the way of subtext.
Look, we get it: war is hell. Corporations do evil things because they need to keep their discoveries secret so they can make a profit. Everyone lies. Let’s move on, shall we? Let’s do something.
Embedded sure takes its time getting started. Falk begins leisurely meandering about Eighty-Six, sticking his nose into places that don’t want him around, before falling in with the right group of people to send him on this little assignment. Their motivations aren’t all that complex—essentially they want the truth out there, and they also want to be the first ones to break the story. Yet, as with the other things I noted above, Abnett spends precious little time delving deeper into the ethics and ideas behind this type of journalism. It’s more like, “Falk is a journalist. People don’t tell him the truth. Oooh, look, a gun.”
Abnett seems more interested in the military part of military science fiction than the science fiction part. And that’s fine to a certain extent—I’m aware he’s a Warhammer 40K author, and his style is definitely reminiscient of a shared universe franchise author. But it’s not just style. Embedded lets me down because it never really accomplishes anything.
Let’s consider Leo Falk for a moment. Yes, analyzing the protagonist—scary stuff. Let’s look at his relationships. He’s reunited with Cleesh, someone he has worked with before but has never met in person, since she spent all her time working remotely from a space station. They talk, she gets him this gig, and then he doesn’t see her again. He develops a rivalry that evolves into some kind of tenuous mutual respect with another reporter, Noma, also known as “green hiker girl”. He is a jerk to just about everyone else he can possibly manage to offend.
And then there’s Nestor Bloom.
Bloom talks to Falk for about a minute, enough to tell him that Bloom is not interested in talking—because talking to yourself is not advisable when you, and everyone else around you, are heavily armed. So it would be inaccurate to say that Bloom and Falk have any kind of relationship, but at one point Falk is the only thing keeping Bloom’s body alive. Despite all that rich potential for serious explorations of philosophy of mind and the sense of self, all we get a few wry moments of introspection at the end of the book, as Falk wonders at not having any scars on his own body. It’s better than nothing, I suppose, but it’s still not much.
The actual plot is little better. The attack that wipes out Bloom’s squad and nearly kills Bloom and Falk is over something “big”, as in significant. This is obvious, because nothing else would motivate the Central Bloc (ooh, such an original name for an antagonist!) to turn the cold war on Eighty-Six into a legitimately lukewarm one. Instead of dropping tantalizing hints and making it more central to the plot, though, Abnett prefers to have Falk stumble through a few hundred pages of live fire before getting a glimpse of the thing. It’s alien tech, obviously (what else would it be), but if you’re hoping for so much as a bare description of what it is (or might be), you will be out of luck. Even the fact that it’s alien tech is never so much as whispered, but Abnett is at least competent enough to telegraph it in some fairly heavy dialogue.
I miss the good old days when the alien tech was actually a part of the story, the bad guys weren’t faceless factions sending soldiers after the good guys, and there protagonist’s relationships were more than a set of names and some vague feelings associated with each of them. But I guess that’s too much to ask for in this case. Embedded has some nifty action sequences and definitely comes up with an interesting premise. Its execution, in plot and character, comes up way too short.
March 22, 2017
A fresh and original concept, filled with edge-of-the-seat action that lets you live through the eyes of someone living through someone else's eyes - highly recommended, as the ending teases at something much more than you might expect from the story halfway through.
March 24, 2011
The title of this book tells us much about it, embedded was a phrase I'm sure all of us heard several times during the US led invasion of Iraq. And it is, at a start at least, what this story is about. What happens in the beginning of the book, when journalist Falk comes to planet Eighty-Seven, is a very realistic portrayal of how journalists work. And for me that immediately set a tone of realism for the whole novel. And I wasn't disappointed.
It doesn't take long for the story of war journalism to turn into a more traditional tale of military science fiction, and once it does the action starts. There is plenty of action throughout the story, and Abnett doesn't pull any punches. He describes a bloody and dirty conflict, that owes more to Joe Haldeman's The Forever War than to Star Wars. This is of course a good thing, in my opinion.
I've already mentioned the journalistic angle, and the action, but there is much more to this novel. There is a layer of suspense that runs through it, and it is hard to know where the story will take you. This is a great strength, and something that made it hard for me to put down.
There is also a very serious element in the book that I was afraid would feel preachy. Fortunately Abnett handles this very well, and it adds to the story without feeling intrusive.
Whether your interest lies in planet bound military science fiction, a good war story, or a different twist on war journalism this is a book you should pick up. It's fast, relentless, and has an ending that I at least did not see coming.
This review was originally published on my blog http://weirdmage.blogspot.com
It doesn't take long for the story of war journalism to turn into a more traditional tale of military science fiction, and once it does the action starts. There is plenty of action throughout the story, and Abnett doesn't pull any punches. He describes a bloody and dirty conflict, that owes more to Joe Haldeman's The Forever War than to Star Wars. This is of course a good thing, in my opinion.
I've already mentioned the journalistic angle, and the action, but there is much more to this novel. There is a layer of suspense that runs through it, and it is hard to know where the story will take you. This is a great strength, and something that made it hard for me to put down.
There is also a very serious element in the book that I was afraid would feel preachy. Fortunately Abnett handles this very well, and it adds to the story without feeling intrusive.
Whether your interest lies in planet bound military science fiction, a good war story, or a different twist on war journalism this is a book you should pick up. It's fast, relentless, and has an ending that I at least did not see coming.
This review was originally published on my blog http://weirdmage.blogspot.com
September 12, 2015
This is a book I probably knew more about than I should have done. It has been heavily featured / advertised on sites (including this one) and in publications I read. Now I know that Dan Abnett has made his name in game and book tie-in work, most recently for me in the Games Workshop Horus Heresy series. So to find an original work by him I was intrigued but I will admit not motivated enough to rush out and buy it.
Well that was my first mistake - since I will admit I discovered it on one of my "wanderings" around the local second hand book stores. Dan Abnett I will admit often writes in a world where violence and war are common place (if you wont believe me look at the games produced by Games Workshop). But and I stress this about this book - this is not the case with Embedded. Okay yes there is military action and yes in places it can be quiet graphic - but the protagonist is far from violent and action led.
Now at this point I will evoke my rule of no spoilers - so it will make it difficult to explain further but suffice to say that the lead character finds himself and unwilling observer in the wrong place at the wrong time. It makes for a very fast paced and violent story with I feel a human protagonist is isn't afraid to be frozen with terror or sick with fear.
I think after reading this book I find myself with a new level of respect for the writer and his work and I will admit I will be taking a second look at his work now to see what other original titles he will have that appeal to me.
Well that was my first mistake - since I will admit I discovered it on one of my "wanderings" around the local second hand book stores. Dan Abnett I will admit often writes in a world where violence and war are common place (if you wont believe me look at the games produced by Games Workshop). But and I stress this about this book - this is not the case with Embedded. Okay yes there is military action and yes in places it can be quiet graphic - but the protagonist is far from violent and action led.
Now at this point I will evoke my rule of no spoilers - so it will make it difficult to explain further but suffice to say that the lead character finds himself and unwilling observer in the wrong place at the wrong time. It makes for a very fast paced and violent story with I feel a human protagonist is isn't afraid to be frozen with terror or sick with fear.
I think after reading this book I find myself with a new level of respect for the writer and his work and I will admit I will be taking a second look at his work now to see what other original titles he will have that appeal to me.
May 13, 2011
It say's on the cover "Abnett is brilliant!", I'm certainly not going to disagree. A fantasitic book. A real page turner.
I thought the idea of taking the old cold war off planet and into sci-fi was great, mixing it up with some modern political statement. I also liked the subtle language references and the idea of being able to get a ling patch that basically bleeped you as you spoke. Inspired.
The main thing I like about the pace and style of Abnett's books is that they are very visually punchy. And by visual, I mean it's as action packed as any blockbuster movie.
Top marks.
I thought the idea of taking the old cold war off planet and into sci-fi was great, mixing it up with some modern political statement. I also liked the subtle language references and the idea of being able to get a ling patch that basically bleeped you as you spoke. Inspired.
The main thing I like about the pace and style of Abnett's books is that they are very visually punchy. And by visual, I mean it's as action packed as any blockbuster movie.
Top marks.
January 8, 2017
I don't normally read war stories, but when I do...I'll prefer Dan Abnett from now on.
November 5, 2022
I was fairly disappointed with Embedded by Dan Abnett. There are mainly two complaints I have with this book. The first is Abnett's attempt to create slang for the future is poorly done and borders on annoying. Second, the main character, Lex Falk, is not very likable and I really never connected with him. The secondary characters were also not very interesting. I just could not develop much interest in what was happening. Others seem to disagree so if this sounds like a book you would want to read, give it a try. I have read other books by Dan Abnett which I liked just fine.
June 3, 2011
News coverage of military conflicts changed forever when journalists were allowed to travel along with combat units and report right from the front line, providing dramatic real life images of what life is like for soldiers and civilians in a war zone. Dan Abnett effectively takes this concept of the “embedded reporter” into futuristic territory with his new military science fiction novel, Embedded.
Lex Falk is an acclaimed but cynical and war-weary journalist who has visited and written about several newly colonized planets throughout his career. At the start of Embedded, he finds himself on planet Eighty-Six, chasing hints that an armed conflict may be on the verge of breaking out. It’s in the best interest of the various planetary and corporate authorities to downplay any hint that war may be coming, so even Lex finds it difficult to get past the lines fed to him by official propaganda channels. All of that changes when gets the opportunity to test out a new technology that would allow his consciousness to be “embedded” into an active duty soldier...
Dan Abnett has written an almost surreal number of comics and Warhammer novels, so it should come as no surprise that he knows how to tell a story. Lex Falk quickly becomes a solid, recognizable character: a grumpy, tired and arrogant seen-it-all correspondent who is still unable to let go of a story once he’s caught a whiff. Through Lex, the reader gets a vivid and realistic view of life on Eighty-Six, a colony planet that seems to be a mix of corporate interests, government officials and armed forces. Information is restricted to such an extent that the use of the word “war” is discouraged (officially, it’s just a “dispute”), and the degree of media control is chillingly demonstrated by a corporation’s ability to sponsor an expletive: people can be voluntarily “ling-patched” so their curse words are automatically changed to a new soda brand’s name.
The first part of Embedded, showing how Lex tries to get information in this controlled environment, is great. It has a dark, gritty atmosphere, with Lex Falk playing a latter day Phillip Marlowe (but as an investigative journalist rather than a PI, of course). There’s solid world-building, a fascinating main character, and hints that a great plot is about to develop. I had trouble putting this book down early on.
Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worse once Lex is actually “embedded.” The concept is neat, and at first it makes for great reading: Lex’s disorientation when finding himself in the body of the young and healthy soldier Nestor Bloom, then being part of the hyper-masculine camaraderie with his unit’s soldiers (who are all unaware that someone else is riding along), later the shocking first-person experiences of actual combat. It makes for vivid and highly entertaining reading... but then Dan Abnett basically keeps playing the same song over and over for too long. Spectacular battles, daring rescues, soldiers joking among themselves. More combat scenes, more high-testosterone joshing and needling, another desperate escape. The author introduces some new elements here and there, and some of the action scenes are true nail-biters, but in general the second half of the novel is too monotonous, and the ending, unfortunately, a bit rushed.
Still, the first half of Embedded, focusing on Lex before being embedded and his first experiences afterward, is truly excellent, and while the second half is too repetitive, it’s still well-written and action-packed. This is a novel that almost begs to be turned into a sci-fi action movie, and it also sets up very effectively for a possible future sequel. If you’re a fan of military SF, definitely check out Embedded by Dan Abnett.
(This review was also published on the Fantasy Literature website - www.fantasyliterature.com. Come check us out!)
Lex Falk is an acclaimed but cynical and war-weary journalist who has visited and written about several newly colonized planets throughout his career. At the start of Embedded, he finds himself on planet Eighty-Six, chasing hints that an armed conflict may be on the verge of breaking out. It’s in the best interest of the various planetary and corporate authorities to downplay any hint that war may be coming, so even Lex finds it difficult to get past the lines fed to him by official propaganda channels. All of that changes when gets the opportunity to test out a new technology that would allow his consciousness to be “embedded” into an active duty soldier...
Dan Abnett has written an almost surreal number of comics and Warhammer novels, so it should come as no surprise that he knows how to tell a story. Lex Falk quickly becomes a solid, recognizable character: a grumpy, tired and arrogant seen-it-all correspondent who is still unable to let go of a story once he’s caught a whiff. Through Lex, the reader gets a vivid and realistic view of life on Eighty-Six, a colony planet that seems to be a mix of corporate interests, government officials and armed forces. Information is restricted to such an extent that the use of the word “war” is discouraged (officially, it’s just a “dispute”), and the degree of media control is chillingly demonstrated by a corporation’s ability to sponsor an expletive: people can be voluntarily “ling-patched” so their curse words are automatically changed to a new soda brand’s name.
The first part of Embedded, showing how Lex tries to get information in this controlled environment, is great. It has a dark, gritty atmosphere, with Lex Falk playing a latter day Phillip Marlowe (but as an investigative journalist rather than a PI, of course). There’s solid world-building, a fascinating main character, and hints that a great plot is about to develop. I had trouble putting this book down early on.
Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worse once Lex is actually “embedded.” The concept is neat, and at first it makes for great reading: Lex’s disorientation when finding himself in the body of the young and healthy soldier Nestor Bloom, then being part of the hyper-masculine camaraderie with his unit’s soldiers (who are all unaware that someone else is riding along), later the shocking first-person experiences of actual combat. It makes for vivid and highly entertaining reading... but then Dan Abnett basically keeps playing the same song over and over for too long. Spectacular battles, daring rescues, soldiers joking among themselves. More combat scenes, more high-testosterone joshing and needling, another desperate escape. The author introduces some new elements here and there, and some of the action scenes are true nail-biters, but in general the second half of the novel is too monotonous, and the ending, unfortunately, a bit rushed.
Still, the first half of Embedded, focusing on Lex before being embedded and his first experiences afterward, is truly excellent, and while the second half is too repetitive, it’s still well-written and action-packed. This is a novel that almost begs to be turned into a sci-fi action movie, and it also sets up very effectively for a possible future sequel. If you’re a fan of military SF, definitely check out Embedded by Dan Abnett.
(This review was also published on the Fantasy Literature website - www.fantasyliterature.com. Come check us out!)
June 20, 2013
The rating of this one is another that was up in the air for a while. I'd say this would be a 3.5 with enough of the edge going on the high side to do the "official round up from .5 on" thing.
We start out here with a science fiction world of the "the big bad corporations have taken over" school. There seems to be a few future paradigms in science fiction and this one shows up regularly. It also seems to me to be the least likely of the possibilities...but there you go. This is a story set in a universe where this is the future (although it's not our universe as it's mentioned that Gus Grissom was the fist man on the moon).
So, we start out with a reporter He's well known, he's won prizes...he's jaded. Having run the gauntlet of military answers and so for years he thinks of himself as one who knows the ropes. Of course when he meets a hot young reporter (hot can have several meanings here) and tries to help her through the mine field of asking the wrong questions, he sort of has to begin rethinking things and maybe wonder if he's still at the top of his game.
Or young enough to...umhummummmhummm...with a younger woman reporter.
Then he gets a chance to be "chipped" into the head of a trooped going to the front and things take a somewhat exciting turn...and of course also a frightening turn.
With the greetings in the book (instead of "I fine" people say, "I'm wealthy" or "I'm golden") and the difference in titles, "nation" names etc. we get the set up of this universe. While the book takes it's time getting going and setting things up it resolves into an fairly interesting story with an ending that I think will satisfy.
I have a couple of large "pulp type" books on my shelf by Abnett (Warhammer 40K omnibus reads) that I haven't read yet I'm glad I liked this one.
So, for military science fiction and action I can recommend this one. Enjoy.
We start out here with a science fiction world of the "the big bad corporations have taken over" school. There seems to be a few future paradigms in science fiction and this one shows up regularly. It also seems to me to be the least likely of the possibilities...but there you go. This is a story set in a universe where this is the future (although it's not our universe as it's mentioned that Gus Grissom was the fist man on the moon).
So, we start out with a reporter He's well known, he's won prizes...he's jaded. Having run the gauntlet of military answers and so for years he thinks of himself as one who knows the ropes. Of course when he meets a hot young reporter (hot can have several meanings here) and tries to help her through the mine field of asking the wrong questions, he sort of has to begin rethinking things and maybe wonder if he's still at the top of his game.
Or young enough to...umhummummmhummm...with a younger woman reporter.
Then he gets a chance to be "chipped" into the head of a trooped going to the front and things take a somewhat exciting turn...and of course also a frightening turn.
With the greetings in the book (instead of "I fine" people say, "I'm wealthy" or "I'm golden") and the difference in titles, "nation" names etc. we get the set up of this universe. While the book takes it's time getting going and setting things up it resolves into an fairly interesting story with an ending that I think will satisfy.
I have a couple of large "pulp type" books on my shelf by Abnett (Warhammer 40K omnibus reads) that I haven't read yet I'm glad I liked this one.
So, for military science fiction and action I can recommend this one. Enjoy.
December 19, 2021
This was a decent military sci-fi. I was hoping for a bit more, if I'm being honest. There was some okay worldbuilding, but I think it compares poorly to, say, Richard Morgan's Sanction IV in "Broken Angels". The concept of embedding a journalist in a soldier's body and then inserting him behind enemy lines, but the mechanics of it weren't explored particularly well. The book dragged in a middle section that was far too long and then wrapped up a bit too quickly for my taste.
I suppose if Abnett decides to revisit this world, I'll give a second volume a try.
I suppose if Abnett decides to revisit this world, I'll give a second volume a try.
August 3, 2023
Not the biggest fan of the book, it was quite long with lots of jargon that really was never explained so many ‘world-building’ sections didn’t make sense. Hence, I never fully immersed myself in Falk’s world.
February 27, 2018
I wasn't a huge fan, but sci-fi militaristic isn't really my thing. it was interesting for what it was.
August 17, 2024
Lex is a journalist who gets pulled into the biggest story of his life, only to experience it for himself as he gets embedded into the soldier’s mind…. And things get pretty complicated from there.
This was standalone and sorta Military scifi! On the light side but decent palate cleanser.
This was standalone and sorta Military scifi! On the light side but decent palate cleanser.
November 15, 2025
not a huge fan of the writing style, and definitely a lot of "tired" themes sort of reimagined slightly
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 12, 2012
“The other grenade detonated as it struck the sternum of the man whose shots had just missed Preben. The blastforce drove him down into the ground like a peg, and left his upper body and arms mangled and burning.”
This is futuristic warfare at its most violent. This is the Hard Place. This is Embedded, by Dan Abnett.
Journalist Lex Falk is assigned to planet Eighty-Six, a world seemingly as dull and uneventful as the others—as dull and uneventful as the military high command wants everyone to believe it is. But Falk senses something different, and when an explosion is dismissed as nothing despite the evidence, Falk decides to go in undercover. He gets wired into the brain of Nestor Bloom, one of the soldiers on the frontline. Falk finds out that things are as bad as he suspected, that there is a war raging behind a smokescreen provided by the military high brass. And when Bloom takes a shot to the head, Falk finds himself in control of a body that isn’t his, in charge of a squadron that isn’t his—and it’s up to him to not only get the scoop of his journalistic lifetime, but to lead his soldiers out of the Hard Place alive.
All in all, Embedded is a great read, fast-paced for the most part and loaded with violently detailed action sequences. The cast of characters are real and identifiable, and the reader has little trouble getting to like Preben and Rash and Bigmouse, along with the other members of the team desperately trying to survive a bloody war. The technology is believable and the weapons leave you in no doubt that this is some serious futuristic firepower. The firefights are when this book truly comes to life: the escape from an abandoned house, led by Falk, being a particularly memorable one. The action is hard and gory, brutal, and it really brings the finality of war off the page.
Unfortunately the book staggers with a slow start, a full twelve chapters before the soldiers are airlifted into the Hard Place, but once the troops get on the ground the novel takes off running and is flat-out sprinting by the time Bloom takes his head-shot. Some of the chapters ended softly, with no cliff-hanger forcing the reader to turn the page, but thankfully the story should be pretty much ingrained by then that you’ll want to keep reading regardless.
This is the first novel of Abnett’s that I’ve read, but it won’t be the last.
This is futuristic warfare at its most violent. This is the Hard Place. This is Embedded, by Dan Abnett.
Journalist Lex Falk is assigned to planet Eighty-Six, a world seemingly as dull and uneventful as the others—as dull and uneventful as the military high command wants everyone to believe it is. But Falk senses something different, and when an explosion is dismissed as nothing despite the evidence, Falk decides to go in undercover. He gets wired into the brain of Nestor Bloom, one of the soldiers on the frontline. Falk finds out that things are as bad as he suspected, that there is a war raging behind a smokescreen provided by the military high brass. And when Bloom takes a shot to the head, Falk finds himself in control of a body that isn’t his, in charge of a squadron that isn’t his—and it’s up to him to not only get the scoop of his journalistic lifetime, but to lead his soldiers out of the Hard Place alive.
All in all, Embedded is a great read, fast-paced for the most part and loaded with violently detailed action sequences. The cast of characters are real and identifiable, and the reader has little trouble getting to like Preben and Rash and Bigmouse, along with the other members of the team desperately trying to survive a bloody war. The technology is believable and the weapons leave you in no doubt that this is some serious futuristic firepower. The firefights are when this book truly comes to life: the escape from an abandoned house, led by Falk, being a particularly memorable one. The action is hard and gory, brutal, and it really brings the finality of war off the page.
Unfortunately the book staggers with a slow start, a full twelve chapters before the soldiers are airlifted into the Hard Place, but once the troops get on the ground the novel takes off running and is flat-out sprinting by the time Bloom takes his head-shot. Some of the chapters ended softly, with no cliff-hanger forcing the reader to turn the page, but thankfully the story should be pretty much ingrained by then that you’ll want to keep reading regardless.
This is the first novel of Abnett’s that I’ve read, but it won’t be the last.
May 19, 2011
Dan Abnett is probably my favourite author of the Black Library, so when I heard he was publishing a non-warhammer novel for Bad Robot I was intrigued.
Embedded is a military sci-fi novel set in a slightly alternate universe sometime in the near future. Humanity has spread beyond the Solar system and begun settling other planets. Two of the largest superpowers - the United Status (America) and the Central Bloc (Russia) continue their long cold war while the distrubution of land is governed by the Settlement Office.
Lex Falk is a seasoned journalist, sent to new colony planet Eighty Six to cover a supposed low-level armed squabble blamed on insurgents. He is worn-down and jaded from too much interstellar travel between jobs. When the military try to give the media the runaround and a mystery explosion is blamed on a meteor strike, Falk smells a coverup.
Cleesh - an old friend, gives Falk the opportunity to find out what's happening out at the trouble spot by getting his perception grafted onto the consiousness of a soldier, (called sensory repositioning,) who's about to be sent out to the front line - Private Nestor Bloom. At first Falk can only experience Bloom's perceptions without any control over his host. Later, when what should have been a simple mission goes wrong and Bloom is severely wounded Falk finds he has to take over Bloom's body for his own survival. Somehow he has to get himself and the remnants of Bloom's squad out of a warzone and in the process discover why a secret war is being fought over an insignificant area of a backwater planet.
While not the finest of Abnetts books in my opinion, this is still a cracking read. The tech is sufficiently near to today's tech to understand well enough and what wasn't explained (the way humanity travels between stars, ships called 'drivers' weren't elaborated on,) didn't really need to be. Falk, although initially a grumpy bastard, grows on you and the crossover betwwen his character and Bloom's is handled very well. The story is a little slow at first but once the plot reaches the warzone it moves along at a cracking pace. The whole thing is fast and thrilling but not especially deep and the dénouement is satisfactory but doesn't get into much detail.
Embedded is a military sci-fi novel set in a slightly alternate universe sometime in the near future. Humanity has spread beyond the Solar system and begun settling other planets. Two of the largest superpowers - the United Status (America) and the Central Bloc (Russia) continue their long cold war while the distrubution of land is governed by the Settlement Office.
Lex Falk is a seasoned journalist, sent to new colony planet Eighty Six to cover a supposed low-level armed squabble blamed on insurgents. He is worn-down and jaded from too much interstellar travel between jobs. When the military try to give the media the runaround and a mystery explosion is blamed on a meteor strike, Falk smells a coverup.
Cleesh - an old friend, gives Falk the opportunity to find out what's happening out at the trouble spot by getting his perception grafted onto the consiousness of a soldier, (called sensory repositioning,) who's about to be sent out to the front line - Private Nestor Bloom. At first Falk can only experience Bloom's perceptions without any control over his host. Later, when what should have been a simple mission goes wrong and Bloom is severely wounded Falk finds he has to take over Bloom's body for his own survival. Somehow he has to get himself and the remnants of Bloom's squad out of a warzone and in the process discover why a secret war is being fought over an insignificant area of a backwater planet.
While not the finest of Abnetts books in my opinion, this is still a cracking read. The tech is sufficiently near to today's tech to understand well enough and what wasn't explained (the way humanity travels between stars, ships called 'drivers' weren't elaborated on,) didn't really need to be. Falk, although initially a grumpy bastard, grows on you and the crossover betwwen his character and Bloom's is handled very well. The story is a little slow at first but once the plot reaches the warzone it moves along at a cracking pace. The whole thing is fast and thrilling but not especially deep and the dénouement is satisfactory but doesn't get into much detail.
April 17, 2011
I was fortunate to receive an early review copy of Embedded by Dan Abnett. The story is about a cold war gone hot on an alien world and the reporter who is there to experience it.
Embedded is military sci-fi with a couple of innovative twists. It is told through the eyes of a reporter, Lex Falk. Falk is a successful, jaded reporter who has bounced around from planet to planet. He becomes convinced there is a story at his latest stop, a big story. When he gets the run-around from the military authorities, he agrees to a secret radical procedure that allows him to share the consciousness of a soldier in the field. An accident leaves him in control of the soldier’s body and forces him to attempt to get to safety while at the same time discovering the secret to what turns a centuries long cold war into a real one.
Some of the story techniques were more annoying than clever. New words are made up with their meanings left to be intuited, but they are not very intuitive and are never defined. None of the characters have a great deal of depth, but a few of the female characters are especially thin. They show up with minimal explanation, move the story along a little and then disappear. The description of the planet was good, but could have been explored more. It felt half-finished. A little less reporter angst and a little more world-building might have been a better balance.
The action sequences are fairly well done and carry the story along at a pretty good clip for the last half of the book. The description of sharing consciousness with another person was also very well done; especially a sequence where Falk is lost in the memories of the soldier leaving both Falk and the reader somewhat disoriented. The technology is sufficiently futuristic making for battles that are a lot of fun to read.
The concept of military sci-fi told through the eyes of a non-soldier is an interesting one. The story doesn’t quite deliver on the intriguing premise, but is still a worthwhile read.
Embedded is military sci-fi with a couple of innovative twists. It is told through the eyes of a reporter, Lex Falk. Falk is a successful, jaded reporter who has bounced around from planet to planet. He becomes convinced there is a story at his latest stop, a big story. When he gets the run-around from the military authorities, he agrees to a secret radical procedure that allows him to share the consciousness of a soldier in the field. An accident leaves him in control of the soldier’s body and forces him to attempt to get to safety while at the same time discovering the secret to what turns a centuries long cold war into a real one.
Some of the story techniques were more annoying than clever. New words are made up with their meanings left to be intuited, but they are not very intuitive and are never defined. None of the characters have a great deal of depth, but a few of the female characters are especially thin. They show up with minimal explanation, move the story along a little and then disappear. The description of the planet was good, but could have been explored more. It felt half-finished. A little less reporter angst and a little more world-building might have been a better balance.
The action sequences are fairly well done and carry the story along at a pretty good clip for the last half of the book. The description of sharing consciousness with another person was also very well done; especially a sequence where Falk is lost in the memories of the soldier leaving both Falk and the reader somewhat disoriented. The technology is sufficiently futuristic making for battles that are a lot of fun to read.
The concept of military sci-fi told through the eyes of a non-soldier is an interesting one. The story doesn’t quite deliver on the intriguing premise, but is still a worthwhile read.
August 16, 2013
I've read Abnett's military fiction before, but that was in Games Workshop's worlds, so I was curious as to what he would create when given the ability to come up with his own universe. And I must say, it was both interesting, realistic and enjoyable.
Abnett creates a very believable world in this novel, and it comes across as a fairly realistic future for civilization. He places small things in the story that enhance the experience and help to engage the reader. My personal favorite was the registered swear word for the area. Overall the military science fiction is handled well and the weapons were a good combination of futuristic and modern, which helped to make it feel a little more realistic.
The opening of the novel was a bit slow, and it takes awhile for the action to get going and for everything to be set up for the remainder of the tale. But once you get past it and into the action, the story flows well and moves quickly from one scene to the next, never letting up on the action. The characters also help as well, as they are well written and in Abnett's tradition, each interesting in their own right and you never want to see anything bad happen to any of them.
Lastly, the final 'f*ck you' moment of the book was glorious and actually gave me goosebumps. Until it happens, you don't realize that a lot of what is going on is leading up to that one final moment. Plus, the surprise of it all, the reason for the action, is handled well, with not a lot of detail which helps to lend believability to the situation.
In the end, Abnett has written a very enjoyable military fiction piece that I loved reading and will most likely read again in the future. If you have read Abnett's work before, I suggest you pick this up and see what he can do with his own world. And if you enjoy military fiction, and more so, science fiction military fiction, then this book will be for you and I can't suggest it enough. A very fun read and something I will recommend to others.
Abnett creates a very believable world in this novel, and it comes across as a fairly realistic future for civilization. He places small things in the story that enhance the experience and help to engage the reader. My personal favorite was the registered swear word for the area. Overall the military science fiction is handled well and the weapons were a good combination of futuristic and modern, which helped to make it feel a little more realistic.
The opening of the novel was a bit slow, and it takes awhile for the action to get going and for everything to be set up for the remainder of the tale. But once you get past it and into the action, the story flows well and moves quickly from one scene to the next, never letting up on the action. The characters also help as well, as they are well written and in Abnett's tradition, each interesting in their own right and you never want to see anything bad happen to any of them.
Lastly, the final 'f*ck you' moment of the book was glorious and actually gave me goosebumps. Until it happens, you don't realize that a lot of what is going on is leading up to that one final moment. Plus, the surprise of it all, the reason for the action, is handled well, with not a lot of detail which helps to lend believability to the situation.
In the end, Abnett has written a very enjoyable military fiction piece that I loved reading and will most likely read again in the future. If you have read Abnett's work before, I suggest you pick this up and see what he can do with his own world. And if you enjoy military fiction, and more so, science fiction military fiction, then this book will be for you and I can't suggest it enough. A very fun read and something I will recommend to others.
February 13, 2013
Se nota de sobra que su autor, Dan Abnett, es autor de varias novelas de Warhammer. Un libro ameno y entretenido, cargado de adrenalina y testosterona. Lo primero que me llamó de él es el personaje de Lex Falk, un viejo corresponsal de guerra que viaja a 86 para recoger información sobre el conflicto minero que se desarrolla en el planeta, y que recibe una oferta dificil de rechazar, mediante un parche poder seguir en primera persona las experiencias de un soldado en primera linea de fuego, pero todo se complica.
El autor recrea muy bien el universo en que se desenvuelven los personajes: las armas, los vehículos, las acciones de guerra tan detalladas, que crees ver la sangre por momentos.
El autor recrea muy bien el universo en que se desenvuelven los personajes: las armas, los vehículos, las acciones de guerra tan detalladas, que crees ver la sangre por momentos.
April 9, 2015
Enjoyed Embedded more than I expected. 3 Stars for a pretty good last half of the book. The action is intense. I was greatly amused at the barely concealed "NATO vs East Bloc" model used to define the adversaries, weapons, operations and politics. Fairly hokey ending that is not foreshadowed anywhere. Here is the definitive review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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April 20, 2011p 62/430 - good, but waiting for the freeking®
'embedding'.
p 113/430 - Click.
Old Man' War still has my favorite consciousness transferral scene.
p 195/430 - lots of shooting, the 'chip' took over (this is the premise), usually I like a lot of visual description, maybe it's too much (too many metaphors?)? Just my subjective impression. If they do an audiobook, I'd like to hear how they pronounce 'freeking®'.
'embedding'.
p 113/430 - Click.
Old Man' War still has my favorite consciousness transferral scene.
p 195/430 - lots of shooting, the 'chip' took over (this is the premise), usually I like a lot of visual description, maybe it's too much (too many metaphors?)? Just my subjective impression. If they do an audiobook, I'd like to hear how they pronounce 'freeking®'.
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