The Light Brigade (novel)
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| Author | Kameron Hurley |
|---|---|
| Genre | Science fiction, Time travel |
| Publisher | Saga Press |
Publication date | March 19, 2019 |
| Publication place | United States |
The Light Brigade is a 2019 science fiction novel by Kameron Hurley, in which brutal descriptions of war and economic exploitation in a dystopian future are used to provide strongly critical commentary on the nature of warfare and capitalism. It was nominated for both Hugo and Locus awards for 2020.
In a dystopian and post-apocalyptic future, the world is ruled by six mega-corporations.[1] Members of society are either corporate citizens bound to serve corporate goals, or "ghouls" who are dispossessed and lack status. The corporate private armies are at war with the separatists of Mars, who allegedly disappeared the entire population of São Paulo using unknown technology, in an offensive called "the Blink".[2][3] Soldiers, better known as "grunts", are broken down into light and sent to distant battlefronts. Some of them come back different, but are punished if they try to talk about what they experienced, so everyone learns that it's better to remain silent.[4]
Dietz is newly enlisted to the infantry of Tene-Silvia, one of the Big Six corporations fighting Mars.[1] Dietz joined to get revenge, having lost home, friends, lover, and family in the Blink,[5] but begins to experience combat drops that don't sync up with the rest of the platoon's. Dietz encounters events that seem out of sequence, lands in unfamiliar missions, and fights alongside grunts that know Dietz but whom Dietz has never met.[2] Along the way, Dietz learns things that contradict what the corporate brass claims is real.[4]
Dietz struggles to determine whether there is a real difference or if the perceptions is caused by combat madness.[4] Parsing what is real, understanding when and where events occurred, and surviving the brutal, violent war become Dietz's main challenges.[1]