The Science Fiction Review Books Cobra by Timothy Zahn

Cobra by Timothy Zahn

Book Cover

I recently started reading the Cobra Trilogy by Timothy Zahn. Cobra, the first book in the series, starts off just after the beginning of the Troft war with the Dominion of Man. At the beginning of the novel, the Trofts have already conquered a two key worlds in the outer systems. The military, in a desperate move, created the Cobra program to train an elite force of enhanced soldiers. One of the first things that came to mind when I came across this series was Starship Troopers, the BOOK, not the movie. I immensely enjoyed the first few chapters of Starship Troopers with the cap troopers in the Mobile Infantry. The main difference is that instead of troopers inside of huge external mech hardware, the Cobras’ enhancements are essentially hidden, yet very deadly. On the outside they look like a normal human, which is one of their advantages.

The main character is Johnny, who wants to join the Army. He wants to out of sincere patriotisim, not just to impress some girl. He tells the recruiter that he wants to get right into the fighting and help the citizens of Adironack and Silvern through guerrilla warfare. Johnny’s father had fought in the previous war against the Minthisti, but aboard a ship in the Star Forces. Johnny ended up getting the assignment he wanted, but with a few unexpected conditions.

After initial selection for the Cobra unit, irreversible surgery to implant the enhancing hardware and software had to take place. Bones were hardened, lasers implanted in his pinkies, servos in his joints, and a combat computer eventually was installed in his head. This, along with other weapons that could be externally equipped, made Johnny one of the most advanced soldiers in the Galaxy.

The first hundred pages or so covered Johnny’s training in the Cobra team and subsequent deployment on Adironack to help the citizen underground resist the Troft occupation forces. The battles were exciting and detailed, which reminded again of Starship Troopers. That is about where the similarities ended. Before I knew it, the war was over and Johnny was back at home trying to readjust to “normal” life. It was only a matter of time before someone tried to screw with Johnny too much and his combat computer kicked in and killed someone.

The book takes a turn towards politics after this. The government had quite a dilemma. They couldn’t remove all of the Cobra hardware without killing the soldiers, and they also couldn’t have soldiers accidentally killing others when they were threatened. Eventually a solution was devised; they would be used to colonize a small group of planets on the other side of Troft space. These were worlds yet to be tamed with plenty of dangerous flora and fauna that the Cobras could be used to protect colonists against.

At this point I kind of felt my interest dissipating. There was some guy jumping through the air with lasers coming out of his hands, kicking some major ass on the cover! I was all psyched up for huge battles and got just a taste of it.  The action slowed down considerably during the colonization and picked up briefly during a small uprising. Overall I was a bit disappointed. Having finished the first book, Cobra, and I’ve decided that I like Zahn’s later work more. Hopefully the next book, Cobra Strike, will live up to the title and offer more action than the first in the Trilogy.

Cobra Timeline:

  • 2403 – Trainee
  • 2407 – Veteran
  • 2414 – Loyalist
  • 2421 – Politician
  • 2432 – Statesman

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please prove you are a human * Time limit is exhausted. Please reload the CAPTCHA.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related Post

The Martian by Andy Weir narrated by R.C. BrayThe Martian by Andy Weir narrated by R.C. Bray

Book Cover

When I was looking for what to spend some of my first Audible credits on, The Martian by Andy Weir stood out. This still ranks at the top of roughly 15 audiobooks I’ve listened to for two reasons. First, the story and writing was engaging. This was “hardest” sci-fi I’ve read so far. There is a lot of math, chemistry, physics, and botany (yes botany). I’m sure that many people would be put off by such dry and detailed descriptions, but that leads me to my second point. The performance of the narrator, R.C. Bray, was superb. He made the “hard science” interesting and entertaining. His voice strikes me as a perfect fit for the main character, Mark Watney. Do yourself a favor and listen to the 5 minute sample on Audible and judge for yourself. While the book focuses on his Watney’s mission log, R.C. Bray does voices for other characters in NASA back on Earth. The voices are OK, nothing but nothing spectacular. I can’t say there is anything wrong, but there are other narrators with a stronger skill for differing character voices. (more…)

I, Robot by Isaac AsimovI, Robot by Isaac Asimov

I-Robot Book Cover

    The Three Laws of Robotics

  1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
  2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
  3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

First things first, the Hollywood movie I, Robot (also reviewed) with Will Smith has only has a few things in common with this book of short stories. Keep in mind that the NAME was licensed to the movie studio after the script was already written. Scenes were adjusted to include the Three Laws, Susan Calvin, and Alfred Lanning. That is about where the similarities between the book and the movie end. There might be a few concepts stripped from some of the stories, but by no means is the film “based” on the book. To give the movie makers credit, they only say “inspired” by in the opening.

I, Robot is a collection of short stories by Isaac Asimov. Keep in mind these stories were mainly written in the 1940s then published together in 1950. These stories describe the basics of the Three Laws of Robotics and what can go wrong with them. Asimov uses the Three Laws as a literary device to create puzzling situations. Several of these stories involve Susan Calvin, the top robo-psychologist for the only robot manufacturing company, US Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc. If anyone is interested in reading the Robot Novel series, this book kind of acts as a nice introduction to the basic concepts. As a matter of fact, anyone with any interest in Sci-Fi should read this book. I consider it required reading.

Black Market Memories by David A. SchrammBlack Market Memories by David A. Schramm

Black Market Memories Book Cover

Black Market memories is a story about a settlement many light years away from Earth named Jamestown. The residents can be individuals that had crippled bodies of some sort, then were given the opportunity to be “free” in a Stellar Unit (SU). The brain is scanned over a period of time then digitized and placed into a mechanical body. I would not classify these as cyborgs, but essentially AI that controls a ship of sorts. Some use the settlements as a base for research trips to find new worlds. (more…)