Three Unbroken: A Novel of the Celestial Empire [Paperback]

I bought this book years ago because it was Imperial China versus the Aztecs in space. The appeal of such a concept was great and when I finally started it last week I thought I would be able to enjoy a great book. After all Michael Moorcock is quoted on the back cover prasiing Mr Roberson for his talent and eloquence. Perhaps that is true of Mr Roberson's other books, but not this one.

Instead of a military sci-fi thriller we are given a book that isn't sure what it wants to be, with too much of a tendency towards being literary. Instead of one solid viewpoint we are instead given three characters, none of whom are easy to relate to or even like since each one of them is effectively brainwashed into believing service to the Emperor is the be all and end all of life and whose view of the war is complicated by unneccessary aspects of their lives crowding in on the action.

Do we really want to be reading about how Navigator Geng is pregnant with Pilot Pak's baby when we could be getting dogfights where hundreds of planes mix it up and the crew see their friends in the other planes go down? For that matter why is it that with the crew of Fair Winds for Escort, a bomber, that we never learn anything of the other bombers or their crews? Instead of a larger community where the loss of every bomber is keenly felt, our world is confined to one bomber where the crew are more interested in making sexual innuendo at one another than concentrating on their job. The bomber itself meanwhile is such a poor design with the crew having to crawl anywhere and guns that only point downwards that I found it hard to believe anyone could actually have written that into the main text.

In another chapter we are told about how the Chinese forces were forced to retreat from a retrospective view, where one soldier's nightmares are expanded upon to detail the nature of the hurried escape. Where Mr Roberson could have provided a tension filled chapter where we keep hoping the characters will escape only to see some of them killed at the last moment, we are instead given a small recount that provides no suspense whatsoever.

Ultimately I'd say that was the biggest problem with this book. Whole paragraphs and even chapters are simply superfluous to the story and many details are repeated so many times and in a way that is clearly stating the obvious which borders on the pedantic. It lets the book down by giving away key details too early. Was it such a good idea for example to reveal that Operation Great Strength would be a faliure before you've even begun describing the operation? Other parts of the structure, such as the use of bombers and fighters on Mars and troops fighting over territory in a manner reminisicent of the Second World War, which Mr Roberson admits was a source of inspiration, isn't a credible execution of space age warfare. Think of Joe Haldemann or Robert Heinlein and their descriptions of small unit actions and skirmish battles rather than large scale offensives and you will see what I mean.

Therefore sadly, I must advise anyone thinking of buying this book to look elsewhere. What started off with a great concept has been delivered in such a poor manner that your enthusiasm for this book will quickly wither and you will wonder how it ever got published in the first place.

This is an OK book. In the vein of Starship Troopers but not as tightly writtten. Characters are not very deep. Annoyingly incomprehensible I ching quotes at the start of every chapter.

Solaris really is a publisher who offers alternate books to the mainstream of most of the UK publishers. What is refreshing about this is that a tale will often bring something new and different to the readers market and whilst some of it isn't as appreciated today as it could be, it does present the reader with perhaps a glimpse into the future that no one else has dared dream.

In this offering, Chris Robertson presents the reader with a future where the Chinese are in control of mankind and tells the tale from three different points of view, that adds a greater depth as well as flavour of the world through the principle protagonists point of views. Its cracking and whilst the battles are quite sparse it is a tale that will keep you occupied and gripped to the last page to understand how the world will function in a believable offering of a bleak future. Well written and lovingly crafted this will be a book that you'll either love or hate for its departure from the norm within the genre. Definitely an author to watch for future tales.