The technology is painted in broad strokes and in most places lacks any real detail. This is not a David Weber or John Ringo style military novel. At its heart this is a story about two very different psychopaths, One a bitter semi suicidal man who is driven by an inner demon that forces him to survive at all costs, and the other, A passionate maniac with a cunning vicious streak that he uses to accomplish his goals despite the guilt he occasionally feels. Like the Hyperion cantos this is book is more than science fiction, it is real literature that is a pleasure to read. Like the others who have just posted reviews this is one of those books that I have been keeping an eye out for since I joined Audible. This one's all about the characters and they repeatedly say that they don't have any idea what's going on, and since they don't, neither do we. Only in novels do we get the 'God view' that gives us knowledge of everything. Why the war? How do the warring technologies match up? Where does this fight fit into the larger war? How could their intel be so completely wrong? I didn't mind this the story is not about the war, it's about these people, and this is a much more realistic way that such events are actually experienced. Be prepared for large parts of this story to make little sense or be complete mysteries. lot's of unexpected little character dimensions. some people look tough but aren't, some are brave and don't know why, some know how to lead but don't want to.

Ultimately Armor is a psychological fable, more than simple military SF, examining how people think, act and feel under extreme situations, the nature of heroism, the many ways people are motivated. Again, Weiner brings out the fun in that part of the story. The Jack Crow character provides the comic release and I found that storyline a welcome break from the intensity of the Felix chapters. It's very fast paced, and I found it even a bit emotionally draining. The writing is distinctive, with a chopped flow and bursts of intensity that mirror the fighting, and Weiner's narration captures this. Steakley expends little time on the tech details and essentially none on the politics, the war is apparently completely pointless, but focuses instead on the actual experience that Felix endures. The Felix narrative tracks the experience of an individual soldier in an interstellar war. There are really two stories here, that eventually come together, and they are somewhat different. An intense and unusual work, wonderfully performed

Armour john steakley