Armor by John Steakley

(discussed February 27, 2003)

On a ten-point scale (1=bad, 10=good), the people who read the book gave the following ratings: 5 (Ignacio), 5 (John), 6 (Chris), 7 (Julie), 8 (Raja), 8 (TC), 10 (Judy)
Average: 7.0

This is one of Judy Blackburn's all-time favorite books; she first read it about 5 years ago. She really likes the characterization (e.g., Jack Crow is thoroughly dislikable but has no illusions about it), the fact that it's a story about redemption, and the fact that the author doesn't try to fake his science.

Raja didn't like it as much; he found the writing to be so crude that it kept breaking his train of thought, and he had to keep going back and concentrate. In the end, though, he did find it enjoyable (and suspects he'd like it better if he read it again, since he has a better idea of what to expect).