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The Last Good Man
Scarred by war. In pursuit of truth.
Army veteran True Brighton left the service when the development of robotic helicopters made her training as a pilot obsolete. Now she works at Requisite Operations, a private military company established by friend and former Special Ops soldier Lincoln Han. ReqOp has embraced the new technologies. Robotics, big data, and artificial intelligence are all tools used to augment the skills of veteran warfighters-for-hire. But the tragedy of war is still measured in human casualties, and when True makes a chance discovery during a rescue mission, old wounds are ripped open. She’s left questioning what she knows of the past, and resolves to pursue the truth, whatever the cost.
The Last Good Man is a powerful, complex, and very human tale.
Army veteran True Brighton left the service when the development of robotic helicopters made her training as a pilot obsolete. Now she works at Requisite Operations, a private military company established by friend and former Special Ops soldier Lincoln Han. ReqOp has embraced the new technologies. Robotics, big data, and artificial intelligence are all tools used to augment the skills of veteran warfighters-for-hire. But the tragedy of war is still measured in human casualties, and when True makes a chance discovery during a rescue mission, old wounds are ripped open. She’s left questioning what she knows of the past, and resolves to pursue the truth, whatever the cost.
The Last Good Man is a powerful, complex, and very human tale.
464 pages, Paperback
First published June 20, 2017
288 people are currently reading
2110 people want to read
About the author
Linda Nagata
109 books659 followersI'm a writer from Hawaii best known for my high-tech science fiction, including the near-future thriller,
The Last Good Man
, and the far-future adventure series, INVERTED FRONTIER.
Though I don't review books on Goodreads, I do talk about some of my favorite books on my blog and those posts are echoed here. So I invite you to follow me for news of books and many other things. You can also visit my website to learn more about my work, and to sign up for my newsletter.
Though I don't review books on Goodreads, I do talk about some of my favorite books on my blog and those posts are echoed here. So I invite you to follow me for news of books and many other things. You can also visit my website to learn more about my work, and to sign up for my newsletter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 149 reviews
July 19, 2017
Short version: a nail-biting action thriller. Read it if you want thriller, but not to experience anything new in female characterization or military sci-fi.
"If Daniel could offer her comfort, if there was something he could say that would ease the horror of what was done and smooth the scars that mark her life, True would refuse to hear it. For eight years she's rejected all such words. She does not need comfort. She needs her scars. But she keeps these thoughts to herself."
Sidebar
A lesson in feminism: First wave: women recognizing equal rights, working to legalize equality and recognizing issues around homosexuality. Second wave: the consciousness-raising wave, particularly applied to sexuality and reproductive rights. Third wave: feminism that is more inclusive, that recognizes issues of people of color, ability issues and issues of gender identity.
******
Unfortunately for me, The Last Good Man is planted firmly in the second wave with it's 'big idea' being a middle-aged woman in a genre male role. I read thriller/military dramas here and there, but haven't been in the genre mood for a bit. I picked this one up on the strength of Nagata's discussion of the book on Scalzi's The Big Idea (here) and the 4.33 rating among friends. I'm not immune to the power of a good action-military movie, so I was intrigued by the idea of bringing an older woman into the setting.
Alas, though extremely readable, for me it did not push any conceptual boundaries. There's really only one woman in the action part of the team, True Brighton (naming done with tongue-in-cheek? Not sure) and once the leading mission is completed, the main plot centers on her identity as a mother. I find myself curious what the story would have been like with a male lead obsessed with his dead son. In the course of the story, True's identity as a mother is involved in making connections and justification for her actions. The two other important women are technical geniuses, the old 'women-in-the-lab,' ala NCIS and Criminal Minds. Gender identity, when discussed, is made clear that it falls along normative lines only (Nagata mentions one woman on the team as sleeping with a male team member in the past. No other male team members' sexual relationships are mentioned). Only two relationships are discussed, True's and the leader, Lincoln (!). We get a brief mention of Lincoln realizing he's the one-woman type and trying to restore his relationship with his estranged wife. True's is slightly less traditional, with her husband, Alex, is ex-military and currently a paramedic, following her around the country for her job, and him waiting at home for her return. That's about as boundary-pushing as it gets.
There's also some talk about whether the human element is going to be phased out of conflict and replaced with smart drones with rapidly programmable algorithms and the like. Again, not a revolutionary concept; every technical advance has had similar questions as we increase the physical distance between the people fighting.
Despite a nominal lead who is forty-nine and female, it failed to demonstrate any conceptual innovation for me. Nagata reports New York publishers didn't know what to make of it. Her interpretation was that part of that was due to the atypical heroine. Perhaps. Maybe the other part of it is that it isn't enough of any particular thing to strongly target genre. Likely too military traditional to appeal to sci-fi fans, such as those of Kameron Hurley's Bel Dame series, and perhaps the mildly futuristic sci-fi angle too challenging for those that like their military thrillers grounded in the current time. I could understand the marketing challenge.
Still, it's gripping with above average writing for the genre. Read it for the military-type thriller and not for the gender challenges.
Three-and-a-half-military-stars
"If Daniel could offer her comfort, if there was something he could say that would ease the horror of what was done and smooth the scars that mark her life, True would refuse to hear it. For eight years she's rejected all such words. She does not need comfort. She needs her scars. But she keeps these thoughts to herself."
Sidebar
A lesson in feminism: First wave: women recognizing equal rights, working to legalize equality and recognizing issues around homosexuality. Second wave: the consciousness-raising wave, particularly applied to sexuality and reproductive rights. Third wave: feminism that is more inclusive, that recognizes issues of people of color, ability issues and issues of gender identity.
******
Unfortunately for me, The Last Good Man is planted firmly in the second wave with it's 'big idea' being a middle-aged woman in a genre male role. I read thriller/military dramas here and there, but haven't been in the genre mood for a bit. I picked this one up on the strength of Nagata's discussion of the book on Scalzi's The Big Idea (here) and the 4.33 rating among friends. I'm not immune to the power of a good action-military movie, so I was intrigued by the idea of bringing an older woman into the setting.
Alas, though extremely readable, for me it did not push any conceptual boundaries. There's really only one woman in the action part of the team, True Brighton (naming done with tongue-in-cheek? Not sure) and once the leading mission is completed, the main plot centers on her identity as a mother. I find myself curious what the story would have been like with a male lead obsessed with his dead son. In the course of the story, True's identity as a mother is involved in making connections and justification for her actions. The two other important women are technical geniuses, the old 'women-in-the-lab,' ala NCIS and Criminal Minds. Gender identity, when discussed, is made clear that it falls along normative lines only (Nagata mentions one woman on the team as sleeping with a male team member in the past. No other male team members' sexual relationships are mentioned). Only two relationships are discussed, True's and the leader, Lincoln (!). We get a brief mention of Lincoln realizing he's the one-woman type and trying to restore his relationship with his estranged wife. True's is slightly less traditional, with her husband, Alex, is ex-military and currently a paramedic, following her around the country for her job, and him waiting at home for her return. That's about as boundary-pushing as it gets.
There's also some talk about whether the human element is going to be phased out of conflict and replaced with smart drones with rapidly programmable algorithms and the like. Again, not a revolutionary concept; every technical advance has had similar questions as we increase the physical distance between the people fighting.
Despite a nominal lead who is forty-nine and female, it failed to demonstrate any conceptual innovation for me. Nagata reports New York publishers didn't know what to make of it. Her interpretation was that part of that was due to the atypical heroine. Perhaps. Maybe the other part of it is that it isn't enough of any particular thing to strongly target genre. Likely too military traditional to appeal to sci-fi fans, such as those of Kameron Hurley's Bel Dame series, and perhaps the mildly futuristic sci-fi angle too challenging for those that like their military thrillers grounded in the current time. I could understand the marketing challenge.
Still, it's gripping with above average writing for the genre. Read it for the military-type thriller and not for the gender challenges.
Three-and-a-half-military-stars
June 22, 2017
In depth review at https://1000yearplan.com/2017/06/09/r...
Linda Nagata’s brand of military science fiction does not take technology for granted. She does not write “boys with toys” adventure stories or jingoistic thrillers where the good guys and their gadgets save the day from the fearsome foreign menace. In her acclaimed Red trilogy, as well as her latest novel The Last Good Man, the intricate web of political and industrial forces behind the development of advanced weapons systems does more than just impact how battles are fought and won: they reshape the cultural landscape as well as the human mind, both within the military and in society at large.
The Last Good Man is the story of True Brighton, a former army chopper pilot working for a private military contractor called Requisite Operations. The company’s founder, Lincoln Han, started ReqOp because he was fed up with the gray area morality of the missions he and his Army special forces unit were sent on; he wanted to engage in “right action,” to use his military training and expertise to help people and make the world a better place. But a strange hiccup during an otherwise successful mission dredges up a terrible episode from True’s and Lincoln’s shared history that puts the two friends and colleagues at odds and the future of their company in jeopardy.
Looming over the story is near constant presence of surveillance technology – and the casual acceptance of it – in everyday life. This coincides with the gathering storm of fully automated weapons systems capable of completely removing the human element (but not the human cost) from military operations. Nagata spins a crackerjack tale in The Last Good Man – from its eye-opening first act twist through the tense and explosive finale, she skillfully balances her tightly paced plot with the psychological implications of the all too near future she envisions.
Thanks to Netgalley, SFWA and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC.
Linda Nagata’s brand of military science fiction does not take technology for granted. She does not write “boys with toys” adventure stories or jingoistic thrillers where the good guys and their gadgets save the day from the fearsome foreign menace. In her acclaimed Red trilogy, as well as her latest novel The Last Good Man, the intricate web of political and industrial forces behind the development of advanced weapons systems does more than just impact how battles are fought and won: they reshape the cultural landscape as well as the human mind, both within the military and in society at large.
The Last Good Man is the story of True Brighton, a former army chopper pilot working for a private military contractor called Requisite Operations. The company’s founder, Lincoln Han, started ReqOp because he was fed up with the gray area morality of the missions he and his Army special forces unit were sent on; he wanted to engage in “right action,” to use his military training and expertise to help people and make the world a better place. But a strange hiccup during an otherwise successful mission dredges up a terrible episode from True’s and Lincoln’s shared history that puts the two friends and colleagues at odds and the future of their company in jeopardy.
Looming over the story is near constant presence of surveillance technology – and the casual acceptance of it – in everyday life. This coincides with the gathering storm of fully automated weapons systems capable of completely removing the human element (but not the human cost) from military operations. Nagata spins a crackerjack tale in The Last Good Man – from its eye-opening first act twist through the tense and explosive finale, she skillfully balances her tightly paced plot with the psychological implications of the all too near future she envisions.
Thanks to Netgalley, SFWA and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC.
July 22, 2017
This was a very satisfying military, techno-thriller that points the way toward war soon being waged by a combination of cybernetically enhanced soldiers autonomous robotic forces. It’s hard to classify the story as science fiction due to how close we are to the tech used: missile-bearing jet-propelled drones, rifle-wielding helicopter drones, and VR headsets, and devices controlled through haptic gloves. The spy bots that mimic birds, insects, and other critters seem a little more developmental. Beyond the tech focus, the tale has great pacing, complex plotting with various mysteries, and engaging depth in the characters.
The lead characters, Lincoln and True, are a middle-aged couple that work together as the CEO and operations director of a private military company, Requistion Operations (ReqOps). Their contract work in other countries is sanctioned by or hired by the US government for intelligence activities, security jobs, and occasional military missions not politically appropriate for official above-board support. If you have trouble warming to the niche of Haliburton, we are told that Lincoln has a conscience from the lessons learned in past botched work for the CIA:
No setting things right after the fact. What you do, you own. What you witness, you get to live with.
As a counterbalance, he tries to run ReqOps on a philosophy of “right action”—a principle of ethical service that encompasses power and responsibility and an obligation to act at need, and to do so in the best manner possible.
True is a brilliant engineer of drones and military robots who is less sanguine about justifying uses of lethal force:
There are millions of people I could hate. Everyone who wants to give themselves rights they deny to others, who wants to fuck with self-determination, individual freedom—and a woman’s freedom matters too. …
Tolerance cannot exist with intolerant systems. Not back home and not here. One of them has to die.
The operations of their team when tasked with a “Mission Impossible” of extracting western hostages in Syria is like poetry in motion. Computer and phone espionage point them to the likely hideout of the terrorists and hostages and infiltration by microdrones gives them intel on the people and defenses they are facing. But their exciting and successful operation gets threatened by some very advanced missile-bearing drones. One they bring down turns out to bear their old paramilitary insignia, Rogue Lightning. Also disturbing, they learn that one of the kidnappers is an American with the same tattoo as Lincoln and True’s dead son, Diego, who was executed on camera by terrorist insurgents eight years as the captured combatant on a botched mission of the company in Myanmar.
True becomes obsessed with finding this mysterious mercenary to find out what he knows of her son’s death. But he seems to be working for a rival private military outfit that is countering ReqOps missions. In fact, ReqOps headquarters in California is hit by a robotic drone attack, and destruction of some of their major equipment assets leaves them on the verge of bankruptcy. They have to bide their time, subsisting on training of military and law enforcement groups as their bread-and-butter. Eventually, True learns enough to pursue her enemies and a possible ally in the tattooed agent in Morocco, which she pursues as a solo mission with only limited robotic support.
Great showdown and exciting ending. Lots of food for thought about cybernetic armies in the near future. This was eerily realistic, so it doesn’t instill the mind-expanding effects of Gibson’s more futuristic vision of tech-enhanced military operations in his brilliant “The Peripherals”. Nagata is a mature writer of a lot of science fiction, of which I very much enjoyed the one I read, “Vast”, which is a far-future tale of humans fighting interstellar disaster from swarms of self-generating nanotech swarms run amok.
This book was provided by the publisher for review through the Netgalley program.
The lead characters, Lincoln and True, are a middle-aged couple that work together as the CEO and operations director of a private military company, Requistion Operations (ReqOps). Their contract work in other countries is sanctioned by or hired by the US government for intelligence activities, security jobs, and occasional military missions not politically appropriate for official above-board support. If you have trouble warming to the niche of Haliburton, we are told that Lincoln has a conscience from the lessons learned in past botched work for the CIA:
No setting things right after the fact. What you do, you own. What you witness, you get to live with.
As a counterbalance, he tries to run ReqOps on a philosophy of “right action”—a principle of ethical service that encompasses power and responsibility and an obligation to act at need, and to do so in the best manner possible.
True is a brilliant engineer of drones and military robots who is less sanguine about justifying uses of lethal force:
There are millions of people I could hate. Everyone who wants to give themselves rights they deny to others, who wants to fuck with self-determination, individual freedom—and a woman’s freedom matters too. …
Tolerance cannot exist with intolerant systems. Not back home and not here. One of them has to die.
The operations of their team when tasked with a “Mission Impossible” of extracting western hostages in Syria is like poetry in motion. Computer and phone espionage point them to the likely hideout of the terrorists and hostages and infiltration by microdrones gives them intel on the people and defenses they are facing. But their exciting and successful operation gets threatened by some very advanced missile-bearing drones. One they bring down turns out to bear their old paramilitary insignia, Rogue Lightning. Also disturbing, they learn that one of the kidnappers is an American with the same tattoo as Lincoln and True’s dead son, Diego, who was executed on camera by terrorist insurgents eight years as the captured combatant on a botched mission of the company in Myanmar.
True becomes obsessed with finding this mysterious mercenary to find out what he knows of her son’s death. But he seems to be working for a rival private military outfit that is countering ReqOps missions. In fact, ReqOps headquarters in California is hit by a robotic drone attack, and destruction of some of their major equipment assets leaves them on the verge of bankruptcy. They have to bide their time, subsisting on training of military and law enforcement groups as their bread-and-butter. Eventually, True learns enough to pursue her enemies and a possible ally in the tattooed agent in Morocco, which she pursues as a solo mission with only limited robotic support.
Great showdown and exciting ending. Lots of food for thought about cybernetic armies in the near future. This was eerily realistic, so it doesn’t instill the mind-expanding effects of Gibson’s more futuristic vision of tech-enhanced military operations in his brilliant “The Peripherals”. Nagata is a mature writer of a lot of science fiction, of which I very much enjoyed the one I read, “Vast”, which is a far-future tale of humans fighting interstellar disaster from swarms of self-generating nanotech swarms run amok.
This book was provided by the publisher for review through the Netgalley program.
July 28, 2017
Another excellent near-future techno-thriller from this author, following on from the success of the Red trilogy.
True Brighton works as the Director of Operations for the military contractor Requisite Operations. On her latest mission, a hostage rescue in an ungoverned area of the Middle East, she discovers unexpected information about the events surrounding the horrific execution of her son eight years ago in a special forces action. What follows is a complex series of events involving corporate actors, governmental interests, terrorist groups and traumatized individuals with long overlapping histories all at a point where the role of people as actors in front-line warfare is coming to a close.
This book uses an action thriller structure with extrapolation of current trends towards tech-enhanced warfare and AI/robot/drone military resources. There's also a look at what warfare itself will look like (looks like now?) with corporations on all sides of war both in terms of direct military contractors and military research companies. In a lot of ways this vision of the future points to a whole new style of arms race, where surveillance is ubiquitous and inescapable and where a single military robot may be more effective than a whole squad of humans.
Even though the technology is on parade here, the human element isn't neglected, particularly with how the horrific events of eight years earlier draws in all these different people and groups. There's a metaphor that True's husband uses in the book, "What happened to him... it’s got a gravity of its own. Like a black hole in our lives that we’ll always be circling around." That becomes incredibly appropriate as the plot progresses.
Thoroughly readable compelling military thriller which won't be science fiction for very long.
True Brighton works as the Director of Operations for the military contractor Requisite Operations. On her latest mission, a hostage rescue in an ungoverned area of the Middle East, she discovers unexpected information about the events surrounding the horrific execution of her son eight years ago in a special forces action. What follows is a complex series of events involving corporate actors, governmental interests, terrorist groups and traumatized individuals with long overlapping histories all at a point where the role of people as actors in front-line warfare is coming to a close.
This book uses an action thriller structure with extrapolation of current trends towards tech-enhanced warfare and AI/robot/drone military resources. There's also a look at what warfare itself will look like (looks like now?) with corporations on all sides of war both in terms of direct military contractors and military research companies. In a lot of ways this vision of the future points to a whole new style of arms race, where surveillance is ubiquitous and inescapable and where a single military robot may be more effective than a whole squad of humans.
Even though the technology is on parade here, the human element isn't neglected, particularly with how the horrific events of eight years earlier draws in all these different people and groups. There's a metaphor that True's husband uses in the book, "What happened to him... it’s got a gravity of its own. Like a black hole in our lives that we’ll always be circling around." That becomes incredibly appropriate as the plot progresses.
Thoroughly readable compelling military thriller which won't be science fiction for very long.
June 28, 2017
Any time I start making blanket statements about how I don't like military science fiction, I remind myself that the wonderful Linda Nagata exists in the world, writing military science fiction that hits all of my sweet spots. The Last Good Man is smart, engaging near future SF with a diverse and interesting set of characters and absolutely fascinating, terrifying technology.
May 28, 2017
Autonomous warfare will not be bloodless. War by machine proxy is still war, with the sacrifice pushed out of sight, the burden unloaded on distant people. The repercussions, inevitable.
8 years ago, True Brighton's son, Diego, was captured while on a mission, crucified, and then burned to death in a public execution that was broadcast to the world. Since that day, she's tried to go on with her life, consoling herself with the thought that everyone involved in Diego's death is dead. It doesn't help much, but it's something. Until one day, she finds out that there's more to her son's death than she had previously thought, and someone who knows the whole story is out there...
Linda Nagata is an author I've been curious about for a little while now, so I was super-excited when I was given the chance to read an ARC of her latest novel. And this book has quite a few good things going on in it. It's fast-paced and action-packed, but it also examines the societal and political consequences of its premise in a way that felt extremely accurate to real life. In short, I thought it was really great, and I hope I can write a review that will do it justice.
First, let me talk about the pacing and plotting of this one. This is a very fast-paced book, It goes from mission to discovery to revelation at an impressive pace, and I found myself reading large chunks of the book at a stretch, just because I couldn't find a good place to put it down. This is a book that allows neither boredom nor ennui. The question of what actually happened to Diego is one that we learn the answer to in bits and pieces, and I found myself completely drawn into that mystery.
In addition, the way that the story is structured works incredibly well. The story almost immediately drops you into the action. True and her friends work for a private military contractor called Requisite Operations, and at the beginning of the novel, they've taken a hostage retrieval job. This is used not only to orient the reader to the characters, but also to the setting. In many ways, this world is extremely familiar to our own, but in this version of the future, people are slowly being phased out of the process of war, as robots become increasingly able to outclass them in terms of speed and accuracy in completely missions.
This also introduces one of the big questions of the novel: although it may seem beneficial to decrease the loss of life that war causes by using robots, what is the actual result? By removing humans from the process, do we just create more loss? The question is presented in multiple ways throughout the book, and I have to say, my feelings are a lot more complicated about it now than when I began. I think that this book is going to serve as a touchstone for me on that issue for many years to come. Prior to reading this, I honestly hadn't thought a lot about it, but if I had, I probably would have been absolutely in favor of robotic warfare. This book made me much more aware of the complications to that future, and I'm grateful to it for that.
In addition to these ethical shades of grey, I was also impressed by the shades of grey that we see in characters. Nagata is able to show that emotions are complicated and not often logical, and although I can't say I always agreed with the choices that characters made, I always came to understand where they were coming from. True is clearly the star of the show, but I was also truly moved by many of the characters. I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't name any names, but several of the characters who might have been 'villains' in another novel are treated with such empathy here that I couldn't help but be impressed.
In all, this was a book that I really and truly enjoyed. If this is the kind of quality that I can expect from Linda Nagata, then I would love to pick up some more of her books and give them a try as well!
8 years ago, True Brighton's son, Diego, was captured while on a mission, crucified, and then burned to death in a public execution that was broadcast to the world. Since that day, she's tried to go on with her life, consoling herself with the thought that everyone involved in Diego's death is dead. It doesn't help much, but it's something. Until one day, she finds out that there's more to her son's death than she had previously thought, and someone who knows the whole story is out there...
Linda Nagata is an author I've been curious about for a little while now, so I was super-excited when I was given the chance to read an ARC of her latest novel. And this book has quite a few good things going on in it. It's fast-paced and action-packed, but it also examines the societal and political consequences of its premise in a way that felt extremely accurate to real life. In short, I thought it was really great, and I hope I can write a review that will do it justice.
First, let me talk about the pacing and plotting of this one. This is a very fast-paced book, It goes from mission to discovery to revelation at an impressive pace, and I found myself reading large chunks of the book at a stretch, just because I couldn't find a good place to put it down. This is a book that allows neither boredom nor ennui. The question of what actually happened to Diego is one that we learn the answer to in bits and pieces, and I found myself completely drawn into that mystery.
In addition, the way that the story is structured works incredibly well. The story almost immediately drops you into the action. True and her friends work for a private military contractor called Requisite Operations, and at the beginning of the novel, they've taken a hostage retrieval job. This is used not only to orient the reader to the characters, but also to the setting. In many ways, this world is extremely familiar to our own, but in this version of the future, people are slowly being phased out of the process of war, as robots become increasingly able to outclass them in terms of speed and accuracy in completely missions.
This also introduces one of the big questions of the novel: although it may seem beneficial to decrease the loss of life that war causes by using robots, what is the actual result? By removing humans from the process, do we just create more loss? The question is presented in multiple ways throughout the book, and I have to say, my feelings are a lot more complicated about it now than when I began. I think that this book is going to serve as a touchstone for me on that issue for many years to come. Prior to reading this, I honestly hadn't thought a lot about it, but if I had, I probably would have been absolutely in favor of robotic warfare. This book made me much more aware of the complications to that future, and I'm grateful to it for that.
In addition to these ethical shades of grey, I was also impressed by the shades of grey that we see in characters. Nagata is able to show that emotions are complicated and not often logical, and although I can't say I always agreed with the choices that characters made, I always came to understand where they were coming from. True is clearly the star of the show, but I was also truly moved by many of the characters. I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't name any names, but several of the characters who might have been 'villains' in another novel are treated with such empathy here that I couldn't help but be impressed.
In all, this was a book that I really and truly enjoyed. If this is the kind of quality that I can expect from Linda Nagata, then I would love to pick up some more of her books and give them a try as well!
July 8, 2017
6/10
Una novela bélica con escenas de acción interesantes y un misterio del pasado que se resuelve poco satisfactoriamente.
https://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/20...
Una novela bélica con escenas de acción interesantes y un misterio del pasado que se resuelve poco satisfactoriamente.
https://dreamsofelvex.blogspot.com/20...
August 5, 2017
Rounding up. Not quite 4 stars because if a few minor issues about the writing that bugged me enough that I still remember them.
But overall an exciting adventure that asks an important question about what qualifies as 'right action' in combat. The book also demonstrates successfully how the military and others in similar professions may be impacted by the growing influence of robotics used in warfare. And woe to those of us in the range of the weapons.
But overall an exciting adventure that asks an important question about what qualifies as 'right action' in combat. The book also demonstrates successfully how the military and others in similar professions may be impacted by the growing influence of robotics used in warfare. And woe to those of us in the range of the weapons.
January 27, 2021
Set in the near future with its advanced AI weaponry, ‘The Last Good Man’ is an unrelenting action packed adventure that leaves no time for reflection on the horror of it all. If you the kind of person who gets off on battle action, descriptions of futuristic weaponry, and loves reading about operational action, then this is the book for you. Needless to say, I am not that kind of person, and it just left me cold. Still, I nearly made it to the end.
July 6, 2019
"The Last Good Man" is a Compelling immersive tale of a near-future Military Contractor seeking the truth about her son's brutal execution.
I wasn't sure this would be my kind of book. Set in the near future, it tells the story of a woman soldier working for a Private Military Contractor (PMC) licensed by the US government, who finds something she doesn't like while on a hostage rescue mission.
I see PMCs as a scourge on the earth and the US's tendency to use force in countries it's not at war with as criminal, so I doubted I'd be sympathetic but I was curious, so I gave it a try.
Three hours into this fourteen hours long audiobook, I was hooked. The first mission was still in progress and I still didn't know what the bad thing was that our soldier was going to discover but instead of finding myself tapping my fingers in impatience at the pace, I was enjoying myself. I found it unexpectedly compelling to get a blow by blow account of the planning and execution of the mission. it felt real. It was tense without being melodramatic.
One of the things that kept me reading was the credible but very scary biomimetic robotics being used. This is not far out tech. Many of the physical characteristics are already available and the AI and Swarm technologies are catching up fast. When they become available for real, they will transform warfare, and terrorism and private armies and organised crime.
I also liked the thoughtful way in which the role of PMCs was talked through. The dangers of having a private military capability that makes money from was but has no incentive to bring or keep the peace were given ait time, as was the impact of a boundaryless war: the ability to pursue a conflict globally, based on infrastructure capability rather than national sovereignty.
The most surprising thing for me was that the book managed to be character-driven. The soldier, Tru Brighton, ends up on a very personal quest for the truth around the public and barbaric execution of her soldier son eight years earlier. This worked partly because Tru is likeable as a mature soldier and as a mother and partly because her quest is not for comfort or even for revenge but just to know the truth.
There's a reasonably complicated plot that kept me invested all the way through without making me feel I was being teased in the way some smug bet-you-didn't-see-that-coming thrillers do. It allowed some great action scenes and a constantly shifting perspective on the truth as new facts came to light.
I listened to the audiobook version and was impressed by how well Liisa Ivary delivered the story. She has tremendous range in both pace and characterisation.
I wasn't sure this would be my kind of book. Set in the near future, it tells the story of a woman soldier working for a Private Military Contractor (PMC) licensed by the US government, who finds something she doesn't like while on a hostage rescue mission.
I see PMCs as a scourge on the earth and the US's tendency to use force in countries it's not at war with as criminal, so I doubted I'd be sympathetic but I was curious, so I gave it a try.
Three hours into this fourteen hours long audiobook, I was hooked. The first mission was still in progress and I still didn't know what the bad thing was that our soldier was going to discover but instead of finding myself tapping my fingers in impatience at the pace, I was enjoying myself. I found it unexpectedly compelling to get a blow by blow account of the planning and execution of the mission. it felt real. It was tense without being melodramatic.
One of the things that kept me reading was the credible but very scary biomimetic robotics being used. This is not far out tech. Many of the physical characteristics are already available and the AI and Swarm technologies are catching up fast. When they become available for real, they will transform warfare, and terrorism and private armies and organised crime.
I also liked the thoughtful way in which the role of PMCs was talked through. The dangers of having a private military capability that makes money from was but has no incentive to bring or keep the peace were given ait time, as was the impact of a boundaryless war: the ability to pursue a conflict globally, based on infrastructure capability rather than national sovereignty.
The most surprising thing for me was that the book managed to be character-driven. The soldier, Tru Brighton, ends up on a very personal quest for the truth around the public and barbaric execution of her soldier son eight years earlier. This worked partly because Tru is likeable as a mature soldier and as a mother and partly because her quest is not for comfort or even for revenge but just to know the truth.
There's a reasonably complicated plot that kept me invested all the way through without making me feel I was being teased in the way some smug bet-you-didn't-see-that-coming thrillers do. It allowed some great action scenes and a constantly shifting perspective on the truth as new facts came to light.
I listened to the audiobook version and was impressed by how well Liisa Ivary delivered the story. She has tremendous range in both pace and characterisation.
June 1, 2017
Disclaimers: I`ve been a huge fan of Nagata`s writing since I stumbled over a paperback copy of The Bohr Maker in a used bookstore in Seattle. I`ve been somewhat confused by her lack of prominence in recent years, and I`m excited that she`s getting a little more of the recognition I`ve always thought she deserved. I received a copy of this book as an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review of this book.
The Last Good Man is not my usual cup of tea. Near future military adventure stories haven`t really been my thing for years, but make no mistake, this is entirely a science fiction novel. It`s one of the most difficult types of SF to write as well: day-after-tomorrow settings are notorious for going stale even before they see print, but Nagata`s setting of a crumbled Middle East, essentially lawless after the US invasion, and the extensive use of a variety of extremely plausible drones by private military contractors, is almost certainly going to be a reality. The implications of new technologies (both robotic and corporate) is considered, thoughtful and rigorous in the tradition of some of the best near-future SF.
The story itself follows an older woman named True, a contractor for one of the private armies that is founded on `Right Action,` a concept of justified application of force that brought to mind the kind of moral warrior-philosophers of myth. True`s company is run by Lincoln, a veteran crippled in combat. They take a rescue contract (the description of which opens the book, anchoring the moral qualities of the viewpoint character) and execute an operation the TEZ, the snarl of broken nations left in the wake of US intervention in Iraq, the Syrian Civil War, etc.
Here we`re treated to Nagata`s action sequences. This book is written in a smooth, plain voice that is measured in its description. When the action scenes hit you understand exactly why this choice is made: there is a tremendous amount going on at any one time, literally dozens of balls in the air, that are cleanly and carefully explained so that there is no confusion on the reader`s part as to what`s going on at any point. This is an achievement all on its own, and considering the amount of action in this book, it is a welcome sign.
Nagata juggles human action, robotic drones, multiple lines of intelligence, character development and worldbuilding during action scenes with simple, unadorned prose that builds a sense of imminent dread. Everything is realistic despite itself, so the feeling of a looming bullet catching a character in the back of the head is always there. It is a compelling voice to use.
The overarching plot involves secrets from the characters histories coming to light, causing the characters to chase after covered up events and mysteries surrounding their personal tragedies. Under this are themes of obsolescence, at humanity losing a defining feature of itself )even if it is something as morally gray as participation in war), the moral questions of autonomous warfighting, and the role of private militaries. It is unflinching in its view of war, but manages to balance the various viewpoints in its characters without turning into a Heinlein-esque sockpuppet exercise.
TL;DR- An interesting and unique viewpoint on the changing nature of war, embedded in realistic and plausible technological and political extrapolation of current events and trends, with a brisk plot, well realized characters and clean, precise prose that obfuscates nothing and lends the work a building sense of dread.
The Last Good Man is not my usual cup of tea. Near future military adventure stories haven`t really been my thing for years, but make no mistake, this is entirely a science fiction novel. It`s one of the most difficult types of SF to write as well: day-after-tomorrow settings are notorious for going stale even before they see print, but Nagata`s setting of a crumbled Middle East, essentially lawless after the US invasion, and the extensive use of a variety of extremely plausible drones by private military contractors, is almost certainly going to be a reality. The implications of new technologies (both robotic and corporate) is considered, thoughtful and rigorous in the tradition of some of the best near-future SF.
The story itself follows an older woman named True, a contractor for one of the private armies that is founded on `Right Action,` a concept of justified application of force that brought to mind the kind of moral warrior-philosophers of myth. True`s company is run by Lincoln, a veteran crippled in combat. They take a rescue contract (the description of which opens the book, anchoring the moral qualities of the viewpoint character) and execute an operation the TEZ, the snarl of broken nations left in the wake of US intervention in Iraq, the Syrian Civil War, etc.
Here we`re treated to Nagata`s action sequences. This book is written in a smooth, plain voice that is measured in its description. When the action scenes hit you understand exactly why this choice is made: there is a tremendous amount going on at any one time, literally dozens of balls in the air, that are cleanly and carefully explained so that there is no confusion on the reader`s part as to what`s going on at any point. This is an achievement all on its own, and considering the amount of action in this book, it is a welcome sign.
Nagata juggles human action, robotic drones, multiple lines of intelligence, character development and worldbuilding during action scenes with simple, unadorned prose that builds a sense of imminent dread. Everything is realistic despite itself, so the feeling of a looming bullet catching a character in the back of the head is always there. It is a compelling voice to use.
The overarching plot involves secrets from the characters histories coming to light, causing the characters to chase after covered up events and mysteries surrounding their personal tragedies. Under this are themes of obsolescence, at humanity losing a defining feature of itself )even if it is something as morally gray as participation in war), the moral questions of autonomous warfighting, and the role of private militaries. It is unflinching in its view of war, but manages to balance the various viewpoints in its characters without turning into a Heinlein-esque sockpuppet exercise.
TL;DR- An interesting and unique viewpoint on the changing nature of war, embedded in realistic and plausible technological and political extrapolation of current events and trends, with a brisk plot, well realized characters and clean, precise prose that obfuscates nothing and lends the work a building sense of dread.
October 25, 2017
A good book on an important topic: the advent of autonomous robot warrior-mechs. Nagata captures the horrors of war well, writes good action-scenes, gets the tech (sfaict) right. So why just 3 stars?
The story just never quite "clicked" for me. I didn't quite believe in the main characters, altho they are drawn well. One in particular, a conscience-stricken Chinese AI designer, didn't ring true at all. So I'm calling it at a tad under 3.5 stars.
LGM may have suffered a bit by my reading it right after Annalee Newitz's wonderful AUTONOMOUS.
The story just never quite "clicked" for me. I didn't quite believe in the main characters, altho they are drawn well. One in particular, a conscience-stricken Chinese AI designer, didn't ring true at all. So I'm calling it at a tad under 3.5 stars.
LGM may have suffered a bit by my reading it right after Annalee Newitz's wonderful AUTONOMOUS.
April 17, 2018
Military SF with lots of heart.
A private militia undertakes a rescue mission in a war-ravaged region of the Middle East. The mission commander is True Brighton, a 51-year old ex-helicopter pilot, and the target is a girl held hostage for ransom. True's team is comprised of ex-military types, but as is now commonplace in this modern era of warfare, they come with the aid of advanced telecommunications and surveillance. Plus she has an arsenal of kick-ass flying and ground-action drones equipped with lethal armament and autonomous battle programming. As she prosecutes her mission, she finds her team threatened by a fighter jet squadron that turns out to be unmanned and autonomous as well and her team barely escapes. Later, they find out that the jets belong to another private military contractor, hired to provide defense for the kidnappers, and now appears to have a vendetta against her company for wrecking one of their jets.
True's back story includes the loss of her son 8 years previously to apparent cyber-terrorists in Burma (now Myanmar). It so happens that the lead person for the competing militia, someone named John Helms, was the commander of her son's Ranger team in Burma, a man believed to have died together with his son, but is now mysteriously resurrected. True undertakes an effort to talk to this man who may, in fact, be trying to kill her.
Despite the many lethal battle and military actions involving SF-type equipment and armaments, this novel moves on the strength of its emotional elements - the mother in search of truth about her son, the soldier who feels betrayed by his own country and comrades, and the martyred son whose secrets are better left undisturbed. There is violence in the narrative, but violence that is not perfunctory, delivered with a care to those affected, and depicting the sense of loss and despair in the aftermath.
There is a theme that permeates the book from beginning to end, that of modern warfare being taken over by autonomous fighting machines and of human fighters becoming obsolete, that future battles will take place at the speed of computer processing, far beyond the ability of soldiers to react and respond. Drones are the future.
I was kept in thrall by this audiobook. Thrilling in places, and poignant elsewhere. Enough to ignore the dunning presence of the main theme. Good for 4.5 stars.
A private militia undertakes a rescue mission in a war-ravaged region of the Middle East. The mission commander is True Brighton, a 51-year old ex-helicopter pilot, and the target is a girl held hostage for ransom. True's team is comprised of ex-military types, but as is now commonplace in this modern era of warfare, they come with the aid of advanced telecommunications and surveillance. Plus she has an arsenal of kick-ass flying and ground-action drones equipped with lethal armament and autonomous battle programming. As she prosecutes her mission, she finds her team threatened by a fighter jet squadron that turns out to be unmanned and autonomous as well and her team barely escapes. Later, they find out that the jets belong to another private military contractor, hired to provide defense for the kidnappers, and now appears to have a vendetta against her company for wrecking one of their jets.
True's back story includes the loss of her son 8 years previously to apparent cyber-terrorists in Burma (now Myanmar). It so happens that the lead person for the competing militia, someone named John Helms, was the commander of her son's Ranger team in Burma, a man believed to have died together with his son, but is now mysteriously resurrected. True undertakes an effort to talk to this man who may, in fact, be trying to kill her.
Despite the many lethal battle and military actions involving SF-type equipment and armaments, this novel moves on the strength of its emotional elements - the mother in search of truth about her son, the soldier who feels betrayed by his own country and comrades, and the martyred son whose secrets are better left undisturbed. There is violence in the narrative, but violence that is not perfunctory, delivered with a care to those affected, and depicting the sense of loss and despair in the aftermath.
There is a theme that permeates the book from beginning to end, that of modern warfare being taken over by autonomous fighting machines and of human fighters becoming obsolete, that future battles will take place at the speed of computer processing, far beyond the ability of soldiers to react and respond. Drones are the future.
I was kept in thrall by this audiobook. Thrilling in places, and poignant elsewhere. Enough to ignore the dunning presence of the main theme. Good for 4.5 stars.
September 12, 2017
Intense! Too intense for a beach vacation trip, but I didn't want to put it down and come back to it. So I'm glad it's done. In general this is not my kind of thing. It was basically all military combat of one sort or another. But it was also a chance to explore how drones of various shapes and sizes would impact on combat in the probably near future. Frightening but believable. And the characters were interesting. Still wish this author will switch off of military and back to pure sf some day. But these have been good. And I'd rather books different than I prefer than no books at all. 4.5 of 5.
November 15, 2017
Very good super-near-future MilSF. I'm no military robotics expert, but I'd guess it's just barely SF. Most of the characters, if not quite three dimensional, at least had distinct and (eventually) comprehensible motivations. And Nagata has that hard to quantify skill that Heinlein had of immersing me in the prose, and making me turn pages.
January 24, 2019
Clearly I'm in the minority but this book just didn't work for me. It clocks in at nearly 450 pages. If it were 300 pages it would be a 3-star book but the unnecessary length knocks another star off.
The book starts with 150 pages detailing a military raid on a terrorist compound. This entire section is almost entirely unrelated to the rest of the book and there are no real stakes the make the reader care about the outcome. A bunch of mercenaries are hired to rescue some hostage. We don't especially know or care about the hostage, or even the mercenaries. The only real purpose this section of the book is that during the course of their escape it kicks off the ACTUAL plot of the book. But at that point you're 150 pages in.
Once you find out what the actual plot of the book is....I kept wondering...is that all? True's son was tortured & murdered by terrorists. She finds out that someone was captive with him during his last days. She wants to track him down and....something. "Hear the story from him". When she eventually does -- something she accomplishes with virtually no effort -- he tells her exactly what she already knew. The entire driving point of the book is "if the mother learns what REALLY happened in her son's final hours, she'll....uh, something. Feel better, maybe?" Is that the storyline you want from your near-future military thriller?
The pointlessness of the entire book is summed up by the main character herself once she finally hears the story:
"As he looms close, she adds, unsure if she's speaking to herself or to him. "I thought if I knew what happened, if I understood it..."
"What? What had she expected? Had she hoped to make peace with what happened? "Nothing has changed," she says, looking up at him. Bitter words."
If this were a book with deep characterisation that dove into coming to terms with senseless loss & tragedy...that kind of arc could work. But this isn't a book with deep characters. There is very little emotional depth to most of the characters. So the pointlessness of everything just left me feeling like....why bother reading? Nothing happens. Nothing is achieved. We learn nothing. We're right back where we started 450 pages ago.
Since I didn't enjoy the book, I also found several details to nitpick.
The main characters find the highly wanted terrorist with the $2 million bounty on his head after looking for just 48-hours. Makes you wonder how nobody else was ever able to find him.
The mercenary company is described as being worth $25 million -- like it is a big number -- but we are also told that just 3 of their drones are worth $40 million. Those kinds of numbers don't really make sense, since it means you can make more money by shutting down the company and selling the assets than by simply staying in business.
Tracking down "John Helm" also takes about 48 hours. Go talk to the first mercenary you find in Morocco and by nightfall you're meeting John Helm in person.
A Middle East terrorist group is able to kill an American -- in America -- with a car bomb mere days after the hostage rescue mission. This wasn't something that took months or years to plan. Virtually nothing is explored about this, though. Is this a common occurrence? I'm just trying to imagine the firestorm if that happened today.
I don't understand how True, who was a helicopter pilot in the Army, is also a kick-ass special forces commando taking part in raids on terrorist compounds at age 49.
I don't understand how True's son, in his very first combat deployment ever!, is assigned to an elite special forces squad that is tasked with kidnapping & assassinating high value targets deep in enemy territory.
I really don't understand how everybody -- and I mean everybody -- is able to easily find John Helm for the final showdown. There are three unrelated sides who all converge at the same time on this guy who hasn't been seen or located in 8 years!
The book starts with 150 pages detailing a military raid on a terrorist compound. This entire section is almost entirely unrelated to the rest of the book and there are no real stakes the make the reader care about the outcome. A bunch of mercenaries are hired to rescue some hostage. We don't especially know or care about the hostage, or even the mercenaries. The only real purpose this section of the book is that during the course of their escape it kicks off the ACTUAL plot of the book. But at that point you're 150 pages in.
Once you find out what the actual plot of the book is....I kept wondering...is that all? True's son was tortured & murdered by terrorists. She finds out that someone was captive with him during his last days. She wants to track him down and....something. "Hear the story from him". When she eventually does -- something she accomplishes with virtually no effort -- he tells her exactly what she already knew. The entire driving point of the book is "if the mother learns what REALLY happened in her son's final hours, she'll....uh, something. Feel better, maybe?" Is that the storyline you want from your near-future military thriller?
The pointlessness of the entire book is summed up by the main character herself once she finally hears the story:
"As he looms close, she adds, unsure if she's speaking to herself or to him. "I thought if I knew what happened, if I understood it..."
"What? What had she expected? Had she hoped to make peace with what happened? "Nothing has changed," she says, looking up at him. Bitter words."
If this were a book with deep characterisation that dove into coming to terms with senseless loss & tragedy...that kind of arc could work. But this isn't a book with deep characters. There is very little emotional depth to most of the characters. So the pointlessness of everything just left me feeling like....why bother reading? Nothing happens. Nothing is achieved. We learn nothing. We're right back where we started 450 pages ago.
Since I didn't enjoy the book, I also found several details to nitpick.
The main characters find the highly wanted terrorist with the $2 million bounty on his head after looking for just 48-hours. Makes you wonder how nobody else was ever able to find him.
The mercenary company is described as being worth $25 million -- like it is a big number -- but we are also told that just 3 of their drones are worth $40 million. Those kinds of numbers don't really make sense, since it means you can make more money by shutting down the company and selling the assets than by simply staying in business.
Tracking down "John Helm" also takes about 48 hours. Go talk to the first mercenary you find in Morocco and by nightfall you're meeting John Helm in person.
A Middle East terrorist group is able to kill an American -- in America -- with a car bomb mere days after the hostage rescue mission. This wasn't something that took months or years to plan. Virtually nothing is explored about this, though. Is this a common occurrence? I'm just trying to imagine the firestorm if that happened today.
I don't understand how True, who was a helicopter pilot in the Army, is also a kick-ass special forces commando taking part in raids on terrorist compounds at age 49.
I don't understand how True's son, in his very first combat deployment ever!, is assigned to an elite special forces squad that is tasked with kidnapping & assassinating high value targets deep in enemy territory.
I really don't understand how everybody -- and I mean everybody -- is able to easily find John Helm for the final showdown. There are three unrelated sides who all converge at the same time on this guy who hasn't been seen or located in 8 years!
August 6, 2022
Wow, just wow. What a rush. This book is a 6 out of 5 that's how good it is. And I rarely even give books a 5 so that should say right there how great I think this book is.
There's exciting military action but also some philosophical questions about drones getting so good that they don't need humans to do things any more. No need for pilots now that helicopters have their own AI driving them. And you can kill remotely with a drone. The human operator in one place and the drone in a completely different country and activated via satellite.
The main characters are former military people, some former special ops people too, that now work for a company that provides military ops for a price. Like, your daughter is kidnapped? Go to one of these places and hire them to retrieve her for you. They are kind of like mini private armies for hire. Like mercenaries but they work under a code of conduct and not just do whatever they want.
And they have high tech. Mini drones the size of a bug for surveillance, drones with guns attached, etc. As long as you hire satellite time you are golden because the crew that stays in the building can tell the crew out doing the action if anyone is around and where they are and all kinds of things, even in the dark because they have really good "see in the dark" devices, way beyond what we have today. THere are also visors that they wear that shows them all kinds of information. THere's lots of cool high-tech stuff in this book.
The books is well written, characters are excellent, the plot is great and the flow is good too. There will be some intense action, then things slow down and get a little cerebral for awhile, then some action, and of course a big long action sequence at the end of the book. Oh and there's secrets that are revealed to the main character True that turn over her world. It's rare that I find a book this good. Oh, and of course there's some swearing in the book, these are military people after all!
There's exciting military action but also some philosophical questions about drones getting so good that they don't need humans to do things any more. No need for pilots now that helicopters have their own AI driving them. And you can kill remotely with a drone. The human operator in one place and the drone in a completely different country and activated via satellite.
The main characters are former military people, some former special ops people too, that now work for a company that provides military ops for a price. Like, your daughter is kidnapped? Go to one of these places and hire them to retrieve her for you. They are kind of like mini private armies for hire. Like mercenaries but they work under a code of conduct and not just do whatever they want.
And they have high tech. Mini drones the size of a bug for surveillance, drones with guns attached, etc. As long as you hire satellite time you are golden because the crew that stays in the building can tell the crew out doing the action if anyone is around and where they are and all kinds of things, even in the dark because they have really good "see in the dark" devices, way beyond what we have today. THere are also visors that they wear that shows them all kinds of information. THere's lots of cool high-tech stuff in this book.
The books is well written, characters are excellent, the plot is great and the flow is good too. There will be some intense action, then things slow down and get a little cerebral for awhile, then some action, and of course a big long action sequence at the end of the book. Oh and there's secrets that are revealed to the main character True that turn over her world. It's rare that I find a book this good. Oh, and of course there's some swearing in the book, these are military people after all!
June 15, 2017
Although I’d been aware of Linda Nagata for a long time, I hadn’t read any of her work until the recent Red Trilogy. The Red Trilogy is simultaneously a thoughtful exploration of the impact of technology advances on soldiers and warfare as well as a rollicking near-future sci-fi adventure. The Last Good Man continues the exploration of “future war”, elevating the thrill ride aspect and downplaying the philosophical exploration. If you’re interested in a near-future Sci Fi book exploring what happens when machines fight our wars for us, The Last Good Man is for you.
True Brighton is a retired Army vet who is now Director of Operations for Requisite Operations, a private military contractor in Seattle— just don’t call them mercenaries, as they like to point out! As The Last Good Man opens, Requisite is being hired to recover a potential client’s daughter from an Islamic terrorist/gangster organization. True — a near-middle aged woman — will shortly be leading a recovery mission in the Middle East, one that features a dizzying array of near-future warfare artifacts. Synthetic Digital Assistants, Drones, Robotics, Biomimetics (robots that mimic biological life forms - insects, birds, snakes..), TINSLs (Team Integrated Speech Link). While True is fully committed to Requisite and this message, she’s haunted by the brutal death of her son at the hands of a different terrorist group. When the rescue mission uncovers a potential link to her son’s death, she breaks ranks to find answers, and things rapidly spiral out of control.
True is fascinating character. A female combat leader, her character differs in perspective from many military sci/fi protagonists. As a middle aged warrior, she remembers the time before AI and augmented warfare, and is starting to see the end of that life for herself. As a semi-retired person, I loved this particular quote from True, it resonated for me personally:
“Yes, I know what ‘retired’ means. It means I get to choose my own missions”.
The first few chapters of The Last Good Man moved a little slowly for me — there was a bit too much setup, explanations, and a blizzard of acronyms and technical descriptions of things. Someone more geeky than myself might find that really interesting, but I wanted to get to it! But soon we’re in action in the Middle East and things are moving along.
True is on the trail of Shaw, who she thinks has information related to her son’s death. I found the Shaw character also very interesting, and wanted more of him. When he got to telling True the story she came for, the room I was in vanished and I was completely transported to the jungle where Shaw, Diego and others were mounting an expedition.
… We were twenty meters above a tangled regrowth forest — all bamboo and spindly trees — weedy shit that had popped up after the old forest was logged out. Under the rotor wash it looked like a seething, rain-blurred, bottomless chaos. The rain was coming down like nails. A gust hit us and rocked the ship. Diego’s hand tightened on my shoulder. He wanted to make sure I didn’t go over the edge before we had a rope…
..into the rainy jungle, with no visibility, laser range finders flashing through the darkness, killer drones nearly wiping out the good guys. From that scene until the end of the book, I was hooked and story accelerated right to the end.
The Last Good Man is much more of a thriller than The Red. In The Red, the AI is effectively a full-fledged character — albeit essentially offscreen (no pun intended!) — leading to some very thought provoking situations. In The Last Good Man, the tech is mostly backdrop for the characters, their conflicts, their time in life. I’m always a sucker for middle aged characters figuring out what comes next for them, and that question echoes through the end of The Last Good Man. If there’s a philosophical underpinning to The Last Good Man, it might be “what happens to us when machines fight our wars?”. I would have enjoyed a bit more exploration of that question, but the book is awesome without it. If a near-future sci-fi thriller with a soul interests you, you’ll enjoy The Last Good Man.
(disclosure: I received a free review copy of The Last Good Man from the author in exchange for a fair review).
True Brighton is a retired Army vet who is now Director of Operations for Requisite Operations, a private military contractor in Seattle— just don’t call them mercenaries, as they like to point out! As The Last Good Man opens, Requisite is being hired to recover a potential client’s daughter from an Islamic terrorist/gangster organization. True — a near-middle aged woman — will shortly be leading a recovery mission in the Middle East, one that features a dizzying array of near-future warfare artifacts. Synthetic Digital Assistants, Drones, Robotics, Biomimetics (robots that mimic biological life forms - insects, birds, snakes..), TINSLs (Team Integrated Speech Link). While True is fully committed to Requisite and this message, she’s haunted by the brutal death of her son at the hands of a different terrorist group. When the rescue mission uncovers a potential link to her son’s death, she breaks ranks to find answers, and things rapidly spiral out of control.
True is fascinating character. A female combat leader, her character differs in perspective from many military sci/fi protagonists. As a middle aged warrior, she remembers the time before AI and augmented warfare, and is starting to see the end of that life for herself. As a semi-retired person, I loved this particular quote from True, it resonated for me personally:
“Yes, I know what ‘retired’ means. It means I get to choose my own missions”.
The first few chapters of The Last Good Man moved a little slowly for me — there was a bit too much setup, explanations, and a blizzard of acronyms and technical descriptions of things. Someone more geeky than myself might find that really interesting, but I wanted to get to it! But soon we’re in action in the Middle East and things are moving along.
True is on the trail of Shaw, who she thinks has information related to her son’s death. I found the Shaw character also very interesting, and wanted more of him. When he got to telling True the story she came for, the room I was in vanished and I was completely transported to the jungle where Shaw, Diego and others were mounting an expedition.
… We were twenty meters above a tangled regrowth forest — all bamboo and spindly trees — weedy shit that had popped up after the old forest was logged out. Under the rotor wash it looked like a seething, rain-blurred, bottomless chaos. The rain was coming down like nails. A gust hit us and rocked the ship. Diego’s hand tightened on my shoulder. He wanted to make sure I didn’t go over the edge before we had a rope…
..into the rainy jungle, with no visibility, laser range finders flashing through the darkness, killer drones nearly wiping out the good guys. From that scene until the end of the book, I was hooked and story accelerated right to the end.
The Last Good Man is much more of a thriller than The Red. In The Red, the AI is effectively a full-fledged character — albeit essentially offscreen (no pun intended!) — leading to some very thought provoking situations. In The Last Good Man, the tech is mostly backdrop for the characters, their conflicts, their time in life. I’m always a sucker for middle aged characters figuring out what comes next for them, and that question echoes through the end of The Last Good Man. If there’s a philosophical underpinning to The Last Good Man, it might be “what happens to us when machines fight our wars?”. I would have enjoyed a bit more exploration of that question, but the book is awesome without it. If a near-future sci-fi thriller with a soul interests you, you’ll enjoy The Last Good Man.
(disclosure: I received a free review copy of The Last Good Man from the author in exchange for a fair review).
March 14, 2025
Once again, I had to read military SF because Linda Nagata wrote it, and once again, I loved it for the same reason.
In a believable near future, technology is taking over reconnaissance and fighting to the point where humans won't be needed soon. True, the main character, is a military veteran whose soldier son was brutally murdered by the enemy while on a military operation. She is a main part of a small corporation that hires itself out for paramilitary operations, but only if they consider the job to be right action.
The book starts with a job for the company. The father of a young woman physician who was kidnapped in the Mideast and is being held hostage hires them to rescue her. This leads the company into deeper trouble as well as giving True a chance to find out why her son died.
This is all intertwined with the level of technology True and her cohort use. Their communication devices, various drone-type devices, and autonomous aircraft are things that current technology can evolve to in not too many years. But their technology may be progressing towards a turning point where the devices can make enough tactical decisions on their own to change the nature of warfare.
The book is a multicontinental thriller with lots of action and just enough downtime and introspection. A number of the characters, including True, go through life-changing experiences, and Linda Nagata pulls you right into their psyches. And she pulls you right into the action. She is an amazing writer. I was hooked almost from the beginning, and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
In a believable near future, technology is taking over reconnaissance and fighting to the point where humans won't be needed soon. True, the main character, is a military veteran whose soldier son was brutally murdered by the enemy while on a military operation. She is a main part of a small corporation that hires itself out for paramilitary operations, but only if they consider the job to be right action.
The book starts with a job for the company. The father of a young woman physician who was kidnapped in the Mideast and is being held hostage hires them to rescue her. This leads the company into deeper trouble as well as giving True a chance to find out why her son died.
This is all intertwined with the level of technology True and her cohort use. Their communication devices, various drone-type devices, and autonomous aircraft are things that current technology can evolve to in not too many years. But their technology may be progressing towards a turning point where the devices can make enough tactical decisions on their own to change the nature of warfare.
The book is a multicontinental thriller with lots of action and just enough downtime and introspection. A number of the characters, including True, go through life-changing experiences, and Linda Nagata pulls you right into their psyches. And she pulls you right into the action. She is an amazing writer. I was hooked almost from the beginning, and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 6, 2022
The Last Good Man came recommended by Greg Bear.
It is set in a very near future where all military operations are steadily moving towards replacement of humans on the front line with remote controlled, or autonomous AI controlled, drones, on land, air and sea. The story centres around one private military company who claim to be more about security ‘right action’ than operating as mercenaries, and who take on a hostage recovery mission. The writing tends to be a bit too introspective for my tastes and as that introspection starts becoming a bit repetitive, so it also becomes more annoying. But aside from that it is mostly a well-paced and solid military narrative, with plenty of well written action, if at times a little gung-ho in a typically marine oorah sort of manner. Not brilliant but good enough to encourage me to try some of Nagata’s more far-future oriented SF.
It is set in a very near future where all military operations are steadily moving towards replacement of humans on the front line with remote controlled, or autonomous AI controlled, drones, on land, air and sea. The story centres around one private military company who claim to be more about security ‘right action’ than operating as mercenaries, and who take on a hostage recovery mission. The writing tends to be a bit too introspective for my tastes and as that introspection starts becoming a bit repetitive, so it also becomes more annoying. But aside from that it is mostly a well-paced and solid military narrative, with plenty of well written action, if at times a little gung-ho in a typically marine oorah sort of manner. Not brilliant but good enough to encourage me to try some of Nagata’s more far-future oriented SF.
September 16, 2017
Every time I read a book by Linda Nagata, I wonder why the hell isn't she better known? The Red series (a must-read, if you haven't read it) is just a brilliantly plotted near-future milsci. The Last Good Man is no less brilliant, though slightly nearer in the future. If you follow any of the news or any of the current tech trends (as Nagata clearly does), you'll see exactly what she's basing her world on. Check it out!
August 26, 2018
It's hard to find any complaints about this - I enjoyed reading it and it gave me a lot to think about with the future of warfare and AI. Ultimately, though, military sci-fi just isn't my thing. I'm not steeped enough in military culture for the story to feel as poignant as it should, and as sci-fi, it's not nearly futuristic enough. I suspect this book will be obsolete in 5-10 years when the tech described becomes a reality, so in that respect, I'm glad I read it now.
November 1, 2018
I almost stopped reading this one about a quarter of the way in, because the action was constantly interrupted by detailed exposition about science-fictional military hardware that I found both tedious and unnecessary. The book picked up considerably after that, though. However, it never really won me over. The characters seemed a bit thin and the plot never drew me in completely. I normally like Linda Nagata's writing, but this one wasn't for me.
October 23, 2017
A well written book that moves the story along, for the most part. Sometimes it falls into the trap that a lot of techno-military type books do, and gets a bit bogged down in technical details. It was a bit difficult to suspend disbelief due to the unlikeliness of the relationships between the main characters (both dead and alive). Still, the author knows how to write, and it was a fun tale. I enjoyed it.
February 27, 2018
This fast paced, military techno-thriller had me on the edge of my seat. The near-future technology was completely believable and frightening. The book moved at a quick pace and kept me hooked. Great story and mystery.
August 30, 2021
Big fan of Linda Nagata's characters, even if they sometimes have awful names like "True".
Pretty plausible vision for our near future world of PMCs and low intensity conflict.
Reminds me a bit of William Gibson's recent work, but more exciting and with better developed characters.
Pretty plausible vision for our near future world of PMCs and low intensity conflict.
Reminds me a bit of William Gibson's recent work, but more exciting and with better developed characters.
November 19, 2017
I was in a reading funk for months, and this is the book that finally snapped me out of it.
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November 1, 2020The thought that went into the development of warfare in the future in this book is off the charts good. The personal and ethical implications of robots at war were great, and the idea of war being fought not only by national actors but contractors was well thought out and would make for a great debate. It didn't swing too far over into the realm of a dystopia, but instead looked at it from more of a matter of fact, this is possible, kind of lens. Definitely worth a read for fans of military SF. Loved the narration on the audio book.
July 15, 2017
In The Last Good Man Linda Nagata gives us an action-filled near future techno-thriller. The main protagonist, True Brighton, is a skilled and tough minded middle-aged woman. She and her team have to deal with all kinds of people ranging from purely evil torturers to ordinary folks. They sometimes have to make difficult moral choices in split seconds while carrying out missions.
We get small-unit military operations, we get autonomous and semi-autonomous military bots, and we get an old mystery that begs to be resolved.
Good story, well written and with a satisfying finish.
We get small-unit military operations, we get autonomous and semi-autonomous military bots, and we get an old mystery that begs to be resolved.
Good story, well written and with a satisfying finish.
August 4, 2017
A thriller about near-future military technology, drones, private military contractors, and surveillance. True Brighton is a former helicopter pilot who now works for a US private military contractor (since helicopters are now flown robotically). The small company she works for tries to operate with a motto of "right action" - a similar ethos to Google's "don't be evil" that will place the organization less in a grey area and more on the side of doing good in the world. After a hostage rescue in the Middle East, things from True's past come to light, including information related to the death of her son on a military mission several years ago.
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