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The Last Good Man Linda Nagata Books

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The Last Good Man Linda Nagata Books

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 her explorations of the psychological implications of the all too near future she envisions.


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The Last Good Man Linda Nagata Books Reviews

This book might be thought of as Science Fiction due to Nagata's superb Red Trilogy (if you haven't read those 3 books you should) but it actually a near future thriller. The SF elements of the story are AI, miniaturized drones of all sizes, but they are all probably already either in existence or undergoing preliminary testing.

The first third of the book describes what war in the near future will probably look like. You need only read or listen to the news to know that some people are proposing contracting out military operations (think Blackwater in Iraq). In this book you actually see how this could work with drones, contracted or privately owned piloted or autonomic military planes, weapons and modern communication equipment.

Here's a quote from this well written book "An Agressive, diverse swarm (of weaponized drones) is more dangerous than any traditional soldier, and easy to print up (using 3D printers). True (the protagonist) used to pilot helicopters but most are robotic now. AIs fly warpanes, guide missiles, control satelliees. They analyze incoming intelligence faster than any human could process it. Artificial intelligence and robitics make it possible for a small outfit to operate with formidable force, invade unprotected territory, engage in raids and bombings and dogfights above peaceful cities. To act with the authority of a soverign nation."

The rest of the book is a search for answers and an examination of the damage that war can do not just to the participants, but to their parents, friends and co-fighters.

The protagonist is a middle aged female who is in a private military company. She is believable (mostly) and determined to find out the truth about the death of her son.

This is a book every officer in the military should (but probably won't) read. Some of the tactics and ideas are things we will probably be seeing before long, and thinking about them could potentially help prevent some of the worst potentialities from happening.

This book should win some awards. Unfortunately, it probably won't
You can probably enjoy this just fine as military SF. It's got big guns and a fair bit of action.

Me, I don't like Mil SF much, despite being deep into military history and SF both. Way too much Soldier of Fortune wannabe fare, with almost nothing really insightful at either the tactical, strategic or technological level. Or, for that matter, plots and characters ;-)

I do like this author. She's usually really good at seeing through to core ideas and meaning of the tech she writes about. For example, far as I know, with all the cyberpunk books that have talked about folks' consciousness being poured into and duplicated into computer networks, she's the only one that ever wrote about what it would mean to merge back your network soul with your flesh and bone soul.

The Last Good Man is about machines taking over from men. More exactly, offensive drones being given shoot-to-kill autonomy.

It's got a scary post-modern world that looks a wee bit too much like our own terrorists, low-intensity warfare, scheming corporations and governments. But mostly it's a jolly good ride following semi-retired Special Forces type trying to achieve closure and revenge. With all sorts of credible extrapolations about what future ground squad warfare, drone-based surveillance and network snooping might look like. The characters are complex, well-developed and spend a fair amount of time chewing on the idea that they are essentially obsolete.

Thoughtful if that's your preference. Action-packed if you lean that way.

p.s. If you're into this particular type of tech/social speculative writing, checkout out Daniel Suarez' Daemon, though it is a bit more fanciful.
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 her explorations of the psychological implications of the all too near future she envisions.