Sunday, January 30, 2011

Blast From the Past Review: Cold Warriors by Clare Dargin

I'm listening to Beth Revis's awesome Across the Universe at the moment and the theme of cultures clashing, interracial relationships and cryo reminds me of one of my fave SFRs (and perhaps my first one) Clare Dargin's Cold Warriors. I'd recommend both as companion reads perhaps Revis's books for YA enthusiasts and young people (older young adults due to some situations and stronger language similarities in the book) and Dargin's book when they get older.

My Across the Universe review will be posted once I finish listening but for now I thought I would bring a review of Cold Warriors as a recommended read if you're looking to fill up your SFR reading lists.

This is definitely one of my favorite books and probably my first sci-fi romance. If I can find more with this amount of quality, it surely won't be my last. Not only did it have a GREAT story with wonderful characters I couldn't help sympathizing with, it was also packed with action and the techie futuristic goodness I love in my sci-fi books.

I often liken this to the new Battlestar Galactica only written better and more coherently. Fans of the show will love this story of a future where humankind is fighting a war on the outside and also prejudice within it's own walls.

Caitlin Driskoll is our heroine. She is a strong minded and strong willed woman who was once wife to a Navy JAG officer before being cryogenically frozen. The cryos, as they are called, were once people who were nearing death and ended up frozen to prolong their life for the future. Caitlin is one of the cryos now waken up and placed into the military to work their keep. She awakens during this new century at a tumultuous time when cryos are treated like second class citizens, especially since they were well off in the previous century and the marines have believed they have 'cheated death'.

Colonel Medoro Keegan is our hero. A man who lost his wife and child and now serves as Executive Officer with a close knit relationship to his Marines. Keegan has closed himself off to any contact even when his attraction begins once he sees the lovely Caitlin Driskoll. As the story goes on, Caitlin and Keegan butt heads a bit and there's also some tension between one of Keegan's officers who doesn't like cryos. This is definitely a military romance in that we see the inner workings of how the Marine structure works in this particular future.

I can't say enough goodies about this story and I'll probably be rereading it again as a comfort read in the near future. I hope Ms. Dargin releases more books because I'd sure love to check out what other stories she has to offer.

If you love futuristic sci-fi military romance, definitely check out Cold Warriors!

Cold Warriors is currently out of print but hopefully will be made available again soon.