Unbreakable

This straightforward military SF coming-of-age story falls victim to the genre’s clichés. Republic Marine Lt. Promise Paen is a plucky, untested, up-from-the-ranks officer leading a band of diverse, gung-ho troopers against ruthless mercenaries and the aristocratic Lusitanian Empire. Paen, given a commission she does not want and sent back to a homeworld she fled after her pacifist father was murdered by raiders, grows into the tasks of leading her company, training militia, defeating superior forces, and winning hearts and minds, all while being counseled by the ghost of her mother. Bauers trumpets the military virtues (“Duty, Honor, Republic”) that motivate the characters, even as those ideals shape friend and enemy alike. Phrases and customs common to both the Empire and the Republic undermine their ostensible differences, and snide comments about the Empire’s lack of gender equality sit uneasily next to snide comments about the appearance of the Empire’s female Marines. Bauers’s debut needs to grow into its powered boots. Agent: Cherry Weiner, Cherry Weiner Literary Agency. (Jan.)