You may know James for his Fantasy novels: the Raven series and his Elves series, which were traditional Fantasy novels involving mercenaries, dragons and elves.
Here, in a new direction, James’ writing has taken a definite turn into SF. Set on Earth in a future where resources are desperate, multi-conglomerate powers are fighting each other for supremacy but seem to be in a stalemate.
The war is mainly being fought between huge living assault vehicles, a hybrid of alien dinosaur and technology machine. Within the behemoth are land-based assault Geckos, Iguana assault carriers and fast-running Basilisks, with aerial attacks being achieved by using Drakes (rather like dragons). The Drakes are combined in a symbiotic relationship with their human pilots, of which our main character, Max Halloran, is regarded as one of the best.
The first part of the book sets up the current situation in this war. We are introduced, through Max Halloran, to his drake Martha and the alien/human crossbred Heart of Granite, a kilometres-long land leviathan with thousands of people living inside it. We see what the symbiotic relationship between the drakes and their pilots is like and how its’ addictive nature is maintained at a cost, which is an important part of the story. This is because it is accepted that eventually pilots ‘Fall’, and as a result descend into madness, unable to fly or escape psychosis.
Think Pacific Rim combined with Dinobots with a touch of Pern and Metal Hurlant thrown in and you’ve got an idea how it starts. There are some great ideas here. I must admit that I’m not entirely sold on the concept of a living weapon – it all feels a bit creepy-Cronenberg to me – but it is cleverly done here.
With a book based in battle it shouldn’t be a surprise that, initially, Max is what we expect our fighting heroes to be: young, arrogant, self-confident, opinionated and rather naïve. This makes the dialogue at the beginning read like something out of the Top Gun movie, but with dragons! As I had rather hoped, the aerial battle scenes are very well done. To this the characterisation grows by adding in the politicking and Machiavellian machinations of the senior officers and politicians who clearly know and want more than Max does.
This is found to be true when in the middle of the book things pick up a little. Max’s drake squadron, Inferno-X, trial a new upgrade drug which enhances reflexes and gives them aerial superiority – enough to hopefully win the war in one decisive action.
The downside of this is that, unbeknownst to the pilots, there is a greater risk of Falling harder and sooner by the pilots once upgraded. The tacticians and commanders feel that using the upgrade is worth the risk but do not tell the pilots of the side-effects. When Max discovers this he foolishly goes against advice (see what I mean about arrogant, self-opinionated and rather naïve?) and confronts his commanders about it, who are about to enhance all squadrons with the upgrade.
As a result Max is arrested and forced into Landfill, the mental institution where pilots go once Fallen. We’re into conspiracy theory here. Despite the challenges that each of them face, Max and Martha manage to escape from the Heart of Granite.
To add to the tension, the final part of the book is mainly about what happens when the Heart of Granite is attacked by other forces. It is mainly an action sequence, something James does very, very well. Max is obviously involved.
Heart of Granite manages to set up a pleasingly different world whilst focusing on one fairly small conflict, albeit one with potentially bigger consequences. Where the book worked best for me was in its characterisations and in its dialogue, things that James normally does very well. The relationships between Max, Martha and Max’s fellow pilots are best, but there are nuances to the other characters as well, and there’s a host of well-drawn supporting characters as well. I particularly liked the fact that whilst the characters are clearly identifiable as tropes, the line between good and bad are not as clear-cut as you might expect, and James does well to make them deliberately more complex than they could have been.
Most of all, the action scenes are dazzlingly good and managed to create vivid imagery at a cracking pace.
In summary, Heart of Granite is a great start to a new series from an author who plays to his strengths. This is a book with heart that lovers of futuristic action-stories will love.
