You might have noticed that I have reviewed a number of books by Karen Traviss. I am forever grateful for the publisher early reader program that introduced me to her second book. She has led me on a merry chase, taking me far from the sociological science fiction that drew me in the first place, but never so far as this book, which I believe is the first video game book I have ever read.

I have not played Gears of War, and really have no intention of doing so. However, my younger son brought this book to me with not just the statement that the book itself, and those that follow, is worth reading, but that he could see her impact on the game itself. She is a master storyteller whether taking on her own worlds and the complex cultures she built within them, or working within another universe not of her making.

Aspho Fields drops us onto a colony in the midst of outright failure. What had been successful and thriving was first torn apart by a war of human making, and then devastated by monsters from below. I’m guessing that’s the basis of the game, but in the book, Traviss makes it much less simple.

If you’re only interested in a straightforward narrative, you might find this book a little difficult. No character comes to the page with a blank slate, no good character at least, but Aspho Fields take this challenge on with an interlaced narrative that shows both who these characters have become, and why. While flashbacks can be annoying to say the least, this is more a multiple time-stream novel than one using flashbacks. You learn only so much as you need to know to continue forward, and if anything, the tension in the present grows as the past reveals itself.

One of the aspects I found fascinating was not even the story of the main characters, Dom and Marcus. It’s Hoffman who offers the most complex look at the war itself. He’s a career soldier, a man more comfortable on the field than behind a desk giving orders. Where you’d expect him to have a simple “us against them” outlook, instead he finds himself questioning the concept of enemy.

That is only a glimpse of this book. I hesitate to say more because with the interwoven narrative it can be hard to piece out what’s a spoiler and what is not. What I will say is this: don’t let the video game promotion on the front cover keep you from trying this book. And according to my son, if you’ve played the game, don’t expect the book to be as straightforward as the game. Traviss is a talented author, and she shows that talent in whatever venues she pursues. This novel is no different, and despite my overloaded bookshelves, I plan to read the rest of the series.