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Germline (The Subterrene War #1)Germline by T.C. McCarthy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Second read for me. I would considered this novel, military scifi, but still hard scifi. I found it very realistic where warfare is concerned. The author has a background in american warfare, so he doesn't paint war as glorious, both sides who are fighting, hated it.

The technology used is also realistic, I would not be surprised if many military organization have some of these "weapons" in their arsenal. Then there is "genetic" cloned soldiers, all females with a shelf life of 2 years. A theme seen again and again in science fiction novels. You have the Replicants of Blade Runner, the Jem'Hadarr of Star trek DS9.

The G's of Germline resemble the Jem'Haddar in the sense they need drugs to keep under control. The G's however will start to rot after 2 years. They are decanted at 16 and killed at 18, before they start to rot. In all, this is not a book for young readers or war vet that suffer from PTSD. One needs to have certain moral fortitude and a strong stomach when it comes to the horrors of war.



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