Overthrowing Heaven, 3

by Mark L. Van Name

Book Overview

It began as a favor to a woman trying to get away from her abusive husband.Jon Moore grew up in a prison laboratory. When he escaped with nothing but hisbody's nanotech enhancements and more anger... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1439133719
• ISBN13: 9781439133712
• Release Date: May 2010
• Publisher: Baen
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Hero reminds me of a knight errant

I think many of the previous reviewers have neglected the ethical dimensions in this story. Yes, the book looks a lot like military SF but the author transcends the sub-genre. How the hero usually avoids "unnecessary" killing (even "bad guys"), while (in his inner dialogue) demonstrating moral outrage at the depravity of his enemies, all add up to the central theme of this novel. The superhero with his super fighting machine has a soul. His ethical qualms are not hindrances but part of his self-identity. Despite that he's still willing to follow the old Texas adage of "Some people just plain need killing" when confronted with an evil SOB. I'm reminded of the two most morally serious and least appreciated television series in recent memory: Josh Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly. If it had not been killed by the soul-less "suits" who run the studios, Whedon's Firefly series would have given us the same challenging exploration of a science fictional (vs. vampire-fantasy) universe as that done by the more commercially successful Buffy. Mark Van Name has hit his stride as a storyteller and as a writer in his third novel. The characters are engaging and the plotting is sufficiently convoluted. Most importantly the morally serious sensibility of the hero now provides a nucleus for the story that elevates it above its origins as genre fiction. In the first book, One Jump Ahead, Jon Moore obtained title to a jump-gate capable flying battle machine by the name of Lobo, when he took it as payment for a mercenary trouble-shooting job. His customer didn't realize that Lobo was not an imitation Predator Class Assault Vehicle but the real thing with an artificial intelligence with unplumbed capacities and a boundless supply of sarcasm. The two of them function as a team for "courier missions." Contemplating the antecedents for the convoluted plots, I would hearken back to the old "Paladin" TV western from the 1960's and the Travis McGee detective novels of John P. McDonald. The heroes from two disparate genres are both archetypes of the modern knight errant figure who nominally is in it for the money, but whose quests only incidentally ever end up making any money. Heaven in this book is a planet with a Disney World sort of amusement park that is filled with genetically engineered creatures. Dragons do fly through the air around the arriving guests. Jon is hired to penetrate the operation because under the cover of its "normal" operation the planetary government is sponsoring a scientist who is conducting human experiments that kill children in failed attempts to create super-humans. An interplanetary government hires Jon to infiltrate the operation, rescue the mole inside it who's lost contact with her spymasters and then exfiltrate with the captured mad scientist and secret agent onboard Lobo. The woman who is assigned to him as the local talent/liaison has another mission for him: rescue her young son who was kidnapped to be a test subje

Fast paced and solid

The first book in the Jon and Lobo series--One Jump Ahead--was easily one of the best books I read in 2007. The follow-up--Slanted Jack--was something of a sophomore slump. But this one sets the author Mark L. VanName, and Jon and Lobo solidly as one of the best sci-fi series going now. Jon spends most of his life trying to be left alone. But he's only human, even if he is enhanced with nano-technology. One way or another, he gets roped into helping people and then the trouble always starts. While helping a woman escape an abusive husband, he's essentially shanghaied and has his arm twisted to help bring back a scientist. Next thing he knows, he's trying to get into a theme park that doubles as a human and genetic research center. He's got two women helping him and, Lobo even begged him to take the job. Van Name and Jon and Lobo are fast becoming the sci-fi version of NYC lawyer Andrew Vacchs and his shadowy creation, Burke, the man who lives off the radar and keeps his jaded eyes out for exploited children. Children and their misuse have been the catalysts for all three Jon and Lobo books. (The fourth book is titled Children No More, if that tells you anything.) The humor and wit lighten what could easily become overbearing and oppresive, and the gee-whiz technology make this a great action novel. But in the end, it is the moral dilemnas Jon wrestles with that make these books so satisfying. I'm looking forward to the fourth installment. I'm looking

An outstanding story of confrontation and survival

A kind favor to a woman trying to escape abuse turns into a nightmare when Jon and his intelligent assault vehicle are drawn into a conflict between private armies, government teams, and international rival superpowers. Science and high drama blend in an outstanding story of confrontation and survival, perfect for any science fiction lending library.

The Nanomachine Menace

Overthrowing Heaven (2009) is the third SF novel in the Jon & Lobo series, following Slanted Jack. In the previous volume, Jon shot Maggie and made a deal with Chaplet and Dougat to ignore the affair. Shooting started and Jon got out of the building just before the structure collapsed on Jack and Manu. Then EC troops rushed the hangar and both groups surrendered after a few casualties. The EC took the weapons and Jon left the area in Lobo. Or so everybody else thought. In this novel, Jon Moore is an independent operator who comes to Arctul for solitude and rest. He makes a deal with the Green Rising activists for permission to stay in a treehouse among the giant trees. He only has to provide occasional secure transit services to the Green Rising leaders. Lobo is an armed and intelligent Predator Class Attack Vehicle. He gets to hang around the trees and keep watch except while carrying the activist leaders back and forth. Fortunately, Lobo doesn't get bored. Priyana Suli is a new client that Jon has been persuaded to handle. She has a domestic crisis and wants to get off the planet. Since her partners have serious connections in the Arctul governments, she can't just hop a shuttle without being detained. Jorge Wei is a scientist experimenting with human interactions with nanomachines. Naturally, such work is prohibited by all civilized governments. Since Jon has been a subject of such experiments, he is especially sensitive to these investigations. Andrea Matahi is a wellknown courtesan in Entreat on Heaven. Wei is one of her clients. In this story, Jon meets Priyana and quickly learns that she has little experience in clandestine affairs. Yet he agrees to take her to the jump station. Then a team of professionals appears and try to capture Jon and his client. Jon exits through a skylight and Lobo leaves the planet. On the way to the jump gate, Lobo is surrounded by eight ships. Then a Central Coalition Councilor requests their presence on the Sunset, one of the largest warships that Jon has ever seen. In the ensuing conversion, Jon is told about the problem of Heaven, a former CC world. Now that its jump gate has developed connections to the Expansion Coalition, it has broken its ties to the CC and initiated a process of determining which federation to join. Since the EC is hovering on the wings, the CC is avoiding a violent resolution of the problem. Now the CC has discovered a cause celebre to support their takeover of Heaven. They have reason to believe that the Heaven government is supporting a notorious criminal who is conducting nanomachine research on young children. So far, all the children have died. The CC wants Jon to bring Jorge Wei to justice. Jon is disconcerted by the similarity to his own case and wants to withdraw back into Lobo to consider the matter. Then Priyana tells him that she is a member of the opposition movement on Heaven and begs him to do the job. Jon is starting to walk out of th

faster than the speed of light

Of all people, nanotechnology enhanced soldier Jon Moore should have known first hand by now that good intentions lead to hell especially if a beautiful damsel in distress is involved (see ONE JUMP AHEAD and Slanted Jack). Still, he started off with just trying to get the femme fatale away from her abusive spouse over the objection of his only friend in the universe, Lobo, his artificially intelligent Predator-Class Assault Vehicle. One thing leads to another manipulation of Jon while Lobo shakes his engine in disgust as his good deed definitely gets him punished. The Central Coalition, whom Jon knows to avoid having a bad history of "cooperation" with them, has him searching for renegade scientist Jorge Wei, who allegedly is conducting banned nano research on children. Jon and Lobo head to Heaven where Wei is allegedly performing his illegal tests cocooned inside a very popular humongous tourist spot, Wonder Island, a place impossible to enter without permission;. Super soldier Jon and super assault vehicle Lobo no such boundaries, but what awaits them is the results of bioengineering. The third Jon-Lobo outer space odyssey is identical in tone to the previous novels as the story line is faster than the speed of light, the action never stops, and some of the key characters are two dimensional from the same cookie cutter. Anyone who appreciates space opera at an incredible acceleration will enjoy the latest escapades of the universe's greatest soldier and his sidekick. Harriet Klausner