Bookworm Speaks!- Gestapo Mars Review

Bookworm Speaks!

Gestapo Mars

by Victor Gischler 

****

Acquired: Barnes and Noble Booksellers

Series: N/A

Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: Titan Books (September 22, 2015)

Language: English

****

The Story: Carter Sloan is a trained assassin—the best there is, pulled out of cryogenic sleep whenever an assignment demands his skills. So when he’s kept in the deep freeze for 258 years, he’s seriously pissed off.

Yet his government needs him, to hunt down the enemy known as the Daughter of the Brass Dragon. The future of the galaxy-spanning Reich depends on it, so Sloan is off—screwing, swearing, and shooting his way across interstellar space.

It’s action, adventure, and disgusting gelatinous aliens as only Victor Gischler can create them.

The Review: Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let us address the elephant in the room: The Nazi slant this book takes. Yes…this book takes place in what we can assume is a alternate future where the Nazi’s won World War II and have henceforth conquered the solar system. Heck, the symbol for the Shutzstaffel is right there on the cover. 

After reading it though…the whole Nazi thing really takes a back seat. Hitler is only mentioned once and any direct Nazi correlations about three times. The whole book is basically a parodical take on the Red Scare stories of the fifties and sixties. These are cartoon Nazi’s, not the ultimate evil they were in real life. 

Those same cartoon Nazi’s are exactly where this book gets is inspiration. It is made from the stuff of pubescent male dreams, as well as adults who never stopped being that age. 

Nazis? Check.

Hot, busty, sexpot women? Check.

Ludicrously, Impractical Firearms? Check.

Hot, busty, sexpot women with ludicrously impractical firearms? Check.

Unattainable Macho Male Form? Check. 

Gratuitous Violence? Check.

Space Battles? Check.

SEX!? Check. 

What is not to love!?  

This whole book is a modern love letter to the cheesy, over the top, space opera books and comics that were once so beloved by writers and audiences alike in that bygone era. Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and of course, Batman and Superman. 

There is a reason those stories went the way of the dodo though: They were cheap and corny and very flat on the characterization front and let’s face it…a poor characterization of women.

While this book does share a lot in common with pulp stories, the author was wise enough to give it a modern update. The aforementioned women characters, most notably. While they are not exactly hard to get into bed with…Bookworm found that the two female leads, were actually fairly multifaceted characters who did some thinking, contributed to the male lead’s quest, and had conversations with him.  

In the pulp stories of yesteryear, the female leads were usually just arm candy or a plot device to motivate the big hero. 

Carter Sloan himself is also a multifaceted character. He has to use his brain as much as his muscles, he has to talk his way out of situations and he often reflects on the nature of his job and his life. 

This book is wacky enough for the reader to laugh and shake a head at but there is enough intelligence and heart woven in to make the reader genuinely care about the story and characters. 

This book possesses an ingredient that many books, movies, and video games are missing these days: Fun. Ever since dark and gritty became a bestseller, every form of popular media seems to have a desire to be very serious stories about very serious things. What the creators of said media seem to forget is that these stories are made for the purposes of escapism. 

If you want death and despair just turn on the news. Bookworm, on the other hand, reads to escape the harshness and banality of day to day life. What better way to accomplish this than take a wild ride through the solar system in modern update of pulp fiction. 

The only flaw with the story was the final third of the story, after the mystery had been solved (or had it?). It is supposed to be the grand finale but to be honest it flew over Bookworm’s head while reading it. Maybe just after we were through the with the mystery, the action honestly seemed a little predictable. 

Final Verdict: Gestapo is a fun, wild ride with plenty of action but also plenty of mystery and genuine humanity. It stands alone but a sequel would be great! 

Four Rayguns out of Five

thecultureworm.blogspot.com