Captain Narayan is a Marine and what is known as a “Helot,” a naturally conceived human in a society where most parents choose to optimize their children’s genes in the womb. Helots have few options to improve their lot, but one of them is military service. Narayan and her fellow Marines battle rebellious colonies throughout the solar system and are little better than cannon fodder, advancing the colonial interests of a society that holds them in contempt. Narayan’s life has been one of balancing the freedom she experiences serving among her fellow Helots versus the role she plays in taking freedom away from the colonies. It’s a tough life, but one she’s manages to make work until a particularly bloody battle forces her to question where her loyalties lie.
Shrapnel: Aristeia Rising is an explosive mix of armored combat and biopunk technology bundled with a rather timely examination of the ethics of occupation. It’s a story for readers who demand more from their comics than the simple black and white dichotomy of Good Guy vs. Bad Guy. Fans military SF like Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War and John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War will find a lot to love here, too.
