''War Dogs'' is a 2014

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel by

Greg Bear Gregory Dale Bear (August 20, 1951 – November 19, 2022) was an American writer and illustrator best known for science fiction. His work covered themes of galactic conflict ('' Forge of God'' books), parallel universes ('' The Way'' series), ...

, the first in a trilogy chronicling a war between

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

and mysterious alien invaders in the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

. After the sequel, ''Killing Titan'' was published, ''War Dogs'' was re-published as ''War Dogs: Ares Rising''.

Plot introduction

Approximately 30 years before the beginning of the novel, a small group of alien refugees (later termed the "

Guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

s") landed on Earth and soon made themselves indispensable with their contributions to

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

technology and scientific understanding. In exchange, they "requested" Earth's help in repelling the hostile invaders (termed the "antagonists" or simply "Antags" or "Ants") who had chased the Gurus from their own star system, and were already establishing a

beachhead A beachhead is a temporary line created when a military unit reaches a landing beach by sea and begins to defend the area as other reinforcements arrive. Once a large enough unit is assembled, the invading force can begin advancing inland. The ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

. The

narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the a ...

of the novel is Master Sergeant Michael Venn of the multi-national force of "Skyrines" (spaceborne

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

) sent to Mars.

Plot summary

Venn returns home from his last

tour of duty For military personnel, a tour of duty is usually a period of time spent in combat or in a hostile environment. In an army, for instance, soldiers on active duty serve 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the length of their service commitment. ...

on "The Red" (Mars) and settles into his apartment in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, remembering the events of that tour: Venn and his squad's combat drop onto Mars goes badly wrong after their fleet is attacked in orbit by the Antags. Venn and a handful of survivors are forced to trek across the Mars desert, barely surviving from day to day by finding isolated caches of air and water dropped for previous expeditions. They are unable to establish contact with other elements of their force or their commanders, nor can they receive any

intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

on the enemy's numbers or locations. One ominous sign of the Antags' superior capabilities is when a

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

impacts near the horizon, its course apparently directed by the Antags. Just as they are about to

asphyxiate Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can i ...

, they are rescued by Teal, a runaway from a settlement of " Muskies", the leftovers of Earth's earlier, ambitious attempts to establish colonies on Mars.

Reviews

* Review by Russell Letson (2014) in Locus, #646 November 2014 * Review by Adrienne Martini (2014) in Locus, #647 December 2014 * Review by Don Sakers (2015) in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, May 2015 * Review by Andy Sawyer (2015) in Vector 279 Spring * Review by Colin Steele (2016) in SF Commentary, #91

References

2014 American novels Novels by Greg Bear Novels set on Mars 2014 science fiction novels Military science fiction novels Orbit Books books {{2010s-mil-sf-novel-stub

Plot introduction

Plot summary

Reviews

See also

References