- Title:
- The Anatomy of Courage
- By:
- Peter Cawdron
- Pages:
- 361
- Rating:
- 4
Dr. Christopher Walters has been assigned to a medical evac team serving on the front line of the war against the alien invaders known as the Novo. As part of the Dog Food Squad, his role is to provide battlefield triage to wounded soldiers in no man’s land. Life expectancy at the Front is so low no one uses their real names, and he teams up with Hawk, Mouse, Leech, Lavender and William Sunday to save those he can from the brutal reality of war. The Novos, though, are not what they seem. Inconsistencies leave Doc questioning the war and wondering what the price will be for peace…FIRST CONTACT is a series of stand-alone novels that explore humanity’s first interaction with extraterrestrial life. This series is similar to BLACK MIRROR or THE TWILIGHT ZONE in that the series is based on a common theme rather than common characters. This allows these books to be read in any order. Technically, they’re all first as they all deal with how we might initially respond to contact with aliens, exploring the social, political, religious, and scientific aspects of First Contact.
So many of these books are gold, exploring aspects that really are Humanity, however alien the rationale. This is a great example, and as a blind person I was very pleased to see so much thought put into touch here, how physical contact can be at once both transient and fleeting yet meaningful and lasting. I really enjoyed both the story and the thoughts it set adrift. The milieu of trench warfare isn’t the sort of thing I’d have said I would enjoy, but it worked as a brilliant backdrop to the action and served only to enhance the story. Highly recommended, as is most every other novel from this grandmaster of the genre.