Cadre One

Rating:
Summary: 90% of a good book, last chapter disappointing
Review: Much loved, I have thumbed the pages of this little gem many times in the last two decades.

So.

Imagine yourself a young man, orphaned, raised by a stern grandfather who is the embodiment of tough love. And that this stern grandfather is one of the premier members of the galactic equivalent of the FBI, the Cadre. You are raised using accelerated techniques that develop your body and mind, until you as a child you surpass most men.

Despite this tough love, you would do anything, anything for the approval and love of this tough old man.

And one day, a stranger comes to the door. Your grandfather, he is dead, gone, and now you are truly alone with one ambition left: to fulfill his ambitions for you, join the Cadre and rise to the highest rank, Cadre One. So, a teen prodigy, you enlist and go to academy. And you rise.

On the way to the top you lose more and more of your dreams, compassions, and hope. You give up the woman you love; shattered, she volunteers for a suicide mission. You murder your best friend in the name of duty.

And now, at the pinnacle of your career, you learn it is all an evil fraud.

Like the plot? Me too.

Okay, so it sounds a lot like Card's Ender with a dash of Philip Dick. But this novel moves and sings right up to the last two chapters, and then it goes off track when our hero encounters this far off society where he has an epiphany under the tutelage of a self blinded shaman vaguely reminescent of an Amerindian spirit guide.

A little too deus ex machina for my taste. But oh, it is so good up until then.

Rating:
Summary: It's been a long time...................
Review: Not many novels stand out from my child hood. But Cadre One for some unkown reason is a fixture in my mind for some 16 years now. I find myself suddenly reliving the incredible experience over again, fired by a trigger I cannot explain. In short I probably can't tell you the specifics of the writing, but only vauge mental pictures of the boy and his grandfather both with incredible ability. This novel is a must have, and one of the only novels I can remember that held me captive throughout the entire life cycle of the main character. I will try and find a copy from a used dealer, and further pursue the two following novels. Until now I had no idea that a triology had ever existed. In short, if you are a sci-fi fan, and inspired by child prodigy and characters with incredible qualities....then you will enjoy Cadre One.