In the distant future, Rande VanDelle, aka “Vandal”, is a mechanic who works for the military “cavalry” of giant war machines called main battle uprights, or MBUs. One fateful day, after eight years fixing the machines, Vandal is forced to commandeer the warship Ardennes and blasts away the enemy in a deadly surprise battle, impressing the higher-ups and winning himself a spot on the coveted team of “jockeys” who drive the machines into war. It’s not a job he wants, nor is it one he is readily skilled to do, but he plans to give his new assignment his all. When war comes sooner than expected, Vandal and his team face intense danger on a more-than-global scale.

As the the book’s first-person narrator, Vandal is snarky and determined, messing up just as often as he succeeds. His fierce loyalty toward his similarly imperfect friends and intense relatability make him a likable character and one who is enjoyable to follow. The other major characters have personalities that are just as strong, and the love-hate relationships of the tight knit crew brings entertainment and drama in turns, as they tease each other with sarcastic dialogue and run into life-or-death chaos to save each other’s lives. The Ardennes is a character in its own right, as Vandal’s longtime favorite machine. That he treats the warship like it’s another person makes him all the more sympathetic as a main character. Battle scenes dominate the narrative, with close-up views inside the cockpit of the giant human-piloted mechanical robots kaleidoscoping out to show wide-shots of the battle at large, as seen through Vandal’s eyes. Active, image-driven verbs, like “billowed and blanketed” propel action sequences and, alongside detailed descriptions, capture the chaos of battle. The pace is fast and the action intense, not shying away from bloodshed and deeply felt emotions that bring the characters’ psychologies to the forefront.

Ardennes and the other enormous war machines are spectacularly cool, even if they are not an original concept. The dissociative motion sickness pilots experience in training adds a layer of interest. Because the book focuses so much on action and character interactions, it sometimes sacrifices explanatory exposition. The reasons for the war, the history of humanity in the past several hundred years, and the realities of what life is like for the majority of people outside the small group of specialized characters is fuzzy from the start. The plot appears to take place in a vacuum, with little cultural worldbuilding to give the events and characters context. While occasional comments about the enemy Paladins prompts questioning of the bigger picture, the many scenes with enjoyable dialogue and high-octane action are sufficiently immersive for this effect to be forgotten for much of the time.

With lovable, complex characters and fast-paced, brutal battle scenes, Scott Warren’s CHEVALIER (War Horses Book 1) is an explosive introduction to a promising military sci-fi series.

~Aimee Jodoin for IndieReader