After a very busy time packing for a move, a very long bus ride was uncomfortable, but a good time to get some reading done and get back on track with this site. The third of three back-to-back media tie-ins, Resistance: The Gathering Storm by William C. Dietz is based on a video game for the Playstation 3, Resistance: Fall of Man. I don't own a Playstation 3, nor have I ever played the game, or even read a novelization of a video game before, so this was an all around new experience.
In Resistance: The Gathering Storm we follow the character of Nathan Hale, a soldier in the United States Army in an alternate 1951. He is a member of an elite group of soldiers known as Sentinels, who were tested on to become stronger, faster, and far more durable, among much else. The United States is fighting an invading alien threat, known as the Chimera, who use a virus to take over the populace, and transform them into more Chimeran troops. The world has begun to fall to these invaders, and the USA is one of the last countries standing, but it is falling before the onslaught as well, with northern states controlled by the aliens.
Nathan Hale is a veteran of the conflict with these invaders, and as such plays an active role in the fight against them. He leads multiple missions, while struggling with the loss of his family, and a government that isn't nearly as pristine as the cover it uses. The conflict is bloody, and many characters don't make it to the end of the book, which has twists galore.
This novel achieves multiple things. First, it creates a believable alternate world, one with a believable environment. Second, it is host to characters that are very intriguing and easy to relate to. Third, it tells a story that you just can't put down. I could not have asked for much more from a novel that I was reading over the long days of a Greyhound ride. This book was worth every penny paid, and more than worth the time. An excellent alternate history, military SF novel.
9/10
