The Chaplain's War

By: Brad R. Torgersen

Narrated by: George Newbern

The mantis cyborgs: insectlike, cruel, and determined to wipe humanity from the face of the galaxy. The Fleet is humanity’s last chance: a multi-world, multi-national task force assembled to hold the line against the aliens’ overwhelming technology and firepower. Enter Harrison Barlow, who like so many young men of wars past, simply wants to serve his people and partake of the grand adventure of military life. Only, Harrison is not a hot pilot, nor a crack shot with a rifle. What good is a Chaplain’s Assistant in the interstellar battles which will decide the fate of all? More than he thinks. Because while the mantis insectoids are determined to eliminate the human threat to mantis supremacy, they remember the errors of their past. Is there the slightest chance that humans might have value? Especially since humans seem to have the one thing the mantes explicitly do not: an innate ability to believe in what cannot be proven nor seen: God. Captured and stranded behind enemy lines, Barlow must come to grips with the fact that he is not only bargaining for his own life, but the lives of everyone he knows and loves. And so he embarks upon an improbable gambit, determined to alter the course of the entire war.

©2014 Brad R. Torgersen (P)2014 Audible Inc.

The losing side

I recently listened to The Chaplain's War written by Brad R. Torgersen and narrated by George Newbern. 

The Chaplain's War is a scifi story set in a universe where we encounter another alien species. The species in question appear to somewhat resemble our insects known as mantis'. It also seems they have developed some sort of mental interface with higher technology machines. These technologies power impervious shields and personal transportation and communication devices that are saucer shaped. These saucers also seem to serve as weapon platforms. 

Humans enter a war with the manties, the favored slang term for their enemies, and lose badly. On one of the planets the humans invaded, a delightful vacation spot known as purgatory, some of the humans in the prison camp continue to believe in a higher power. Harrison Barlow, a Chaplain's assistant, builds a chapel to honor the request of the dead chaplain he served. 

One day the unexpected occurs. A 'Mantie' comes to the chapel. He imparts two pieces of necessary information. The first is that humanity will be exterminated in the near future. The second is that, at least partially due to previous alien contact, the mantie's have a scientific and scholarly interest in God. 

This is the tale of Barlow trying to leverage this interest in a higher power. He has no reasonable hope he will succeed, but he trudges forth on unreasonable hope. That hope is small and simple. Can he interest the mantie's enough in God that they will delay or, ideally, forego humanities execution?

The narrator, George Newbern, does an excellent job with the material. He really sells the emotional bits and delves into the story with a voice that forms itself to the book in a way that makes you question if anyone else could do the reading as well. 

Conclusion: This book is an unusual book for a scifi tale, but despite that it's a really good book. It does something that all good scifi should do. It makes the reader think and ask questions, both of the world at large and of themselves as well. 

The only thing that slightly annoyed me was the constant change in the story between past and present. It wasn't wholly clear through most of the book how one affected the other in the central plotline. I am happy, however, to inform you that it does eventually matter. While not a favorite writing convention of mine, it was handled extremely well in this case.

I personally found this book a delight. It's scifi from a wholly different perspective than normal. If you can abide the switch between present and past with patience, I think you will find that this is a great read.

Refreshing take on religion in sci if

This is a story of mankind's run up against a powerful and overwhelming alien. The story takes place after this conflict has started and details the impact that a couple of individuals can have on such events. Good stuff it is.
As for the religion part, it is there but is nothing overwhelming or even takes up much of the story. The refreshing part is that it is not something portrayed as bad or something that had negative influences within the world this story creates. That is much different in that most other stories, when they touch upon religion, make it out as a influence that drives evil or poor behavior and in many cases something that makes those involved backwards. This type of handling of religion is so common that it is a trope in science fiction and easily predictable and thus boring.

A lifeline during a TERRIBLE week for me

Any additional comments?

I spent WAY too many hours in the car during the week that I listened to this book. I ran out of podcasts and was on a new medication. My brain was going Etch-a-Sketch, and I had the proverbial "miles to go before I sleep." George Newbern and Brad Torgerson kept me engaged and aware and interested all the way to my destination for several days. The story was fascinating, the performance was engaging, and the characters interesting. Get the Kindle book. Buy the audio book to go with it.

Nice mix of science fiction and spirituality/philosophy

The main character reminds me of a futuristicJimmy Stewart: honest; hard-working; Ernest; well-meaning. The story follows him through trials and tribulations and tests to his ethos. With a decent adventure story folded in.

Good if you can ignore the god bits

I struggled to make it past the first parts, because of the religious aspects, but once that was through, it was a pretty good book.
Nothing hardcore scifi though.

philosophical military SF

Fantastic blend of the tropes of military sf, mixed with much deeper profound questions about the nature of faith and God. Well done. Highly recommended.

Wonderfully written and narrated

Starship Troopers meets The Lords of Discipline, flavored with a bit of The Gospel According to Gamaliel Crucis. Well written and expertly narrated. I really enjoyed how the story shifted back and forth from training and present day. Highly recommended.

Good try, but missed for me.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I finally quit after several hours. Once in a while I would find something of interest, but just could not care about anybody, anything. The characters were flat to me, the plot was convoluted and the aliens just never became real.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The idea of an unbelieving chaplain's assistant is of interest to me. His motivation never came through for me, but he was certainly in the right place at the right time. Least interesting? The war. I just never got a feel for the aliens.

What didn’t you like about George Newbern’s performance?

It felt flat. Like he was in a soundproof box with no door. His voice became annoying to me, rather than leading me to feel anything positive.

Could you see The Chaplain's War being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Not movie material in my opinion, but most movies made don't make sense to me.

Any additional comments?

Unless you have a burning desire for this type of book, I wouldn't bother. I bought it on the Daily Deal, so it didn't cost much, but wasted a lot of my time.

Interesting story

It was a good mix of sci-fi and the human condition. Great listen, looking forward to future books from the author.

Alien meets God?

What did you love best about The Chaplain's War?

Very interesting plot dealing with beliefs and faith, human and alien

What did you like best about this story?

The descriptions of the aliens, the spacecraft and the alien lifestyle and philosophy.

Which scene was your favorite?

No real favorite scene, they all worked well together

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Too long for that!

Any additional comments?

None