PositiveThe Minneapolis Star TribuneMarlantes' book does have all the necessary attributes of a War Novel: the comfortable, overweight, middle-aged men safely in the rear sending young men out to die, the loyalty and rivalry between brothers in arms, the moral and ethical dilemmas. These elements Marlantes works in well and efficiently. Where he soars, however, is in his descriptions of combat — the horrifying particulars of fighting, as well as the exhaustion and boredom in between … Realism is a grim requirement here, and narrative flow halts at times in order to detail the ‘mechanics of departure lines, timing, air coordination ... and hand signals’ … It tolls in the reader's mind and leaves a long, haunting echo.
