The Misfit Soldier is a fun military sci-fi heist novel with heart

We’re back with another book review! This time around we’re heading into the dangerous and exciting world of military science fiction. Michael Mammay has been quietly staking out a forward base for himself among fans of the genre with his immersive tales of politico-military clashes. His previous three novels were all part of the Planetside series, which followed Colonel Carl Butler as he was swept up in various conspiracies (which usually included him as the fall guy). Mammay has a serious talent for telling stories in a conversational way that make it hard to put his books down.

Mammay is taking a different tack with his new book The Misfit Soldier. This novel has been pegged as a crossover between military sci-fi and Ocean’s 11, and boy does that description hit the nail on the head. It’s got many of the qualities that made Mammay’s other works so enjoyable, while also incorporating a crazy heist-style mission with a crew of characters who are each memorable in their own way.

As always, this will be a spoiler-free review, so read on without fear that it’ll ruin any particular beats of The Misfit Soldier for you.

The Misfit Soldier review

Gas Gastovsky is the leader of a squad of soldiers in an intergalactic military conflict that has gone on for years with no end in sight. Gas is a self-admitted terrible soldier; he only joined the military to escape a sticky situation he got caught in on the outside…and he’s brought all the habits he picked up running criminal operations with him. He’s the person who can get other soldiers things they need, whether they’re against the rules or not, and he’s cultivated a squadron of experts with various skills to help him.

The Misfit Soldier begins with one of Gas’ team being left behind on a war-torn planet. Despite Gas insisting that he’s a bad soldier, he’s an extremely loyal squad leader. And so a borderline insane plan is hatched to go down to the surface and retrieve Gas’ lost man. To pull it off, he’ll need a crew just as crazy and competent as himself, and he has a gift for picking the perfect (and perfectly outrageous) squad.

Where The Misfit Soldier gets really interesting is that it’s not just a heist novel. The object of the heist is a soldier who was left behind, but there’s a lot more to the book than just going in search of said soldier. In some ways, this is a book that sticks very close to the established structure of other heist stories; it assembles an eclectic, hyper-competent yet dysfunctional team for a mission that no one else would dare attempt, where some things go right and others go spectacularly wrong. But since we don’t see many heists in the military sci-fi genre, it manages to feel fresh.

In terms of the prose, Mammay is as good here as ever. The narrative style was always the thing that gripped me most about his Planetside books. As in those books, The Misfit Soldier is told in first person and almost entirely from Gas’ perspective, which makes it feel like a story you’re being told by a guy who got sucked into the inner workings of the military despite his best efforts. Mammay himself is a veteran, which makes things feel even more authentic. When he’s describing a plummet toward the ground in a drop ship or writing conversation between squad members, it’s clear that he brings some real life experience to his writing.

But one of the fun things about The Misfit Soldier is that Gas Gastovsky is not your typical soldier. He’s a rogue-ish character through and through, and even though he’s got plenty of altruism, he’s also got hidden agendas on top of hidden agendas. As the story goes on we learn a bit more about why Gas joined the military, which definitely helps differentiate him from Carl Butler, the grizzled retirement-age officer of Mammay’s other books. Gas and the team he assembles are just plain fun. Whether it’s shooting off jokes about space whales to raz the rookie or pulling off antics that the average person would just be too sane to attempt, the characters in this book keeps things entertaining. There are no slow stretches in this book, which makes it easy to devour.

What’s missing in The Misfit Soldier

On the flip side, one thing I wish we’d gotten a bit more of was Gas’ backstory. We do find out some things about what his life was like on the outside, but it would have been nice to get a bit more of a feel for the pre-service Gas. There were times he talked about his life before, but for most of the novel he felt like he was still a fantastic soldier despite his insistence that he wasn’t. While it’s fun that he’s an unreliable narrator (something the book makes sure to highlight), there were times that it felt almost like too much. For the most part, Gas felt like a very competent soldier who draws lessons from his criminal past as opposed to a criminal forced into soldiering.

Mammay had a big task following up his well-received Planetside trilogy, and I’d say he absolutely nailed it. The Misfit Soldier never quite reaches the level of deadly seriousness that Planetside and its sequels did, but it has a ton of heart and featured some plot turns that totally surprised me, making the book about much more than just the mission. It’s a more optimistic book in some ways, which worked really well.

It’s also worth mentioning that unlike Planetside, there’s pretty much no alien stuff in The Misfit Soldier. This is all about the military, the squad, the mission and what it means on a broader scale for all the soldiers involved in a galaxy-wide war of attrition. The major sci-fi elements largely revolve around the technology the soldiers are using, namely the power armor. Each member of Gas’ team has a different suit with different specs. The power armor is handled really well; it’s always a highlight whenever Mammay describes some of the particular nuances of the solar-powered suits.

Another big point I’m going to give this novel is that it ends really well. The Planetside books always felt like they ended a bit abruptly; they all had good endings, but the cut off was sharp. In The Misfit Soldier it feels like Mammay went hard in the opposite direction. There are two epilogues to this book, which made my epic fantasy-reader heart very happy. The result is that The Misfit Soldier has arguably the most satisfying ending of any of Mammay’s books yet.

At the end of the day, The Misfit Soldier is just plain fun. But don’t let that fool you. Just like Gas Gastovsky, it’s got plenty of hidden depths.

The verdict

The Misfit Soldier is a fast-paced, fun military sci-fi heist novel that’s filled with heart. While it never reaches the gut-churning gravity of some of Mammay’s previous works, it more than makes up for it in wit, charm and a plot that has layers upon layers of secrets to peel back. Gas Gastovksy is an often hilarious and always enjoyable protagonist, the mission itself is riveting, and the fallout even more so. Fans of Mammay’s work, military science fiction in general, or heist stories in the vein of Ocean’s 11 will find a lot to love in this book. The Misfit Soldier has the most well-rounded ending of any of Mammay’s works to date, making this standalone novel extremely satisfying. My only regret is not knowing if we’ll ever get another adventure with Gas and the squad.

The Misfit Soldier is out now wherever books are sold. Keep an eye out for interview with the author coming this weekend!

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