One Jump Ahead

by Mark L. Van Name

Paper Book, 2007

Status

Available

Call number

Fic SF Van Name

Publication

Riverdale, NY : Baen, [2008], c2007.

Description

Jon Moore: A nanotech-enhanced warrior who wants nothing more than a quiet life and a way back to his strange home world. Lobo: An AI-enhanced Predator-Class Assault Vehicle, a mobile fortress equipped for any environment from the seabed to interstellar space. TWO WOLVES IN A GALAXY OF LARGER PREDATORS! Jon Moore wanted only to relax on the pristine planet of Macken--but Macken was the secret battleground of two megacorporations, both determined to control the local jump gate and the riches of an undeveloped world. Moore was too valuable a tool not to be used, whether or not he was willing. What the corporations didn't realize was that Moore had a mind of his own and a conscience that wouldn't let him quit until he'd righted the wrong they'd tricked him into making. And Moore had Lobo--or just possibly Lobo had Jon Moore, because this Assault Vehicle had a mind of its own, too. Finding allies and enemies among terrorist groups and elite mercenaries, gun-runners and the only kind of government possible on a frontier short on rules and long on riches, Jon and Lobo fight to a climax with a corporate army that can't afford to leave any witnesses. Exotic settings, fast action, real tech, mechanically-enhanced animals -- and a beautiful woman who's as deadly as a cobra! One Jump Ahead: the first novel in the Jon & Lobo series… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member LeHack

This is the March selection of my sci fi book group. Jon Moore, in semi-retirement, has settled in a beach house on a planet that boasts beautiful coasts and scenic areas. His plan was to get away from his former life and enjoy quiet and solitude. He is approached by the head of a corportion to

rescue his daughter who was kidnapped in the midst of negotiations to control the jump gate and to develop the planet. Jon agrees to take the job, but finds the corporations are not honest and engaging in illegal activities. He seeks help from a former partner in the military who is now managing a large prison.

Jon has implants that allow him to heal quickly and to communicate with machines. His converstaions with his PVAC, Lobo, are humorous. What would our TV's, coffee makers, etc reveal about us, if they could communicate?

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LibraryThing member superant

I enjoyed One Jump Ahead. I was in the right mood to enjoy old fashion space opera. Moore is a loner with a troubled past. He takes jobs, and they go south, so he has to clean up messes as well as he can. There is some odd science tech. The FTL issue is solved by Gates which are mysterious

artifacts. He has nano-tech in his body that helps on missions. He acquires an AI brained combat craft that is part companion, part military weapon.

I liked that Moore keeps thinking he wants to avoid killing people. It makes the book series more enjoyable to me. I have read alot of military fiction and am getting tired of the huge body counts. Moore does kill a few people, but he seems to regret each one and try to avoid them. A feature that is missing in much science fiction action is the need for preparation and boring staging for successful action. Moore thinks about the tactical needs of each operation, and is described as waiting alone in rooms for hours or days in order to be in position for action. This preparation and boredom is a reality of military or police action that most writers leave out.

It is great, for me, that youth in danger is involved in the story. I am always a sucker for that. Apparently a feature of the series is that Moore constantly remembers back to his troubled youth and how he was in need of saving then. I like the whole dark mystery man. He needs to keep secrets about Lobo, his nano-tech and even his origin story from everyone.

This book will work for you if you want to read space opera with relatively happy endings. You need to suspend believe about science explanations and accept that Moore has somewhat unlikely tech advantages over those around him. Overall, I think, if you like military action will very minimal killing, you will enjoy this book. I have started the sequel and am enjoying the first 100 pages, so far.

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LibraryThing member capewood

I'm not a big reader of military science fiction but the cover blurb drew me in on this one. Reading other reviews is seems as if maybe this type of story isn't so original but I like it anyway. Completely original stories are hard to come by anyway. For a first book of a projected series I think

it did a good job of setting up the characters (Jon and Lobo). We get clues about Jon's past (he's from an apparently destroyed planet, he has a mysterious missing sister, he somehow has nanotech in him which the universe thinks is impossible, etc.) With all this raw material for future stories, I hope future stories revolve around explaining this past. I would also think that the AI Lobo has a past and that could be drawn on. I have only two complaints about the story.

1. I think it is poorly edited. I lost track of how many times Jon complains to himself about Lobo's sarcasm. We got it, Lobo is sarcastic, no need to beat us over the head with it. That's just one example of multiple repeated themes that only the slowest reader would need repeated more than two or three times. Another is Jon's constant remorse over killing. We get it, he's going to have bad dreams for the rest of his life.

2. There were some logical inconsistencies in the book. The biggest was around the central point of the book. Jon is enhanced with nanomachines. Something that his missing sister did to him. This is his big secret. Of course he has to use this power and I don't have a problem with that. But the reader isn't given enough info to understand limitations of the power. Sometimes it seems he can do anything, other times, when the nano seems like it would come in handy (PLOT POINT) like when he is captured, they're no use at all. He's desperate to keep this a secret but (another PLOT POINT) during the assault on Kelco HQ, it's necessary for his nanos to disrupt the sensors. How can he do that without revealing his power to his team?

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LibraryThing member crazybatcow

I almost liked this book. It starts off as a military sci-fi and there is some action and stuff blows up. And there is a thread of vigilantism, which I really enjoy in a book, but then there was also the "humor" and the continual repetitions about how Lobo had too much personality programming. I

think I understood that after the 14th mention of it... no need to keep reminding me.

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LibraryThing member DLMorrese

This is a military SciFi space adventure and whether or not you will like it depends on taste. It is well written, but, to me, the science was weak and the characters were unlikeable. The first person main character is credulous, rude, and prone to reacting with intimidation or violence. His one

redeeming quality is that he regrets his actions afterward. The female sidekick who makes her appearance relatively late in the book is a borderline psychopath - she enjoys killing. The one bit of comic relief that kept it enjoyable was that the electrical appliances are intelligent and the main character can tap into their inane conversations about doing laundry or cooking meals. These did not add to the story, but they did provide some respite from the combat and torture scenes. Although the story flows well, I found I did not particularly care what happened to the characters or, for that matter, to the universe they called home. I found nothing admirable about either.

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