Armor (novel)

Armor

First edition cover art by James Gurney
Author	John Steakley
Cover artist	James Gurney
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Military science fiction
Publisher	DAW Books
Publication date	December 4, 1984
Media type	Print (paperback)
Pages	432 pp
ISBN
OCLC	51644674

Armor is a military science fiction novel by John Steakley. It has some superficial similarities with Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers (such as the military use of exoskeletons and insect-like alien enemies) but concentrates more on the psychological effects of violence on human beings rather than on the political aspect of the military, which was the focus of Heinlein's novel.

It was first published in December 1984.

Armor is the story of humanity's war against an alien race whose foot soldiers are three-meter-tall insects, referred to in the book as "ants". It is also the story of a research colony on the fringes of human territory which is threatened by pirates. The two sub-plots intersect at the end, with each providing answers and insight into events of the other.

The title refers to the nuclear-powered exoskeletons worn by the soldiers, but also references the emotional armor the protagonists maintain to survive.

The protagonist is Felix, an enlistee who's been given "scout" duty on an alien planet in the seemingly endless Antwar. Little is known of him initially but that he suffers from burnout and refuses to die, even when it seems inevitable. When entering into combat, a persona he calls the "Engine" takes over. The Engine makes him into a ruthless killing machine dedicated to keeping him alive at all costs.

The novel starts with Felix and his company assaulting an inhospitable planet aptly named "Banshee." Using armored infantry suits, soldiers drop onto the planet from starships via a teleportation device called "Transit." The attack goes horribly wrong, as Felix's company is completely wiped out, and the mountain fort they were originally supposed to capture is revealed to be a giant hive. In the aftermath of his first encounter, Felix regroups with the surviving humans. There, he meets another highly skilled scout named Forest, who participated in the fleet-wide Armored Olympics against decorated soldier Nathan Kent. It is also revealed that the Ants can lock onto the fleet's Transit beacons and barrage them with missiles fired from the Hive, making retreat impossible.

During a fallback to an elevated bluff, a dying soldier keys all functions on the suit and blows up the nuclear powered suit. Several warriors are killed in the disaster, including Forest. Before dying she confesses to Felix that she always loved Kent. With no options left the warriors resort to attacking the Hive to secure transport back to the ship. Exploiting the Hive's tunnel system, they plan to use a wounded soldier as a bomb to destroy it. Before the attack, Felix meets a soldier named Bolov who tells him that as a scout on his first drop, Felix has a 10% chance of survival.