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As I finishedby John Steakley this morning, I laughed from the depths of me.The story's divided into pieces and begins with Felix.He’s on a military starship orbiting a hostile planet called Banshee and about to be dropped into combat along with 10,000 fellow warriors. The invasion is similar to Normandy on D-Day, and we get our first glimpse of Felix in the mess hall the morning of the drop. He’s a little like this:A woman vomits at the breakfast-line right in front of Felix, whose attitude’s one of and-no-fucks-were-given-that-day.He climbs into his armor. And it begins.The next 80 pages are fast. “Mazes,” “bunkers,” and “beacons” are about the most complex scenery beyond the scorching sand dunes. Bleak imagery and nightmare mark the killing ground of massive, ugly bugs that outnumber the warriors a thousand to one, and nearly everyone dies.By the end of the book, the symbolic hostility of the planet Banshee weaves a recurring theme.“Remember where you are,” Felix will say. “This is Banshee.”He is the sole survivor, and you get more insight into his character, as it’s slowly revealed that far from a one-dimensional badass, Felix is a broken soul, his desire to die barely matched by his stubborn, masochistic refusal to do so.More on this later.begins the parallel story of Jack Crow, right in the midst of a messy prison escape. The shift is abrupt, and perspective changes to first-person.Jack Crow is a Galaxy-famous pirate and anti-hero,equal partsandA self-centered asshole with the morals of a cockroach, Crow mistakenly believes he’s the toughest man alive. And, being in a lot of trouble, he strikes a deal with a ruthless Captain mutineer (the main antagonist besides Banshee itself) to charmingly infiltrate and subvert a research colony in exchange for a ship and lots and lots of money.It's an ugly deal for the colony, and Crow begins to have second thoughts.Suffice it to say that before the finale, Jack Crow becomes:_________________________________________, melding of the stories.Against all odds, Felix has survived 20 drops.Banshee wants him dead, the gigantic aliens they fight begin to recognize him, and he is forced to watch as those around him are destroyed one by one.And yet, like some grotesque cosmic joke, Felix lives… for a while.That’s all I can say, except that I love Felix. They don’t make heroes like that anymore. He is indestructible but frail. Maybe I like him because he's what every hero should be: you, but better, and with thousands of dead aliens at his feet.Holy shit the ending.I will say nothing about it.1) Short2) Surreal action3) Ample badassery4) Somewhat heartrending1) Short2) Too short3) Steakley could have written a sequel.4) Why was there no sequel?5) Fuck.John Steakley died last year. So it goes. Rest in peace. I'm sorry you never got to finish the second book. (Short excerpt of what he was working on.) The Witcher from The Last WishArlen from The Warded ManTakeshi Kovacs from Altered CarbonAs a whole,is still my favorite sci-fi series, followed closely by The Hitchhiker's Guide. (How not?)That more sci-fi isn’t like Armor shows a colossal failing in literature.