The Clone Betrayal [Mass Market Paperback]

Wayson Harris, the infamous, deadly, and one of a kind Liberator Clone is back on Earth, after fighting for his life and a planet's freedom on New Copenhagen. As with the war against the Morgan Atkins Followers, the "natural born" officers fed their clone army into the war machine, not expecting, or caring, if any game out alive. It's two years later, and the idea that the Avatari, the mysterious alien conquerors, don't seem concerned with coming back after Earth or New Copenhagen, and Congress is looking to find a scapegoat for the failure to defend the other 178 Unified Authority worlds. Who does the blame fall on? The clones.

Congress decides that clones are no longer useful, with only two planets to defend, they aren't even necessary as a galactic standing military. Time to sweep their dirty laundry under the rug. They start by rounding up all the clones on Earth and putting them in a concentration camp in Texas, dubbed Clonetown. Harris, who is the only clone alive who knows he's a clone, and doesn't have to fear the "death reflex" that finding out about his origin would cause, has always been bitter the way the system chewed up clones, using them as tools, not people. The UA's intention to lay all the blame on the clone's feet, when it was the clone's that had saved their collective rear in the last two world ending crisis, is too much for Harris to stand. He wants to act, and when General Smith comes to him with a new assignment, this could be chance he's always wanted, or is the UA just giving him enough rope to hang himself?

Harris is sent to the Scutum-Crux arm of the galaxy, as far out as you can go, to take command of the fleet station around Terreneau. His first order of business is to liberate Terreneau from the alien technology cutting it off from the rest of the galaxy. But Harris has some baggage, in the form of the only female clone in the galaxy. He can either hide her, effectively protecting her, or let her loose in a world of thousands of clones, most of which haven't seen a woman in four years. He also has to deal with the time old naval and marine feud, that threatens to stall any plans before he can even get the clone liberation moving. That added to the fact that every man Harris deals with, believes he is the one and only natural born soldier among the enlisted ranks. A genetic deception that has kept the clones compliant for two centuries. Harris can't even ask the clones to stand up for themselves, for their own kind, because none of them believe they are clones.

When the fighting starts, he buts heads with naval officers, he finds himself outclassed strategically, and makes some big mistakes along the way. Harris has been tipped off, the UA is coming for the clones and their new fleet, to use as training practice for their new, all natural born, military. The clones are convinced that they need to fight for their lives, but they aren't bred for leadership, they aren't designed to seek out command, and the deck is stacked against them.

As a female reader of science fiction, I appreciate Steven Kent's writing style. He doesn't go on for pages about the technology, weapons, and systems that make many scifi military novels feel more like tech manuals than fiction. Kent also corrected what I've felt like is a weakness in his novels, and the genre on a whole, and put a woman in his book, in a strong role. She isn't over-tough, or super feminine and helpless, but is the right balance of lovely, pragmatic, and courageous.

We see Harris grow as a character as well. He's all marine, but he shows insecurities, and fears. Harris screws up on large and small scales. He isn't thrown in this book as the last, unlikely, crazy plan that can save everything, but will probably kill him in the process. This time he's the one calling the shots, and he finds himself in over his head. One of Harris' strengths as a character is his self-awareness as an individual, but as a leader of more than a platoon of men, he flounders. He learns from his mistakes, but is it too little too late?

The Clone Betrayal is a great read. It's fast paced, feels genuine, and hits on subjects that other authors in military scifi never dare touch on. I mean, what will hundreds of thousands of men, in close quarters do when they can't leave their ship and no women are around? Kent hits on drug issues in soldiers, and PTSD. The book is action packed, but it also takes the reader deep into the psyche, and the resourcefulness of men at arms. I couldn't put it down.

After a year-long wait, I devoured this book within three days. I simply could not put The Clone Betrayal down -- it has been a while since I've been so reluctant to put a book down. I read quite a few books since the previous installment in the series was released (that was a 2-3 day affair as well), and thought I had forgotten a fair amount of stuff. But as I got to reading The Clone Betrayal, it all came back to me. I won't go and re-hash the plot here as reviewer JenMo covered that in depth, but I will say that it is very engaging. There was less action in The Clone Betrayal than the previous book, but that one set the bar quite high. Mr. Kent more than made up for that with some excellent character development. I really enjoy how every time I read a Clone book of his, it's something different -- no rehashing of the same bits over and over again. Each one builds upon the others and explores different topics, thus keeping the experience fresh and new (even though I'd already read 4 books with these characters before). There are always twists and turns that I did not anticipate or expect, yet they feel as they belong there.

I assume that the next book in the series will come out around this time next year.... It'll be a long wait. I'm wondering where the rest of the Scutum-Crux fleet go? As far as I could tell, they hadn't gotten self-broadcasting engines installed on the ships yet. I could be wrong though. Yes, I was happy to see the term 'Scrotum-Crotch' in there. I got 1/2 way through the book before seeing the term in there... gives me a chuckle just thinking about the name. I won't tell the end, but it left me wondering what will happen next for Wayson and the clones. There are many questions as to how the next book ends up, and judging from those unanswered questions, the next book in the series is going to be incredible.


If I can offer any advice to Mr. Kent it would be this: "Keep on keepin' on. You're good at what you do and just need to continue as you have been."

Thanks for letting us visit Clonetown once again.

This book is the 5th installment to the "Clone series" written by Steven Kent. Once again the author does not disappoint in the telling of this wonderfully crafted and unique story. The book picks up where the last one leaves off and brings you up to date with a unique time-line that was started in the last book. Harris, the hero of the story, remains very true to his character but still surprises with some of the drastic decisions he makes during the book (hint is in the title). The action is frequent and intense at times and constantly evolving so you'll never find yourself bored and wondering when it'll stop. Also, unlike some authors out there, Kent is not afraid to kill of a character and no matter how important they are to the story you need to remember that everyone is equally expendable. This just further adds to the excitement of the story where you really never know who is going to die. I think the only part of the story I didn't like was that the ending felt a bit abrupt, but that really only left me wanting more. The story is unique, the characters develop in a logical manner, and the overall feel of the book is a positive one. If you like military sci-fi then this is an absolute must read series.

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