"Spartan" fits nicely in the "Killed my interest" column. Fills it right up, even.

The story would have had to go the extra mile to resurrect my interest, and... it reads like a set-up to yet another GI JOE episode. COBRA The URF has stolen the MacGuffin Virgil while we were testing Hasbro's new toy line prototype MJOLNIR armor. Boring.

Let us refer back to the summary we were given when the novel was announced.

Now, after many Spartans have been killed in battle and the Master Chief is listed as MIA, the UNSC decides to create a new generation of Spartans to defend humanity from threats both outside―and within. When they come to Buck with an extraordinary proposition, he is forced to make a life-altering decision. With the Covenant War finally over, is it time for him to finally retire to the sidelines for a life he could only dream about…or is he prepared to step up and become part of the military’s new blood?

When I read that, I guess I was gullible enough to believe that this would be about the decision to become a Spartan, maybe even the process of becoming one, something that Initiation obviously didn't give a musine posterior about. I had thought that this short novel would introduce wrinkles in the Spartan IV program, a reason for the soldier to decline an offer to join up. Something better than the "Insane Evil Supersoldier Prototype" cliche.

Just a version where Buck was mentally preparing himself for the augmentations would have been an interesting read. If he gets super-strength and the cybernetic augments required to work MJOLNIR, what does that mean for his retirement? Can Spartans retire? Is the UNSC going to repossess his augments when he punches out? Is ONI going to keep tabs on him in his old age to make sure nobody sneaks a tissue sample? Are his medical records going to be classified?

What's it like going from being a strong man to something that can snap two-by-fours with his bare hands? How do you, as an adult, adjust to that? What's it like to suddenly be able to think at such a rate that everyone else is moving in slow motion. Do the Fours even have that augment?

There's just nothing in this excerpt that piqued my interest. New Blood just doesn't sound like it's worth five dollars.

: I appreciated seeing another first-person account and even more so from
: characters we all love, especially in the direct fashion in which New
: Blood presents itself.

*Shrugs*

Barely sounds like Nathan Fillion to me.

: Yeah, I wished that he would have just retired after so many years at war. I
: wanted our babies to stay away from directly supporting imperialism. :(

"The Front wasn’t a combined force so much as an ideology, a creed to which overmilitarized colonists who didn’t think they owed anything to the Unified Earth Government subscribed."

Sounds like he buys into imperialism hook, line, and sinker.