Kameron Hurley - The Light Brigade

In Kameron Hurley's dystopian military sci-fi novel The Light Brigade, soldiers are "broken down into light" and instantaneously transported to the interplanetary battlefront. The story is set in a future where corporations hold absolute power, and the war with Mars is framed as a patriotic necessity after a catastrophic attack on São Paulo. The main character, a grunt named Dietz, enlists to avenge the loss of their family in that attack. However, Dietz's combat drops begin to de-sync with their platoon's, throwing them through a disjointed timeline. As they experience the war out of sequence, Dietz starts to question the official corporate narrative and wonders if their fragmented memories are a sign of combat madness or if there's a deeper conspiracy. The novel follows Dietz's visceral journey to untangle a complex plot involving time, betrayal, and the nature of the war itself. It serves as a sharp, anti-war fable, exploring themes of corporate exploitation, propaganda, and the devastating human cost of violence.