The Michelle Knight Library

From jbgarner58.wordpress.com:

Happy coincidence has brought a recently-released dish onto this
reviewer’s plate today.  The chef, Michelle Knight (interviewed
here), was already in my review queue for some time now with an older
recipe but, as her newest book came up for sale, I decided to take up
this newest dish instead.  So is this near-future military sci-fi with
a side of wit and comedy make for a fabulous meal or some bland tinned
biscuits?

Before we cut open the MRE package, let us recite the Starving Review
creed:

I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the
genre
I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible.

Here’s the rub, my literary foodies, there’s a fine line between
using humor to flavor a serious dish and overseasoning with humor to
ruin a dish.  Comedy, especially dark comedy, is hard.  Good comedy is
even harder.  So, let me put this particular dog to bed and say that
the sugary sprinkles of comedy are properly used in this piece.  There
is a certain Doctor Strangelove sort of feel to the comedic elements,
as well as that dry British wit to the whole affair, and it sits well
in this Reviewer’s stomach.

With that clear, let’s attack the rest of the components of this
meal.  Check Mate presents a diverse cast of characters and handles
those characters quite well.  Even the occasional stock minor
characters is gifted with a particular spark of flavor that makes them
just a bit more three-dimensional.  There was obviously care taken by
the chef to make the characters more than the title of their jobs, no
matter how stereotypical they may seem at first blush, and that
defiance of stereotype is appreciated.

The plot takes some interesting turns in the classic recipe of
‘military-killer-robot-goes-haywire’ (and yes, that IS a classic
by this point!) while keeping its feet grounded in the realm of
near-future technology.  The initial start is a bit more mellow than I
expected it would be.  In fact, it veers dangerously close to an
extended info-dump, yet it wasn’t to the point of off-putting.  It
was a thick crust of necessary exposition but, past that initial bit,
the pacing turns into a even and consistent flow of action and events,
leading to a rather enjoyable final course.

Stylistically, Check Mate is solid.  Once it hits its stride, the
courses come along well, properly seasoned, with dutiful wordsmithing.
 If I have any stylistic complaints, it’s the occasional slip of
British turns-of-phrase in a distinctly American setting.  Naturally,
most readers probably won’t catch these, as I barely did and I’m a
bit of an Anglophile, so I don’t see this detracting from most
people’s meals.

My one real quibble with this particular meal is I wish there was a
bit more done from the haywire military robot’s point-of-view.  Not
much, but there were a few bits early on that gives the reader some
flashes of what is going on and I found those particularly brilliant
while not giving away the overarching plot.  Some more scenes like
that I think would have added a bit of needed spice at points during
the last half of the book (into which I can delve no deeper because
SPOILERS!).

To bring it all together, Check Mate is a tasty near-future military
romp mixing some dark comedy with killer robots!  It’s not *quite*
perfect, but it’s really quite good and I can gladly recommend this
meal to any lover of science-fiction or enjoys a splash of distinctly
British dark humor with their meals!  Remember, again, to check out
the Starving Interview to get a glimpse into the mind behind the
book.

FINAL VERDICT: **** (A tasty near-future military romp mixing some
dark comedy with killer robots!)  4 out of 5  (visitor)