The Parafaith War

I don’t often like the sci-fi series of books, but I really enjoyed reading this book, The Parafaith War by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.   Enter into the world of the future where two factions are in a bitter war for land and ideologies, some things never change huh?  It is the Eco-Tech Coalition vs. the Revenants of the Prophet.  The lead character, Trystin Desoll, born in a long lineage of military heroes, begins the story as a duty officer, fighting against the Revenants and as the book ends, he ends at the highest level in the military.  Desoll’s challenges are many, beginning with the strategic attacks on enemy aircrafts.  He constantly is earning the reputation as a highly intelligent up and coming military star for the Eco-Techs.  During his movement up the military ladder he has participated in a medical and “social study” which checks his physical composition and also his mental approach and thoughts on life, specifically about the ethics in how he would respond to things such as lying and stealing, morality is certainly an underlying question in this sci-fi.  Desoll’s main expedition is to infiltrate the Revs in an effort to kill one of the religious leaders.  While getting into “Rev” territory, Desoll is given a new identity, Brother Hyriss.  In his preparation to get into the territory he studies for six months: religious artifacts, the Book of Toren, historical and language dialects.  Desoll does a great job and accomplishes his mission in the hopes that it will also help avert a war between the two factions.  In this last mission, Desoll barely escapes with his life, is injured, and needs a “rebuild” of his body, taking 13 years to recover.  When he finally makes true consciousness he learns that life has changed.  The war is over, his parents deceased and the former leader of his group, a female (Ulteena Freyer), whom he had strong feelings but always seemed in competition, reunites with him for one more conversation.  The two always had a strange attraction, but with different levels of leadership rank, could never really be honest with each other.  When he returns to his parent’s home, he learns of their demise.  He wonders what is left in his life…. And then Commander Freyer received the note he left her sharing his feelings with her and to continue the conversation they were unable to have before his departure to his parent’s home.  The war is now over between the two factions and life has one more question to answer, can love exist?  The book asks the reader to think about how religious zealots can exist (very reminiscent of today’s world), and what our future will be like as technology and solar system fighting becomes the future.  The character of Desoll is an “everyman” of sorts.  I can envision this book to be a movie someday and since it is in a series, I’m sure that there is more than scratched the surface on this story.  Good read!