History Literature / Armor

* HurtingHero: Felix

* SpacePirates: Borglyn's crew

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Felix joined the military to get away from his past.

** [[spoiler: He has another secret as well, but that would be the spoiler of all spoilers. Read the book.]]

* TheAce: Played with in the case of Nathan Kent, who is awesomely skilled with a suit of powered armor, not to mention handsome and extremely charismatic -- and has never been anywhere near actual combat, except for brief and carefully stage-managed publicity exercises, because he's far too useful as a propaganda icon to let him go and get killed. [[spoiler:For a while it seems like he's a FakeUltimateHero, but it turns out he's really as good as his image suggests, which just makes it worse that the high command have made such poor use of him.]]

** Nathan Kent is TheAce almost to the level of AlmostSomeoneBetter, and even Felix swoons over the guy. The deconstruction is that high command also doesn't believes he can be ''that'' good and cannot afford to have him risk his life and die and demoralize the troops, turning him into a PropagandaHero instead much to Kent's own disgust.

** With Felix, the OneManArmy InvincibleHero: WarIsHell and his mind couldn't take it, creating a SplitPersonality that can kill its way to victory with ease, but cares absolutely nothing about friend nor foe in its quest to survive. Furthermore, the military's VastBureaucracy can't believe that only one man can cause so much damage (Felix's entire battalion died on its first scramble, and they never get around to correcting that problem), and tosses Felix again and again into deadly scenarios where he becomes more traumatized.

* InspirationNod: This novel is a response to Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/StarshipTroopers''. Felix is asked at one point if he joined the army because bugs blew up his home in South America, which is the inciting incident in Heinlein's novel.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Felix's narrative bears a lot of similarities to Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'', namely soldiers fighting a BugWar on a DeathWorld in high-tech PoweredArmor. ''Armor'', however, seems to be what happens if you mash that novel up with the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar: the reasons and goals of the war are unclear, and it's told from the perspective of a single ground-pounder for whom the enemy appears demoralizingly persistent, ruthless, and unstoppable. Meanwhile, Felix gets a series of disjointed missions from upper brass who seem so out of touch with the conditions on the ground that they're as incomprehensible as the Ants themselves. And just like in Vietnam, [[spoiler:it's strongly implied the Ants won]].

* {{Deconstruction}}: Felix's narrative bears a lot of similarities to Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'', namely soldiers fighting a BugWar on a DeathWorld in high-tech PoweredArmor. ''Armor'', however, seems to be what happens if you mash that novel up with the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar: the reasons and goals of the war are unclear, and it's told from the perspective of a single ground-pounder for whom the enemy appears demoralizingly persistent, ruthless, and unstoppable, and the upper brass seem so out of touch with the conditions on the ground that they're even more incomprehensible to Felix than the Ants are. And just like in Vietnam, [[spoiler:it's strongly implied the Ants won]].

* {{Deconstruction}}: Felix's narrative bears a lot of similarities to Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'', namely soldiers fighting a BugWar on a DeathWorld in high-tech PoweredArmor. ''Armor'', however, seems to be what happens if you mash that novel up with the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar: the reasons and goals of the war aren't referenced, and it's told from the perspective of a single ground-pounder for whom the enemy appears demoralizingly persistent, ruthless, and unstoppable, and the upper brass seem so out of touch with the conditions on the ground that they're even more incomprehensible to Felix than the Ants are. And just like in Vietnam, [[spoiler:it's strongly implied the Ants won]].

''Armor'' is a science fiction novel by Creator/JohnSteakley. It's the distant future, and humanity is embroiled in a BugWar with the implacable, incomprehensible Ants. There's an epic SpaceOpera backdrop, but the story takes place among the little people at ground level, for whom their own high command also seem distant and incomprehensible.

* ShroudedInMyth: Jack Crow is a legendary space pirate.
* SpacePirates: Borglyn's crew

* ArmCannon: ''Warrior'' class Power armor carries an integrated "blazer" rifle in each forearm. They're fired by going limp-wristed at whatever a marine's aiming at.

* CoversAlwaysLie: Despite the novel stating that suits have integrated weapons (a laser gun in each bracer and a ShoulderCannon), covers invariably do not have the shoulder gun.

* ArmCannon: Power armor carries an integrated "blazer" rifle in each forearm. They're fired by going limp-wristed at whatever a marine's aiming at.

* CoversAlwaysLie: Despite the novel stating that suits have integrated weapons (a laser gun in each bracer and a ShoulderCannon), covers invariably have someone with a {{BFG}} in their hands.

* EnergyWeapons: Standard issue weaponry is the Blazer, a sort of incendiary ray gun.

** With Felix, the OneManArmy: WarIsHell and his mind couldn't take it, creating a SplitPersonality that can kill its way to victory with ease, but cares absolutely nothing about friend nor foe in its quest to survive. Furthermore, the military's VastBureaucracy can't believe that only one man can cause so much damage (Felix's entire battalion died on its first scramble, and they never get around to correcting that problem), and tosses Felix again and again into deadly scenarios where he becomes more traumatized.

* {{Determinator}}: Felix

* ArmCannon: Power armor carries an intergrated "blazer" rifle in each forearm. They're fired by going limp-wristed at whatever a marine's aiming at.

* CoversAlwaysLie: Despite the novel stating that suits have inergrated weapons (a laser gun in each bracer and a ShoulderCannon), covers invariably have someone with a {{BFG}} in their hands.

* ContemptibleCover: Despite the novel stating that suits have inergrated weapons (a laser gun in each bracer and a ShoulderCannon), covers invariably have someone with a {{BFG}} in their hands.