Original cover art for “Cobra” by Timothy Zahn

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When I first read Timothy Zahn’s Cobra back in the 1980s and I liked it. Decades later, I still had that feeling but only vague memory of the book’s contents.

So I downloaded it onto my Kindle Fire and finally got around to reading it.

The novel holds up well. It’s really the “hero’s journey” of Jonny Moreau, a young boy from a backward frontier planet, who volunteers to undergo surgical procedures and specialized training to become an augmented soldier, a cyborg known as Cobra.

His idealism is stripped away when he and his fellow Cobras are sent to another world in their Dominion to fight the alien enemy known as Trofts. He sees destruction, death, and loss. He also first experiences distrust from his own allies. Cobras are highly dangerous. They were created that way. But because there was always the possibility they could turn on those they were helping, no one wanted to get too close.

After the war, it was no better back on Jonny’s home world. His family accepted him but few others did. This wasn’t helped when some teenagers pretended to attack him. Jonny’s internal computer took over his reflexes and actions and the teens were badly injured with one of them being killed.

The backdrop to all this is the government which knew this was going to happen but had no plan for it. They almost started another war just to get the Cobras out of the way of civilian life, but Jonny’s brother Jame had another idea.

Opening colony worlds on the other side of Troft territory gave the Cobras new life as explorers and protectors. However, again, the government was shortsighted and as a response, some of the Cobras decided to lead a coup. Jonny was instrumental in stopping them, but it cost him his best friend, and again, the trust of the people he was trying to help.

The truce with the Trofts goes badly as time moves on. Jonny gets married, has children, starts to age. Jonny’s sister becomes a scientist on the colony world and Jame enters politics on the capitol planet Asgard.

The politicians believe another war with the Trofts is inevitable and through clever planning, enlist said-colony world as a “factory” for new Cobras. Jonny opposes this and loses. When the corridor through Troft space is about to be closed due to threat of war, Jonny maneuvers his way into a government spaceship to Asgard. He wants to find a way to prevent another war.

Much older now, he finds that all Cobras, including himself, start to develop debilitating illnesses and disabilities as they age. He will never live a full lifespan. But he must pull off one last operation to prevent war and save his family and his adopted world.

I understand that, like everything else, this once standalone book is now a series. I suppose that means I’ll have to get around to reading it someday. So many books, so little time (I was recently criticized on X, formerly known as twitter, for not watching much TV and not subscribing to a streaming service).

This is good, old school science fiction full of ideals, disillusionment, family, honor, learning to accept defeat, and striving for victory. We need heroes like Jonny Moreau. The 21st century, even in fiction, sees them dwindling fast.