Terms of Enlistment (Frontlines #1) by Marko Kloos

My rating: 4.7 out of 5

The year is 2108, and the North American Commonwealth is bursting at the seams. For welfare rats like Andrew Grayson, there are only two ways out of the crime-ridden and filthy welfare tenements, where you're restricted to two thousand calories of badly flavored soy every day.

You can hope to win the lottery and draw a ticket on a colony ship settling off-world, or you can join the service.

With the colony lottery a pipe dream, Andrew chooses to enlist in the armed forces for a shot at real food, a retirement bonus, and maybe a ticket off Earth. But as he starts a career of supposed privilege, he soon learns that the good food and decent health care come at a steep price…and that the settled galaxy holds far greater dangers than military bureaucrats or the gangs that rule the slums.

***** *** *******

This book and the series has been floating around in my peripheral vision for some time now. I'm generally not the biggest fan of military sci-fi but I do enjoy the sub-genre enough to keep my eyes peeled for what's hot. After hearing a huge amount of good things about the series as well as watching a short film from Netflix's animated series Love, Death & Robots based on one of Kloos' short stories (Lucky Thirteen - which is from the same timeline as this book) I was compelled to investigate further.

Set in what is a rather grim future, the story is told in a enjoyable first-person and present-tense narrative which flows well. The perspective is that of the main character Andrew Grayson, who grows up in a dirty thirty floor tenement block which is part of a low-class public hosing estate in Boston, one of untold other similar estates across the world. Understandably, he yearns to escape his miserable existence and signs up for the military. The world is at war. Two opposing power blocs, the North American Commonwealth and a Chinese-Russian alliance are fighting it out across the globe as well as in space. There are dozens of colonised planets within about a forty light year sphere to fight over. Grayson longs to get of Earth, as far away from his old home as possible. He gains entry into the Army, and this is when things start get really interesting for him.

Simply put, this is a superb book. It's well written and has loads of the stuff that we all love about science fiction such as interesting characters, cool technology and lots of noisy action. Kloos strikes a really good balance between character development and story momentum, and the length of the book is such that it's easily devoured in a reasonable time. If you like lots of explosions and automatic weapons fire you will love this. Just as much as the superb action sequences, I enjoyed getting to know Andrew Grayson as well as his friends and colleagues, he's a normal guy with normal emotions and sensibilities who I could easily relate to. I am really looking forward to seeing him again in the other books.

Kloos has done a really good job with this book and I can easily see why his work is rating so high among his readers. This was the first book for a while that I've found this hard to put down, the story keeps moving so fluidly and with such pace that I was so easily drawn right into the story. Perfect.

4/5 for concept

5/5 for delivery

5/5 for entertainment

= 4.7 out of 5

Buy the ebook HERE (Amazon US)

Buy the paper book HERE (Book Depository)

ANNIHILATION ARIA by Michael R. Underwood

My rating: 4.3 out of 5

An exuberant space opera that dares us to lose ourselves in battle songs and nonstop action!

A woman who can wield a weapon like a song. A man who can out-think ancient death traps. A pilot who flies her ship like a second skin. To keep the Kettle out of hock, Lahra, Max, and Wheel flout border patrols, salvaging artifacts from dangerous galactic ruins. 

But the power in those artifacts threatens the iron-fisted rule of the galaxy’s imperialist overlords, the Vsenk. To protect their dominion, the Vsenk have humbled entire civilizations. They eat ships like the Kettle and her found family for breakfast. 

Lahra, Max, and Wheel are each just trying to get home to the lives they lost, but they’ll have to evade space fascists, kick-start a rebellion, and save the galaxy first. 

Board the Kettle for a space opera like none you’ve ever read before: an adventure of galactic subterfuge, ancient alien lore, a secret resistance force, lost civilizations, and giant space turtles. 

***** *** ******* 

DISCLAIMER: Review copy from NetGalley. 

***** *** *******

While looking for the next book to read, I was quickly taken by this book's synopsis and fantastic cover art. To me, “exuberant space opera” sounded like just the thing, then they mentioned “salvaging artifacts from dangerous galactic ruins” and I was immediately curious. Painted on a huge canvas that spans light years, this story gallops across fantastic places, lifeforms and action. The plot is a typical yet original tale of uprising against a tyrannical empire, a rather horrid bunch who viciously subjugate all and deal with objectors most harshly. Throw into the mix a good measure of Guardians of the Galaxy and you get this  cool space opera. I liken it to a modern pulp sci-fi romp, designed purely to entertain and delight. I reckon that the author achieved and delivered a book that will appeal to people who adore fun reads. I suggest that this book will rate quite well across a sizeable array of science fiction readers. 

The idea of a galactic empire ruled by tough overlords with a struggling resistance fighting back is not new but it’s a formula that sure does work. Just check out the massive entertainment juggernaut that is Star Wars and you see the proof of this. Annihilation Aria stacks up pretty well, being packed with classic tropes that make this genre so enjoyable. There’s tyrannical galactic overlords (the Vsenk), rogue gangsters, various alien species and even a race of giant sentient turtle-like creatures which cruise space and are eminently wise. At the centre of the overall plot of the book is a massively modified being who has the power to destroy planets. Our main characters become pivotal players after discovering an artifact which can be used to control its powers and also shows the history of and balance of power within the galaxy are not what is commonly believed. What they find out will alter things dramatically. 

The central characters are a likeable trio of humanoids who scratch a living as treasure hunters and scavengers. There is a very intelligent human (Max) who has somehow become separated from Earth and has ended up in another part of the universe. His wife (Lahra) is of a species which has a number of societal castes and she is of the soldier caste, made for battle. What I thought was pretty cool and unique is how she uses songs to fuel both herself and her weaponry in combat. Her entire species uses singing to affect various things in their environment and seem to derive a tangible energy from it. I’ve not come across this idea until I read it in this book, so that was refreshing. The third is a matter-of-fact, and practical woman (Wheel) who belongs to a species who are fond of heavy bodily augmentations which allow them to interface directly with machines. She is the owner and pilot of a really neat little ship called the Kettle which she pilots by becoming literally immersed within it. Each of these three are keen to find their way back to their homes, wherever they are. Another key player in the story is a huge Vsenk noble (Arek) who is one of the few of his kind who does not blindly accept their absolute right to rule over the galaxy. He has his own reasons for wanting peace and plays a pivotal role in events. 

Each of the characters in this story, the main players as well as the supporting cast, are very good and it was fun getting to know them. The author’s excellent skills as a writer and storyteller are in no doubt and it is very easy to read, yet contains all the detail necessary. The world building is good, although I did find myself hankering and looking for some slightly more detailed descriptions of some of the locations and other elements of the story. Having said that, I’d imagine that these would be mostly superfluous and the book would end up to be quite long indeed if the author used too many more words. It’s already about as long as this sort of book should be. To be a little more specific about who I think this story is most suited to, I’d have to say that I perceived a slight “youthy” feel to it. This is fine by me and probably enhances the lively feel of the book. It was always easy to pick up the story again after a day or so away from it and I always found it a pleasure to return to. From an entertainment point of view, this book rates high and is perfect to kick back with a bit of not-so-serious distraction.  

You’ve probably worked out that I really enjoyed this. The story is good, delivered well and is very entertaining. The story finishes up leaving a definite path open for further stories, even a prequel to this would be cool to find out more about how things ended up where they are. Some websites list this as the first in series called The Space Operas, so hopefully this is true. I checked out the publisher’s (Parvus Press) catalog and there are some impressive sounding sci-fi and fantasy titles listed there. If this book is any indication, then I’d wager that both the author and whoever publishes his subsequent work will do quite well.

4/5 for concept

4/5 for delivery

5/5 for entertainment

= 4.3 out of 5

 

Buy the ebook HERE (Amazon US)

Buy the paper book HERE (Book Depository)