Soldier of the Legion

Soldier of the Legion #1

by Marshall S. Thomas

HE JOINED THE LEGION. HE SURVIVED TRAINING ON PLANET HELL. HE THOUGHT HE'D SEEN IT ALL. HE WAS WRONG.
His Legion designation is Beta 3, warname Thinker. This will be his first real mission, the first mission for all the members of Beta squad—young men and women given immortality but trained to die for the cause of freedom. They are going into the deep Outvac to investigate the remote planet Andrion 2. What they find could start a war, they all know that, but what they don’t know will take every ounce of training to survive.

ABOUT THE SERIES
Soldier of the Legion is an action-packed, fast-paced science fiction series in the tradition of Starship Troopers. It chronicles the adventures of a squad of young soldiers dedicated to honor and duty who stand as the only shield to save humankind from those bent on their destruction.

"Soldier Of The Legion by Marshall S. Thomas is an epic science fiction novel. Set in the far-flung future, Soldier Of The Legion chronicles the struggles of a brave squad of Legionnaires who must fight to survive horrific battles against a corrupt, slave-raiding empire—and a far worse force of inhumans. A perilous, exciting space saga, Soldier Of The Legion is enthusiastically recommended reading for fans of the science fiction action/adventure genre." — Midwest Book Review

BOOKS IN THE SOLDIER OF THE LEGION SERIES
Solider of the Legion
March of the Legion
Slave of the Legion
Secret of the Legion
Cross of the Legion
Curse of the Legion

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marshall S. Thomas is a retired U.S. Government official who served overseas in East Asia for most of his 35 year career. Marshall attended the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, the University of New Mexico and the University of Miami with a major in Government/International Affairs and a minor in History.

Marshall currently lives in Williamsburg, Virginia with his wife Kim Lien. His youngest son Alexander, 22, is now in college studying biochemistry. His eldest son Christopher is a graduate of Radford University who studied art and graphic design. Marshall loves to write, and especially enjoys writing science fiction He is a member of the Virginia Writers Club, Goodreads, the Authors Den, and C.E. Winterland's Mindsight Forum.

AWARDS
2010 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Finalist for Science Fiction (Curse of the Legion)
2009 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Finalist for Science Fiction (Cross of the Legion)
2003 IBPA Ben Franklin Award Finalist for Popular Fiction (Solider of the Legion)
2002 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Finalist for Science Fiction (Soldier of the Legion)

Genres: Science Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Space Opera

302 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2001

About the author

My name is Marshall S. Thomas and I am the author of the six-part Soldier of the Legion science fiction series, set in the far future, and also a second series, Prophet of ConFree. I recently completed writing the sixth book in the second series which will be published in a few months.

I love writing and write for the sheer joy of it. I was turned on to science fiction in the late '50s as a teenager and wanted to write SF from that moment. I didn't have the skills to do it until my early 40s when I began the first series. I had almost completed the series when it dawned on me that I had put so much work into it that I really should try to have it published. An astonishing number of rejection letters followed but as I improved my writing and did plenty of rewriting I finally found my first publisher in Timberwolf Press. I've had other publishers since then, but at present I am independently publishing my books.

I studied at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, the University of New Mexico and the University of Miami (Government/International Affairs and History) and then spent 35 years in East Asia. I am currently retired and live in Willliamburg, VA with my wife Kim Lien. We have two children. The first is an arts graduate of Radford University and the second is a biochemistry grad of Virginia Tech now working in NYC.

My first publisher, Timberwolf, also produced a spectacular unabridged, full-cast audio of the first book. The full audio can be found on my newly updated website: https://soldierofthelegion.com.

I now have written a new SF series, Prophet of ConFree. All six books of the Soldier series and the first five books of the Prophet series are available on my website as well as online at the usual places. Please check out my website; it's awesome.

Happy reading! MST.

Reviews

[The Pirate Ghost (Formerly known as the Curmudgeon) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soldier of the Legion

Okay, somebody spent a little too much time playing Mech-Warrior, huh? Go War Hammer Gaming!

Even though Heinlein has clearly influenced this author, there are also other influences at work. Probably some Harry Harrison, a little Asimov, and Ray Bradbury, mixed with Japanese Anime', Marvel Comics. I can almost hear the theme song to Starblazers, that most respectable of Japanese Spaghetti Anime' ... sing along with me...

We're off in outer space
Protecting mother earth
To save the human race!

Star (star) Blazers
Through all the fire and smoke
we will never lose our hope
You can't defeat all our DREAMS!

I could go on, but, I’m sure nobody wants that. Yes, that proves what my wife always said about me: “The Big Bang Theory” (Tv Show) should have been a documentary of my Years in High School.” Long live the Nerd Herd! At any rate, the song sort of sets the mood for this one.

Rating 4 Stars on the Hugh Scale (see Profile--Link below)

Pace -- Pace, how fast things move. This is a fast paced book that jumps right into the action up front. If you want something that breaks into action quickly and keeps on rolling, you'll love this. By the time things start to slow down, there's already enough tension going to help it feel fast. The combat has a very realistic feeling to it that is reminiscent of the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan (Movie) or Black Hawk Down (Movie).

In this story, everything is related through the eyes of "Thinker," a Legion Trooper fresh out of Legion Boot Camp. He's part of a squad that is organized very similarly to a modern USMC Fire Team. The group drops into battle from the get-go and the combat scenes dominate the entire book. Fog of war and Chaos of Battle are well represented. Between nuclear warhead blasting of rocks, ice and other things that send debris clattering off the Squad's powered Assault Armor, blinding them with white out fire balls, Ancient ruins crumbling around the fighters, sneaky savages and barbarians attacking them, and the occasional sexy green space lady (somebody get a handle on that Kirk Recruit will ya?) will put you on the edge of you’re seat and keep you there from cover to cover.

It's not all Combat and Battle. There are places where we get some level of character development and a sense that there is a larger plot in this book and Thomas leaves a lot of questions unanswered and dangling that you'll want answers to. The story does tend to skip time between scenes so sometimes months came and went within the passing of a paragraph, and at other times, like in combat or during some more romantic scenes, things almost came to “all stop.” The story-flow-plot sometimes reminded me more of a comic book than a novel, especially where Thomas relied more on description of visuals and images to communicate action rather than narrative. Sometimes I felt "Overwhelmed by Description." It was sometimes hard to follow Thinker through some of the combat scenes with everything going on because these images came too fast and even thinker seemed overwhelmed every now and then. I'm not calling this a bad thing. It was surely more effective in some places than it was in others. Overall, I think this added to the chaotic feeling during the combat scenes, and added a sense of humanity to the characters, for lack of a better word. “Realistic” just doesn’t feel right in conjunction with this level of sci-fi, futuristic combat.

I haven't been able to find any evidence of "military" experience in Marshall S. Thomas's background, but surely enough to suggest some exposure to military people and how they act during his time in the Foreign Service. Originally I thought the author must have had some actual combat experience but there is no note on any Bio that I’ve seen. Experience or no experience, to me, Thomas did a wonderful job of letting us experience battle through "Thinker." It may be too much "pace" for some people and the hectic nature of the combat scenes coupled with the herky-jerky time passing sometimes made it hard to follow the plot. Over all, the "oh-boy!(s) outweighed the "What the hell(s)?" I was able to catch up on the plot and story between battles so, once the math is done, the effect is a positive for realistic combat (oops, said it).

This was every bit as fast paced and wild as James Rollins Ice Hunt, or Ludlum's Covert One, except it was in space not the Arctic.

World Building -- Well, universe building? Galaxy Building?... one of those. The Legion is Thinker's world. Where it goes, he goes and vice-verse. I mean this guy’s got the Legion Trooper underoos on and everything. Loyalty to the Legion, leave no one behind, we’re on borrowed time anyway so go down fighting, Good soldiers come and go, the Legion goes on forever. Thinker’s life, universe and entire being belonged to his squad, and, it seemed as if nothing outside of the Legion mattered. For me, the Legion came across like the Greek Warriors attacking Troy under Agamemnon or Leonidas’s Spartans battling to the death at Thermopylae. They had real names at one time, but now they use names like Thinker, Dragon, Snow Leopard, Priestess, Valkyrie, Merlin and Psycho. They might as well have been Ulysses, Ajax (The Greater), Leonidas, Helen, Boudicca and Achilles. There was more than a hint of the Knights of the Round Table here too.

The problem with seeing Thomas's Futuristic Universe is that we are limited to Thinker's memory, and active senses. That left a lot of the history of the Confederation of Free Worlds in vague and gray areas and left the worlds and space where Thinker wasn’t almost dark unless his onboard computer (armor) is detailing things, he’s studying, he remembers something somebody told him or somebody is telling him about where they are from. When we get information about the univierse, we get the tip of the iceberg of information about the Universe. There is just so much of it that even with others helping out informative talk about where they come from the only reliable or complete information we get is about the Squad. Anything outside of the squad gets thin and a bit vague in places.

What we get is a wobbly outline of a universe with a civilized core of worlds and a wilder "out-world" fringe of planets around the core with a buffer zone of independently governed planets, bordered (think three dimensionally) by an evil dark empire of Systies. The Legion's job is to protect the Humans from the Systie Dominion, and take on all enemies foreign and domestic to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the Confederation of Free Worlds. The Squad takes on pirates and slavers in the opening scene, plenty of monsters (the James Rollins Inuit proverb, if it has teeth it wants to eat you survival lesson), savage barbarian throw back races and high tech warriors with big time weapons and armor.

After reading about the author, I found out that s[emt book for more than a decade working on this before he got it together and published it. I think the problem is that he had so much intricate detail in his mind about his story universe that it was too much to relay through one character’s eyes alone—one of the hazards of first person point of view. There seems to be a story or a history connected to everything in the book and things got to the point that sometimes I found things were too inter-related or entwined with each other. The universe is like a bowl of spaghetti, it’s all good but pull on one noodle and you wiggle a the whole plate. There is also a group of Mind readers that come into play in a major way towards the end of the story but we really did not get a good idea of who or what they were. The flash back about Thinker and his …tryst?...with one only muddied the water. I liked what we did learn about them, the concept anyway, but for the female “psychers” I had a little heartburn to deal with when I tried to swallow them.

Again, what is a problem on one hand has an upside on the other. This is about a band of Brothers (and sisters). Thes young men and women have taken on the dangerous job going to war and get thrown into incredibly dangerous places with incredibly dangerous equipment. We’re talking about young men and women who realistically lack enough time alive to the mature completely and they feel very tested by the responsibilities laid on them by the powers that be. These warriors learn to cling to each other to and rely on their training, and their leaders, whom they would follow through hell and back, for survival. Their squad-mates replace family, mentors, lovers and they learn to find comfort in the hard, and sometimes unforgiving, but easy to follow mantra of the Legionnaires.

What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
(Henry the V-Shakespeare)


Sometimes the occasional outbreak of altruism and rants about good versus evil wind up more a source of confusion than usable information, but nothing is impossible to swallow. By the end of the book, we get to see enough of the view of the universe, piece by piece, to understand how things work and a general idea of who’s who. Like the characters, we are swallowed up in the friendship, love, rhetoric, tradition and loyalty that binds Thinker’s squad together.

The Tech -- A suits - Battle armored loaded with systems and weapons, with hydraulic powered exoskeletons that can rip through walls and tear flesh from limbs. I mean the really cool stuff. There are loads of probes and tracking things sending way too much information to super linked systems and marines with limited human brains. A computerized system infiltrates the Squad's dreams to help them learn what they need to learn. The tech often seems more like Comic Book Tech, or Japanese Anime' Tech, but it's all really cool. The grade is C+ because you do have to press the "I believe in fairies with laser cannons, shoulder launched nuclear missiles and plasma throwers button," but hey, it's the future...the far, far distant future...in a galaxy far, far away…(you get the drift right?) Thomas can get away with a lot here. I pressed the “I believe in fairies button,” drank the Kool-Aid, and enjoyed myself. If you can read a comic book with questionable space-stuff in it and like it, then you can read this and like it.

Characters -- Overall, I liked the main group of characters. Liking them doesn't make them particularly special. This book used the same character formula you will find in any war movie ever made—the psycho guy, the smart scientist guy, the cold calculating experienced veteran leader the sexy medic, the berserker. Hey, if it works for John Wayne, it'll work here right? I'm not going to go into detail about all of the major players. You get to know them through Thinker's point of view. They come across like comic book characters in all of their armor with all of their weapons tools and such each having a Larger than Life" appeal. When Thomas gets the chance he "Fleshes them out" and makes them more human but it's still difficult to get out of graphic novel mode. Sometimes this is like reading [book:Watchmen|472331]. Don't get me wrong, Watchmen was a ground breaking graphic novel, but, what is a graphic novel? It's a comic book with a lot of pages. Comic Book Characters, even when they are supposed to be "like everyone else," still appear so much more intense than simple mortal humans and sometimes rigidly two dimensional, sometimes, not all of the time.

Thinker had his problems too. Generally, I liked thinker, but there were times in combat where he seemed like a big wues. I get it, even these big harry warriors are human inside, but it seemed like every time there was a big gunfight Thinker became paralyzed with fear, then, after the smoke cleared we find out that he was blasting everything left and right and didn’t know it. If he didn’t know it, we don’t get to know it--confusing. Thinker also has girl trouble. This guy's got a huge case of the "I wanna be James Tiberius Kirk!" syndrome. He falls in lust with green aliens, the hot chick from the sister squad, and the medic from his own squad. There’s even a hint at a tryst with a psyche. I mean… When's this guy gonna learn to keep it in his pants? Space Herpes is something you carry around for the rest of your life like luggage. He actually settles on Priestess and starts a romance that may last for centuries, may last till the hot red alien girls get there in the next book. I’m okay with the romance, I just wish he’d make up his mind who he wants to be with for eternity.

Priestess, as a character concept, is all over the place. She's blasting through walls and crushing aliens in her armored fingers one minute, then stumbling over her own feet in the next screaming for Thinker. She cowers away from Valkyrie in one scene, then, the hot chick fight starts between her and Beta’s XO (Valkyrie) in the next. On one planet she’s talking about killing everything that opposes the Squad in the next she almost sounds like a conscientious objector. It's hard to draw a bead on her.

For the most part, this is what you get with kids, right out of high school who join the Marine Corps. It’s not unrealistic. To some extent the pining over each other between Thinker, Valkyrie and Priestess went just a little overboard, for me. I liked it but, if the crazy young love was dialed to 8 on a scale of 1-10, it might have worked better as a five or a six.

Female equality? A for effort, B-/C+ for execution. Of the major Female Characters, it seemed like all of them had “issues.” Priestess suffered from self-esteem problems, Boudicca had a little going “Berserker” problem and Valkyrie came across like a blood thirsty bitch. The girls did come across as capable fighters and respectable warriors now and then but sometimes he refered to them as “child-like.” Yes he did the same with the guys, it's not like Psycho got his nickname because he's like...you know... mentally stable and all, but, it seemed to make the girls look really weak or, almost victimized by the legion in some way. The female pshycers were too weak and too weird even when they were actually effectively employed. The book made up some ground through the way the male squad members treated female squad members but the book couldn't escape the “save the damsels syndrome” and the old “objectify the fairer sex mental health issues,” especially when the female characters were not legionnaires. Generally this fit the context of the story and a B- isn't a bad grade (C+ is passing), I just see this as a place where the book could be improved.

I did like the fact that the squad took damage during the book. Nobody died, but they did get hurt, seriously, and other lesser supporting cast members were killed in creative sci-fi ways. It wasn't a cake walk. Even with guns that don't miss, armor with an on board computer and high speed tactical data links and a liberal, so called tactical, use nuclear weapons fired through a shoulder launched missile system, they got crunched and munched. Even the low-tech aliens (with the sexy green girls) got the drop on them caused all sorts of problems now and then.

Things I just had to shut up and swallow.

Contrary to the book, there is no such thing as “Tactical Use” of a Nuclear weapon. The book just ignored things like dealing with fallout, the effect of radiation, hot zones etc. Trust me, no nuke has ever been designed that was effective for tactical use, none ever will be. They are doomsday weapons, deterrents at best, that, with limited use, will still leave huge unusable holes in ground the size of Rode Island.

Torture of prisoners as acceptable behavior (tolerated). If they didn’t kick them out of the Legion or punish them, then, no matter how much that hemmed and hawed, gasped and felt disgust, it they accepted it.

The vicious revenge of slave girls in the opening scene, a little over the top. The sexy naked women all over the place was bearable in the context of the story, but the almost catty mob scene at the end came across as a little odd.

Overwhelming extraneous detail--Sometimes the chaos of combat was too chaotic and the details too numerous to be coherent.

Dead end plots lines. What ever happened to the "Valkyrie practices the black arts...ooooohh... aaaaah be skerred, be very skerred thing?" What happened with the Moontouch-Thinker issue?" What about, "the(Snap) you'll come when I call" thing with Valkyrie and Thinker? Are we ever gonna get the chick fight between Valkyrie and Priestess they promised?...(maybe that last one is more of a guy thing?)


Warnings:

You will find sex, drugs, and rock and roll! Violence, Torture, Hot babes, Rape (Suggested, threatened and reported, not actually included in any detail), naked people (girls and guys), High School-ish Romance, Kirkism (or Kirk and the Green Alien girl Syndrome), Guilt-free Genocide, violation of the prime directive…numerous times, and liberal use of nuclear weapons in this book. I think it's okay for YA (talk of bad things isn't like walking us through them ugly detail by ugly detail). These Legion guys are likable and endearing, but they do kill things for a living and they live to kill. I=

Oh, and I like the “DEADMAN” idea, worshiping those who came before you (and died) as a mythical force and higher power to keep you safe today. It reminded me of the “honor your ancestors” theme in the Lost Fleet Series.

Bottom line-- Even with the few minor problems I see, this is one heck of a fun read. I give it a solid 4 stars. To get the most out of it, you may need to press the "I believe in Fairies with Nuclear Weapons" button and it may help to think of this as a graphic novel, or a comic book with a lot of pages. Do yourself a favor, relax, just go with it, don't question the science behind things and you'll have a lot more fun.



(Free E-Book)

http://ebooksfreedownload.org/2011/07...

The Hugh System of Rating.

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/2...

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you've read many of my reviews you know I like a good action book. You may also know I like a good military science fiction. I had high hopes for this one I really wanted to like it. I'm sorry that I can't say I did. I got to a point where I just wanted it to be over.

This one opened in a fairly promising way. It was an action scene and even though the adversary was not as advanced as the Legion troops the combat and so on was/were promising. The Soldiers of the Legion put me in mind (slightly) of the Mobile Infantry from Starship Troopers...though not nearly so bada** in my opinion. In that book we open with a battle scene concerning a lesser enemy and then switch to the back story. Not here however. In this novel we move on with the story on the same timeline.

The soldiers move on to a planet that hasn't drawn much interest in the past and still wouldn't except the "Systies" or Troops of the System have been there. So we head out and things move on. We hear a lot about the Systies but halfway or more through the book we're still dealing with natives using stone axes. The nastiest fight is with a giant bug.

The way this book is structured and written it should have come out the gate all guns blazing and the action should never have slowed down. That is in my humble opinion the biggest thing this book has going for it. People who like Science Fiction video games will be looking to a sort of connection. The book isn't structured as some deep political thriller, or personal story.

And really the romance here just doesn't work. I'm sorry, I know I'm not published and anyone can criticize but...really, it just doesn't work.

For you who like it great, enjoy and to the writer I'm sorry I just didn't care for it. I'm sure some will. We can't all like the same things, and I just didn't care for this one.

I doubt I'll follow it up, at least for a while and can't really recommend it for my taste. Maybe try it yourself... see if you like it better than I did?????

[Sokufamily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very entertaining far-future, war-based (obviously) sci-fi book, based on the events and actions of a squad of legion troops. Other than a good strong recommendation, the only other thing I would say is that as one chapter ends and another begins, sometimes the flow feels a bit off. That's what a new chapter is for, I guess. Maybe I should be more specific.

The romantic interest of the main character, Thinker, is at times at the forefront of his thoughts, and at others, it's like he's forgotten about her. I dunno, I'm sure I couldn't do better!

In any case, this is the 1st book of 6. I only purchased Soldier to start, but after finishing this one, I've purchased the rest of them on my Kindle. Looking forward to the rest of this series!

[Luci Ann Keenagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book!!! It is now definitely a favourite and I am certainly going to read the next one. It is wonderfully well written, I felt like I was there with these guys. It took me a while to get used to all the terminology, like I had literally been dropped into the Legion, with everything going on around me! The characters are great, I really felt for them and liked them all. Their world is really well imagined and all felt very real and immediate to me, quite a roller coaster ride, in fact! The firefights are amazing, I literally could see and hear everything in my mind, really dramatic stuff. I can see the Heinlein inspiration, I love my sci-fi classics, but this story grabbed me and hauled me along on a thrilling, exciting journey that Starship Troopers didn't quite, much as I liked it..... Really, if you want to live the Legion life of danger, fear, adrenalin, with a few laughs and some amazing imagery, this is for you! LOVED it!!! I would give it 6 stars if I could ;-)

[Patrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Skip it. Read "old Man's War", Doom Star Series, "Fallen Dragon", or "Star Strike" if you need to get your Military Fiction itch scratched.
The book jumps into combat straight away, with rifles that dont miss, armor with AI, and a new brand name for everything. I dont think an HE round is going to change its name - even when its the mother of all HE and a TAC nuke you can see and then feel wash over your suit is going to be a problem. If the suit is making sure the rounds connect and has error free target identification why is that poor SOB in the suit?
Beta team was composed of sketchs of people - caricatures that have one trait tuned up all the way, drowning out the image of their humanity.
I am going to finish it - I can't own this review unless I do - so more to come.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like Warhammer 40K Space Marine books (i.e. bad ass space solders, that live, breath, think, die as a unit, in battle and live forever [until killed]). The bad guys are human and no where near as evil as Chaos, but they are pretty bad.

This books feels a little like we're joining the story in the middle, that there was a book before this (but as far as I could tell, this is currently #1 in the series).

If you like squad scoped battes and stories, hopeless odds and "good guys" kicking ass and taking names, this book might be for you.

[Bette Kester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite unexpectedly - but happily- by the third chapter of this book: I was hooked. By the last third of the book, I realized that the book is written in several "layers." It's an incredibly "rich" book that will surely appeal to casual readers who want a great plot with plenty of action and plenty of intrigue, as well as to those who are intrigued with the subtle "undercurrents" that more careful and thoughtful read will reveal. It definitely left me eager to find the next one and start reading the continuing saga. Well done!

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I read any military SF, but this was the right one to jump back in with. The author has a real gift for writing fast-paced action scenes, and moves the plot along at such break-neck speed that you are almost startled when you reach the end.

A very well written tale.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't so sure about this book at the beginning due to it's confusing (at the time) vocabulary, but once I looked at the glossary, it made more sense. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction.

[William Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good time killer.

It's very alright. Nothing groundbreaking. Simplistic, protagonist never feels imperiled. Characters are forgettable, setting itself is intriguing. Curious about 40k inspiration levels, with having weapons that are essentially bolters, and psykers.

[Tyson · Rating 1 out of 5]

my review here.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book. Fast paced and holds your interest.

[Jay Javier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast and furious military science fiction without the overwhelming angst of the 40k universe!

[Graeme Findlay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent story. Worth reading. Lots of action and a sideline of romance. Too heavy on the jargon and it feels like you're dropped in part of the way through the story.

[Jordan favela · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book if you like sci-fi, adventure, the military, and a little romance THEN READ THIS BOOK

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

It got a bit difficult to follow at times, but I still think that overall it merits 3.5 stars. I will read the series and see how it goes.

[Sarah Smithers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook and it was done like a radio show! bunch of different voices and sound effects! It was a real hoot.