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The Runes of Engagement
[STARRED REVIEW] “The collaboration by Buckell (A Stranger in the Citadel) and debuter Klecha is tons of fun and full of geeky references and in-jokes. Will be catnip to readers who love this combination of military SF, alternate history, and fantasy.” —Library Journal
“Fun, action-packed, occasionally gritty, and full of jokes for geeks and Marines alike.” —Jim C. Hines, author of Terminal Alliance
The Lord of the Rings meets Call of Duty in this delirious mashup pitting confused soldiers against legendary monsters. This riotous campaign of a novel could only have sprung from the nerdy minds of a science fiction award-winner and an extreme amateur landscaper.
No one could have been prepared for the day when orcs, trolls, and dragons fell from portals in the sky. But now a very tough but not-quite-prepared platoon of Marines is trapped on the wrong side. The enchanting world looks like Middle Earth, but to the dismay of even the geekiest soldiers, is nothing like it.
While the Marines fend off dangerous, improbable, and very rude assailants, their mission is to escort a Very Important Princess who could broker a crucial strategic alliance between worlds. What could possibly go wrong?
“Fun, action-packed, occasionally gritty, and full of jokes for geeks and Marines alike.” —Jim C. Hines, author of Terminal Alliance
The Lord of the Rings meets Call of Duty in this delirious mashup pitting confused soldiers against legendary monsters. This riotous campaign of a novel could only have sprung from the nerdy minds of a science fiction award-winner and an extreme amateur landscaper.
No one could have been prepared for the day when orcs, trolls, and dragons fell from portals in the sky. But now a very tough but not-quite-prepared platoon of Marines is trapped on the wrong side. The enchanting world looks like Middle Earth, but to the dismay of even the geekiest soldiers, is nothing like it.
While the Marines fend off dangerous, improbable, and very rude assailants, their mission is to escort a Very Important Princess who could broker a crucial strategic alliance between worlds. What could possibly go wrong?
290 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 18, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
February 27, 2025
This is an entertaining mash-up of military fiction and humorous fantasy. A group of contemporary U.S. soldiers go on a mission in Middle Earth, more or less. It's very well written and plotted, though occasionally the gritty and funny aspects didn't mesh too well. My only complaint is the overuse of acronyms and abbreviations; is RPG a role-playing game or a rocket propelled grenade this time? I needed a glossary more than once, and then just gave up and read over the letter jumbles and hoped for meaning from context. It reminded me of some of David Drake's short fiction, with maybe a little of Dickson/Anderson or Tanya Huff rolled in. (Rolled like D&D, you know.) Overall, it's a very enjoyable diversion.
January 14, 2025
Cale grabbed his body armor and his M27 and shouted out at Heath. “What is it?”
Heath stood transfixed for a second, and then, in a disbelieving, slow voice said, “Dragons, sir. It’s dragons.”
I read The Runes of Engagement after meeting one of the authors, Tobias S. Buckell, at the Columbus Book Festival (highly recommended, if you ever get the chance you go). The story is a combination of fantasy, military fiction, and Dungeons and Dragons—three things I rarely read or play.
But even though The Runes of Engagement was far, far outside my usual reading, it was entertaining. There’s a lot of action and a lot of jokes. But what I found most interesting were the obvious parallels between this Marine unit stuck in a fantasy world and a very real one stuck in Afghanistan. A mission goes sideways and evolves into another and then yet another. There’s lots of tedious walking and then suddenly a firefight. And there’s the constant uncertainty of meeting strangers who may be friendly or hostile and definitely have their own agenda. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Recommended.
February 24, 2024
The premise of this book and the front cover both grabbed my attention when I was scrolling through Netgalley looking for things to read.
Fantasy creatures, marines, "Lord Of The Rings meets Slaughterhouse-Five by way of World Of Warcraft"! What's not to love!
The general story is that a unit of marines gets stuck behind enemy lines on the wrong side of the portal to fantasy-land. What follows is a single POV narrative as they trek overland trying to escape.
This book is absolutely packed with fantasy tropes, pop culture references and just a general feeling of nostalgia. The pacing was great, I enjoyed the story but for some reason it was just missing that little bit extra for me and I think I've worked out why.
There wasn't anything there in terms of character development. For the most part the marines just combined into a nameless group for me with only a couple of memorable characters. This made it really difficult to get attached to anyone and it also removed a lot of the sense of threat for me. When a 2-storey tall troll is barreling towards your main group, or a dragon is flying overhead raining down fire, it's hard to feel tension when the characters all just blend together and you know there's a good likelihood that all will be fine.
Fantasy creatures, marines, "Lord Of The Rings meets Slaughterhouse-Five by way of World Of Warcraft"! What's not to love!
The general story is that a unit of marines gets stuck behind enemy lines on the wrong side of the portal to fantasy-land. What follows is a single POV narrative as they trek overland trying to escape.
This book is absolutely packed with fantasy tropes, pop culture references and just a general feeling of nostalgia. The pacing was great, I enjoyed the story but for some reason it was just missing that little bit extra for me and I think I've worked out why.
There wasn't anything there in terms of character development. For the most part the marines just combined into a nameless group for me with only a couple of memorable characters. This made it really difficult to get attached to anyone and it also removed a lot of the sense of threat for me. When a 2-storey tall troll is barreling towards your main group, or a dragon is flying overhead raining down fire, it's hard to feel tension when the characters all just blend together and you know there's a good likelihood that all will be fine.
June 14, 2024
I didn’t think they made them like this anymore. They certainly haven’t for a long, long time. And hot damn this was fun!
The Runes of Engagement is a portal fantasy – but on steroids. With weapons and monsters of mass destruction on both sides of the portal. Or rather, PORTALS, plural. And seemingly everywhere.
Which is how they got discovered – and a whole slew of things about history and mythology and where they met and diverged got turned on their heads. Because there were literal, actual trolls pouring out of a portal in Central Park, on their way to topple the Empire State Building and everything else in their path. Quite possibly not for the first time. That this first rampage through the vicinity Central Park is NOT the monsters’ first rampage on this side of the portal – even if it is the first time the Empire State Building has stood in their path.
We get dropped into this scary but brave new/old world on the other side of the portal, in a place that looks a whole lot like Tolkien’s Middle Earth. The U.S. Marines have pushed the trolls and their friends back through to their own other side, and are now entrenched in a Forward Operating Base that is supposed to keep the unfriendlies on their side of the line.
Staff Sergeant Cale and his platoon are on a mission to pick up an elven princess and escort her back behind their lines and all the way to Washington DC to negotiate a treaty of alliance. No matter how often SSgt Cale shakes his head at the fact that this has become his reality.
Both sides of that potential alliance need all the help they can get. The monsters, naturally enough, do their damndest to prevent that alliance from ever happening. Killing the princess is a pretty sure way of doing that. Destroying the nearest portal seems like a surefire guarantee of keeping the princess on their side of the line where they have a much better chance at taking her out – at least from the monsters’ point of view.
No one seems to have reckoned on SSgt Cale and his Marines, who are determined to accomplish the mission – even when it requires traveling to the other side of the continent through an abandoned dwarven mining complex filled with pit traps and Boss Battles just so they can literally prop the princess on her throne.
That their entire journey seems a bit too ‘on the nose’ for the geeks in the squad just helps them be a bit more prepared for whoever, or whatever, is taking the place of the Balrog this time around. Because it’s not going to pass, but SSgt and his squad absolutely are.
Escape Rating A-: The blurb describes it as “The Lord of the Rings meets Slaughterhouse-Five by way of World of Warcraft”. As catchy as it is, I’m not totally sold on that description. It doesn’t matter, because however you describe this genre-bending matchup/crossover, it’s absolutely fantastic in multiple senses of the word.
Even if it does occasionally rely on the reader knowing its many, many inspirations, and laughing along with the joke and the trope.
It used to be that stories like this one were quite popular, just that the portal tended to go back in time or across space rather than opening up in Central Park. S.M. Stirling’s Conquistador and The Peshawar Lancers both had similar feels to The Runes of Engagement, as did some of Harry Turtledove’s and David Drake’s work. Meaning that if this turns out to be your jam, there are plenty more to read your way through!
For even more possible readalikes, Staff Sergeant Cale would fit right in with John Perry from Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series, any of Michael Mammay’s military protagonists (Planetside) and he’d absolutely be able to swap stories and attitudes with Torin Kerr (Valor’s Choice) and HER platoon of space marines.
But as much as Cale’s perspective carries the story and the reader, it’s the Tolkien-esq setting that makes the thing so much over-the-top fun. Because yes, there really is a point where it looks like they’re about to reprise the whole Mines of Moria catastrophe from The Fellowship of the Ring. One of the interesting ways in which this book plays with fantasy and fantasy settings is that it isn’t just the reader who groans at the deja vu. This is a world that spins off from now, meaning that everyone has read Tolkien’s work and seen the movies.
Not just that but the soldiers who are able to operate best in the environment are those who are familiar with both Tolkien and Dungeons & Dragons and are able to roll with the rolls of the dice as well as the punches of seeing the creatures of their wildest dreams and nightmares shooting at them. They’re using the D&D Monster Manuals as actual, honest-to-goodness (and badness) guidebooks for the monsters they are confronting on a daily basis – and it’s awesome.
This is a story where you need to suspend your disbelief on the first page right alongside the Marines and it’s SO worth it. Because once you do, the whole thing is an absolute blast!
Originally published at Reading Reality
The Runes of Engagement is a portal fantasy – but on steroids. With weapons and monsters of mass destruction on both sides of the portal. Or rather, PORTALS, plural. And seemingly everywhere.
Which is how they got discovered – and a whole slew of things about history and mythology and where they met and diverged got turned on their heads. Because there were literal, actual trolls pouring out of a portal in Central Park, on their way to topple the Empire State Building and everything else in their path. Quite possibly not for the first time. That this first rampage through the vicinity Central Park is NOT the monsters’ first rampage on this side of the portal – even if it is the first time the Empire State Building has stood in their path.
We get dropped into this scary but brave new/old world on the other side of the portal, in a place that looks a whole lot like Tolkien’s Middle Earth. The U.S. Marines have pushed the trolls and their friends back through to their own other side, and are now entrenched in a Forward Operating Base that is supposed to keep the unfriendlies on their side of the line.
Staff Sergeant Cale and his platoon are on a mission to pick up an elven princess and escort her back behind their lines and all the way to Washington DC to negotiate a treaty of alliance. No matter how often SSgt Cale shakes his head at the fact that this has become his reality.
Both sides of that potential alliance need all the help they can get. The monsters, naturally enough, do their damndest to prevent that alliance from ever happening. Killing the princess is a pretty sure way of doing that. Destroying the nearest portal seems like a surefire guarantee of keeping the princess on their side of the line where they have a much better chance at taking her out – at least from the monsters’ point of view.
No one seems to have reckoned on SSgt Cale and his Marines, who are determined to accomplish the mission – even when it requires traveling to the other side of the continent through an abandoned dwarven mining complex filled with pit traps and Boss Battles just so they can literally prop the princess on her throne.
That their entire journey seems a bit too ‘on the nose’ for the geeks in the squad just helps them be a bit more prepared for whoever, or whatever, is taking the place of the Balrog this time around. Because it’s not going to pass, but SSgt and his squad absolutely are.
Escape Rating A-: The blurb describes it as “The Lord of the Rings meets Slaughterhouse-Five by way of World of Warcraft”. As catchy as it is, I’m not totally sold on that description. It doesn’t matter, because however you describe this genre-bending matchup/crossover, it’s absolutely fantastic in multiple senses of the word.
Even if it does occasionally rely on the reader knowing its many, many inspirations, and laughing along with the joke and the trope.
It used to be that stories like this one were quite popular, just that the portal tended to go back in time or across space rather than opening up in Central Park. S.M. Stirling’s Conquistador and The Peshawar Lancers both had similar feels to The Runes of Engagement, as did some of Harry Turtledove’s and David Drake’s work. Meaning that if this turns out to be your jam, there are plenty more to read your way through!
For even more possible readalikes, Staff Sergeant Cale would fit right in with John Perry from Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series, any of Michael Mammay’s military protagonists (Planetside) and he’d absolutely be able to swap stories and attitudes with Torin Kerr (Valor’s Choice) and HER platoon of space marines.
But as much as Cale’s perspective carries the story and the reader, it’s the Tolkien-esq setting that makes the thing so much over-the-top fun. Because yes, there really is a point where it looks like they’re about to reprise the whole Mines of Moria catastrophe from The Fellowship of the Ring. One of the interesting ways in which this book plays with fantasy and fantasy settings is that it isn’t just the reader who groans at the deja vu. This is a world that spins off from now, meaning that everyone has read Tolkien’s work and seen the movies.
Not just that but the soldiers who are able to operate best in the environment are those who are familiar with both Tolkien and Dungeons & Dragons and are able to roll with the rolls of the dice as well as the punches of seeing the creatures of their wildest dreams and nightmares shooting at them. They’re using the D&D Monster Manuals as actual, honest-to-goodness (and badness) guidebooks for the monsters they are confronting on a daily basis – and it’s awesome.
This is a story where you need to suspend your disbelief on the first page right alongside the Marines and it’s SO worth it. Because once you do, the whole thing is an absolute blast!
Originally published at Reading Reality
February 18, 2025
I liked the idea of this book - what if military SF, but facing off against fantasy creatures and real magic. Portals open all over the earth into a fantasy world where magic, dragons, orcs and elves are all real, and they're trying to flee here from something even worse. The US military quickly creates a beachhead and reaches out to the races through the portals to form an alliance to use our world's superior technology to beat back whatever the enemy is. Staff Sergeant Ray Cale and his squad are being dispatched to collect someone of diplomatic importance to that alliance. Just a quick grab and bag, right? What could possibly go wrong?
Of course, everything goes wrong, and Cale's squad is left carrying the can. Or the VIP, at least. It's a nice setup, even if it doesn't necessarily feel that the magic was of huge importance. It was mostly a lot of nerdy references to Tolkien and D&D, although I did like the spell that had been cast over the squad at the start that sort of gives them a temporary group mind, to make their initial mission easier. But after that, the dragons, trolls etc that they had to fight were pretty much just monsters that could be fought with anti-tank rockets and the like.
Mind you, the foul-mouthed ents they encountered were sort of hilarious, and there's definitely setup here for further volumes. The big bad didn't really make an appearance, and the villain here was, as always, humans, and capitalism. A fun book for fans of the genre, and I liked the fantasy twist, but I doubt I'll be continuing with the series.
Of course, everything goes wrong, and Cale's squad is left carrying the can. Or the VIP, at least. It's a nice setup, even if it doesn't necessarily feel that the magic was of huge importance. It was mostly a lot of nerdy references to Tolkien and D&D, although I did like the spell that had been cast over the squad at the start that sort of gives them a temporary group mind, to make their initial mission easier. But after that, the dragons, trolls etc that they had to fight were pretty much just monsters that could be fought with anti-tank rockets and the like.
Mind you, the foul-mouthed ents they encountered were sort of hilarious, and there's definitely setup here for further volumes. The big bad didn't really make an appearance, and the villain here was, as always, humans, and capitalism. A fun book for fans of the genre, and I liked the fantasy twist, but I doubt I'll be continuing with the series.
March 7, 2025
Call this your basic mash-up between a portal fantasy for adults and your typical military SF scenario, as the authors play with the concept of modern human cultures finding themselves forced to repel an invasion from your stereotypical fantasy realm. The authors seem to have had a lot of fun with this scenario, and you probably will too. What gives this exercise a little more depth than it might have, is that one of the authors (Dave Klecha) has actual military experience from the "War on Terror" that informs the depiction of the US Marine force who find themselves caught up in the chaos of it all. There's at least one obvious follow-on Buckell & Klecha can come up, depending on how much they can expand on their scenario.
Actual rating: 3.5.
Actual rating: 3.5.
October 8, 2024
Good, fast paced and funny at times.
May 6, 2024
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Tachyon Publications for an advance copy of this novel about a fantasy world full of creatures from myth and legends who are trying to make Earth their new home, and the Marines who are sent to keep their threats fictional.
The United States military is the most funded military on Earth, with money going to technology weapons, ideas, and to planning. These plans include wargaming various war scenarios. Say Great Britain vs. Ecuador. Spain vs. Poland, even the United States vs. Dragons. Well that might not happen officially at West Point, but in some dorm it is. Or in a rec room, or over a group of Knights at the Dinner Table. Not knowing that th tactics they are planning might be needed in the future. The Runes of Engagement by Dave Klecha and Tobias Buckell is story about elves, magic, Marines and military might.
Magical portals have opened on the Earth and allowed creatures from myth and legends to enter, and immediately start killing everyone they see. The might of the American military has been able to push back these attackers and with their allies the English and the Finns taken land in this strange new world, as a forward operating base. Staff Sergeant Raymond Cale has been a marine for quite awhile, but this brave new world of translation spells, magic to create unit cohesion, and the nerdiness of his new recruits has confused him to what his mission even is anymore. His Platoon has been given a mission to go out and make contact with a VIP, a very important princess from the other side, for reasons above his pay grade. They are jumped by trolls, and nearly wiped out, escaping at the last minute. This princess is very important indeed, as Cale's forward base is wiped out leaving him miles from safety, and low on equipment, with very little in the way of ideas. For not only are the people of this world after him, others from Earth have come through, with their own reasons for being there.
A book that sounds like an 80's or 90's ACE paperback, with a dragon on the cover shooting fire on a tank, but really is a whole lot more. This story has real stakes, a real story and as one reads, one goes, hmm makes sense. This is a great military adventure story, with well developed characters, and a great amount of momentum to carry the story. A-10's vs trolls, covered, Ospreys vs. Dragons, yup. A lot of fun, but not a parody. A story with real stakes. The story is told from different views in the platoon, giving life to the characters, and how they are seen by others. The characters are diverse, and different, from one complaining that ground, weather, fog, rivers don't work like this, to nerd battles about Tolkien characters, to war guilt and more. Not the book I expected, but a book I enjoyed far more for taking the matter seriously, giving real thought to issues, and really making things work.
There is an ending, but it is open-ended enough to continue, which I hope it does. There is a lot of potential here for a really good series, and I grew to like the characters and would not mind spending more time with them. Fantasy readers will enjoy this quite a lot, as will military readers. Read before the streaming services opt this, as the idea is so well done, one can't not see it as a series.
The United States military is the most funded military on Earth, with money going to technology weapons, ideas, and to planning. These plans include wargaming various war scenarios. Say Great Britain vs. Ecuador. Spain vs. Poland, even the United States vs. Dragons. Well that might not happen officially at West Point, but in some dorm it is. Or in a rec room, or over a group of Knights at the Dinner Table. Not knowing that th tactics they are planning might be needed in the future. The Runes of Engagement by Dave Klecha and Tobias Buckell is story about elves, magic, Marines and military might.
Magical portals have opened on the Earth and allowed creatures from myth and legends to enter, and immediately start killing everyone they see. The might of the American military has been able to push back these attackers and with their allies the English and the Finns taken land in this strange new world, as a forward operating base. Staff Sergeant Raymond Cale has been a marine for quite awhile, but this brave new world of translation spells, magic to create unit cohesion, and the nerdiness of his new recruits has confused him to what his mission even is anymore. His Platoon has been given a mission to go out and make contact with a VIP, a very important princess from the other side, for reasons above his pay grade. They are jumped by trolls, and nearly wiped out, escaping at the last minute. This princess is very important indeed, as Cale's forward base is wiped out leaving him miles from safety, and low on equipment, with very little in the way of ideas. For not only are the people of this world after him, others from Earth have come through, with their own reasons for being there.
A book that sounds like an 80's or 90's ACE paperback, with a dragon on the cover shooting fire on a tank, but really is a whole lot more. This story has real stakes, a real story and as one reads, one goes, hmm makes sense. This is a great military adventure story, with well developed characters, and a great amount of momentum to carry the story. A-10's vs trolls, covered, Ospreys vs. Dragons, yup. A lot of fun, but not a parody. A story with real stakes. The story is told from different views in the platoon, giving life to the characters, and how they are seen by others. The characters are diverse, and different, from one complaining that ground, weather, fog, rivers don't work like this, to nerd battles about Tolkien characters, to war guilt and more. Not the book I expected, but a book I enjoyed far more for taking the matter seriously, giving real thought to issues, and really making things work.
There is an ending, but it is open-ended enough to continue, which I hope it does. There is a lot of potential here for a really good series, and I grew to like the characters and would not mind spending more time with them. Fantasy readers will enjoy this quite a lot, as will military readers. Read before the streaming services opt this, as the idea is so well done, one can't not see it as a series.
June 21, 2024
So when I was a teenage D&Der, we kept craving some sort of novel that would describe the gaming experience--not in the sensationalist Mazes and Monsters-type ripped-from-the-headlines (or really, extrapolated-from-sensationalist-hysteria) way, but rather in some form that captured the whole gaming gestalt--fantasy, but with a self-knowing twist. Andre Norton's Quag Keep got, I remember, the closest to what we wanted. In retrospect, this quest (let's call it, shall we?) strikes me as numbingly literal-minded, since of course the whole point of D&D was to be able to live in Lord of the Rings or whatever other canon appealed. But back then (we're talking like 1981), it felt, and was, acutely subcultural.
Now, though, the self-actualized nerd shtick is everywhere, something I absolutely could not have imagined way back then (like, in some sense, at least in certain cultural situations, it feels like it would be more subcultural not to have played, or to play, D&D), much less that there would be multiple histories of RPGs and a Gary Gygax graphic-novel bio (which of course I've read). So naturally I'd grab this D&D/military fantasy hybrid, and it's a fun trifle. Some sort of portal opens, trolls knock down the Empire State Building and orcs massacre joggers in Central Park, and so D&D's rules become literally matters of life and death. (Not, I guess, the rules of Runequest or Tunnels & Trolls, which I enjoyed because they issued adventures you could play solo. Man, Flying Buffalo was 30 years ahead of their time.) There are jokes about The Monster Manual becoming an actual field guide for soldiers, as well as rolling a 1 and the irritations of encumbrance limits. (You know what would be a real deep cut? A joke about the ludicrous unarmed-combat mechanics in the original AD&D rules. They were so stupid and complicated that we never even bothered trying them. There, I said it. Challenge issued.) Anyway, this is enjoyably self-aware about an army filled with nerds who know the lore and can handle the emotional load of fantasy being real (also fun little jokes about things like the impossibility of dragon physics, which, true to the genre, don't get resolved); since one of the authors (Klecha) served, the military aspect certainly reads as convincing in its logistics and sociology.
I just wanted something a little deeper, since the metaphors work so powerfully to capture the mythical nature of American intervention and often the disparity between fantasy, let's say, and reality. Lucius Shepard, for instance, wrote great magic-realist stories set amid America's interventions in Central America and the Middle East that make those points powerfully, and Weston Ochse's stuff exuded a committed gonzo energy (honestly, in my book, once you come up with Seal Team 666 as a concept, you've already halfway there). To be fair, I don't think they're going for anything like that here. The authors know military tropes and fantasy tropes and deploy them effectively in the service of mashing them together for fun, with a number of plot lines that surely are meant to set up sequels. This is meant to be enjoyably light and to ring a bunch of bells astute readers will hear. On those terms, absolutely a success.
Now, though, the self-actualized nerd shtick is everywhere, something I absolutely could not have imagined way back then (like, in some sense, at least in certain cultural situations, it feels like it would be more subcultural not to have played, or to play, D&D), much less that there would be multiple histories of RPGs and a Gary Gygax graphic-novel bio (which of course I've read). So naturally I'd grab this D&D/military fantasy hybrid, and it's a fun trifle. Some sort of portal opens, trolls knock down the Empire State Building and orcs massacre joggers in Central Park, and so D&D's rules become literally matters of life and death. (Not, I guess, the rules of Runequest or Tunnels & Trolls, which I enjoyed because they issued adventures you could play solo. Man, Flying Buffalo was 30 years ahead of their time.) There are jokes about The Monster Manual becoming an actual field guide for soldiers, as well as rolling a 1 and the irritations of encumbrance limits. (You know what would be a real deep cut? A joke about the ludicrous unarmed-combat mechanics in the original AD&D rules. They were so stupid and complicated that we never even bothered trying them. There, I said it. Challenge issued.) Anyway, this is enjoyably self-aware about an army filled with nerds who know the lore and can handle the emotional load of fantasy being real (also fun little jokes about things like the impossibility of dragon physics, which, true to the genre, don't get resolved); since one of the authors (Klecha) served, the military aspect certainly reads as convincing in its logistics and sociology.
I just wanted something a little deeper, since the metaphors work so powerfully to capture the mythical nature of American intervention and often the disparity between fantasy, let's say, and reality. Lucius Shepard, for instance, wrote great magic-realist stories set amid America's interventions in Central America and the Middle East that make those points powerfully, and Weston Ochse's stuff exuded a committed gonzo energy (honestly, in my book, once you come up with Seal Team 666 as a concept, you've already halfway there). To be fair, I don't think they're going for anything like that here. The authors know military tropes and fantasy tropes and deploy them effectively in the service of mashing them together for fun, with a number of plot lines that surely are meant to set up sequels. This is meant to be enjoyably light and to ring a bunch of bells astute readers will hear. On those terms, absolutely a success.
July 1, 2024
TL;DR: This is military fantasy - but Marines IN a fantasy world. This was such a fun and interesting take on the idea.
Source: Tachyon press! Thank you so much for the review copy!
Plot: Not too long ago, portals to a fantasy world opened up in our world. Our current day characters are fighting to hold a camp on the inner part of the portal and secure a VIP target. Things do not go to plan.
Characters: We have quite a few and it hops between them each chapter, I wasn’t entirely clear on each one unfortunately. But on a whole I enjoyed each perspective.
Setting: This setting is very Lord of the Rings in Fantasy style - which is the point and is commented on by the characters themselves. I really enjoyed it for that reason, it was a bit meta in it’s concept and execution.
Magic: Magic was fairly light as we’re focused on the Marines, but I can tell you the ‘magic’ of the Marine Corps was very clear.
Thoughts:
If you’ve ever wondered how the Marine Corps would handle a Fantasy world (entered via portals) this is the book for you. In our book world these portals have opened up all over the world. It causes quite a bit of chaos, trolls and orcs coming into our world and murdering people so the military takes and holds these portals, even going into them to try and protect violent attacks from even getting through. For the Marines of this story, they end up getting stuck deeper and deeper as they attempt to locate and escort an Elf Princess who may have big ties to big powers in this world.
As a member of a Marine Corp family - not a Marine myself but someone who was fairly entrenched in the family part of it - this felt very genuine and you could tell it was written with a lot of love to the Marines. I really enjoyed that aspect. That being said I also greatly appreciated the awareness the authors had in stating that the dropout/washout rate for the Marines after these fantasy portal events was astronomical. You have to have a lot of mental elasticity to be able to handle this sort of thing and it took a new type of Marine. That awareness and then consequently the type of characters we had was great.
There are a ton of jokes about Lord of the Rings, arguments over the canon of LoTR, a few comments about World of Warcraft, and I even caught a ‘took an arrow to the knee’ joke in there that made me laugh out loud. So if you don’t love pop culture references you might want to skip. But if the premise sounds interesting and/or you enjoy Military fiction and fantasy? This is a great book for you.
4 out of 5 stars. I just wish it was longer!
Source: Tachyon press! Thank you so much for the review copy!
Plot: Not too long ago, portals to a fantasy world opened up in our world. Our current day characters are fighting to hold a camp on the inner part of the portal and secure a VIP target. Things do not go to plan.
Characters: We have quite a few and it hops between them each chapter, I wasn’t entirely clear on each one unfortunately. But on a whole I enjoyed each perspective.
Setting: This setting is very Lord of the Rings in Fantasy style - which is the point and is commented on by the characters themselves. I really enjoyed it for that reason, it was a bit meta in it’s concept and execution.
Magic: Magic was fairly light as we’re focused on the Marines, but I can tell you the ‘magic’ of the Marine Corps was very clear.
Thoughts:
If you’ve ever wondered how the Marine Corps would handle a Fantasy world (entered via portals) this is the book for you. In our book world these portals have opened up all over the world. It causes quite a bit of chaos, trolls and orcs coming into our world and murdering people so the military takes and holds these portals, even going into them to try and protect violent attacks from even getting through. For the Marines of this story, they end up getting stuck deeper and deeper as they attempt to locate and escort an Elf Princess who may have big ties to big powers in this world.
As a member of a Marine Corp family - not a Marine myself but someone who was fairly entrenched in the family part of it - this felt very genuine and you could tell it was written with a lot of love to the Marines. I really enjoyed that aspect. That being said I also greatly appreciated the awareness the authors had in stating that the dropout/washout rate for the Marines after these fantasy portal events was astronomical. You have to have a lot of mental elasticity to be able to handle this sort of thing and it took a new type of Marine. That awareness and then consequently the type of characters we had was great.
There are a ton of jokes about Lord of the Rings, arguments over the canon of LoTR, a few comments about World of Warcraft, and I even caught a ‘took an arrow to the knee’ joke in there that made me laugh out loud. So if you don’t love pop culture references you might want to skip. But if the premise sounds interesting and/or you enjoy Military fiction and fantasy? This is a great book for you.
4 out of 5 stars. I just wish it was longer!
July 18, 2024
Sometimes a cover, a title, and a concept are all you need. Then you're better off not actually having a book. The Runes of Engagement is a 250 page slog about a US Marine detachment stranded behind enemy lines in a fantasy world. The unit has a few minor skirmishes and a goal that is much bigger than it comes across on the page. That's it.
We're told that, historically, a group of trolls managed to level the Empire State Building without ever being able to conceive of how that was possible. The final confrontation is on a scale so large that we're told not to worry about it, and we don't; Klecha and Buckell, given their setting, reduce the resolution to a near literal "a wizard did it", and ask us to be happy.
At the end, it feels like not much has happened; we're supposed to believe that this is because is a micro story about one single group of soldiers in a larger story, but if we were ever supposed to get a taste of the world or war they're fighting in, the flavour is elusive. Description and characterisation are perfunctory, and the prose is liberally peppered with references that boil down to readers recognising names. That so many of the fantasy denizens are less than cardboard cut outs is supposed to be a knowing wink at the audience, but it feels more like a cop out.
Part of The Runes of Engagement comes down to your fondness for the Military Industrial Complex and your feelings about the legitimacy of, at a random example, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe you served, and this captures the sense of camaraderie you had with your fellow Marines. Maybe you can overlay your own experiences in, say, a TTRPG group, onto the squad.
If you can't relate, there's not much to recommend here. The Runes of Engagement is warmed over pablum that reinforces the oorah patriotism of US interventionism lost on most outside that mindset. It comes across as more contemptuous than affectionate, but your mileage may vary: politics aside, The Runes of Engagement's greatest sin is its consistent dullness.
We're told that, historically, a group of trolls managed to level the Empire State Building without ever being able to conceive of how that was possible. The final confrontation is on a scale so large that we're told not to worry about it, and we don't; Klecha and Buckell, given their setting, reduce the resolution to a near literal "a wizard did it", and ask us to be happy.
At the end, it feels like not much has happened; we're supposed to believe that this is because is a micro story about one single group of soldiers in a larger story, but if we were ever supposed to get a taste of the world or war they're fighting in, the flavour is elusive. Description and characterisation are perfunctory, and the prose is liberally peppered with references that boil down to readers recognising names. That so many of the fantasy denizens are less than cardboard cut outs is supposed to be a knowing wink at the audience, but it feels more like a cop out.
Part of The Runes of Engagement comes down to your fondness for the Military Industrial Complex and your feelings about the legitimacy of, at a random example, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe you served, and this captures the sense of camaraderie you had with your fellow Marines. Maybe you can overlay your own experiences in, say, a TTRPG group, onto the squad.
If you can't relate, there's not much to recommend here. The Runes of Engagement is warmed over pablum that reinforces the oorah patriotism of US interventionism lost on most outside that mindset. It comes across as more contemptuous than affectionate, but your mileage may vary: politics aside, The Runes of Engagement's greatest sin is its consistent dullness.
March 18, 2024
This book was provided by NetGalley.
The Runes of Engagement is a short novel based upon a story previously published in Operation Arcana anthology, edited by John Joseph Adams. Back then, I gave a 5* rating to the story, but now I'm giving one less * to the novel - and the reason for this is twofold, but it mainly comes down to the issue of length.
The premise of the novel is that arcane portals appeared all over our world - but in major cities - and fantasy creatures came through, wrecking havoc, which led to our world's military forces creating forward operating bases on the other side, and we follow a squad of marines on a mission in a fantasy Afganistan, essentially. The novel is full of references to the rich legacy of fantasy fiction, from Tolkien to Pratchett and everything in between, including D&D, so it's a treat for every true geek, but at the same time this makes it a bit hard to take it seriously. One can not decide whether to read it as a true military fantasy, or as a humorous light novel. If it was longer, than perhaps there would be more space for a better definition of the novel's tone.
Second issue is characterization. We have a large cast of characters for such a small novel - there 13 marines, for starters, so they are mostly presented in broad strokes and most of them sort of blend into one another. In fact, this gets wearisome after some time.
Nevertheless, The Runes of Engagement is a fun and entertaining read, and the world building albeit sort of intentionally generic leaves the reader interested and looking for more.
I for one would love a book or two of this length, set in this same world, every year.
The Runes of Engagement is a short novel based upon a story previously published in Operation Arcana anthology, edited by John Joseph Adams. Back then, I gave a 5* rating to the story, but now I'm giving one less * to the novel - and the reason for this is twofold, but it mainly comes down to the issue of length.
The premise of the novel is that arcane portals appeared all over our world - but in major cities - and fantasy creatures came through, wrecking havoc, which led to our world's military forces creating forward operating bases on the other side, and we follow a squad of marines on a mission in a fantasy Afganistan, essentially. The novel is full of references to the rich legacy of fantasy fiction, from Tolkien to Pratchett and everything in between, including D&D, so it's a treat for every true geek, but at the same time this makes it a bit hard to take it seriously. One can not decide whether to read it as a true military fantasy, or as a humorous light novel. If it was longer, than perhaps there would be more space for a better definition of the novel's tone.
Second issue is characterization. We have a large cast of characters for such a small novel - there 13 marines, for starters, so they are mostly presented in broad strokes and most of them sort of blend into one another. In fact, this gets wearisome after some time.
Nevertheless, The Runes of Engagement is a fun and entertaining read, and the world building albeit sort of intentionally generic leaves the reader interested and looking for more.
I for one would love a book or two of this length, set in this same world, every year.
May 1, 2024
Book received free for review from Tachyon Publications.
Part of the official description:
No one could have been prepared for the day when orcs, trolls, and dragons fell from portals in the sky. But now a very tough but not-quite-prepared platoon of Marines is trapped on the wrong side. The enchanting world looks like Middle Earth, but to the dismay of even the geekiest soldiers, is nothing like it.
So I went into this knowing Marines would be the main characters, but I expected this to be more "soldiers stuck in a fantasy world" and not MilFic (military fiction). There was so much military slang, jargon, and abbreviations. "LCpl" (some rank I guess, it came before someone's name), "battalion S-3" (is S-3 a name we're supposed to know?), "casevac" (google tells me is casualty evacuation), "FOB" (forward operating base, thanks again google). All this was in the first chapter of the book.
The story was fast paced, a quick read. I liked the world it was set in and a lot of the details were really cool.
All the lines were double spaced (maybe an issue because this was an advanced reader copy?) and there were some grammar/editing issues (maybe also because it was an ARC?). I bet those things will be addressed in the final published edition.
Unfortunately it just felt like I wasn't the target audience of this book. If you're into both MilFic and sci-fi, you'd probably enjoy it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3 stars/okay. I was just the wrong reader for this book. Someone into military fiction would likely give it five stars, it was a really cool idea.
Part of the official description:
No one could have been prepared for the day when orcs, trolls, and dragons fell from portals in the sky. But now a very tough but not-quite-prepared platoon of Marines is trapped on the wrong side. The enchanting world looks like Middle Earth, but to the dismay of even the geekiest soldiers, is nothing like it.
So I went into this knowing Marines would be the main characters, but I expected this to be more "soldiers stuck in a fantasy world" and not MilFic (military fiction). There was so much military slang, jargon, and abbreviations. "LCpl" (some rank I guess, it came before someone's name), "battalion S-3" (is S-3 a name we're supposed to know?), "casevac" (google tells me is casualty evacuation), "FOB" (forward operating base, thanks again google). All this was in the first chapter of the book.
The story was fast paced, a quick read. I liked the world it was set in and a lot of the details were really cool.
All the lines were double spaced (maybe an issue because this was an advanced reader copy?) and there were some grammar/editing issues (maybe also because it was an ARC?). I bet those things will be addressed in the final published edition.
Unfortunately it just felt like I wasn't the target audience of this book. If you're into both MilFic and sci-fi, you'd probably enjoy it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3 stars/okay. I was just the wrong reader for this book. Someone into military fiction would likely give it five stars, it was a really cool idea.
March 1, 2025
I had added this title to my wishlist some time ago based primarily on having enjoyed several of Buckell's previous books, as well as from the somewhat interesting concept of military s/f meets D&D. I had hoped it wouldn't prove to be a farce, some comedy-driven yarn filled with slapstick, ridiculous situations, and bad puns - and in that, I was relieved. There's a bit of humor, but it's more structural in the tale and leans into but doesn't quite break the fourth wall or become self-indulgent. (The best non-spoiler example I can think of is the ongoing conversation between a few characters about how the landscape around them makes no geological sense - a nod to game worlds that are designed by artists for aesthetic value instead of verisimilitude.)
The tale is mostly predictable, and the characters and settings are all relatively shallow - the authors spend little time describing, and rely a little too much on common set-pieces and character archetypes - but it's mostly fun and enjoyable for all that. The afterword describes how the authors really wrote it as much to have fun with it as anything else, and while their fun is apparent, they haven't managed to craft much lasting here. It's like a lazy Saturday afternoon spent at a matinee showing of a well-made B-movie - better than workman-like and enjoyable enough, but not going to win awards or make an impact to the cultural zeitgeist. The sequel set-up is obvious, but I'm not sure there's a lot of energy left for another round.
The tale is mostly predictable, and the characters and settings are all relatively shallow - the authors spend little time describing, and rely a little too much on common set-pieces and character archetypes - but it's mostly fun and enjoyable for all that. The afterword describes how the authors really wrote it as much to have fun with it as anything else, and while their fun is apparent, they haven't managed to craft much lasting here. It's like a lazy Saturday afternoon spent at a matinee showing of a well-made B-movie - better than workman-like and enjoyable enough, but not going to win awards or make an impact to the cultural zeitgeist. The sequel set-up is obvious, but I'm not sure there's a lot of energy left for another round.
August 13, 2024
"What are they? Dragons?"
"Even better. Warthogs!"
It's very seldom that a book makes me laugh out loud, but that exchange really did it for me. A lot of the book was like that. The climax at the ending was very well done, with the big reveal of the worm and how the captured marines were able to .
Alas, although the authors clearly speak the lingo—both lingoes, actually—I didn't fall in love with this book like I'd hoped. The writing has all the right sensibilities, and it's a funny take on fantasy fiction as we know and love it, but it still didn't quite click for me. At times, I got the impression of a DM winging it through an adventure they hadn't really thought out ahead of time. That would have been funny if it had been deliberate, but saw no indication it was.
Anyhow, I don't find myself looking forward to a sequel. It was also a bit heavy on the milspeak, although a lot of it (like the aforementioned warthogs) was explained clearly enough after being mentioned
Some of the denouement struck me as a bit off. Why does the squad leader feel the burning need to Sure, "no one left behind", but when they're safe, sound, and on their way, why take the risk?
May 4, 2025
Dragons, elves, orcs, and dwarves…and a squad of marines on a mission….
The Runes of Engagement by Dave Klecha and Tobias Buckell mixes fantasy realm with modern military hardware…
The fantasy critters came through first…Portland in Central Park, London, Seattle, and other places…
Humanity fought back and how they have units they are sending back through at forward operating bases to gather intel, eliminate targets, and make allies…
The backstory for why marines are in this fantasy realm is fairly bare…as it wasted no time getting straight into the action and hinting at how military forces have adapted a handful of spells into their military training…
Military aircraft soars with dragons as soldiers debate where bullets or arrows are more stealthy…and what the difference between light and dark elves…
Clearly a love letter by a pair of authors who are equal parts military nuts and fantasy lovers…
It focuses entirely on a marine unit with their own background and motives (and needy knowledge) as they complete a mission in hostile territory.
I’d definitely like to learn more about the logistics of the world, but I’m also fine that they decided to dive deep into the action without a ton of backstory to slow it down…
The Runes of Engagement by Dave Klecha and Tobias Buckell mixes fantasy realm with modern military hardware…
The fantasy critters came through first…Portland in Central Park, London, Seattle, and other places…
Humanity fought back and how they have units they are sending back through at forward operating bases to gather intel, eliminate targets, and make allies…
The backstory for why marines are in this fantasy realm is fairly bare…as it wasted no time getting straight into the action and hinting at how military forces have adapted a handful of spells into their military training…
Military aircraft soars with dragons as soldiers debate where bullets or arrows are more stealthy…and what the difference between light and dark elves…
Clearly a love letter by a pair of authors who are equal parts military nuts and fantasy lovers…
It focuses entirely on a marine unit with their own background and motives (and needy knowledge) as they complete a mission in hostile territory.
I’d definitely like to learn more about the logistics of the world, but I’m also fine that they decided to dive deep into the action without a ton of backstory to slow it down…
February 2, 2025
Not really a 4, but in terms of what it was trying to do it's a solid 4.
"Hey, Dave, wanna write something together just for fun?"
"Sure, Toby. What do you bring?"
"Expert D&D. You?"
"I was a Marine."
Pause. Both start to smile, then grin, then laugh out loud. And here we are.
I guess it's because of Marine/forces training, but it feels as if all the books I've ever read about US forces was written by the same author. The main character is always a Gunny (OK, our guy doesn't start there but he acts as one anyway), and the dialog's always the same. Not complaining, just noting.
The use of unrealworld characters that ALL come from role-playing games is fun. And the authors follow the rules of fantasy: introduce anything you want, but once it's on stage everything it does has to be logical within your framework. Experienced writers, never getting in the way.
It's too bad we never find out
Good fun, and if you've just ground through a 600-page Volume 3 this is an ideal palate cleanser.
"Hey, Dave, wanna write something together just for fun?"
"Sure, Toby. What do you bring?"
"Expert D&D. You?"
"I was a Marine."
Pause. Both start to smile, then grin, then laugh out loud. And here we are.
I guess it's because of Marine/forces training, but it feels as if all the books I've ever read about US forces was written by the same author. The main character is always a Gunny (OK, our guy doesn't start there but he acts as one anyway), and the dialog's always the same. Not complaining, just noting.
The use of unrealworld characters that ALL come from role-playing games is fun. And the authors follow the rules of fantasy: introduce anything you want, but once it's on stage everything it does has to be logical within your framework. Experienced writers, never getting in the way.
It's too bad we never find out
Good fun, and if you've just ground through a 600-page Volume 3 this is an ideal palate cleanser.
February 24, 2024
I went into this book knowing only that I’d enjoyed a Tobias Buckell book before.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from it. Now, it’s well on its way to being in my top 5 reads of the year.
Runes of Enchantment focuses on a military unit that is assigned duty on the other side of a magical rift. On the other side of the rift is a world where every fantasy creature from every book you’ve ever read exists.
What at first seems like just escort duty to our band of heroes eventually turns into a full-on quest!
I definitely want to know more about this world and all its inhabitants. I want to know more about the incursions to our world that have happened and were alluded to in this book.
The authors have crafted a world that they could play in for years and I would happily read each book.
So, grab your D & D Monster Manual and start adventuring!!
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from it. Now, it’s well on its way to being in my top 5 reads of the year.
Runes of Enchantment focuses on a military unit that is assigned duty on the other side of a magical rift. On the other side of the rift is a world where every fantasy creature from every book you’ve ever read exists.
What at first seems like just escort duty to our band of heroes eventually turns into a full-on quest!
I definitely want to know more about this world and all its inhabitants. I want to know more about the incursions to our world that have happened and were alluded to in this book.
The authors have crafted a world that they could play in for years and I would happily read each book.
So, grab your D & D Monster Manual and start adventuring!!
July 9, 2024
I've been a fan of Tobias Buckell for a while, and when I heard he'd co-written a book with Dave Klecha, I decided to order it. I finally got around to reading it. It's a quick and enjoyable read.
The premise is entertaining and unique. In our near future - near enough that serving sergeants were corporals in Afghanistan and Iraq - portals open, belching mythical creatures into our world. After some initial battles, our militaries go into Fantasyland, first to set up a perimeter in front of the portals and then to figure out why the invasion is happening. A squad of US Marines - 13 people - is in Fantasyland on a routine mission, then things go wrong.
This is no super-squad of super-soldiers, rather a regular squad, with regular problems, which I found refreshing. The characters were well-developed, and it was an enjoyable romp.
The premise is entertaining and unique. In our near future - near enough that serving sergeants were corporals in Afghanistan and Iraq - portals open, belching mythical creatures into our world. After some initial battles, our militaries go into Fantasyland, first to set up a perimeter in front of the portals and then to figure out why the invasion is happening. A squad of US Marines - 13 people - is in Fantasyland on a routine mission, then things go wrong.
This is no super-squad of super-soldiers, rather a regular squad, with regular problems, which I found refreshing. The characters were well-developed, and it was an enjoyable romp.
June 30, 2024
Tobias Buckell, and Dave Klecha have fun imagining US marines in a Lord of the Rings world. Portals opened into Earth and Earth is fighting back with modern military. Staff Sergeant Raymond Cale and his squad have been tasked with escorting a very important princess to their base, when everything goes wrong. First there are the trolls that are strong enough to take down a sky-scraper, then the injured Princess in a helicopter is flamed down with dragons. Then their base is destroyed and the enemy has control of the local portal to Earth. Of course it’s now up to the small squad of marines to use The Runes of Engagement (paper from Tachyon Publications) to get the princess to a magical tree to save the day. Lots of fun. I’d love more adventures.
September 16, 2024
3.5 rounded down.
Look, if I see Buckell's name on something, I'm going to jump on it. That was literally the whole thought behind purchasing this book. For the most part, I enjoyed it, but at the halfway point, I told myself there was no way this wasn't going to be a series - after all, they were taking on a side quest and pausing the middle of the main quest, so to speak. Unfortunately, even though there's PLENTY of material to do so with, the authors made the choice to instead speed through completion of the side quest, insta complete the main quest, and left it hanging for getting back the other peeps. It honestly felt like a huge cop out. I was so excited by the first half of the book - very d&d - and then from the middle on, that happened. It was a real bummer.
Look, if I see Buckell's name on something, I'm going to jump on it. That was literally the whole thought behind purchasing this book. For the most part, I enjoyed it, but at the halfway point, I told myself there was no way this wasn't going to be a series - after all, they were taking on a side quest and pausing the middle of the main quest, so to speak. Unfortunately, even though there's PLENTY of material to do so with, the authors made the choice to instead speed through completion of the side quest, insta complete the main quest, and left it hanging for getting back the other peeps. It honestly felt like a huge cop out. I was so excited by the first half of the book - very d&d - and then from the middle on, that happened. It was a real bummer.
March 26, 2024
I had so much fun reading this book where portals to a fantasy/LOTR-like world have opened up from our world and now, soldiers and marines from all over the world are fighting orcs, trolls, elves, and more to protect Earth. We follow one group of marines as they tangle with a D&D campaign turned real and Buckell and Klecha tell their story with so much humour and gusto and so much nerd JOY. It has that Aliens vibe, but with a LOTR twist. The whole idea "what happens if marines/soldiers end up fighting fantasy monsters" is handled so well here. I had a blast reading this book, and would not mind reading a sequel.
May 19, 2024
Received as an ARC from Netgalley:
The Runes of Engagement manages to straddle a really fine line. It satirizes the fantasy genre whilst also telling a very compelling fantasy tale. The pop culture references are heavy but they were melded in very naturally so it felt more like it was in character, and less like it was a reference for reference sake.
Military-Fantasy was really an interesting idea and I love the juxtaposition of modern soldiers within the fantasy universe.
Tense action, good characters, and strong writing make this one a definite recommend.
The Runes of Engagement manages to straddle a really fine line. It satirizes the fantasy genre whilst also telling a very compelling fantasy tale. The pop culture references are heavy but they were melded in very naturally so it felt more like it was in character, and less like it was a reference for reference sake.
Military-Fantasy was really an interesting idea and I love the juxtaposition of modern soldiers within the fantasy universe.
Tense action, good characters, and strong writing make this one a definite recommend.
September 11, 2024
3.5 Stars
What happens when portals open up all over the world (one even in Central Park) and out pours the traditional creatures from our traditional fantasy beliefs, trolls, orcs and fairies to name a few. What you get is soldiers discussing what Tolkien got right and what he got wrong.
A US Military company finds it self on the wrong side of the portal, well behind enemy lines, as they try to go on a mission of EPIC proportions, trying to take a princess to a sacred tree while facing the military might of an evil overlord. As the tagline says - All Initiative, No Dice.
What happens when portals open up all over the world (one even in Central Park) and out pours the traditional creatures from our traditional fantasy beliefs, trolls, orcs and fairies to name a few. What you get is soldiers discussing what Tolkien got right and what he got wrong.
A US Military company finds it self on the wrong side of the portal, well behind enemy lines, as they try to go on a mission of EPIC proportions, trying to take a princess to a sacred tree while facing the military might of an evil overlord. As the tagline says - All Initiative, No Dice.
November 14, 2024
I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately I found it boring. I think the characters lacked depth and the whole story was nothing but combat. There being hardly any lull time made the action not that crazy. I made it to page 150 when I decided to DNF. I think if the characters were flushed out more and there were more chill scenes with them hanging out this could've been a really great story.
November 14, 2024
DNF’d pretty early on. The writing style is very sparse on details, making battles difficult to follow. I assume there’s a logical tactical decision why marines kept speaking out loud to each other despite having Tactician’s Weave (do they talk to keep TW free from clutter?) but it kept distracting me. Would be great for someone whose interests strongly align with what the author wants to do, which sadly isn’t me.
March 14, 2024
A fun read. What is not to love. A opening between two different worlds’ creatures from fairy tales the scary kindnnA fairy princess and a Marine platoon to guard her. A set up for danger and a different look at characters from stores and games. Great world building. Would love more but may be stand alone’.
July 6, 2024
What would happen if you send Marines through a portal to a Tolkien-like middle earth?
Coming in at roughly 280 pages this is an easy, fun read. Good characters & an interesting mix of modern military & classic fantasy. Tons of fantasy references. It's a band of Marines on a quest that includes elves (trolls, dwarfs, dragons -- the usual suspects).
Coming in at roughly 280 pages this is an easy, fun read. Good characters & an interesting mix of modern military & classic fantasy. Tons of fantasy references. It's a band of Marines on a quest that includes elves (trolls, dwarfs, dragons -- the usual suspects).
July 8, 2024
This was a really cool book. I could write a sophisticated review calling it a deconstructivist revision of the military and the fantasy novel, and I wouldn't be wrong, but honestly, here's the thing: it's just really cool to read about a squad of Marines facing off against dragons, elves, trolls and impossible odds. I had no idea how cool it was, but now I do.
September 3, 2024
Tobias Buckell has written some very imaginative SF, but often I have to admit I pick up his books hoping to indulge in the guilty pleasure of a bunch of tightly written action scenes. And this novel, about a squad of marines that is working on the other side of a portal to what is basically Middle Earth, is all action scenes. Reading it is an excellent way to spend a few hours.
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