What do you think?
Rate this book
Green Zone War #3
Prison Planet
An Impossible Choice
Camp One has one brutal If you attempt to escape, you die – and three random prisoners die with you.
Tom Thrush has resigned himself to dying by degrees, doing forced labor while he slowly starves. When he learns that a distant mesa holds a slim chance at freedom he does nothing. The price of escape is too high.
Then fever sweeps through the camp. Surrounded by armed guards and an unforgiving jungle, paralyzed by the threat of reprisals, Tom watches as the men he’s sworn to protect die one by one. If anyone is to survive, Tom will have to do the unthinkable.
Escape.
Camp One has one brutal If you attempt to escape, you die – and three random prisoners die with you.
Tom Thrush has resigned himself to dying by degrees, doing forced labor while he slowly starves. When he learns that a distant mesa holds a slim chance at freedom he does nothing. The price of escape is too high.
Then fever sweeps through the camp. Surrounded by armed guards and an unforgiving jungle, paralyzed by the threat of reprisals, Tom watches as the men he’s sworn to protect die one by one. If anyone is to survive, Tom will have to do the unthinkable.
Escape.
313 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 25, 2018
121 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 23, 2022
The 3rd book in the series sees Tom and the crew of the Kestrel captured by the Dawn Alliance and taken to a prison planet. This is not like the other books, in that there is very little in the way of space action as far as Tom goes, this is all about his time on the prison world. We do get to see some of the United Worlds crew, Alice and Bridger, as they are actually released as there is a tentative alliance between the United Worlds and the DA.
As a result, this book ends up with two story streams, one with Alice, and her two tag alongs Bridger and Ham, and the other, the brutal story of Tom and the male crew (we don’t get to find out what happens with the females of the crew), on the prison world.
In the Alice stream (and I don’t want to give away any spoilers), she finds herself free, but feels obligated to try and help Tom and those that stood with her and the other Free Planets people at Black Betty against the Dawn Alliance. Even though Tom captured her and her crew originally, she feels that Tom was fair, and when it came to it, he did the right thing by all of the Free Planets, and now, she owes not just him, but the crew of the Kestrel. Ham and Bridger are with her, and so, the 3 of them start on a daring mission to try and work out how to rescue Tom and his crew, or at least find a way to get them rescued.
The other storyline is one of multiple storylines, terror, fear, abuse and torture, but also hope, comradeship, and courage. Most of all, for Tom and his crew, it is acts of bravery, as he and his crew survive the prison planet of Gamor.
They arrive and are processed, and immediately come across a ruthless little dictator of a Camp Prefect, Amar, the Prison Leader. He tells them that they have no rights, and when one of the men tries to point out that there are rules of engagement, Amar has him beaten to near death, and then has the two men that were standing next to him beaten as well – simple rules, you misbehave, you get punished, and those near you get punished to, you try and escape, you die, and 3 other will die to, you attack a guard, 6 other die. Of course, it doesn’t take long for some idiots to try and escape, and the resultant punishment.
The prison aspect of the story is exceptionally well written, the sheer brutality of it, the desperation of the prisoners. They are being forced to work for the Dawn Alliance as a work gang, and initially, they try and resist, work slower, try and sabotage things, but as each of their actions is met with greater penalties, and as their will, their energy, and motivation is sapped from them, by exhaustion, starvation, disease, illness, injury, and despair, they find themselves slowly just caving and starting to do the work. Although, as they work, they also scavenge for food as the jungle where they work is rich in food sources.
I don’t want to give anything away, so I won’t go into it too much, but the story is so well written, the brutal, harsh and unrelenting violence from the guards, the atrocious living conditions, the fear and the loathing that comes from the men, as they slowly start to acquiesce to the Dawn Alliance Overseers, just to stay alive, but at the same time, hating themselves for it. The underlying tension when disease is rampant, knowing that the men are going to die, that only a few hundred metres away, there is medicine, but that would mean killing the guards (the guards have medicine for them in case they get sick, but won’t share it with prisoners of course), and that would result in more deaths.
The story is both powerful and gritty, Tom’s character is just outstanding, as the former Captain, trying to survive, and more importantly, keep his mean alive in this horror show. This is where he truly shows what an exceptional leader he is, with his courage, bravery and loyalty to his men. The interactions with the DA guards is intense and mesmerising, captivating reading. The other character that is remarkable in this book is O’Reilly. He seems to have a bit happen to him in this story (you can find out what), but his tale is ‘brutal’ in every sense of the word, but he is a pivotal character in this story and his character is fascinating as always.
This is one of the best books in the series for character work as well as captivating storytelling. It runs so fast, you can’t put it down (I listened to it, as was done in a single session, I just couldn’t stop listening it was so good!!). The character work is exceptional, the world building is brilliant as always for an Elwood story, but best of all, this is just an epic struggle from multiple aspects, Tom and his crew, Alice and Co. as well the other prisoners Tom meets.
In an interesting twist, we also get to see some aspects of the story through one of the higher ranking guards as well. Again, no spoilers, but seeing his version of events, given all that has happened, was rather interesting and added a fascinating insight to the story.
Given the nature of this series, this was a really surprising turn of events, and made for a fantastic read as it was something different in the normal chain of events that you get in this type of series. It was also exceptionally well written, very clever, and with great character work, which made it just all the better. Definitely worth the read, and just makes this series all the better!!
As a result, this book ends up with two story streams, one with Alice, and her two tag alongs Bridger and Ham, and the other, the brutal story of Tom and the male crew (we don’t get to find out what happens with the females of the crew), on the prison world.
In the Alice stream (and I don’t want to give away any spoilers), she finds herself free, but feels obligated to try and help Tom and those that stood with her and the other Free Planets people at Black Betty against the Dawn Alliance. Even though Tom captured her and her crew originally, she feels that Tom was fair, and when it came to it, he did the right thing by all of the Free Planets, and now, she owes not just him, but the crew of the Kestrel. Ham and Bridger are with her, and so, the 3 of them start on a daring mission to try and work out how to rescue Tom and his crew, or at least find a way to get them rescued.
The other storyline is one of multiple storylines, terror, fear, abuse and torture, but also hope, comradeship, and courage. Most of all, for Tom and his crew, it is acts of bravery, as he and his crew survive the prison planet of Gamor.
They arrive and are processed, and immediately come across a ruthless little dictator of a Camp Prefect, Amar, the Prison Leader. He tells them that they have no rights, and when one of the men tries to point out that there are rules of engagement, Amar has him beaten to near death, and then has the two men that were standing next to him beaten as well – simple rules, you misbehave, you get punished, and those near you get punished to, you try and escape, you die, and 3 other will die to, you attack a guard, 6 other die. Of course, it doesn’t take long for some idiots to try and escape, and the resultant punishment.
The prison aspect of the story is exceptionally well written, the sheer brutality of it, the desperation of the prisoners. They are being forced to work for the Dawn Alliance as a work gang, and initially, they try and resist, work slower, try and sabotage things, but as each of their actions is met with greater penalties, and as their will, their energy, and motivation is sapped from them, by exhaustion, starvation, disease, illness, injury, and despair, they find themselves slowly just caving and starting to do the work. Although, as they work, they also scavenge for food as the jungle where they work is rich in food sources.
I don’t want to give anything away, so I won’t go into it too much, but the story is so well written, the brutal, harsh and unrelenting violence from the guards, the atrocious living conditions, the fear and the loathing that comes from the men, as they slowly start to acquiesce to the Dawn Alliance Overseers, just to stay alive, but at the same time, hating themselves for it. The underlying tension when disease is rampant, knowing that the men are going to die, that only a few hundred metres away, there is medicine, but that would mean killing the guards (the guards have medicine for them in case they get sick, but won’t share it with prisoners of course), and that would result in more deaths.
The story is both powerful and gritty, Tom’s character is just outstanding, as the former Captain, trying to survive, and more importantly, keep his mean alive in this horror show. This is where he truly shows what an exceptional leader he is, with his courage, bravery and loyalty to his men. The interactions with the DA guards is intense and mesmerising, captivating reading. The other character that is remarkable in this book is O’Reilly. He seems to have a bit happen to him in this story (you can find out what), but his tale is ‘brutal’ in every sense of the word, but he is a pivotal character in this story and his character is fascinating as always.
This is one of the best books in the series for character work as well as captivating storytelling. It runs so fast, you can’t put it down (I listened to it, as was done in a single session, I just couldn’t stop listening it was so good!!). The character work is exceptional, the world building is brilliant as always for an Elwood story, but best of all, this is just an epic struggle from multiple aspects, Tom and his crew, Alice and Co. as well the other prisoners Tom meets.
In an interesting twist, we also get to see some aspects of the story through one of the higher ranking guards as well. Again, no spoilers, but seeing his version of events, given all that has happened, was rather interesting and added a fascinating insight to the story.
Given the nature of this series, this was a really surprising turn of events, and made for a fantastic read as it was something different in the normal chain of events that you get in this type of series. It was also exceptionally well written, very clever, and with great character work, which made it just all the better. Definitely worth the read, and just makes this series all the better!!
May 6, 2018
Love the series
Great book read it and the previous one in one sitting not many books i can say that about roll on the next one.
Great book read it and the previous one in one sitting not many books i can say that about roll on the next one.
February 24, 2022
The Great Escape it ain’t. Nor is it The Bridge on the River Kwai either. It certainly aspires to be both, and manages to reach to the level of neither.
Odd couple to try and join anyway. Points for that bit of originality. Shame that’s all the extent of originality in this book.
All the the most overused plot devices from both of the two separate genre’s tropes have been crammed in here resulting in a book that has simple nothing in it that wasn’t utterly and totally predictable.
I don’t know why I bother. For whatever weird reason I keep expecting against all reason that ‘the next volume in the series might be good’ or similar thinking within the book from one chapter after another.
Oh well, I let myself be hoodwinked.
Odd couple to try and join anyway. Points for that bit of originality. Shame that’s all the extent of originality in this book.
All the the most overused plot devices from both of the two separate genre’s tropes have been crammed in here resulting in a book that has simple nothing in it that wasn’t utterly and totally predictable.
I don’t know why I bother. For whatever weird reason I keep expecting against all reason that ‘the next volume in the series might be good’ or similar thinking within the book from one chapter after another.
Oh well, I let myself be hoodwinked.
May 10, 2018
Good writing, good story
A story filled with female characters who act decisively after making hard decisions. Good stuff. The main character is worth following and the series seems headed into exciting territory.
There are some editing glitches. The most obvious are mislabeled ships and troops as being Dark Alliance or United Worlds. The characters are as fully fleshed as they need to be. The main characters are so very real.
Looking forward to the next book.
A story filled with female characters who act decisively after making hard decisions. Good stuff. The main character is worth following and the series seems headed into exciting territory.
There are some editing glitches. The most obvious are mislabeled ships and troops as being Dark Alliance or United Worlds. The characters are as fully fleshed as they need to be. The main characters are so very real.
Looking forward to the next book.
November 11, 2025
3.5 Stars. Mostly great but with a rushed unhappy ending.
We all remember the Honor Harrington novel set on a prison planet right? Well this one had realistic constraints, seemingly based on WWII Japanese camps. It's hard to stand up for your rights or even lead a revolt when innocent prisoners will be executed as punishment. This problem was handled well here and I learned an important lesson. It's the prisoner equivalent of never get into a kidnapper's car... things will only get worse.
We all remember the Honor Harrington novel set on a prison planet right? Well this one had realistic constraints, seemingly based on WWII Japanese camps. It's hard to stand up for your rights or even lead a revolt when innocent prisoners will be executed as punishment. This problem was handled well here and I learned an important lesson. It's the prisoner equivalent of never get into a kidnapper's car... things will only get worse.
December 15, 2018
A good read with sudden stops
This novel , and others in the series, reads just fine with a good balance of action and introspection until you come a sudden stop when a sentence just does not make sense. Alice became Janice then became Alice once again. Or when an entire paragraph is repeated two pages later. And a host of small typos.
Aside from that, a good light read.
This novel , and others in the series, reads just fine with a good balance of action and introspection until you come a sudden stop when a sentence just does not make sense. Alice became Janice then became Alice once again. Or when an entire paragraph is repeated two pages later. And a host of small typos.
Aside from that, a good light read.
April 13, 2022
An unexpected departure from mil-sci-fi to world war 2 prison camp (with a bit of laser wielding guards thrown in) gives the series a fresh start.
It drags a little, but the characters continue a life off the page, and it sets up the rest of the series well.
It drags a little, but the characters continue a life off the page, and it sets up the rest of the series well.
May 21, 2018
Good story
Really enjoyed this series and hopeful I get to read more in the future!!! Where is the rogue navy books!????
Really enjoyed this series and hopeful I get to read more in the future!!! Where is the rogue navy books!????
July 17, 2018
Excellent
Good storyline with believable characters, the story is building in to an exciting maverick captain and his adventures and misadventure in space battles
Good storyline with believable characters, the story is building in to an exciting maverick captain and his adventures and misadventure in space battles
February 8, 2020
Here's a link to my review for the series as a whole.
August 14, 2021
不听了，主角还是非常扁。
November 30, 2022
(3.5 Stars)
This was very entertaining. The character development is getting better. The story was interesting and the narration was on point.
This was very entertaining. The character development is getting better. The story was interesting and the narration was on point.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews