Humankind is under the gravest threat in its history.
The enemy Naxli keep advancing, taking humans prisoner and destroying human worlds. But this isn’t the Naxli’s first rodeo, and humanity is not alone.
Other races have suffered at the hands of the enemy, and they’ve proposed that humanity join them and present a united front to defeat the Naxli once and for all.
The Congress of Humanity deploys the First Human Expeditionary Brigade to join with the alien military to take the fight to the Naxli. But with seventeen known “allies,” all with different goals and perspectives, how can they form a unified, integrated fighting force? It’s been hard enough for humans to cooperate throughout history, and now the problem has just logarithmically increased.
Still, a mission is a mission, and Gunnery Sergeant Reverent Pelletier, Perseus Union Marine Corps, is going to do what he can to create an effective fighting unit, even if he has to beat in some alien heads to get it done.
Continuing a fantastic series with Gunnery Sergeant Reverent Pelletier, Perseus Union Marine Corps, as the main character. I always enjoy these books because they are so well written. They really get down into the squad and small unit level telling how the fighting is going on and how decisions above effect these grunts on the ground. Even with Gunnery Sergeant Pelletier, things can and do go wrong every day. He's placed in some very interesting situations that I don't think the "brass" have a clue about, but if they do, they're just ignoring them. That's something Pelletier can't do because it gets his troops killed.
Now part of the First Human Expeditionary Brigade, GySgt Pelletier, will lead his platoon along with his Lieutenant to fight jointly with the Kanters. This is an alien race looked like rats or at least very similar to the humans. These aliens were very strange to say the least and there were a lot of them. They didn't seem very well equipped or very organized. It was a good thing that Revs company would be fighting as they were formed and not having to take on a bunch of Kanters. Still, the Kanters were in-charge of the battalion that Rev's company was now assigned.
The Kanters as well as the Uauii (a.k.a. "clickers) were two of the several alien races the humans were now allied with to fight against the Naxli. While the humans have fought the Naxli on their own and had done well, allies were not something to ignore because the number of Naxli seemed to be unlimited. That they were attacking other aliens planets had come as a surprise and even more so, the fact that several alien militaries had also been heavily engaged with the Naxli, was welcomed news. Earth and humans wouldn't have to fight this war alone.
But, combining forces was turning into a monumental task. These alien militaries didn't think like humans and some even considered the humans inferior. So now the immediate task was to fight with the Kanters and see if they could be an effective fighting force. Turns out, they weren't there and in GySgt Pelletier's opinion wouldn't ever make a good fighting force. The Kanters were like lemmings. They threw themselves at the enemy in vast numbers without coordinating with the troops around them. Still, Rev and the humans managed to get their mission done and then they were assigned to work with another group of aliens.
This new group were called the Breel. They had long refused to fight along side the humans since they didn't consider them combat ready. These aliens looked like trees to Rev and the other humans. They stood upright with limbs acting as arms and they were tough. While they didn't move very fast they were tough and could take a lot of punishment. They also weren't forthcoming with information even when an operation was going on. Coordinating among companies was complicated by the lack of effective language translators, so the Breel just didn't tell the humans what was going on most of the time. This resulted in one instance of friendly fire and the deaths of troopers on both sides.
So, this book is about fighting with various alien militaries and provides some realistic glimpses of what that would be like if you can't coordinate actions like they need to be done. Rev gets very frustrated in a lot of cases, but his words are not always listened to. The Marine mind-set is that the mission comes first and complaints or suggestions for improvement come after the mission is accomplished. Then to make matters worse, they find out the Naxli also have allies! Now this war has just gotten much, much bigger.
It just so happens as I write this review, book 11, "Marines Never Die", has just been released. I"m putting it on my reading list and may move it up a bunch.
Now that humans know that other races are also fighting The Naxli, the military is rejigged to combine forces. However, the other species regard humans with suspicion due to their previous infighting so they will have to prove themselves worthy of joining the fight. This leads to some friction, and initially a lack of cohesion and order results in chaos. Overtime, the different species learn how to communicate and fight alongside each other as they attack strategic outposts held by the Naxli. During this we learn that the underwater Naxli were mimicking a race that they had previously wiped out! There is also an inferior (military wise at least) race also translated as Naxli that are working with the Naxli as the humans know them. In the ongoing battle the powers that be have decided to recruit IBHU from the general populace and hope that they can be trained to fight, which of course in many cases is an unmitigated disaster.... At least two subterranean missions are performed with unexpected findings.....
This book tells the tale of how the different species come together to fight the Naxli describing several of the missions and paints Rev in a new light ever since the Naxli killed his brother at the brother's wedding. Punch also seems to be becoming more human-like... An entertaining book with much kick-a**ery and suspense with drama, friendship and personal developments thrown in....
A very enjoyable book on human military units integrating with alien units. this is a first in this book series. I really liked the personal touches to the personalities of the Alien soldiers and how they meshed with the human marines. Their similarities and differences, friendship formed. Their combat differences was a part I particularly enjoyed, many times very different than the Marine style of warfare. I was sorry to se it end. I look forward to book 11 and see the old gang back in action. Col. Brazee continues to write interesting and varied books, particularly for the Military mans interest..."Well Done"..CBG Retired Navy.
It's not as great as the other books, but it's not so much the writer's fault; it's the position of the MC. As little as I know about the Marines, the Gunny isn't in much of the fight as when he or she was a Corporal, and even in the Army, I had to accept the fact that not all the "cool stuff" would always happen. I patrolled as much as I could, and so on, but at the level I was at in Afghanistan, I had Soldiers to do the work. So it would be unfair to give this book four stars or less, because the level that Pelletier is at, is well what it should be, and that shouldn't detract from the story. Just something I gotta look at myself too for, even though I'm long out of the military.
I haven't rated all of this series, I think I rated the first one or two then just stopped with the reviews. This whole series is not only well written but grabs and pulls you in. There will come a time in the future where I'll look back and remember that time in my life when I read this series and it will bring me that nostalgic feeling you get when you think about the good old days. Looking forward to the next book.
Solid well organized continuation of the (Sentenced to war series. Rev continues his usual methods of leadership while fighting the Naxil . The authors provide a quick paced action packed story faithful to the genre. The only drawback is Rev's constant doubting of his decisions and the excess of detail in the later chapters.but that is a minor flaw in an overall exciting book! On to the next installment in the series
We watch as Rev, his sibs in Steel and the rest of the combined forces are frequently engaged in heavy combat, while they also have to continue the process of integrating the varied factions into a more cohesive whole. Unfortunately for them they have all too many Fallen to Respect, which they deeply continue to do. We get a nice vignette for Rev at the close of the book.
This series is full of intrigue, back stabbing, and envy. Rev sentenced to go to war after a traffic violation makes enemies without trying, but also friends enough that though kept down he is not defeated. To get the most out of these books start with book one in series. Good book.
The saga continues with a grunts perspective of the realities of war. As a nexus of chaos, he is always in the thickest part of the battle. A little contrived but has to be for entertainment purposes. It's all a blast.. Fun but sadness of loss. Respect for the fallen.
I waited to review this series until I read all of the available books. I was not a Marine or any any military member (at least not in this lifetime), but I believe that these two authors portray the future military as accurately as possible.
I like the way that Rev grows throughout these ten books, and I look forward to his future as a Nexus of Chaos.
I'm constantly amazed by the imagination of not only Chaney and Brazee, but all the current authors of this, genre with respect to the creation of the diversity of sentient alien lifeforms. Well my hat is off to these two having produced another great novel with more of the above while continuing a fantastic storyline.
Another Rev story with the lucky gunny doing things that no one else seems to and keeping his title. This time is his ability to find and oopps nearly gave it away again. Read if you enjoy Revs adventures. Sorry if spelling of can't see s reen or keyboard in this sun not complaining this sun is heaven lol
This isn’t my normal "story to read", but some how I'm binge reading the series. Lots of action, great characters, changing enemies, good world building, and decent dialog. It just scratched an itch I didn't know was there.
Maybe not a shining masterpiece or even smooth and steady quality at every moment in the series - but competent throughout the series. Amazing endurance as a readable series. Not one of the typical long series that peaks early then succumbs to a lifeless grind of turning word count into coin.
Another great episode in the saga. The interspecies cooperation (and disputes) was a great addition. Lot of action, lot of interpersonal additions.
Not 5 star because there were a few glaring mistakes that should have been caught in editing, and there really needs to be more description of people and places.
Great addition. Keep it up. Only drawback is we're closer to the end of the series. Such an emotional roller coaster ride this one was. Wow! Just amazing work. Keep it up!
Really enjoyed the lemmings, wonder how much more of them we will see. Good book. Really waded into the whole working with aliens concept and I can’t wait to see where the next book goes
Over and over the Sentenced to War series delivers , action packed and thoughtful prose. This latest installment is quite good. I wish the story was a little longer so some parts didn't feel rushed but over all another win for team Chaney.
Action was extensive and engaging, this book was hard to put down!!! The very descriptive periods of combat with various alien allies added a lot of depth to the story!!
I'm amazed that this author can write so many fantastic novels, I hope that he never stops writing. His books are some of the best Entertainment I have read and worth the time to read them. Thank you for a very fun entertaining read.
It's been an interesting series and there is still more to come. What I liked most about this book was how Rev got to interact with the different species.