Life on Earth has gone to hell in a hand basket. Overpopulation leads to the usual troubles: poverty, government sanctioned slums aka PRC’s (Public Residence Clusters) sprawl across major metropolitan centers, throngs of people existing on government issued rations.
“Nobody gives a shit about welfare rats.”
Wars are being fought in space and on land by the North American Commonwealth military against the Sino-Russian Collective, and nobody sees the Lankies coming. Least of all, new recruit Andrew Grayson.
Why is this on our bookshelf?
There was a pretty comprehensive review on io9.com (which I didn’t read entirely due to spoilers), but when they compared Kloos to Scalzi, I knew it needed to be picked up.
Rating (3 stars)
Sci-fi isn’t really my preferred genre, never mind military sci-fi. I always feel they’re stuffy and oddly out of date no matter how far into the future they’re set.
I decided to give Kloos a chance, and once I got beyond the slightly slow beginning (to be honest, he came *this* close to losing me), I couldn’t put it down. It’s slightly formulaic; loser enlists in the military to escape the terrible conditions he’s living in on Earth, ends up with a few lucky breaks, steps in a pile of crap,only to end up winning the day… but once the action picks up, it moves quickly.
It’s military sci-fi candy. it’s a very easy read, despite the jargon that’s used almost too heavily throughout.
Read this book:
For the thrill of space travel and combat without the pesky issue of being shot at.
Don't Read this book:
If you have a strong aversion to the military sci-fi genre in general, or specifically books written by anyone who isn’t Heinlein.
Once you're done, do this:
Go play Halo for some intergalactic ass kicking of alien races. Trust me, it’ll make you feel better, and less helpless.
