Daniel Arenson

There is always a question in genre fiction of how many classic tropes you can use before they swamp any original idea the story may contain. For me, Earth Alone gets too close to its Starship Troopers prototype. In both, Earth is at war with insectoid aliens that breed quickly and have inscrutable motives. Eighteen-year-old Marcus and his sister are drafted into the Human Defense Force. Most of what follows is a standard basic training story with the usual cast of kids who need to mature and learn teamwork as they acquire military skills. As in the Heinlein story, our hero is in love with two women warriors. There is naturally a big battle scene with the bugs. Sorry—seen it all before. 3 stars.… (meer)