Good military sci-fi. ( )

A fun read for fans of Military SciFi. I found the novel fast-paced, enjoyable, and I liked what the author did with Krell space. ( )

A fun read for fans of Military SciFi. I found the novel fast-paced, enjoyable, and I liked what the author did with Krell space. ( )

Stacked with every conceivable space war cliche and sometimes the gruntspeak is really laughable, but still highly enjoyable. Conrad Harris, a veteran soldier in the Simulant Operations Corps (think Avatar and you'll get an idea of what that means) leads his squad in a mission to a hostile star cluster to retrieve a scientific team monitoring a huge ancient artefact. Harris finds the leader of the team has become a murderous megalomaniac who forces the soldiers to assist him in uncovering the secrets of the Artefact. The Artefact has also attracted the attention of the hostile fish-like Krell, whom Harris and his soldiers must battle to escape from the planet and get home. What it lacks in originality the story more than makes up for in pace and action, there are few quiet moments, most of these moment consist of flashbacks to Harris' memories of his lost love Elena. These flashbacks are annoying, interrupt the flow of the story and add nothing to the plot, in fact they feel very much like padding. The book simply doesnt need them, its a compelling page-turner that relies on pace and non-stop action, and this it does very well. I'll definitely be seeking out the rest of the trilogy, one of the best space opera books I've read in a while. ( )

This story is told in first person, from the perspective of an elite soldier named Conrad Harris, he has earned the nickname Lazarus because he keeps coming back from death. The book examines the future of warfare, in this story, Conrad leads an elite team of sims. This team uses enhanced clones of themselves to go out on missions, they die and wake up again. The book looks like it's going to examine this and its meaning to humanity, but doesn't get there.

The writing is mostly plain. The author's descriptions go from good and interesting to the kind of bland writing you want to race through. He uses only an occasional metaphor or similie, but it feels contrived.

The characters are one-dimensional. The author does use backstory to try and fill out Conrad's life, but it doesn't work. Often, the actions, and more so the dialog, of Conrad and his team feel more like amateurs playing soldier than elite soldiers. The descriptions of action on a ship during combat occasionally belie an ignorance of shipboard procedures.

If action and military sci-fi appeal to you, you may enjoy the book. I could not finish it. ( )