Fields of Fire, Marko Kloos. I can't praise Marko Kloos enough for this book. It is the best military science fiction work I have read this year. Kloos has written a compelling action packed war story, with an anti war message. The world Kloos creates has depth. The two principle characters Grayson and Haley have a love story that seems real but is not perfect. The way Kloos interweaves the primary war story and its effects on their relationship has the air of reality. The soldiers in this story take the time to reflect on what they doing. The readers see the horror of war and no winner choices that are characteristic of conflict. Unlike other military science fiction novels Kloos does not over load his readers with military jargon without explaining what it means. Kloos' Frontlines series has five separate novels in it to date Each book can stand on its own yet each builds on the other. The characters both principle and secondary are written with a complexity that is unusual this type of literature. The one fault with this story and the series in general is the lack of sophistication of the alien Lankys. Aliens that are capable of building star spanning spaceships should have a better battle plan than simply running and stomping on their enemies. In this story Kloos hints that the Lankys are adjusting to the way humanity fights. My question is do the humans find this odd? Also why are the Lankys not using hand held weapons or armor? I hope these questions will be addressed in future books. ( )

All good stories must end. There is zero novelty in this fifth book of the series. You'd expect at least some momentous revelation about the Lankies - say, we find out what they're after, or someone figures out how to communicate with them, or it turns out they are time travelers. Anything, really. But no; we end the book without any knowledge we didn't already have. To make things worse, the main character gets increasingly sentimental and boring. ( )

Andrew and Halley are in rural Vermont and Andrew is called for an Arctic Lankey incursion; then both go to Mars to kick some Lanky ass. In the theme of earthlings vs lankys, the story is mostly about Mars. That story is mostly about Andrew and his buddies--one wonders why the arctic incursion played out, but the book might not have been long enough for the publisher if it only covered the Mars attack. I began to wonder if we are ever going to see peace break out; but, if the perspective is a grunt soldier, he doesn't know all that. I like the series and find myself wondering about the next installment. ( )

Quite enjoyable Mil-SF, perfect for all you fans of competence porn. It's all about the light tone and the big guns despite all the losses we've incurred from the aliens.

But this time the battle is very close to home. Mars. Most of the action takes place right here where the hulking walkers and terraforming machines have put their beachhead.

Want nukes? Got nukes. It only starts at a family gathering, but you know how those things can turn out. That's why we made nukes to begin with. To take out all our aggressions AFTER the family gatherings. Duh.

Very solid read. Quite enjoyable, some of the very best MilSF I've read, towering pretty high on characters and tone and, of course, MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF COMPETENCY. Of course, we have to prop these up against all the incompetence, but that goes without saying. :)

( )

Andrew and Halley are in rural Vermont for her recuperation from previous combat when he is recalled to deal with an incursion in Earth frozen Arctic. It is successful but the Lankies seem to be adapting to cold conditions very well. The Earth's various polities unite to take on the alien menace, the Lankies and take back Mars.
However, their next assignment is to participate in a large scale invasion of Mars. The intent is to rescue stranded humans and to exterminate the Lankey incursion. The power of the Earth's Force seems overwhelming and is initially successful until new tactics by the aliens drive them back into space.
Have they learned enough from this action to continue the fight? Another lively and interesting tale from this excellent series. ( )