Review: Very Solid Military Sci-Fi; A Winner!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 16, 2012
Overall, I really liked this book. The influences were clear -- it was quickly obvious to me that Mr. Currie is about as much a fan of David Weber as I am, right down to the penchant for Russian characters and tough female leads.The action starts on the first page. Sergeant Aida is the sole survivor of her squadron, dropped onto one of humanity's few colonies after it's been attacked. She's a great character, a hard-headed Marine who very much reminded me of a certain Commander Shepard. The ragtag colonists make for strong backup. I was very fond of his science and the semi-far-future setting -- no magical artificial gravity here, and the sole point of disbelief suspension is the introduction of the VASIMR (jump) drive, allowing for FTL travel. This is a great in-between, hanging out somewhere between near-future dystopian sci-fi and the sufficiently-advanced tech of the distant future.I had a few minor quibbles here and there with the story, which I won't go into detail on to avoid spoilers, and at least one of which may be addressed in later stories. There were also occasional typos scattered throughout, and only one or two homophone mix-ups, but not enough to significantly detract from the fast-paced narrative. I would have liked a bit more characterization -- in this story we don't get a whole lot more from the good Sergeant other than `hard-headed Marine'.If you're a fan of David Weber or other military sci-fi authors and you're looking for a new author to fill the gap, I highly recommend picking this book up and giving Mr. Currie's work a try. You won't be disappointed.