Review: Very Enjoyable
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 18, 2012
I had read another book Chris wrote several years ago and this one struck my fancy. I am glad it did. It reminded me of David Drake's Hammer's Slammers mixed in with other Military sci-fi works. This should be published by Baen in my opinion. First off, I recognized names, such as the main character, from real people on Baen's Bar, a discussion site. That made me laugh. But the story, taking the ideals of the United States Marine Corps, and placing them in a unit 1,000 years in the future, was a good story. Setting it on a planet ruled by rich but non-productive "families" reminded me of the US Congress. The civilization is collapsing, because the rulers are taxing the rich to subsidize the poor, who vote to keep them in pwer. When a Marine Unit gets to clean up the mistakes, the CO tells the political leaders the truth, infuriating them. Thus, exile for him and his company to another planet fighting an insurgency. But is it truely exile? Back home, the military is being gutted so the money can be spent to buy votes.  Sounds familiar today, doesn't it? On the new planet, the Marines can make a difference, if they are allowed to. And that is what the book is about. I really enjoyed it, staying up way to late in the night to read it. My brain skipped over most of the editing mistakes and mis-spellings. It is worth buying and reading.