Review: Jethor & the Neos are back - and well worth the wait
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 12, 2013
I love the Wandering Engineer series - the premise is so different from that behind most military SF and the hero so unusual that it just lights the imagination.In First to Fight we see what happened to those left behind in Pyrax after Irons left and especially F Platoon, Jethro and the other Neos.This book also bridges the events after Irons and Sprite visited Anaacosta and also serves up  the logical  outcome of Iron's activities in Antigua and gives a lot more detail on the Xeno, the Horathians and how being a determined pacifist often means someone else does the dying on your behalf..So what did I especially like? Well like many readers I was more than annoyed with Iron's fate in Ghost Station. Now those who treated Iron's as they did get just what he predicted they would and its Jethro, Sergei, Valenko and Co who must go to the rescue.Like Plague Planet, this is in many ways a bridging book, setting up the coming confrontation with the Horathians.But it's also its own story and a thoroughly enjoyable one at that. Irons has planted his ideas, well and deep in Pyrax space and now Jethro, Valenko, Mayweather and his other acolytes get their own chance to shine. In First to Fight, they aren't just followers of Irons any more, they, the navy and the marines are now true believers in their own right.Great story and a good bit of writing. The odd issue with tense & editing still exists, but Hechtl continues to improve as a writer... and he's already a great story teller.I'll definitely be buying the next one.